The Quiet Season After SEMA: Parking the Truck and Planning the Build

AS SEEN IN OUR MARCH 2026 ISSUE – Buy Now!

The Familiar Ritual of Parking the Truck and Gearing Up for a New Year

SEMA always feels like both a sprint and a reunion rolled into one event. You spend days running on too much coffee and not enough sleep, bouncing between booths, shaking hands, and catching up with people you only see once a year. You get reminded that the diesel world is still very much alive with ideas flying, builds everywhere, and companies pushing forward instead of slowing down. Every year I leave SEMA tired in the best way, carrying this strange mix of burnout and inspiration that only the automotive industry seems capable of giving people.

Then I come home to Wisconsin, and the air hits differently. The cold settles in. The days get shorter. The calendar says winter is coming, and the weather forecast agrees. I find myself doing the same ritual I do every year. I park the truck in its winter home, throw the battery tender on it, and start planning to install the mountain of parts I’ve collected during the summer.

When I say a mountain, I mean it. There’s an entire shelf of parts for the LBZ in the storage unit—some big, some small, but all full of plans I made during the warm months and never got around to seeing through. See, that’s the funny thing about winter. It forces you into this quiet season where you finally have the time to give your truck the attention it deserved back in July. The world slows down, the roads get salty, and suddenly installing those parts becomes a way of staying connected to something you love, even if you are not out driving.

I always think I’ll make a dent in that pile right away, but the truth is, I like easing into it. There is something grounding about working slowly when the rest of the year is spent running quickly. The garage becomes warmer than the weather outside, and it creates a place to think, reflect, and prepare for the year ahead. Every bolt turned is a step toward the next season, and every finished task feels like a little promise you make to yourself about the year ahead.

That is where my head is right now. SEMA is behind me. Winter is settling in. The truck is about to get parked and torn apart. But 2026 is already looking like it is going to be one of the best years yet. I can feel it. Maybe it is the stack of parts, maybe it’s the buzz coming out of Vegas, or maybe it is just the simple truth that a new year always brings a new chance to build something better.

Either way, the quiet season is here. Time to get to work.

Dustin a.k.a. @Dusti_LBZ

PHOTO BY TUCKER HARRIS