Thursday, July 31, 2008

DEATH OF A PICKUP

It came suddenly, but it came as no surprise.

The aging process had caught up with it. It was spending too much time and too much money in the shop.

Tuesday afternoon I needed to run some errands at lunch. I drove home. I grabbed a few items. I drove about two blocks away from the house, then KUH-CHUNK. I could not shift from one gear to another. I turned off the ignition and the stick shift moved. I turned the ignition on again and the stick shift would not move. I turned the ignition off again, placed the stick into first gear, started the engine and pulled alongside the curb.

I walked home, called a towing service, called my mechanic, and then returned to work. I feared the repair costs would exceed the value of the pickup. I was right. The truck will be towed from the mechanic’s lot tomorrow and will be crushed with a car crusher.

Meanwhile, I have been riding my bicycle to work.


The pickup in happier times was used to transport a high school marching band freshman to football games. It was also used once to display a political bumper sticker. (October 2004).






The pickup transported picnic tables and benches and a rototiller to Beaverton with a driver who drove with appendicitis (May 2006).


The bed of the pickup provided a play area and . . .


. . . a dance floor for three energetic boys (October 2006).



The pickup transported an antique rocking chair during an annual Pumpkin Patch visit (October 2007).


The pickup’s final trip to Beaverton provided a rototilled garden and a bicycle ride for a grandfather and his two Beaverton grandsons (May 2008).





GMC SONOMA PICKUP

1991-2008

1 comment:

BETHANY said...

All three boys look so young in that "dancing in the truck" pic!!