My schedule is going to be all screwy this week as I am traveling for work.

Headin’ to Louisville for the ICUEE show (International Construction & Utility Equipment Expo), then through West Virgina to show off the TOMCAR to a couple resorts and then ending the weekend at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in PA for the launch of the first “TOMCAR Tactical Training Center“.

Should be a good week. A long week, but good all the same.

Let’s see if we can get some good bacon on this trip

So last Wednesday, Boss man and I jumped into his plane and flew out to Hartford, Connecticut to attend the Connecticut SWAT Challenge.

SWAT - you know, the one where a non-descript black cube van appears out of nowhere and suddenly your house is swarmed with police with big guns and riot gear.  Yes, that SWAT.

It was pretty impressive, not gonna lie.  I got to watch a few of challenge course scenarios and these guys mean business, even during “friendly” competition.

Anywhoo…our Business Development Manager for the east coast worked a spot for us in this show.

We showed off both of our TOMCAR TM5’s, our current standard model (in the green) and our base military platform.  We had real good response to the cars and all and all it was a good show.

But wait – there is more…after the jump… [Read more →]

I awoke on Day 4 with limited range of motion in my left shoulder, cramped hands, stiff knees and the knowledge that I was headin’ back out on the trail.

Given the difficulty of the “Cliffhanger” trail, I was determined to drive on a trail that I could just relax  and take it easy on.  One group of our party was going on “Chicken Corner“.  “Chicken Corner“, now that even SOUNDS like a easy trail.  I figured I’d take that trial with the rest of the team…ah but they had something else in mind.  I was to drive “Devil’s Revenge“.

Seriously, “Devil’s Revenge” featuring such obsticles as “Hell’s Gate” and “The Escalator“.  Oh, I was NOT happy!!!  But, I know that we really needed to split up so we could show off the TOMCAR’s capabilities to as many people as possible, so I sucked it up! 

Fortunately, I had a more seasoned driver with me on the trail.  JR is the son of our dealer in Orange County and has been off-roading for several years.  I knew if I had a problem, I could always just give him the wheel.  That put me a little more at ease.

Well it turns out the “Devil’s Revenge” wasn’t that bad of a trial.  It was PERFECT for our car and I only wish our group wasn’t so large so that we could have opened up the throttle a little.  By the end of the day, my confidence had improved and I was drifting through sand dunes.  The major difference from “Cliffhanger” was that the obsticles on “Hell’s Revenge” were OPTIONAL!  Everything on “Cliffhanger” you had to get through to keep moving and in one specific instance you either did it or you were going off the side of the mountain.

I left the course that day feeling good (even my body had loosened up a bit).  We had a successful three days showing off our great vehicle, I saw some incredible scenery and met some real good, honest people.  Here’s to next year!

Coming Wednesday, photos and video from the UTV Rally.

I slept like a baby, but woke up on day three like an 90 year old man.  I couldn’t rotate my shoulder, couldn’t put ANY weight on my elbow, knees creaked…UGH!  Still, I put my clothes on and got out to our staging area right on time.

Turned out that the night before one of the TOMCAR’s shreded a belt and it snapped off a chunk of the cars control panel (I think that’s what it was called…LOL).  Not feeling comfortable putting that out on a trail, we were down to three cars.  That left myself and another of our Business Development Managers – Gary – with out a car.  So instead of waiting around for everyone, we headed out to the Arches National Park. 

This place was just breathtaking.  We didn’t have a lot of time, so we just drove through the park and mostly took pictures from the truck window.  It’s a place that goes back on my list though…something to bring Lil’ Baird too…

After we finished our run through the park, I got back to the hotel and got a few things done for work and then headed back out.  But instead of going straight back to the staging area, I fell into a tourist trap and went to the “Hole N” the Rock“.

The  “Hole N” the Rock” was a diner that was built in the 40’s into the side of a giant sandstone formation.  Along with the diner, the proprietors blasted their home as well.

I paid the $5.00 and took the 12 minute tour.  Yeah, I know, sucker!  But seriously, why wouldn’t I???  House blasted into the side of a mountain…don’t tell me you aren’t the least bit curious…

We closed the day with a great dinner at the Moab Brewery.  No bacon for dinner, but some great Tri-Tip and corn bread!

So that was Day 3.  Day 4 would prove to be more of a challenge…

First, I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful the country is here in Moab.  It seemed that around EVERY turn we another incredible view!

Now with that out of the way…

Here’s was my quote of the day, and needless to say it was also the understatement of the day as well,

“So, this is an intermediate trail?”

I am an off-road novice.  This was only my second time out on terrain in our TOMCAR.  I was set up on a trail called “Cliffhanger” with one of our Business Development Managers – Chuck.  Let’s just say Chuck is more mechanically skilled than I and it turned out we would need those skills late in the day. 

