Absence makes the heart...

Fondue?

Roughly 5-6 years ago, my brother came up with a good idea. He and I would join forces and buy a Bronco for our cabin. It wasn't necessarily for the cabin, so to speak, but it would go up there.

The first attempt at it stopped short. I didn't see the point in it because of the main people who would gain from having a 2nd vehicle up there, didn't include me. So I had a hard time justifying spending that much money so my brother could have the benefit of driving up in the woods with his family, let alone other people in the family using it and not paying anything for it.

Not that I expected it to be fully beneficial for me to have a Bronco up there, but that realistically, he would benefit significantly more than I would. He having a family, and a pet, me having a cat.

Then a few years later during the tail end of Bush's 2nd term, we thought about doing it again. This time, he figured, the economy would get so bad and gas prices so high, that people would be DESPERATE to get rid of these gas hogs. He started to send me several links on craigslist for Broncos, and I even went to test drive one of them. I think I was more serious about it than he was (imho for the same reason he initially wanted to do this in the first place). This time it was him who changed his mind.

Fast forward to the last 7-8 months. I started getting interested in buying an older Ford truck. Partially because I liked a certain style (the older Supercab look), but mostly because I wanted a truck of "my own", that would be able to tow my boat (which I never use) and the families utility trailer. Right now, the vehicle that is used for that is an old clunker suburban that has been my dads for over 20 years. So not only is it a 24 year old suburban, with 24 year old suburban technology, but it has 315,000 miles on the body and hasn't been well maintained for...well, since he bought it truthfully. And the worst part of it all? He's a smoker. So anytime you borrow it, you smell of smoke.

So I started looking for old trucks. My brother and I test drove a few, and I test drove a few on my own. Some were absolute clunkers, and one in particular was nice. One in particular was kind of nice. A woman in Corvallis (Or) was selling an 83 F250, with a 460 in it for X dollars.

Yes it is older than the Suburban, but it has far fewer miles on the body and it's a non smoker car and it has more towing ability and hauling capability. And yes, it's going to get worse gas mileage than the suburban does.

In theory I have come to an agreement with the owner of the truck, and should pick it up in a week or more. Her schedule and my schedule aren't conducive.

There are a few funny things about my potentially buying this truck. But most of all, it's that my dad *hates* Ford, as does one of my sisters. My brother is the only "Blue Oval" in the family, and he actually wants to eventually get a truck for his family. And it'll be funny if this truck works out that I'll have gotten one before him. Especially considering I have no real need for one.

But it should last for a long time, it's a usable truck and my dad, myself and my brother should all get use out of it. And it could eventually migrate its way up to Idaho to replace the suburban which is (in theory) heading up to Idaho because it will have no use in Portland and my dad doesn't want to get rid of it.

It's funny how you can see someone years later and think to yourself "wow, they look just as good as I remember" and sometimes you can look at a picture of someone years later and think "I distinctly remember her looking a lot better when we were in high school" and wonder if you had blinders on.

Not saying this person resembled Doc Brown, but the aging process has both altered my memory and changed features I remember being interested in.

Of course, when you look at yourself in pictures and then in person and think "woah....why didn't anyone tell me that was a bad look?" you ain't got much room to talk.