Testostorama: Not Quite There Yet

The Holy Land of Manliness was the unspoken theme for Testostorama. This was the first year for the expo so it isn't perfect. I experienced many thoughts of "Oh that is so cool" and "Eh, I'm so underwhelmed." Testostorama had many cool things: cars, a camper trailer, boats, golf supplies, food, entertainment systems, motorcycles, bicycles, sky diving, scuba diving, basketball, and other assorted whatnot.

My biggest problem was too many things were purely on the wishlist level. Even if I had a real job I still wouldn't be able to afford most of the items on display. A 40' racing boat is expensive! $50,000 for a 20' runabout cruiser. Harley-Davidsons are very nice, but ordinary people can't really afford them anymore.

Things I would change for next year: try to have every display staffed at all times, including Sunday. As a vendor just pay the overtime to get someone out to the fairgrounds. Cars and boats are very large and take up lots of space. Perhaps tone down the auto displays a bit to get different things in. Perhaps bringing in aftermarket vendors for cars would for all the men who have project cars to work on. Bring in more outdoorsy stuff such as camping and hunting supplies. Some high end computer equipment would fit in I believe.

I did like the bars and TVs everywhere. I wasn't far from the Colts-Texans game on flat screen or High-Def TVs. I even snagged some free pizza. The most humorous item I found was a small, teardrop camper that I thought was cute. I realize "cute" isn't the best word to describe anything at Testostorama, but the Mellow Yellow accents on this little camper was cute. Definitely a bit minimalist (a portapotty, no black water tanks in this little baby) and the highest point on the inside was only 5'9" requiring me to tilt my head, but this camper was pretty impressive for the price. A dry weight of 1,453 lbs makes me wonder what the tow rating on the Mighty Green Ranger is. I know I could use a real vacation.

I challenge anyone to get more than 7 seconds on the mechanical bull. The saddle is a hard slippery plastic that doesn't allow any grip at all. No man or woman I saw lasted more than 7 seconds on that beast and it wasn't even violently swinging at that point. You just slipped off to the side.

In the spring does anyone want to go skydiving with me? You get an all day lesson then jump out of a perfectly good airplane with the assistance of two instructors.

I give the first year effort a solid B. Hopefully Testostorama will be back bigger and better for next year. Something needs to counterbalance the Flower and Patio show.