As I think I mentioned last week, we said good-bye to one of the family’s vehicles, a 1990 silver Toyota pickup. I never tired of driving that thing, even after I had handed it down to Luke and then Mark. It was a small truck with a big V-6, always plenty of oomph and great handling. It brought me to work for many years, and I’ll never forget the time we used it to haul a trailer all the way to Metropolis, Illinois and back. The time was Thanksgiving weekend and weather was fine for the trip south. But! As we headed north, the snow started falling in northern Illinois.

We were a family of five in this small pickup with an even smaller back seat. It wasn’t too bad when we switched off, using the back truck bed as a place to stretch out and relieving the cramped conditions up front. But with snow and quickly deteriorating conditions, we had to all be buckled in up front. With Wisconsin came more and more snow. The farther we drove the slipperier it got and the more vehicles we saw in the ditches. Each exit ramp, especially those with motels, became a strong temptation to pull off for refuge. But we pressed on. With all the weight behind us, we had pretty decent traction in our rear wheel drive truck. We were climbing Wisconsin’s hills on roads that were barely visible. We were even passing 18 wheelers as they struggled to ascend in first or second gear.

The truck proved faithful all the way to our home’s driveway. The snow never quit that evening. And a stop anywhere in Wisconsin would have meant a long snow day there. We were glad we endured the rough weather, because our beds felt so good that 2 a.m. Monday.

The memories were many more, but the last one is on the back of a large truck towing it to a place where they thought they could get it up and running again. But for now we had to move on. Our months long search was pushed into high gear at the silver truck’s demise and finally ended last Tuesday. We bought another Toy, but this time white, and this time with seven seats, and this time with all wheel drive, just in case we have to drive in Wisconsin again.