Skiatook GTG and Ford Truck Show musings.....

[1986F150Six]

Greetings!

Were it not for the COVID 19 crisis, and the resultant changes to plans for what would be the 2020 Ford Truck Show, I would be preparing for a drive to Skiatook, OK on this coming Friday, 9/18/20. I would leave my house in Sheffield, AL @ 04:30 and would make the approximately 570 mile trip to Skiatook, OK.

For those of you who have not yet had this opportunity, let me share some random information. In 2016, Skiatook's population was a little less than 8,000. The town welcomes visitors and one quickly feels very comfortable. One can find their way around easily and is never overwhelmed with traffic.

I began my visits in 2014. At that time, the event was referred to as the OK GTG [Oklahoma Get Together]. I had gotten to "know" Gary Lewis through online discussions on another forum. He graciously invited me to the GTG and I accepted. While on my way, I called Gary from Little Rock, AK and he provided an estimated time of arrival.

When I arrived at his house, no one answered the door bell, so I walked around and first experienced seeing the Garagemahal. For those who do not know, this is Gary's "MODEST" man-cave [garage]! Just imagine a two story brick building that seems to be larger inside than it is outside. I walked to the side door and knocked. I was met by a man with a very pleasant smiling face. He shook my hand and invited me in. Imagine entering an extremely clean and organized work area, equipped with a rest room, sink, industrial cleaning area, large work table with properly identified drawers and cabinets [their contents]. Over head is bright lighting. There is a machine shop area, a blasting cabinet, a powder coating station with proper draw through ventilation, and an industrial oven for baking the powder coated pieces. And, in that same room, due to the sometimes violent weather which Oklahoma offers, there is a heavily reinforced storm room. Now, let's go into the next area which is the garage. On one end [facing the street] is a large door which opens to allow entry for the vehicles. Once just inside, there is a heavy duty vehicle lift. I am guessing the ceiling height is 16'. With the lifting arms moved to the side, one can drive a vehicle forward towards the rear. I believe 2 or 3 vehicles can be parked beyond the lift. Now, keep in mind that all of this area is clean, well lit and is air conditioned and heated. The floors are sealed. He has a tool for every need! At the back of the area, on the left side, are stairs leading to 2nd floor. The upstairs is as large as the downstairs. Just beyond the landing at the bottom of the stairs is a crane, which can lift something like 800#. With this, many parts have been stored upstairs on the reinforced flooring. I would hazard to say there are enough parts to build a couple of trucks!

As one comes back downstairs, one can see inside a utility room where there is a refrigerated drying system for the compressed air. Impressive, indeed!

I have had the pleasure to attend in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. One of the pleasures is meeting Janey, Gary's lovely soul-mate [wife]! She and Gary freely share their Christian hospitality with all who attend. On Friday nights, all [30-60 people] were treated at Gary's home to a feast catered by Mac's Barbeque [pork, beef, sausage, beans, rolls, tea, water, cold drinks, etc.]! Janey always made delicious brownies and breakfast casserole for the next day. One was never hungry.

In the early years, the GTG was held at Gary's and maybe 12-15 people got together on Saturday and worked on each other's vehicles and swapped stories. Fun was had by all! On Saturday afternoon, the group would go to Ron's Burgers [local restaurant]. I would have a [very] large cheeseburger which came covered [smothered] with homemade chili! This and a serving of their homemade French fries with something to drink was great!

Beginning in 2017, the group of forum members multiplied, so began the Ford Truck Show, which was held at the parking lot of the church which Gary's family attends. The parking area was very sufficient and there was a large activities building which was opened to access restrooms and the church youth made food available.

Over the years, the group has grown from mostly locals with a couple of members from out of state to the point where now we have international membership. In 2018 [I believe], we had friends visiting from Australia, Nova Scotia and new Zealand, to name a few.

This year, there are more entrants in the Ford Truck Show than ever before! I am sure Gary will want to discuss this for future meets. I am sure he will do a great job as he always does on anything in which he is involved.

