Tuesday, December 28, 2010

New Four-Wheel Drive Truck

We saw a couple of 4 wheel drive trucks over the Christmas weekend, and LC did some serious negotiating with the owner of a GMC truck that looked almost exactly like his.
I hadn't seen it yet, but when LC told me the offer he was going to make to the owner I thought he was out of his mind.
What he was going to offer was a huge drop from the owner's asking price, but all of a sudden he came inside the house and while still talking to the owner on the phone told me the price they had agreed on.
I was shocked that the truck owner had accepted the offer (turns out that he was leaving for New Zealand on Wednesday and was running out of time to unload it), but I gave the "thumbs up" of approval and LC set up a time on Monday morning to go look at it again seriously and then take it for a test drive.
If all looked good there was a possibility I would soon own a "big humpin' truck" (as my  TN redneck guy likes to say).
I got up for work on Monday morning, looked out the window into the still dark sky and saw that it was snowing heavily.
My car was parked at the top of the hill by the mailboxes, and as I walked up the hill towards it I saw that the roads had not been ploughed and there was a ton of snow.
No ice on the windshield to scrape off while the car was warming up.
Good deal.
Just a whole lot of snow.
I pulled out of my parking spot, got half way up the first hill in deep snow, the wheels started to spin and my old car came to a stop.
I backed down the hill a bit, put the car into drive again, got about as far up the hill as I did the first time and spun out again.
Did the same thing twice more until I finally resigned myself to the fact that I was not getting off this road in this car in this snow on this day.
I backed all the way down the hill, back into the same parking spot I had been in all weekend, got out of the car and walked back down the hill to the house.
Damn.
After a quick coffee and indecision on my next move I decided I would not go into the office on Monday.
I had a few hours of work that I could do at home so at least the entire day would not be a wash, and I would go look at this discount truck.
Work related activities for a couple of hours, and a few hours after that I was the owner of a 1996 GMC 4x4 truck that seems to be in great shape, drives well in the snow and looks almost exactly like LC's.
I have never driven a 4x4 before but had no problem getting used to it.
The first thing we did when we got it home was to take off the camper top because it was interfering with my field of vision so much........
LC's truck and my car at the top of the hill by the turnaround..........
Snowing heavily Out the Road at the turnaround near the house.........
The downhill leading to the cove...........
One of the hills leading down to the house. 
You can see that water was starting to get into my camera.  The familiar fog-spot was beginning to show up in pictures..........
Our Unabomber Cabin.
I used to live in Sault Ste Marie Ontario where we got a LOT of snow, but that was many years ago, and this is without a doubt the most snow I have seen in a very long time.
A winter wonderland.  Beautiful as long as you don't have to drive in it.  No - just beautiful...........
More pictures taken in the yard and close to the side road we live on while my Mountain Boy was busy unscrewing the camper top..........
Even though the camper was taken off and the truck was lighter, I had no problems getting out of the yard, up the hills and onto Glacier Highway this morning........
Now all I have to do is sell a car and my beautiful two wheel drive Silverado.
I'll miss my blue truck a lot.  I love that thing.
It has taken me safely all over the eastern half of the country over the past couple of years, usually filled with outdoor gear on the way to races.
I love that thing and will miss it.
But pretty blue two-wheel drive trucks don't cut it when you live 21 miles from town in Juneau Alaska.
So rugged 4x4 it is.  Good deal again...........

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