Good News and Bad News

Hello blog. I have some good news, and I have some bad news....which do you want first?


The bad news? Alright, here it goes: my truck is quite ill. My truck, my beautiful battle-wagon, my charming chariot, my steady steed! Right now, my truck lies in the ICU at Carl's Automotive -- the best goddam mechanic in Boise -- on life support. Her guts are all exposed! She's hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires! She's plugged into machines that monitor her vitals and go "beep." I just hate to see her like this. It's getting close to that point where I need to make a decision: how much is too much? When do I pull the pin? All things die -- perhaps most of all the things that were only given life by our attachments to them.

So while my car was in the hospital, there was a race I had to attend. Carl, my knight in shining armor of Carl's Auto Repair, offered to let me use his old Isuzu Trooper to get me there and back. I'll say, when it comes to loaner cars, this one kicked ass.

It felt a little bit like driving a gigantic cardboard box, especially when it'd get hit with a stout crosswind on the freeway. The trooper would pitch back and forth like an old boat on rough seas, but old boats get old because they're sea-worthy, and this Trooper felt as sea-worthy (or road-worthy) as can be. Another nice thing about the Trooper is that it had plenty of room for cargo. Notice my lack of a need for careful packing:

Two frames and six wheels? The Trooper opened wide and swallowed it all whole, maybe not understanding why or how all that stuff got in there, but accepting the situation all the same, like a pelican swallowing a pigeon (beware: the following video shows a pelican eating a pigeon, which is slightly shocking).



If you are like me, you hold my truck close to your heart, and you'll want to cross your fingers tight, and hope that my truck pulls through this tough time. If you're not like me...well...whatever...live long and prosper anyway, man. Or something.

For now, I'll just transport you back to better times, when my truck roamed the northwest like a horribly lost Lewis and Clark, back and forth from the inland planes of Idaho, to the shimmering sea of Seattle, to the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Hood (and back and forth again, many times over).