It's that time of year again... Time for Layover to make our way to the "Mid America Truck Show".  Being a new addition to the Layover.com Team I have yet to experience this trade show and am told its "Out of this world".  We are all very excited to be surrounded by our friends, colleagues, valued customers and friendly competitors. This is also a chance for us to break in Lindsey, a brand new addition to the Layover sales team, by giving her a crash course in the trucking industry and culture.  Although she is nervous I feel that this experience will ultimately help her really understand the audience for which we at Layover serve.   Here is the day through my eyes...


4AM - Wake up... I've just returned home from a university night class 5 hours ago and am wondering how I'm going to make it through the day.

4:45AM - Showered and feeling more awake than I though possible (given the circumstances)  I make my way to my car to drive to Layover's corporate office where we will meet the car that will take our team to BWI airport.

5:20AM - Bruce calls me to make sure that I am on my way and tells me that he has literally just left the office less than 10 minutes ago after pulling an "all nighter" preparing for the trade show and trying to catch on up some work.

5:30AM - We load up our things into the SUV and start making our way down the road to the Sheetz to grab a drink for the ride.  We all grab a snack and a drink except for Lindsey (who is nervous for the day ahead and not hungry).

6:30AM - car ride from hell! Our driver flies towards the airport like a car from the video game Grand Turismo. Bruce's sun glasses are flying all over the dash, Lindsey starts to look for a "barf bag" and suddenly just getting there alive sounds good to me.  : )

7:30 AM - Land!!!!   Arrive at Airport and make our way through security (well some of us did).

7:35 AM - Bruce gets flagged in security (twice) HA HA HA. First for wearing sunglasses and then they ripped through his carry on bags and dumped it out on a security table leaving him to reorganize it and put it back together (those of you who know how Bruce packs will understand the sheer difficulty of this task).

9:00AM - We get on our plane heading to the truck show. I get the window seat, Bruce is in the middle and Lindsey on the Isle. I remember thinking.. how small the seats were. but then I started thinking that it probably wasn't the seats that have changed sizes : )

11:00AM - Arrive at Louisville KY airport and go down stairs to rent our Chevy Impala.

12:00 PM - Check into our hotel. Went then go upstairs to unpack. All of us are so tired and the bed looks so comfy.

12:45PM - Tired and hungry, we head to a local restaurant to grab some food. We already start to see people from the truck show. We grab some food (healthy of course) and head to the convention center.

2:00PM - We enter the convention center to grab our passes. Both Lindsey and I am utterly amazed at the size of the show. It just seems like the hall never ends. There is everything you could ever think of (for trucking) here at this show. They Show opens tomorrow so the halls are swarmed with people setting up booths and cleaning the area. We walk around for a couple hours admiring the displays and exhibit trucks. We see a lot of clients and potential clients that we want to make sure we talk to tomorrow.

3:40PM - head back to the hotel and take a "siesta" or short nap for a few hours before leaving for dinner.

7:00 PM - leave for dinner.. Being the adventurous eaters that we are (Bruce and I) we try to find something unique for a truly unforgettable dinning experience that we wouldn't get in Lancaster. Since this is the first time traveling to a trade show with Lindsey I ask her if she mind eating at a Indian or Latin Restaurant. Having never eaten at  either before she agrees to give it a try.

7:30 PM - we arrive at Mojitos  (not sure about the spelling) which is a latin tapas bar( light portioned restaurant) in Louisville. As we sit down it becomes clear that Lindsey (who prefers American food) is repulsed by just about everything on the menu. Struggling to find something for her the kitchen prepares a special meal that puts her back in good spirits. Both Bruce and I share our Tapas (multiple small portions) and the table floods with a sea of conversation.

9:15PM  - After dinner we return back to the Hotel. We have a big day tomorrow and have to be at the expo center for Freightliner's press conference by 7AM!

Tomorrow is going to be crazy we have so much to do and the day is going to be non-stop. I have hundreds of people we need to talk to... We have already received calls and emails from people who want to get together with us during the show. We are really going to have to work together to make sure all of our objectives are met.

But for right now its bed time...

10:31PM --- Oliver, Bruce and Lindsey call it a night!

Tags: MATS Truck Show Expo Trucking Events Fun

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