Bringing MATS to an old friend

We’ve arrived here in Louisville, a little early for most of the truckers. On the way in, we ran into Howard Hart, who already has The Spirit of the American Trucker, OOIDA’s tour truck, down at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center.

Soon after I arrived – along with Barry Spillman, our producer, and Terry Scruton, our senior correspondent – I took a moment to call an old friend, Dale Sommers.

I call the Truckin’ Bozo Radio Show every day to tell Dale what’s coming up next on our show … a natural thing to do, since we follow him in the XM schedule.

But it’s more than a routine for me now. I count Dale as a friend. And unfortunately … for all of us … he won’t join us this year at Louisville.

Dale’s health hasn’t been the best this past year. Most of you know that. And it truly pains him that he is unable to walk among those folks he has talked to for so long.

So we’ve all decided we’re going to bring the show to him, at least as much as we can. I’ll continue to make my daily call, but we’re hoping to get some of our other Land Line Magazine and Land Line Now staffers to call in as well, to bring as much of the flavor of the event to Dale as we can.

Dale once told me that he would stay at that microphone until the day he dropped. “They’ll carry me away from this desk someday,” he said.

A bold statement. One made by a man who’s dedicated his life to giving truckers a sense of community through his show. And a statement that I hope describes something far into the future.

Take care, Dale … and talk to you soon.