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Hello everyone. I'm writing this article a little earlier than usual because I'm going into the hospital Thursday Sept. 21 for a total hip replacement. So bare with me a little as some of what I have to say this month may touch you or may not. Sit back, drop your truck or car down, and hold on as we travel through my twisted life. September is a slow month in Georgia except for the Nopi Nationals or should I say the "Rice Nationals", as I like to call them now. This year I didn't pre-register so when we arrived Sat. morning, Brandi had to stand in line for 2 hours to get us registered. We were number 5816, I would say 4000 of those were your typical compacts. How many stickers can I stick on my car, and how loud can my exhaust get while I'm standing still? I'm so irritated at the whole Nopi show. For one, they should have a show one weekend focused on just trucks, and one the following weekend for the compacts. Basically let the racecars get together one weekend and the MiniTruckin' style together the following weekend. Most of the vendors don't even have stuff geared to us truckers. The biggest kicker of the whole deal, besides the outrageous price to get in, is that people get more pumped about you smoking tires than laying your ride out and dragging it from front to back. Oh the days when MiniTruckers had runs just for them and the big thing was to watch everyone battle for the rights of who was lowest, or who had the most members at the show. While I'm still on the subject of Nopi, I'd like to give props to Dave from Acrophobia from Florida with the F-150 full-size king cab that laid his truck down and drug it everywhere. Other vehicles that stuck out to me were the Nissan H-body with the frontier front clip, the teal Honda Civic hatch back that was totally shaved and had some badass modifications. The hood on this civic had 60 hr. worth of shaping the H into it, molded slots that resemble claws molded to the doors that open with it, molded ground effects, and leather interior to name just a few of the little things. There were others that impressed me such as the Eclipse that had Lamborghini style doors, Eric, from NC Florida, who brought his bad ass Taco up that is killer from front to back, and Kurt, from NC North Carolina, who brought his silver taco down that even though a solid color, it sticks out because it is super clean with lots of chrome. There were at least more trucks this year than last which was good.
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One of the other highlights of Nopi includes getting to meet some cool ass people who I had not met before. Phil Fowler; (Low Rollers) for those of you that don't know Phil, he's very funny and cool to be around, Tom (SubCulture), Mike Mock, Josh Long , Andrew , and JT TN came down and were cool. Ashton, it was cool to hang out with you again. If you're a single guy, Nopi has the ladies in abundance for you. One lady that stuck out in my memory was a woman that weighed probably 130 and about 5 foot 8 and 15 lb. of that weight had to be the fake rack she had sticking out with nipples on hard to boot, and no bra. On to my surgery. For those of you that don't know, my wife, son, and I were in a car accident back in Dec. of 1999 that shattered my pelvis in three places, and pretty much killed the ball in my right hip. We hope that after my hip replacement and some therapy, I won't have to have a walker or a cane to walk with. The word is I'll be out of work at least till Jan. 2001. I plan on writing my articles still and hope that you guys/gals continue to read it. I do get to have titanium put in me, which looks cool. For those of you that don't know the hip replacement consists of a titanium rod down into the thigh that's fitted, a plastic cup that the ball part of the rod goes into, and a cup placed up in the socket that holds the plastic cup that holds the rod. It's all cool looking. Another cool thing is that according to the doctor if I do both sides, he could make me taller...LOL. The thing that wears out usually is the plastic cup and the hope is that it lasts 10 years. I tell you all this because you never realize how much you need your arms and legs until you can't use them or you have to have help to use them such as a cane, walker, or wheelchair. Something you notice when you go from being a free moving person to someone that needs help, is do the people who park in the handicapped spots have the permits? Do they look like they need it? I, personally, don't have a permit to park in a handicapped spot. GA law would let me have one since I have to use a cane to walk but I feel like there are people out there that need it more than me. That doesn't mean I don't notice the people at Wal-Mart that park in a handicap with no permit, get out, walk fine, go in, and then you see them come back out with a bag that has mixed drink mix and stuff in it. I know you think I'm just bitching, but you think about the people that actually need those spots and would you want the physical problems they have? Would you want the pain they go through? I'll give you my pain if you want it. I have to take pain medicine everyday, most mornings just so I feel decent enough to get my son dressed for school. Just think about those people before you judge them and take their spots closer to the store.
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