Dodge has the Cummings Diesel Engine which everyone who has a Dodge swears by. My hunting buddy Victor is definitely a Dodge diesel man. There’s some controversy however about the comparative transmissions but really if I had been planning another diesel I’d have seriously considered Dodge.
These last 10 years I have had a Ford F350 Diesel Harley Davidson edition 4x4 pick up with crew cab and sun roof. Factory installed sun roofs tend to come with the top of the line editions of all the vehicles. I loved this truck which served to pull this big live aboard trailer and the smaller one I had before. It also served to carry my Yamaha 450 ATV out into deep woods hunting areas. Off road the Ford was an amazing vehicle. I
I've had a Ford Broncho II which I thought was one of the greatest vehicles made and Ford is considering bringing it back. I've also had the Ford Ranger truck which was really truly sweet. Add my beloved Ford Mustang of younger years to the list and it looks pretty much like I could be called a Ford man. I've had other manufacturer's vehicles but at the end of the day I keep coming back to Ford. A lot of that has to do with their excellent service department. Right now I've been using the other Coastal Ford's service department and the guys there have been the best.
That Harley Davidson F350 truck hauled home an elk, a three point, some two point deer, a bear and countless grouse and rabbits. From a hunter's superstitious perspective my Ford F350 was a lucky truck. God and politics have been discussed extensively by guys in that truck driving about the back woods. A whole lot of truck therapy goes on in a truck. The girlfriend and dog have been good company too in the F350.
Trucks have deep meaning for me. Some of my fondest times with my dad were handing him tools while he lay on his back under the truck fixing u joints or such. I will forever remember being a sleepy wee child who at 4 am with his father and brother in dad’s old pick up headed out time and again with the old dog to hunt mallards in Netlee marsh.
I was in the market for a new truck. I am near the age of retirement from work, not that I plan to, but there’s an age while you’re still working that men get their new vehicle, the one they can write off while they're still working, and the one they will likely own till they die. This truck was to be that vehicle, a birthday present to myself and Gilbert. His birthday falls in February and mine in March. We try do something special that will please the two of us. He’s happy with a bone but last year I got him the side by side Honda ATV, after he hurt his back and couldn’t jump on and off the Yamaha quad. I didn’t take into account that the Honda was longer so I had to have the tailgate down when I was carrying it. This also meant that I couldn’t tow the liveaboard trailer. That became another reason I 'needed' a new truck.
I’d thought long and hard about diesel versus gas. Obviously diesel is best if you’re towing all the time and want the advantage of toughness and torgue. The trouble is, with all the alterations made to automobile diesel for environmental reasons, the cost of diesel has come really close to that of gas. . On the highway hauling, diesel can’t be beat but in the city just driving about it’s a real lug. I do more driving than hauling so I decided, after talking with a bunch of the other old guys, considering I didn’t haul my trailer all the time, gas would suit me better. It makes the truck cheaper too.
This meant I didn’t need a Dodge. If I'd wanted diesel I'd say the choice would have been Ford or Dodge but wanting gas narrowed to Ford and GMC, possibly Chevy. Mario at Carter's let Tom and I test drive a 2017 GMC. It really was a beauty. I almost signed the papers after that test drive but there wasn't an available gas 3500 Sierra vehicle with a sun roof. Most of everyone's Super Duty's are diesels. Mario could get one from the factory in a couple of months. I actually considered an after factory sun roof but Jessica from Coastal Ford had kept in touch and told me they had a vehicle in stock with everything just as I wanted it.
I had told Mario that the GMC " drives like you’re in an SUV. All this truck and you feel like you’re driving a car. It’s that smooth, “
Tom calls the new Super Duty Trucks, "Cowboy Cadillacs".
Despite the trade in from my 2007 F350 Ford, I still had to consider I'd be facing a 5 year debt. I’m thankful that I have the credit after a life time of responsible behaviour paying all my debts and working on average 80 to a hundred hours a week but still $50000 for a vehicle on top of trade in was going to be large pill to swallow. It wasn't a decision I was making lightly and not something I'd considered on impulse.