We started rather well with a couple of steep downhills that the car just glided over…then approached our first hill.  I watched everyone else take it and then followed the line and in no time, I was up the hill!  Cool…we can do this…confidence brewing…

Well that confidence continued to be tested as we ran over all sorts of terrain and then I hit a wall…literally.  I didn’t follow the line right on a climb and hit hard against the rock with my shoulder taking the full force of the hit,  OUCH!  We had to switch drivers then and poor Chuck had to handle some even tougher climbs.  Through the rest of the first half of the trail we’d pop a tire and bend a tie rod end, but we got over EVERYTHING! 

When we got half way, we were told that the trail didn’t loop, but we were going on how we came in.  Oh, oh.  I took back over the driving and on our first climb, I bent another tie rod end.  It was then that everyone in our group decided that we had to take it easy just to make sure we could get home.  The car still handled very well, but we weren’t going to “cowboy” it to run up some of the steep climbs on the way out.  While it hurt my pride a bit, we tied off and were either towed or winched up the more extreme climbs.

We got on the trail at 10:45 am.  We got back to camp at 6:00 pm.  It was a LONG day.  Every muscle in my hands, my shoulders and my left elbow (every hard hit would drive my arm back into the cars frame, smashing my elbow) were throbbing.  This was a difficult trail and it took it’s toll on my body and the TOMCAR’s but both of us got showered off, fixed up and were up and ready the next morning!

Some great video and photos coming soon!

Just over a week ago, the place where I used to work, Fathead (makers of dynamic, high quality, life-like wall graphics of athletes, team logos and entertainment properties ) began selling Fathead Customs, allowing you to upload your favorite photos and get them made into Fatheads.

This caused me to raise an eyebrow.  When I was with Fathead, we always had quality concerns with producing one-off images. 

Fatheads were produced through traditional off-set printing with a “stamped” die-cut.  Print On Demand meant finding a digital option with a laser die-cut.  A lot of companies sprung up provding this service, but when we’d order a sample from them, you could tell that our product was just that much superior…so now Fathead seemed to have all of this worked out?  Color me intrigued.

Well, the office space at TOMCAR has plenty of blank walls so why not get me a TOMCAR Fathead? 

So, following there on-line instructions, this is what I uploaded to Fathead:

 How’d it turn out?  See after the jump… [Read more →]

What a day…pushing midnight on the east coast and I am just now getting situated in my hotel.

I’ve got another “I’m an Idiot” story to share..but after being up for 20 hours, I just don’t have the strength tonight.

I am in Moab for the 3rd Annual UTV Rally.  TOMCAR brought 5 cars up to take on the trails, give demo rides and just show off…our first ride is tomorrow morning at 10:30 and I can not wait.  I brought my Flip so we’ll get some good video of just how much our car ROCKS!

I will tell you what – this is some gorgeous country!

More tomorrow, have a great night!

Day two in New Orleans and it was a good one.

The show we are at for TOMCAR didn’t open until 12:30 pm, so it gave us time to sleep in a bit from Bourbon St. the night before.  We still got to the Convention Center around 11:00 am and had plenty of time to detail the cars and just make sure everything was in place.  The cars showed real well and we had a lot of interest throughout the day.

Surprising to me was lunch in the exhibit hall.  They had a sausage and chicken gumbo in the buffet line and I got to tell you, it was terrific. It turns out that the gumbo was just a small taste of the Cajun cuisine we’d be eating that day!

[Read more →]

Ah, New Orleans!  Even in April you can cut the air with a knife.

Well, it wasn’t that bad, just this Michigan boy wasn’t ready for it.  I especially wasn’t ready for it at load in with the expo hall open to the elements.  We just had a small piece of truss to put up by the time I got there and I think I lost 10 pounds in water weight.  Other than that, set up went great and we were out of there in no time.

So what to do Saturday afternoon in New Orleans?  Why, eat and drink of course.

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Well, technically not walkin’ but jumpin’ on a jet plane that is going to Philly then down to NOLA.

Working a show for TOMCAR in The Big Easy…by the time this “robo-posts” I be in the air.

Lookin’ forward to a stop on Bourbon St.  I haven’t been there since my Minor League Baseball days…actually that’s a good story… I was about three weeks in at my new job as Asst. GM of the Peoria Chiefs.  We headed to NOLA for the Baseball Winter Meetings (always a good time).  It was our first night in the city and we went to Pat O’Brien’s for Hurricanes.  My boss (name withheld to protect the innocent) drank so many Hurricanes that when he got sick in the middle of the night, he thought he was pukin’ blood.  True story.  He did not come out of his room for 48 hours after that evening.  First trip with the boss – good times, good times…

So anyhoo…I’ll be tweeting from the city during the duration (thru Tuesday) so check me out at Twitter or just peek at the feed in the right column.  I’ll also be trying to get a post or two in…

Have a great weekend!