The trucker and country festival has a special charm, and at its 37th edition, it was no exception. The run has lost none of its tensile strength. "Toni", as anton strohofer is known in the trucking scene, had called and once again tens of thousands of visitors and around 700 truckers with their trucks answered his call. Over the course of four days, the truckers celebrated a huge party and relaxed away from the stress on the highways.
Geiselwind is a must
"We have been here for 21 years, we can't imagine our calendar without geiselwind," said thorsten ditterich, who together with his brother ralf ditterich is head of a transport service company. They also attend trucker meetings in bergbad steben and lichtenfels, "but with the dimension and the supporting program, geiselwind is number one in the scene," emphasized thorsten ditterich. And: "here we meet a lot of buddies and maintain long grown friendships."
Over whitsun in geiselwind, truckers can switch off for a change and not be stressed by construction sites and traffic jams – nor are they under the deadline pressure that rushes them in everyday life. Over the course of four days, the hummi captains fell in love, fired up the barbecue, had a few beers and let their hair down.
The truckers enjoyed socializing and making friends, in contrast to the hard day-to-day life they mostly spend alone in their trucks.
The fact that the driver's house has long since become a second living room for many people was demonstrated by many examples. One guy polished the rims of his 40-ton truck to a high gloss, the next guy loved to play his music system in an unbelievable and audience-pleasing way, and some of them got a glimpse into their driver's house. With light effects, lined with fine fabrics and carpets, and kept in a very personal style, some truckers have made it their second living room.
Job as passion
For many, the job of a professional driver has become a passion, and some even see themselves as ambassadors, like freight forwarder matthias meixner from leutenbach in upper franconia. On his truck you can read in rough letters "frankische schweiz – unsere heimat" and the basilica gobweinstein adorns the driver's cab of his picture-perfect semitrailer truck.
Meixner sees himself as an ambassador for his home country and has spent a lot of money to have the rough semitrailer airbrushed by hummers become a work of art. The second important component besides the truckers and their heavy duty vehicles is the country music in geiselwind.
On the stage in the multifunctional hall of the strohofers, the bands of the country music scene joined hands and stars like tom astor sang the truckers' hearts out with their sensitive songs.
The international trucker-magazine fernfahrer was there with a stand, as well as promotion-teams of mercedes-trucks or michelin. Those who ventured into the demo driver's house at the stand of the trade association for traffic stood on their heads, because this driver's house turned on its own axis.
What the heart desires
Whitsun festival offered everything the heart of asphalt cowboys desires. On the landing many traders with cowboy hats, leather clothes and other accessories waited for the pale faces.
Meanwhile, on the meadows high above the festival area, the red hats and their squaws had pitched their tents. In the music hall, model making enthusiasts got their money's worth, with the interessengemeinschaft funktionsmodellbau main-rhon presenting their joystick-controlled model trucks in 1:33 scale.