Well, our first rally, "SLAPSfest 2011" has come and gone. For those who didn't make the event, here is a rundown of it:
Some of us arrived on Thursday, setup camp and began getting acquainted with old friends.
On Friday, many more members started arriving in the late morning/early afternoon and got set up. At 7:00pm, we lined up the trucks and made a run to the local Sonic for some food and fun. Wanda called the Sonic earlier in the week and let them know we were coming. At first, they thought it was a prank!! Apparently, they came to realize we were serious and called her back. When we got there, they had cleared a parking lot for us, so we had plenty of parking. They got our orders done quickly and everyone got their food in good time. The owner came out later and said he was glad to have us and welcomed us back next year. After getting our fill at the Sonic, we returned to the campground and spent the rest of the night bench racing, consuming some frosty beverages and visiting with friends, both old and new.
Saturday broke with the same oppressive heat we had been having all week but it did nothing to slow folks down. Registration opened at 8:00am and people started getting their goodie bags. By 10:00 or so, most had arrived and the fun was in full swing. Mike started lining up the trucks for the show-n-shine. About 11:00, it started thundering and looking like a storm was coming in but aside from a brief wind gust and some light rain, it turned out to be a great day, just VERY HOT! The heat didn't seem to bother most rally goers though, as everywhere you turned, people were laughing, joking and having fun hanging out with some fellow Power Stroke enthusiasts. The folks from Complete Performance set up their tent and went to work selling and installing stuff. The washer's tournament went off as planned and the winners were Scott Fosdick and his wife (neither of which had ever heard of washers before, let alone played!). Congrats to them on the win!! About 5:00, Chris and I lit the fire for the dinner and he went to work cooking. To hear him tell it, apparently he was loosing the battle with the fire at one point and Wade, who saw this from across the campground, jumped in to help him out. This type of selfless desire to help another member is a prime example of what SLAPS is and always has been about, so kudos go out to Wade for seeing a need and filling it!
When Chris and Wade got done with the cooking, we sat down for a good meal and some conversation. Following the meal, we handed out the awards for the show-n-shine. The winners were:
People's Choice 1st place OBS: Chris White
People's Choice 2nd place OBS: Todd Ingham
People's Choice 1st place Super Duty: Chuck Easley
People's Choice 2nd place Super Duty: Bob Farris
Sponsor's Choice: Kevin Clark
Congratulations to the winners!!
Next we held the raffle and gave away some awesome prizes, including a Power Stroke Golf Bag (donated by Pundmann Ford), a set of Weathertech floor mats (donated by Complete Performance), a tool kit (donated by Midwest Tool and Supply), two Power Stroke chairs (donated by Pundmann Ford), a torque wrench (donated by Midwest Tool and Supply), a chip/custom tuning for a 7.3 (donated by Total Diesel Performance) and a Stealth Pump (donated by Stecher Performance) along with a variety of other prizes.
After the awards and raffle, we all gathered around a bonfire that Terry had going and did a good bit of bench racing before retiring to our campsites for even more bench racing, lie swapping and consuming some of our favorite beverages. By the end of the night, it was obvious that SLAPSfest 2011 was just the first of many rallies yet to come!
Sunday came way too soon. We all packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes and headed out for home, bringing down the curtain on SLAPSfest 2011.
Check out the pictures of the fun! If anyone has any more good pics of the rally, please email them to me, so I can put them up on the website.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the rally sponsors:
Pundmann Ford
Stecher Performance (Stealth Pumps)
Full Force Diesel
Complete Performance
Brian's Truck Shop (BTS)
Tymar Performance
Midwest Tool and Supply
Adams Polishes
These companies donated prizes and/or money to help us make this event possible. For that, we all owe them a debt of gratitude and I hope everyone will remember them when considering where to buy products for their Power Stroke.
In addition, an event like this does not happen without people working not only at the event, but behind the scenes, making sure every detail is planned and taken care of. We had a dedicated group who worked hard in a short time to make sure we got those details were handled. I want to personally thank those folks:
Chris White
Kim White
Terry Swisshelm
Wanda Swisshelm
Kevin Clark
Pam Clark
Mike Krafft
Berny Easley
Tiffany Baldridge
Finally and most importantly, I want to thank those who attended. Without you, this event would not have been a success. For those who missed this year, I hope you will make plans to join us at SLAPSfest 2012 and help make it bigger and better yet!
Keep on truckin'!!
Chuck
Club Officers:
Chuck(teamroper60) President Terry(tubzz) Vice President Ray (PeterbiltCE) Secretary Chris(Ytee) Treasurer Mike(delps04) Sergeant-At-Arms Gary(Strobert) Past President/Founding Member Eddy Lee(Eddy) Founding Member Jim(JimTJr) Founding Member