My husband is into horsepower. It used to be 4-wheelers, now that he is married, has a family, has settled down into off-roading with Jeeps. Reality is that Jeeping is much safer than 4-wheeling, but it is TERRIFYING to me, and while I gave it a fair try, I will never be inside of that Jeep again on a trail. Ever. (picture is of the Labor Day Redbird weekend. We had 3 Jeeps and 2 Suzukis in our group. Matt's Jeep is the black Cherokee at right.)
Well, Shakamak is about 2 1/2 hours away from our home, and we loaded up the Chevy truck with our tent and camping gear, hitched up his cousin's trailer, loaded the Jeep onto it, and away we went. The bench seat was so cozy, my husband at the wheel, sleeping baby in the rear-facing car seat in the middle, me in the passenger seat. Lovely weather, windows down the whole way.
This is a nice arrangement....if our family was never to grow, if we never wanted to go around the farm with anyone else, etc., etc. What we decided was that while the Chevy worked, it wasn't going to work forever. What we needed was a 4 door heavy-duty pickup truck. Of course, other factors went in to deciding we needed a new truck. The Chevy just couldn't handle the full load of 6 fat cattle on the stock trailer. Around the farm with a baby there's just not enough room for the driver, the car seat, plus 2 or 3 tractor, combine, and grain truck drivers to get back and forth from the field. So we began the search for a heavier truck, with four doors, plenty of room for easy access for multiple riders, plus all of my husband's specific requirements (weight, transmission, engine...etc).
Matt was the one who did 99.9% of the searching. He made calls, he checked the web, we drove through dealer lots. We actually ended up buying the first truck we test drove, but not until a month or so after we drove it, and they lowered the asking price significantly. It's got a ton of miles, it's been used, but the price was right and it should work great for us. Plus it fits in the garage! It's a dark green Ford F-250 4x4 crew cab with a diesel engine, and a short bed. Tan leather interior. Very roomy!
**Here's a photo of the truck, as promised. Look closely at the bed - it doubles nicely as a play yard! (under close supervision, of course!)**
