pickups

I officially retired a few years ago, actually when I turned 65.

My trusty 1992 Chevy pickup was nearing the end of it’s easy life, with 240,000 miles. I knew large repairs were ahead, so I decided that the best thing to do was to buy a new pickup.

I went shopping. The new version of my trusty Chevy has 20 more horse power, for some vanity reasons I guess, but the killer was that it got 2 or 3 mpg less that my old one.

The Ford people just laughed at me. The idea of buying a Chevy (“It’s a piece of junk”) was horrible to them, but they made no offer to help me find a Ford that would fill my needs.

Then we stopped at the Dodge store. Before it was over I was the owner of a new Dodge pickup.

My theory, which you can argue with easily, is to buy as new as possible, and to drive the whole life out of the vehicle. If it fits your needs and if you like it why not. Miriam’s little car (I bought it for her 55th birthday) is 16 years old now and still goes right along.

So the idea was that if we had to be reduced to one vehicle a pickup would be the most versatile rig for us.

One point I did not anticipate. Gas was a buck and a half a gallon when I bought the Dodge. Now it is “down” to $3.75.

My what a difference that makes.