A Man and His Truck

There is something about a man and his truck. 

Hubby is not an extravagant person.  He doesn't care if his clothes have little insignia on them or if he has all the latest "guy" toys.  The product of depression era parents, he is very conservative.  Our farm abounds in examples of his "make do" attitude with left-overs from one project being used in another endeavor.  The one place he gets a little carried away is his truck. 

His current truck was bought after extensive research,  computer searches, test drives, dealership visits, and "brain picking" of everyone he met.  (Remember the great tractor hunt?  So you know he gets a little obsessive when he is actually going to part with a chunk of change.)  We literally visited dealerships in four states when he was deciding on his current truck.  It was successful, because he loves his truck. 

Trucks are a little different now from the ones I learned to drive on (yes, they did have trucks when I was 16!)  This truck has more gadgets and gizmos than a rocket ship.  He can call anyone in his phone book by just asking nicely.  He has a camera that shows him his rearview as he backs up (nice for not backing into trailers),  satellite radio that gets hundreds of channels (he listens to the local AM station), heated seats, remote start,  and power mirrors (so he can fit into the garage).  There is one more thing that pickup trucks have over the fancy cars.  Cup holders.  There must be three cup holders for each seat.  They are in the console, the doors, on the dash--everywhere.  The only thing I can figure, is that guys obviously drink more than girls!

Did I mention that he loves his truck?

Case in point.  We were getting ready for a little road trip and because we were taking some things to our daughter we decided to drive the truck.  I'm in charge of all the packing, getting the house ready to leave, and setting up pet care.  He does the farm chores and gets everything caught up at work. While he is at work, I'll usually load the various plunder we are taking with us, so we are ready for a quick get-away that afternoon.  The night before he asked, "Are you going to the gym in the morning?'  Wondering a little why he cares, I answer, "I probably won't have time. Why?"   "Well," he responds, " I thought I would take the car tomorrow morning to work and you could start loading the truck."  "OK", I say thoughtfully, "so that means you want to be sure I won't need a vehicle?  You know I can drive the truck if I need to."  "Ummm" he mutters.

As we go to bed that night, he again asks, "So, you think you might be going to the gym in the morning?"  "Well, I really need to if I'm going to be gone for a week." I mutter sleepily.  "Tell you what" he replies, "I'll just take the old green farm truck to work in the morning so you'll have your car."  My eyes fly open as I sit up in bed.  "So, are you saying that you don't want me to drive your truck or what?"  "No, no, I didn't mean that at all." he back-peddles frantically.  "Well it looks to me like you are saying exactly that!"  I snarl, getting up a good head of steam.  "You obviously either think I CAN'T drive it or you are scared I'll damage it if I do.  Which is it?"  "No, no!  Calm down.  You can drive it anywhere you want to.  You can even drive the whole trip.  In fact I want you to drive it.  I may even INSIST you drive it!!"  Silence reigns.

Then just before sleep, "However, I really don't mind driving the farm truck tomorrow."

The man loves his truck!