Gratitude: My 200,000 Mile Truck

Today, I am grateful for:

My 1998, GMC pickup truck, which just passed 200,000 miles of service (actually 200,350 at this moment) with nary a whimper. It's been a good truck for lo' these 16 years and like so many people in my age group, it hasn't aged the way you'd have imagined. The old girl is still mighty pretty, I think.

She's basically my age, in truck years, and has had some of the same malfunctions, all due to age. Where my knee wore out, her AC went. While I'm having some trouble with cholesterol and blood pressure, her wheels wore down to the nub and had to be replaced. It's one thing after another, just like me, but she's entirely too valuable to replace and I wouldn't get much for what dealers say she's worth.

When I originally leased the truck--and opted to buy it three years later--my brother, Paul, who arranged the deal, said this, "You shouldn't have to ever do much to this truck but put gas in it and change the oil regularly. The engine's a little too small [4-cylinder] to be efficient, but it's a tough little truck and should serve you well." He was right.

In all the years I've driven her, she's only been dinged once: the truck that was moving me when Christina and I split ran into the tailgate and crumbled it at a traffic light. The little incident paid for the move.

I've driven pickup trucks since 1976 when I bought my bicentinnial Mother Truck, a mid-sized Chevy that served me well for a lot of years. I learned very quickly that one does not own a pickup truck; he simply looks after it until somebody wants to move something and then he gives it up for a day or two, very often being thrown into service as a physical mover, as well.

I learned with my GMC (who has never had a name) that an extend cab is a real blessing, especially if it has a jump seat and the proprietor of the pickup has a grandkid or two. The extend well holds all kinds of stuff and the little fold down seat holds Maddie.

Thanks, truck. I hope you have another 200,000 in you ... and I hope I do, too.