A Truck Drivin' Man

I recently bought a used pick-up truck. My old Volvo needed some work and it gave me just the excuse I needed. Being used, the truck is still somewhat of a beater, although when my wife referred to it as such I took offense. (Too soon)

I've never owned a truck, so this is new to me. Driving a pickup is different, you feel different. To those that have trucks or have been driving them for years this may not make sense to you. For me though, it’s a brand new experience. I find myself using any excuse to throw something in the bed of the truck. Recycling? Toss it in the back. Have an old fence post? In the back. Shovel? Back..

I’ve been driving an old boxy Volvo sedan around like a college professor for the last couple of years so I’m trying to make up for lost time. No more NPR on the radio, or Save the Whales bumper stickers. Now I need an NRA sticker and some country music. (okay, NPR will probably stay on and the NRA sticker may look a bit silly on a Nissan)

My truck is small, it’s a 4 cylinder Nissan Frontier. That doesn’t stop me. I pull up to a traffic stop look over at the other trucks and nod. I’m sure they think I’m a crazy person, or may snicker at my little Japanese vehicle but it doesn’t bother me, I’m one of them now.

There are a few things I will miss about the old Volvo. The safety of driving a tank, the, uh...okay the safety. That is probably the only selling point I have. The car was so old and heavy you could hear it gulping down the gas. The truck is a 5 speed gas sipper that probably weighs half of what the brick did.

There are some things I'm going to have to expect now as a truck owner, the most obvious is the favors. Everybody knows that one friend with a truck, He's the first one you call on moving day, or when you've bought new furniture or appliances that cannot be delivered. Maybe you have some junk to haul away to the dump. That's okay, I'll come by in my old trusty truck and help out.

My wife is on board with the truck. She thinks it will come in handy, and it will. One small issue has her a little worried. My love of a great deal. She has caught me eyballing items set out on the curb to be hauled away. It's not like I'm trying to bring home new furniture, at least not for the living room. We have an unfinished basement and from time to time I may see a shelf or workbench that may be suitable for it.

Just like the show auction hunters, I see myself finding the big score in an old container or under a musty tarp.. I'm sure it's not as lucrative as what what is shown on tv, but one can dream, right? .So many times I've gotten home and told my wife about a piece of furniture that needed a tiny bit of restoration, if only I had had a way to pick it up. Now I do have a way and I think she's a little afraid of what might be in the bed of that truck the next time I pull into the driveway.