Still, a truck gives a man a sense of freedom. It’s like my Harley Davidson Motorcycle. It promises of relief from the daily grind of government bureaucracy, politics and taxes. When I think of a truck I think of being at the lake with my pretty little girlfriend, Laura and my dog, Gilbert. I think of the days of canoeing in the Canadian north. I think of driving up into the mountains and tenting by the side of a logging road. I think of RV'ing. I think of back woods hunting with the guys. I think of everything wonderful.
Jessica is beautiful, long haired, lithe, like a vogue model, French Canadian, not what you'd normally think of as a heavy duty truck salesperson. But like my gun toting pink girlfriend, now a grandmother, Laura, she shared, “I love to go hunting with my boyfriend. “ and "I just love Ford trucks, " she said, showing Tom and I a picture of herself in cammo with a shot gun in duck hunting season. Despite her looks, she knew trucks.
Pretty much sold on the GMC, I still felt I had to take the new Ford F350 for a drive. It wasn't as smooth or luxurious a ride as the GMC but boy was it something. It felt heavier, more truck like but it still came with a whole lot of bells and whistle. The huge full ceiling sun roof really did sell me. I really did love the new safety electronics on the new vehicles. Backing up you're looking at the console screen which is also a gps navigation screen, you see a perfect view behind you, with parallel lines that move and guage the distance to objects. I could safely park a 747 passenger plane with this Ford technology. With Sync3 and blue tooth my iPhone with it's Siri phone commands and my music was connected right into the trucks own computer. Tom was truly impressed with this Ford. He’s an engineer and plane pilot. His simple statement was “Ford makes a really good trucks. This one's a beauty."
Ford had completely redesigned the 2017 year improving on materials and electronics and thinking out a whole lot of little details . Having essentially the same 2007 F350 I was totally impressed by the advances and the thought that had gone into the intervening decade of design.
Over the next week or two, we niggled on price but Jessica stayed with me and Chris worked to give me the best deal they could till I figured, okay. Zero interest financing did sound really good. And Chris assured me he had just the truck with exactly all I wanted in Kelowna. It could be here in just a few days. The test drive had been almost there but this other Lariat edition truck had everything I ever wanted.
Well ,I decided I really did need some stability in my life. My mother used to joke, saying she was glad to know I was in debt because it was the only time she knew for sure I’d be working and keeping out of trouble. She never did appreciate my bicycling across Europe, motorcycling across country, sailing through offshore gales or even working as a flyin doctor up north and in the north pacific islands. She never could understand why I couldn't be happy just having a house and going to work. If I wanted to travel why couldn't I just go on cruises like she enjoyed. Older she forgot that it was she and dad, with his old Ford truck, that had taken us kids camping and fishing. Later I'd go hunting in the off road wilderness with Dad and that truck All the things that make life most meaningful and keep me finding the strength and courage to get back to the front lines trying to fight disease with the patients and bureaucrats revolves around the truck in my life.
Now I have a new truck. 2017 Ford F350 Lariat Edition, 4x4, 6.2L V8 gas engine, Crew cab, Sun roof and long box. I call also call it my gift of recovery.
It was a really fine day when I got the call from Jessica the truck had arrived. I went down after a long day of clinic and filled out all the paper work and transferred the plates. I shook hands with Chris. Then Jessica showed me how to pair my phone. She showed me the button that turned on the truck's parallel park itself mode. She explained the fob. I thanked her, then she left me and Gilbert alone with our new truck. NEW TRUCK!!! FORD - FOUND OUR RIDE DIVINE!
As soon as I opened the door, Gilbert jumped right in, taking up his well studied co pilot position. Gilbert loves trucks and it was obvious he loved this truck. I took quite a while breathing in that new truck smell, adjusting mirrors and checking out the amazing console display. I felt like I was in a land space ship.
I actually call it my ‘living room’ truck. When I got the heated seat adjusted with the telescoping steering wheel, inflatable back rest, adjusted seat height and angle, I really felt like I was sitting in my living room in an easy chair. Depressing my brake foot I pushed the "on" button. The 6.2 L engine roared. I drove off the Coastal Ford lot to begin a whole new life adventure.
Thank you Jesus.
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1 comment:
of course we all wish you every happiness
with your new truck
God Bless you
and keep you
always
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