By Jon Maib
As we move into the spring time, it's time for off-road shows to begin ramping up. Off-road shows are a great way to meet other enthusiast, meet and talk with different vendors that are at the show and provide you with the opportunity to see some other cool rigs.

This year events has been no exception. We have made it out to 3 auto / off-road shows already and are looking forward to more. Our show season kicked off with an all new show located in Conroe Texas and was the first time event for even the venue. We joined many Jeepers at the 1st Annual Lone Star Jeep Invasion. This was a Jeep only event and had almost every model Jeep present; from old CJ's to the latest JL builds. Thousands of Jeepers came from all over to see what the event had to offer.

There were roughly about 20 or so vendors that showed up for the event as well. From our friends over at iDrive, JTops USA, Vinyl Customz and Signz and the JEPR App to the team from PCS Motorsports. Was a great opportunity to talk with the vendors about their products and to even get 'show' pricing on their products. Of course there was a Jeep show and shine as well. There were a ton of Jeeps that signed up for this. They ranged from old beaters to fully decked out show Jeeps.

The Lone Star Jeep Invasion, while starting a little small, turned out to be a great event. We expect it to expand as it begins to grow, but like all new events, it takes time to become big. So get your calendar updated for the 2nd Annual Lone Star Jeep Invasion, March 21-22nd, 2020.

Speaking of events that continue to grow as they go on, one of our favorite events to attend is the annual Unlimited Off-Road Show at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX. The UORS is now on its 3rd year and keeps getting better and better in our book. This event has it all, Jeeps, trucks, buggies, UTVs and even stuff for the kiddos! Unfortunately for this year, there was a threat of bad weather making Saturday's event kind of a wash for vendors and participants. While there were a ton of vendors, a lot to do, not to many people showed up due to the threat of rain. But, that didn't stop the brave, the warriors, the hard core to get out there to see what the show had to offer. With the UORS, each year they create an off-road obstacle course which changes each year making it something you always want to play on.

This year, we had the opportunity to have our Jeep TJ in Atturo Tires booth. We were also supposed to have our Project Vulture with its all new dual rate springs in Skyjacker's booth, but due to it getting rear-ended a few weeks prior, we were not able to make it. If you haven't checked out the lineup of Atturo Tires, be sure and check them out. We run the Trail Blade Boss tires and love the way they perform. Atturo was also sponsoring ride alongs in rock buggies / Ultra 4 trucks cladded in the Boss tires as well. We got a ride in one with (ENTER NAME) and let us just tell you, if you were there and didn't get a ride, you missed out!

We like to head down to the Dallas Auto Show each year to see whats new in the car/truck world. Of course, we were especially excited to go and lay eyes on the Jeep Gladiator for the first time. Unfortunately, the Dallas Auto Show only had one on display and had it blocked off so we couldn't climb in and check out all the cool features. We can say that while we wish they would have gone many different ways with the actual build, over all, we still like it. More to come on the Gladiator when we can actually get our hands on one. One of the interesting things we found was the Prototype 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser. This isn't the Land Cruiser of the past. Toyota has gone the way of the standard SUV and somehow lost sight of the Cruiser legacy. While it doesn't look like anything exciting, it still sports the off-road capability of a Land Cruiser. Toyota stuffed this family SUV with a 381hp 5.7 V8, 8 speed electronically controlled auto trans feeding a versatile full time 4WD system. You will get a 2 speed transfer case for dropping into 4 low when you onto the dirt. The Land Cruiser 'Heritage' is basically designed to be roughing it in luxury.