Guest Blogger 4-27-17

    

The Old Truck

Once upon a time it was "the new truck." It was 1982, and we were newlyweds buying gas with bottle return money and living on hamburger and Rice-a-Roni (when it was on sale). The little truck was a 1981 4x4 tan jobber, with a camper shell. It was a return from someone who found out they were having a kid and needed a station wagon instead.

And once upon a time after that, it was just "the truck." To differentiate it from the cars that paraded through our lives, of course. There was always only one truck.

Until late 1999, when we bought the Tundra. That was when our first joint vehicle purchase became "the old truck."

For all this time, we've had the Tundra, the old truck, and the car.

Today, we have only the Tundra and the car. Our old truck has gone to find a new home. While the truck with the distinctive stripe is gone, the memories remain:

 - The time we went fishing and the bait bucket tipped over, dumping a dozen flopping minnows in the floorboards. We didn't find them all, as we discovered within a couple of days --- the smell lasted quite awhile.

 - The time we transported a cactus (I think it was a barrel cactus, about four feet high) on its side in the back. Note to self: never transport cactus on carpeting.

 - The time we went four wheeling with our dog, Ressu. He stood brace-legged on the toolbox in the back (the pass-through was open) until we hit one whoop-de-do and the toolbox flew into the air and came down with a crash. The dog flew in the air, too -- but he landed in the front seat with us.

 - The time stranded on the road just outside of Santa Nella -- with a camper full of birds.

 - The time someone broke into it and tried to hotwire it -- the wrong way.

 - The time the alternator light was on for four days -- and then the headlights dimmed and went out on my way to work.

There were good times, too; trips and conversations and dependable drives to work and loaning it out to someone whose vehicle was sick. We probably put well over 300,000 miles on it. I'm going to miss that old truck.

Copyright 2014 Michelle Hakala
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