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Boonville —
At Midway Auto Truck Plaza, site of a new reality television show, evidence exists that if you film it, they will come.
Geno Gauger, owner of the Under the Gun Tattoos, which has locations at the truck stop and in Boonville, said business has tripled since Truck Stop Missouri started airing on Travel Channel.
"There's kind of a misconception that they make Missouri people look bad, but the people that are coming through the truck stop are coming from out of state, out of the country," Gauger said.
The show about life at the truck stop off of Exit 121 on Interstate 70 debuted in July and has aired weekly. The publicity has helped the entire truck stop, and people now visit the truck stop for its own sake, rather than for an event held there or a quick pit stop.
"Before, people came because of a horse show or other event," said Bechtold, who also owns property in Boonville. "Now we have a whole new segment of people coming just because they are into the show."
Bechtold said Gauger is unaffected by the presence of cameras.
"From what I've seen on the show is basically that with Geno, there's no acting there," Bechtold said.
Gauger worked at the truck stop as an employee of a now defunct tattoo parlor and left a few years ago to start his own business in Boonville. Business declined after Gauger left, and months before the reality television show opportunity was presented, the Midway Auto Truck Plaza owner approached Gauger about reopening a tattoo parlor there.
"My guess is tattoos are kind of a personal thing," Joe Bechtold, owner of the truck stop said. " If you are buying a soda, a soda is a soda, but tattoos, the personality people take to the thing is important."
Gauger received his first tattoo when he was 12 years-old and started inking others when he was 14. When he started, he said the conception was if you had a tattoo, you "were in prison, the military or a sailor" but the form of expression has become more mainstream, and he now works on doctors and lawyers.
Bechtold said he approached an older couple wearing church clothes, eating at the truck stop restaurant, and the wife asked him if Gauger was in. He jokingly asked her if she wanted a tattoo. She said yes and showed him two she already had on her arm.
"They've shown Geno in one scene with a granny doing a tattoo and in another scene with a young girl, and I think his personality with both of them comes through," Bechtold said.
At Midway Auto Truck Plaza, site of a new reality television show, evidence exists that if you film it, they will come.
Geno Gauger, owner of the Under the Gun Tattoos, which has locations at the truck stop and in Boonville, said business has tripled since Truck Stop Missouri started airing on Travel Channel.
"There's kind of a misconception that they make Missouri people look bad, but the people that are coming through the truck stop are coming from out of state, out of the country," Gauger said.
The show about life at the truck stop off of Exit 121 on Interstate 70 debuted in July and has aired weekly. The publicity has helped the entire truck stop, and people now visit the truck stop for its own sake, rather than for an event held there or a quick pit stop.
"Before, people came because of a horse show or other event," said Bechtold, who also owns property in Boonville. "Now we have a whole new segment of people coming just because they are into the show."
Bechtold said Gauger is unaffected by the presence of cameras.
"From what I've seen on the show is basically that with Geno, there's no acting there," Bechtold said.
Gauger worked at the truck stop as an employee of a now defunct tattoo parlor and left a few years ago to start his own business in Boonville. Business declined after Gauger left, and months before the reality television show opportunity was presented, the Midway Auto Truck Plaza owner approached Gauger about reopening a tattoo parlor there.
"My guess is tattoos are kind of a personal thing," Joe Bechtold, owner of the truck stop said. " If you are buying a soda, a soda is a soda, but tattoos, the personality people take to the thing is important."
Gauger received his first tattoo when he was 12 years-old and started inking others when he was 14. When he started, he said the conception was if you had a tattoo, you "were in prison, the military or a sailor" but the form of expression has become more mainstream, and he now works on doctors and lawyers.
Bechtold said he approached an older couple wearing church clothes, eating at the truck stop restaurant, and the wife asked him if Gauger was in. He jokingly asked her if she wanted a tattoo. She said yes and showed him two she already had on her arm.
"They've shown Geno in one scene with a granny doing a tattoo and in another scene with a young girl, and I think his personality with both of them comes through," Bechtold said.
