I thought I'd start a new post just to separate from the original post within a post. I also wanted to bump this to the top again just to see if there is anyone else interested in attending this meet in SE Wisconsin the weekend of September 20-21, 2014. I've sent out a group email to the people who are planning to come up or have shown interest to give out information about nearby lodging and my exact address. If you are interested in coming please send me a PM or email, I prefer emails, with both your real name and your FTE handle so I can figure who I'm corresponding with. I am hosting this event in the hope that our FTE brothers in the northern part of the country could experience what has been happening in the lower part of the country the last 2 years. This doesn't mean that only upper Midwesterners are invited, any current '48-56 FTE board member is invited.

If you are coming and have already contacted me but haven't received an group email from me please contact me. I might have misplaced your information. I have three different places I receive emails and some times things get misplaced.

Again, just to make sure everyone knows what we're doing and where Truckfest 2014 is being held please read the following:

First, if you've been around FTE for some time and have been involved with the last three meets, Truckstock '12, Flatlander Truckfest '13 and Truckstock '13, you know what to expect and what is expected of attendees. These gathering are intimate, informal gatherings where like minded people get together to talk trucks and a variety of other subjects. These are not organized truck shows with everyone competing against everyone else for best of show. It's not a show and shine. While it's fun to see a bunch of '48-56 trucks gather in one spot you don't need to bring a truck but if your truck is drivable but lacks a shiny paint job or isn't completely finished drive if possible. As long as you can safely drive it that's all that matters. If it's not drivable and you have a way to transport it bring it to show us your project and progress. Our meets so far have consisted of meeting and greeting and putting faces to people we've been having fun with on line. It's a lot of fun to finally see the person you've been typing to for some time. These seem to also be alcohol free events. I don't know if they've been planned that way but I think it's a nice feature and I will insist upon following that plan with this event.

I am inviting members of the '48-56 board to meet at my home in southeastern Wisconsin. The invitation is only to active members of this board and their families. If you are a new member who just found this site and would like to attend I ask that you provide a short introduction to give us, especially me, an idea of who you are and what your interests in old Ford trucks are. This is just like if someone you don't know would knock on your door, you would want to know a little about the person before you welcomed them into your home. I would like to limit the invitation to members of this specific board because you members are the people I have known for some time and I feel a friendship with, I also want to keep this event a small, intimate event.

I live in the village of Germantown, about 15 north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Germantown is a growing community but still has a lot of farm land and is far enough away from the big city to be a very safe place to visit and travel through. We live on a 100 acre farm that has been in my wife's family for over 150 years. It is still an active dairy farm, my son milks 85+ cows and we have around 100 chickens. I am restating this to let people know that this is an active farm with all of the animals and smells of a farm. Although we keep the farm as clean as possible there still are some odors. If you have an aversion to animals or their odors please come prepared.

Our farm is located near easy access to WI Hwy 41/45 and there are many very nice hotels within 5-10 miles of our home that are very easy to get to via straight, flat country roads and interstate highways.

As for attractions. If you have the time and plan to come early or stay later there are few places that might interest you.

The Harley Davidson Museum in downtown Milwaukee, along the Lake Michigan shore. I've been to this museum and found it very interesting with examples of every Harley ever made except one year that they couldn't find an example of. It's about 25 miles from my house with easy freeway access.

The Hartford Auto Museum in downtown Harford Wisconsin. Hartford is a small city about 20 miles northwest of my house and is easy to get to. I haven't been able to visit this place, just never seem to think about it but I've heard a lot of good things about it.

The Lake Michigan shore line. Milwaukee itself has a nice Lake Shore Dr. The drive starts in the Village of Shorewood to the north and goes into downtown Milwaukee. There is also a nice port in the City of Port Washington. Port Washington is about 25 miles northwest of my home. It's a small town that serves the charter fishing industry. You can walk out on a long pier to the break waters.

There is also small shops in surrounding small towns that sell crafts and souvenirs.

