Upwardly Mobile Solution (Part 2) or My Baby Takes Her Top Off

In the tradition of Star Wars, and largely due to laziness and the lack of good photo taking light past 6:30, I’m telling this tale backasswards. This is my solution to my upwardly mobile dilemma, my last stand against the decent folk. In short, my vehicle is no longer the crappiest on the block. But I will dwell upon the motivations behind my extravagant purchase in fine detail later…for now…let us get to the bragging.

This is my new truck. Mine (not Kira’s). I have wanted this for a long time, and finally I went out and got one. Sure it guzzles gas at an astounding rate of three times what the Firefly does, but could you haul 2 bales of peat, 120 litres of shrimp- compost, and 100 litres of top soil in a single load in the Firefly. No, a resounding No.

Ironically, back about four months, Kira and I were walking around the neighbourhood of my friends Mike and Kara’s new house, looking at the houses with the nice gardens. In the driveway of the house with the nicest garden sat a little red Nissan 4x4 pickup, with a canopy, and I remarked “what a nice garden, I want a truck just like that one”. Well, on Friday, after a hectic spree of test driving and trips to the bank, I now own that precise truck.

For those of you who care about details, it’s a 1993 Nissan 4x4 King Cab Hard -Body SE. The SE means that it has power windows, locks, and a sunroof (but strangely no cup holders…will I ever own a vehicle with cup holders???). The canopy was an added bonus, although topless trucks are more practical, and currently the canopy is sitting on Mike’s lawn. With only 215000 sweet KMs on her, this vehicle is next to new in my books. She seems sea worthy and flaws are hard to find (although Kira made the comment that the brakes seemed stiff…by stiff I believe she meant that her foot did not have to travel all the way to the floor to induce stopping). The biggest flaw I can find is all that power stuff, and the fact that it is an automatic.

I didn’t bargain hard, but the compromise of $7250 from $7500, along with the tax evasion deal where he wrote down that he sold it for $3500, means that when you factor in the governments tax grab on the vehicle, I paid only what I would have for a $7000 truck (Jeff will be able to figure this little scam out for you dear sis). It also came with a half tank of gas (priceless these days), and a complete set of spare wheels with alloy rims (installed this very evening).

So now I cruise in style. A mere 1 day of ownership and I had her loaded with bicycles for my epic 10 hour annual ride from Mount Washington, across Forbidden Plateau, and then down into Cumberland. With sore legs and gootch, I sat in her on the way home, too tired to drive, but comfortable in the knowledge that the bed was loaded to the gills with shrubs and border perennials, donated from a friend of Kira’s family with ailing hips.

I think she sets off my garden nicely…both a tool and a decoration.