52nd Annual National Truck-In (Van Nats)

Thursday at the 52nd Annual National Truck-In featured (among other things) the swap meet, pub crawl, and a bunch of bands. Oh yeah, and it was Aaron's birthday.

I couldn't believe it... after the nightmare of a project of trying to repair and replicate my windshield visor, a NOS one was for sale at the swap meet (bottom). I almost bought it as a backup but I dumped so much time and money into my existing one already, I decided to pass.

After 2 failed attempts at a fiberglass copy, I decided to reinstall my original vintage plastic visor. It was originally broken into 4 pieces and full of holes. I put it back together and filled the holes to make a fiberglass mold. Once the copies failed and I decided to run the original again, I added a layer of fiberglass to the back to reinforce it. We'll see how it holds up but it made it to the Nats and back.

Justin held up the TCV flag to guide people to the pub crawl. The pub crawl was a guided tour of van club campsites where each club would give the group a drink of the club's choice. I think there was over a dozen stops. I personally didn't partake in most of the crawl as I was on security duty and I would have been asleep in the middle of the day and miss all the bands.

Inside the bar building, TCV would be the first stop to kick off the pub crawl and the initial offering to the crowd was a shot and a beer, a Jell-O shot and a Shell's beer to be exact. Schell's was the official beer sponsor of the Van Nats.

And the pub crawl begins!!!

More pinstripe work by Michael Swann:

The local news showed up. I actually drove the videographer around a bit in a golf cart so he could get some additional shots. Here's a link to the story they ran: 52nd annual Van Nationals continues in Albert Lea - ABC 6 News - kaaltv.com

Tommy:

Light rain didn't dampen anyone's spirits

Steve:

The pub crawl marches on:

James:

Pat!

Bucky also got some pinstripe work by Michael Swann - this is just a tiny piece.

Curtis!

I too got some pinstripe work by Michael Swann, but just on a sign I bought. I had him add the old TCV logo, "Gophers and Cheese" and few small red & yellow details. This is going on my wall.

Willie:

The DSV stop on the pub crawl was something else. Yes I have photos and yes I have video. No, I'm not posting them. It's one of those "you had to be there" moments.