As for the meet itself, my initial plan is to have a meet and greet for anyone who is interested in coming Friday night. Nothing fancy, just to say "Hi" and have a simple meal.

Saturday morning have breakfast if anyone is interested and greet whoever comes in on Saturday morning. Early Saturday afternoon we'll have a cruise to the scenic Holly Hill, which is about 15 miles from my house. We'll stop at a local restaurant near by and then go back to my house. Each leg of the cruise should take about half an hour.

Saturday night we'll have fire pit and sit around talking trucks or whatever comes up. We'll also have another simple meal.

Sunday, breakfast for those interested and after that whatever happens. We'll see who leaves on Sunday and if you want, stay until Monday.

As I stated, I live on 100 acre farm. I have reserved a 3 acre field directly south of our house for parking and camping, for those wanting to bring a camper or RV. We also have room on our immediate lawn surrounding our house that we could park and camp on. We'll supply electricity. We'll kind of play all of this by ear as the event unfolds. We want to keep flexible. We also have a 50'X50 pole building next to our house that we will have available in the event we have not so perfect weather.

I will give out our address and directions to our home via a group email. I don't want to post any specifics on a open forum on the net to live on forever. I also only want to give out that information to people who are seriously interested in attending.

If interested please email me with your real name, your board name, when you plan to attend and if you would need a place to camp.

bobj@fatfenderedtrucks.com

 

Good work Bob! I'm looking forward to it!

 

I hope to see the F-3 tooling down my road Friday night

 

It better be there after all the work last year .

 

So, Bob, what is the latest? We all missed you at Shawnee. Some of the guys were discussing this over the weekend. People have hotel reservations, etc. The clock is ticking. Just barely three months away. Are you getting excited! It's a LOT of work, but worth it. How many people do you have on the list right now?

 

Yes, we're still on for the meet. I just thought I'd hold off until after TruckStock was over and let the excitement of that event subside.

We're doing our normal Spring cleaning of the farm, the usual things we take care of after a long Winter so nothing out of the normal, well maybe a little more brush getting cleared out and a few more flowers planted.

I have an emailing list of those that so far have told me they're coming and I'll start sending out emails but I think I have had all the information sent out already. If anyone has questions please let me know either here or email me. If there is anyone else who's interested in attending please let me know and I'll add you to the list.

I wish I could have made it down to OH this last weekend, looks like a great place. It just wasn't in the cards at this time. I think we're going to have a pretty decent group show up in September so I'll get to make up for missing this one at that time.

 

Hey Bob, Doc had a fiddle player. In the spirit of Germantown will you be having an accordion player?

 

I'm trying to line up an Oom-pah band who plays 70-80s rock. You haven't heard Smoke On The Water until it's come out of tuba accompanied by an accordion by a bunch of men wearing lederhosen.

 

I would like to attend but couldn't commit myself to it just now even though I'm not working those days and have just got our passports in order. If I were to go would like to drive the panel down but being the first year on the road want to make sure everything is working properly before I commit to a 700 mile trip. Next year seems a better chance that me and the wife may brave it.

 

I'm looking forward to heading to Bob's this Fall. The idea of a few of us sitting around and visiting about our trucks, the challenges we've run into, the fun we have had on our projects, maybe trying to solve some world issues, etc., etc., sounds like a good time to me. I would have liked to be at the other gatherings, but the distance & timing didn't work out for me. I think this is very generous of you to take this on Bob. Thanks,

Grant

 

Cool! We used to have Polka music at all the weddings in Southern Illinois back in the 70's and 80's. I had many friends from Germantown, IL, and those people were serious about their traditions.

 

Clean-up complete.

Personal attacks, troll type posts and off topic posts will not be allowed to muck up OP's thread!

Carry-on!

 

Thanks George, this was getting way off topic.

 

George, thanks X2

Thanks for cleaning it up and thanks for reopening the thread.

 

Unfortunately if it runs off the rails again it will have to be deleted.