Getting Into Show Business

I was informed by hubby recently that we have a couple water trucks going into show business. Okay, I'm getting a little carried away and exaggerating just a wee little bit. But, the truth of the matter is we sold one of our manufactured water trucks to the guys with Ice Road Truckers (this show is on the Discovery Channel, I believe.) They will use our truck to spray water on areas that are getting deep ruts in the ice road, to kind of fill in the uneven places with a build-up of new ice.

We also rented 2 water trucks to a company here locally, and they will be using them in the filming of a TV commercial that Tiger Woods is starring in. Our trucks will not be shown in the commercial, but used to spray water, simulating a rain storm.

We also have a couple trucks employeed with the firefighters to fight forest fires. Our trucks' water cannons can shoot water at least 100 ft. away, which is good since not all deep-woods fire is easily accessible.

I found this amusing. I hope you do too.

The Auction Itself

This auction is so large it goes for about 10 days. Here are a couple pictures. It is just a smidgen of everything that is there to see.

Here are my guys, observing the auction in action. This little pickup truck with a camper top drives up and down the aisles and aisles of equipment up for auction. They have spotters on the ground, milling with bidders. If somebody wants to bid, the spotter calls the bid in to the auction team inside the camper truck. This is only one "team" in the auction, and they have several going on at the same time. You really have to be on your toes, checking the auction guide (book!) to see when things are supposed to be auctioned off, but you also have to keep checking on the progress of the team you are following, or you will miss out on what you were wanting to bid on.

This whole production is kind of neat to watch. There are food and drink vendors that follow along either behind or in front of the auction team. Auction team workers climb in and out of the camper throughout the bidding process that does not stop. People are sitting all around on their 4-wheelers and golf carts waiting for bidding on the item of their interest. Everybody is looking for a spot of shade, as it can get quite hot in the sun all day. And you'll see lots of people climbing all around the equipment, turning the motors on and off, checking buttons and tires. You have to know the shape of the equipment before you buy it, because once it's yours, you're stuck with it. A business associate of ours bid on a truck one time on accident. I guess it was a bad deal, and there was some kind of misunderstanding, but it didn't matter. He ended up selling the truck later, but it was not a good deal!

Like I said, this is the largest auction in the country that Ch knows of. It used to be the largest in the world, but he's not so sure about that now with China's economy exploding (while our country's economy struggles). There are several other heavy equipment auctions around here locally that follow this one. February is a busy month for heavy equipment dealers.

Our Booth at the Auction

Ch designed and built our first water truck when C was just a little baby. We now have a business partner who is just as integral to the business as Ch. They work very well together, and each of them has a niche to fill, to keep things running smoothly. In years past, we have purchased trucks at the auction, and then made them into water tank trucks, to be sold at the auctions (if there are any left, that is. Most of our trucks are sold outright to customers responding to advertisement in heavy equipment magazines, or via word of mouth and returning customers.) This year, we didn't buy or sell any trucks at the auction, but we had our first booth in the vendor's section for people to browse through.

Here's a picture of a water truck that was completed right before the auction, and was placed in our booth area for display. It's a medium-sized water tank on the back, our most popular size with a 5000 gallon capacity. We have made 2500 gallon tanks before, several 7000 gallon tanks, and we just completed an 8000 gallon tank. That large tank was so big it could not be installed on the customer's truck in our shop. It had to be transported up north, and will be installed up there. If you're ever driving around town and see a water truck on a construction site, check to see if it has our "G & K" emblem on the tank. We have seen several trucks around town when we're out driving somewhere. In fact, we saw one on the side of the road as we drove to the auction. The kids always get a big kick out of seeing one unexpectedly!

Below are some pictures of our booth at the auction. I took the kids down there Friday last week. I think the kids and I have gone every year since H was about 3 1/2 yrs. old.