Please, EVERYBODY let him know that he and his work are appreciated. He puts so much time and effort in this forum. He rarely talks about it but there are costs involved and he has even prepared for the forum to continue even when he is not able to continue. Thank you, Gary!

[Machspeed]

Nice write up, enjoyed it. Skiatook is a stones throw from my place in Wagoner and I have yet to meet Gary and see his Garagemahal. One can garnish a lot of information about a person just looking at their shop. I've seen much via his pictures and of course I like what I see.

Indeed, Gary does much for us here and I don't know how he keeps up with it all and still finds time to work on his own stuff. I'm very appreciative of the website and all that he does for us here. Add to that the camaraderie generated here. I can't say that I frequent a website with a better group of people than here.        

Perhaps next year we can do the live thing. I look forward to meeting so many of you.

[Sac79]

Great story telling David! With your words and the pictures Gary has posted I can clearly envision the Garagemahal!

And yes, THANK YOU Gary! When I finally started working on my truck again and went back to said forum, I was dejected to find Gary missing... Until I remembered the 'documentation' website he started and found this!

[salans7]

I was originally planning on attending this year's event, truck or no truck, however Covid unfortunately messed up those plans in more ways than one. It was definitely a downside to this year as I was really looking forward to meeting the man, the myth, the legend himself. I have known Gary through the interwebs for almost if not ten years now. Gary has generously helped me out with tons of part numbers (before I bought my own MPC) and he has also helped me find numerous parts that I've wanted/needed for my trucks. He is definitely one of the nicest guys I've ever come across on the web, and his numerous contributions to our generation of trucks are immeasurable.

Thank you Gary, for all you've done, are currently doing, and will do in the future!

[Frank Wyatt]

 Two thumbs up for Gary!

[Gary Lewis]

Guys - Thanks, but ..............  

I do hope we can go back to face-to-fact GTG's.  I've really liked getting to meet many of you and would like to meet many more.

However, we normally have something like 20 trucks entered and maybe half of those are locals and not forum members.  So we might have 10 forum members here with their trucks, although others have come w/o their trucks.  But this year we have 52 trucks entered, all of which are owned by members - probably 40 different members across at least 5 different countries: Germany, Netherlands, UK, Canada, and the US.

Given that, once the dust settles on this year's show we need to talk about what we want for a show going forward.  So please be thinking about what we can do.  Is there a way to do both in-person as well as virtual?  Do we invite the "locals", some of which drove over 100 miles each way to get here.

[salans7]

I definitely think there needs to be a virtual show in the foreseeable future, as you said we have way more participation this way and it also helps those who cannot make an in-person show feel involved. What I worry is that the virtual show will overpower the in-person show, to the point where an in-person show isn't viable. But maybe in that case it could go back to a G2G rather than a show, for people who want to and are able to make the trip.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Nick and I were talking the other day and i told him that if you do it next year, we are going.  It's not that far from where we are at in Louisiana and i know Brutus can make it.  And yea.  Thanks Gary for all you do

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

I do hope we can go back to face-to-fact GTG's.  I've really liked getting to meet many of you and would like to meet many more.

I sure would love to get there in person for one of your shows/gatherings Gary. Even though it's a 2200 mile journey one way, I'd love to tackle it some day. We did a North American coast to coast road trip back in 2011, and we managed to average 600 miles a day for 14 days straight. Some were longer, and some shorter, but 600 miles was the average....and that was on motorcycles.

My old Bull is mechanically up to the trip, but I'd definitely need cruise control.,..er...ahem..."Speed Control", but that's easy enough to do. Still...as much as I love my old truck, it's more of a love where I like to just sit back and look at it, and hear it rumble when I drive it. Spending two weeks and 4500 miles in it I'm still not 100% sure about...lol. 10 years ago I would have done it without even thinking about it.

In any case, last time I looked, flights were cheap, and I could always rent an F-series to drive there from the closest airport...lol.

That is, when/if I'm allowed into the USA again...word on the street is that it's going to be a while.