Well, the rest of the ride to Holland was sweet. I went upstairs in the bus, claimed one of the dozen or so sleeper berths and woke up parked outside our hotel in downtown Arnhem the next morning. Evidently I got smuggled through German customs, because the bus stopped twice and I never budged.

Arnhem is the biggest stop on the tour in a lot of different ways. It’s the biggest floor, the most trucks, the most staff, and the most fans. Three stadium shows in two days is something that’s rarely done in the states, much less in Europe. So we all had a lot on our plates, and for the first time on the tour I jumped on the fleet side of things, crewing for George Balhan and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Some of the club guys we had in Zurich warned me that Holland is known throughout Europe for its’ bad food. This was the place that served the “white hot dogs” last year, or so I was told. All of our meals on work days are catered, and maybe it’s a good thing I only made it to one meal all weekend. We frequented the McDonald’s next door and within walking distance of our hotel was Domino’s, Subway, and the Nashville Steakhouse where we ate every night. Eating this week wasn’t as big a challenge as it will be in other weeks.

We began move-in at the Gelredome on Wednesday. Turtle was “pre-showed” before it left the shop in North Carolina so it came out of the container pretty close to race ready. That volunteered me for displays. Friday I was wide-loaded to Rotterdam to do a display in the morning and then rushed back for another display a few miles from the building.
 

European wide load.

Turtle display in Rotterdam.

I talked about something I didn’t expect all day: Las Vegas. It turns out Monster Jam has been airing regularly in Holland and nearly every kid that I talked to asked me about Las Vegas and Dennis Anderson and Tom Meents and the gang from Monster Jam. Another interesting thing, most people come up and say “Wow, that’s a big car!” Pick-up trucks and SUVs are nearly non-existent in Europe and when we say we race monster trucks, some people think we race big rigs that are very popular over here.
 

Grave Digger crew chief Jesse Barden prepares Charlie Pauken's good luck charms before competition.

Anyway, onto the shows. Three crowds packed the Gelredome to the roof and watched Adam Anderson run away with all three racing victories. The Arnhem event also saw the addition of Trey Myers and the Psycho jet quad, who will be on the rest of the tour with us. It’s way cool having him around.
 

Trucks lined up for introductions in Arnhem.

Arnhem Pit Party.

Our containers were loaded and ready to go Sunday night and some hot Domino’s in the hotel lobby hit the spot. Monday we slept in and took the hour train ride to Amsterdam to walk around and take in the sights. The bus left the hotel Tuesday afternoon for a two hour ride to Antwerp, Belgium.
 

- Andrew Palochko
 

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