Bubbling with excitement, K.C. said, “Guess what I’m doing?” during a cell phone conversation recently while driving to the Corpus Christi rodeo. Such a question is usually followed by “I’m listening to…..” or “I just talked to . . .” since “doing” is pretty limited if you’re behind the wheel. Last week his response took me by surprise when he replied, “I’m driving ‘Mean Green’ and I’m so excited to have it back!”
“Mean Green” is the name affectionately given to the 1996 Freightliner K.C. purchased in 2001 and had modified to fit the rodeo road. Having left it parked last rodeo season while driving the 2009 Dodge pickup he’d won at the Dodge National Circuit Finals, K.C. decided to revert to his favorite rodeo rig.
He had bought the Freightliner in Utah via an internet site at a time when gas had sky-rocketed causing many truckers to go out of business. The asking price was less than the cost of a new pickup, so he’d sold the current nearly-new diesel pickup and deduced that his Freightliner would last him longer than the one-year average that most conventional trucks survive the rodeo cowboy putting on 80-100,000 miles a year pulling their heavy loads.
Mechanics here in the Arkansas Valley did the conversion jobs of taking out the one axle, building the bed and adding some heavy-duty storage boxes along each side. There’s enough room on the bed for 1 ½ to 2 ton of hay as well as anything else that needs bungee-corded to the top of the hay. The custom storage boxes provide convenience for storing his horse shoeing and weight lifting equipment plus tack, feed sacks, etc. And, of course, the truck easily pulls the 33 ft. five-horse trailer with live-in quarters. He discovered that the license plates and insurance cost about the same as those for a diesel pickup, and that the main requirement for licensing was stenciling on the side the words “For Recreational Use Only” and installing a refrigerator, air conditioner and heater, etc. The semi is a “condo” with two bunk beds, so by putting in a TV and DVD player almost all the amenities of home (other than the shower which is available in the trailer) were provided for the traveling partners. Each partner had his own “space” with K.C. (and wife Gayle when she’s along) residing in the live-in quarters of the trailer. It was almost like adding a mobile motel room to the rodeo rig.
On his maiden trip in the Freightliner, he called home to report that one of the greatest advantages he’d discovered was less fatigue. When you finish driving a shift, you can stand up, stretch, move around while the next guy drives, then take your turn for a restful sleep in one of the condo beds. In addition, the seats and steering wheel are made for the long haul providing more comfort with less back strain than a conventional pickup. The main drawback seemed to be the cost of the upkeep plus and a fill-up may costs more (especially with today’s high prices), although the 400 gallon tank allows one to take advantage of cheaper prices for a longer drive before filling up.
The truck was originally painted an emerald green with K.C.’s name stenciled in small letters by the driver’s side door, and across the back of the cab appeared the words, “Getting Paid to Play.” However, when “The Mirage” became one of K.C.’s sponsors, the trailer was wrapped totally in black. “The crew” (Toby, a close friend and sponsor in Decatur who owns Wise County Detail) insisted “Mean Green” have a black paint job, so K.C. acquiesced. He insisted, however, the words “Mean Green” still be added to the back of the cab and agreed to changing “Getting Paid to Play” to “Shifting Gears and Bull Dogging Steers.”
So “Mean Green” is on the road again and I can only guess what the odometer reads! But Toby’s crew performed magic on its workings, and I know the travelers will be a little less fatigued as they make the run from Decatur to Corpus Christi to Lufkin to Corpus Christi to Decatur to Guymon and back this couple of weeks.
Next column—the other half of the rodeo rig—“Black Betty,” the 2010 Sooner trailer Mean Green pulls. So, here’s to you and your rodeo rig headed down the road. May it always serve you well.
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Bubbling with excitement, K.C. said, “Guess what I’m doing?” during a cell phone conversation recently while driving to the Corpus Christi rodeo. Such a question is usually followed by “I’m listening to…..” or “I just talked to . . .” since “doing” is pretty limited if you’re behind the wheel. Last week his response took me by surprise when he replied, “I’m driving ‘Mean Green’ and I’m so excited to have it back!”
“Mean Green” is the name affectionately given to the 1996 Freightliner K.C. purchased in 2001 and had modified to fit the rodeo road. Having left it parked last rodeo season while driving the 2009 Dodge pickup he’d won at the Dodge National Circuit Finals, K.C. decided to revert to his favorite rodeo rig.
He had bought the Freightliner in Utah via an internet site at a time when gas had sky-rocketed causing many truckers to go out of business. The asking price was less than the cost of a new pickup, so he’d sold the current nearly-new diesel pickup and deduced that his Freightliner would last him longer than the one-year average that most conventional trucks survive the rodeo cowboy putting on 80-100,000 miles a year pulling their heavy loads.
Mechanics here in the Arkansas Valley did the conversion jobs of taking out the one axle, building the bed and adding some heavy-duty storage boxes along each side. There’s enough room on the bed for 1 ½ to 2 ton of hay as well as anything else that needs bungee-corded to the top of the hay. The custom storage boxes provide convenience for storing his horse shoeing and weight lifting equipment plus tack, feed sacks, etc. And, of course, the truck easily pulls the 33 ft. five-horse trailer with live-in quarters. He discovered that the license plates and insurance cost about the same as those for a diesel pickup, and that the main requirement for licensing was stenciling on the side the words “For Recreational Use Only” and installing a refrigerator, air conditioner and heater, etc. The semi is a “condo” with two bunk beds, so by putting in a TV and DVD player almost all the amenities of home (other than the shower which is available in the trailer) were provided for the traveling partners. Each partner had his own “space” with K.C. (and wife Gayle when she’s along) residing in the live-in quarters of the trailer. It was almost like adding a mobile motel room to the rodeo rig.
On his maiden trip in the Freightliner, he called home to report that one of the greatest advantages he’d discovered was less fatigue. When you finish driving a shift, you can stand up, stretch, move around while the next guy drives, then take your turn for a restful sleep in one of the condo beds. In addition, the seats and steering wheel are made for the long haul providing more comfort with less back strain than a conventional pickup. The main drawback seemed to be the cost of the upkeep plus and a fill-up may costs more (especially with today’s high prices), although the 400 gallon tank allows one to take advantage of cheaper prices for a longer drive before filling up.
The truck was originally painted an emerald green with K.C.’s name stenciled in small letters by the driver’s side door, and across the back of the cab appeared the words, “Getting Paid to Play.” However, when “The Mirage” became one of K.C.’s sponsors, the trailer was wrapped totally in black. “The crew” (Toby, a close friend and sponsor in Decatur who owns Wise County Detail) insisted “Mean Green” have a black paint job, so K.C. acquiesced. He insisted, however, the words “Mean Green” still be added to the back of the cab and agreed to changing “Getting Paid to Play” to “Shifting Gears and Bull Dogging Steers.”
So “Mean Green” is on the road again and I can only guess what the odometer reads! But Toby’s crew performed magic on its workings, and I know the travelers will be a little less fatigued as they make the run from Decatur to Corpus Christi to Lufkin to Corpus Christi to Decatur to Guymon and back this couple of weeks.
Next column—the other half of the rodeo rig—“Black Betty,” the 2010 Sooner trailer Mean Green pulls. So, here’s to you and your rodeo rig headed down the road. May it always serve you well.
