Gophers and Cheese

Wrapping up coverage from Full Tilt Boogie 2026...

Vans and motorcycles were all over Full Tilt Boogie 2026.

Coverage of Full Tilt Boogie 2026 continues...

I headed to Full Tilt Boogie on Saturday and met up with friends and members of Twin City Vans  at Point Douglas Park across the river from Prescott, WI.

Time to wrap up coverage from Twin City Vans  49th Annual Good Times Truck-In!  Here are some final photos of the Show & Shine lineup taken from the top of the grandstand.

Continuing coverage from Twin City Vans 49th Annual Good Times Truck-in.  We now rejoin the show-and-shine... already in progress... :)

Twin City Vans hosted our 49th Annual Good Times Truck-In in Albert Lea, MN in June 2026.  It was my 5th time attending and 4th as a member of TCV.  This is a closeup photo of the souvenir T-shirt I bought (artwork by Aurora).

Almost 2 months ago, on October 4th (10-4), Twin City Vans took a cruise along the river between Minnesota and Wisconsin.  We met up in Point Douglas Park on the Minnesota side before crossing into Prescott and heading south on the Wisconsin side.  It was a beautiful day, and we got a good turnout of members and friends.

One last giant photo-filled blogpost from Full Tilt Boogie 2025 is about to begin.  With the bike show and most of the bike games out of the way, the bands started up.  Way too many people started leaving at this point.  The bands were great and played well into the night.  If you didn't stay and camp, you messed up.  Maybe next year???  First up was " The Region's Premiere Van Halen Cover Band ".  Yes, that's the band's full name.  These guys rock and are really fun.

Full Tilt Boogie coverage continues... It wasn't my first bike rodeo so it wasn't my first time seeing a weenie bite competition, but it's always entertaining and really fun to watch.  More on that in a minute...

I have a lot more photos from Full Tilt Boogie to share so let's get after it.  Vitzy Boys had Time Slip and the Highland Acre Shaker there.

Full Tilt Boogie 2025 coverage continues with bike games.  The benefit of having all the grass and lawn area was that a few biker rodeo-type games could be played.  I somewhat regret not throwing a bike in the back of the van to participate but after a week at the Van Nats, I wanted to keep things simple.  Custom belt buckles, knives, and other awards were at stake for the games and bike show.  First up was plank ride.

One week after the Van Nationals (see blogposts here ), I was back in the van and headed to Full Tilt Boogie .  This year, it changed venues again.  For 2025, it moved to the Gas-Lite, which is just across the border from Red Wing, MN in Wisconsin (which is the "cheese" in "Gophers and Cheese").  I hadn't been there for an event since the SCVR Chili Feed, many years ago (2011 - see blogposts  here ).

We've made it to the last post from the 52nd Annual National Truck-In , the Van Nationals.  Picking up where I left off, we continue with the long line of vans heading out of the fairgrounds for the lake cruise and downtown public show.

We've made it to the last day of the 52nd Annual Van Nationals , Saturday July 12th.  The big things happening on Saturday were a lake cruise followed by a public van show in downtown Albert Lea as well as awards and the last band on the main stage, Uncle Chunk.  I worked gate most of the day and had to pack up my V-A-N-S signs and R/C ramps so I couldn't go on the cruise.  I ended up missing awards too and only caught a few songs by Uncle Chunk (no photos though - just had a couple of beers and enjoyed the moment).  What I did take a ton of photos of was the line up and departure for the lake cruise that morning.  If you went on that cruise, there's a very good chance I got a photo of your van and maybe even you driving it.

Here's the 3rd and last set of photos from Friday at the 52nd Annual National Truck-In , but only because there were a lot of things I didn't get photos of (if you can believe that).  We'll start with Red Desert on the DSV stage.

Continuing coverage of the Show & Shine field at the 52nd Annual Van Nats ...

Friday was a really big day at the 52nd Annual National Truck-In with both Show & Shine and Bright & Shine on the schedule along with more bands and other events.  A large rain system stayed just to the south leaving the sky full of clouds but mostly rain-free.  There was a lot of talk about how we might handle Show & Shine if it rained, but I'm really glad it worked out.  While I was pretty sure I wouldn't be taking home any awards, I still very much wanted to show my van so I got it out there on the show field in the Dodge section.

Thursday evening at the 52nd Annual Van Nationals was all about the bands.  Yesterday I posted photos of Beast Eagle and Year of the Cobra .  Next up in the DSV building was Rifflord !

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.