Mothers’ Day Weekend,What did you do on Mothers Day? Well I hooked up the Airstream on Saturday night and headed for Burle Industries parking lot.Yes we are boon docking tonight. I arrive sat night because the crowd will be too much to park the trailer on Sunday morning. The Airstream is the "office" for the clowns to check in. Mom (Carol) would take care of checking in the clowns and handing out stickers to them. Thanks Mom for helping the Wish Kids!!!
Sunday at 6 am I hear big trucks start to converge and park in the lot. The front row is full by 6:30 and 332 trucks arrive by noon. Many Truckers show up with Pledges that they collected, some as much as $20,000 (last year’s highest amount) There is so much to do on the grounds. The action starts at 8:30 am when Wish Families start to arrive as well as many other truckers and families. There is a large food tent serving Breakfast and Lunch too. The lines move pretty fast and all are fed quickly. French Fries, Ice Cream, Chicken Bar-B-Que are just a few stands to also setup outside. The Auction tent is next to it and contains over 400 items for sale. There is a mini-carnival for the kids games. Face painting and bounce games, dunk tank, Bingo,Special displays are also here. Monster truck, Race Cars, even a Cinderella Carriage has arrived. I even saw 42 clowns arrive to entertain the kids. There is also a stage with live music all day.
The lot fills up and the kids start to have fun seeing all the displays. The clowns meet many new kids and families and hand out Stickers to all. The truckers apply “Make a Wish” Banners to the front bumper, those trucks that have Wish Kids onboard put “Wish Child on Board” Banner on theirs. Over 125 Wish Kids got to ride this year, talking on CB, pulling the air Horn chain. Some rode on Fire Trucks and got to blow the siren too.
After enjoying the activities on the lot, the people line the driveway out of the lot to watch the Convoy begin at 1:30. The trucks roll out, all 332 trucks to head up the highway for a 29 mile trip to Ephrata and back to Burle. Thousands of cars are parked everywhere along the route and also in parking lots. People bring folding chairs and also sit on the rear of pickups. The Amish are here too, their buggies are tied to the fence and they walk down to get a better view. The noise of Trucks and Fire trucks are deafing, Wish kids are waving from the truck seats to everyone. I had the privilege to ride on a Tow Motor on flat bed trailer waving to all along the route. The Convoy lasted over 2 hours, I was in the 5th truck in the lead and we even passed the end of the convoy while on the bypass. This was a beautiful day for all Mothers as families were out together for a good time. The Clowns drove along too and collected from the crowd and filled their buckets with $$$$$. Thank-you..Thank-you.. Thank-you.
Today was made possible because of the hundreds of Volunteers who help setup, run the show, and also cleanup, Many thanks to them. The day was a success for Make a Wish Families... The money raised this year will benefit the future Wishes.. Thank-you the Public for your Support. Here are some pictures from the day.... https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/MakeAWishConvoy2013
God Bless...AirstreamHobo and Mom ... Happy Mothers Day to all Mothers
