As you all know, I bought a truck 20 years ago. I got it with 155k, 156k, something like that.
And I put it to work. I drove it to my duty station. I gave the keys to some friends so they could watch it while I was deployed. I came back safe. I drove it.
I drove it and I drove it and I drove it.
I drove it through rain. I drove it through sun. I drove it through snow and hurricanes. I drove through 23 of the 48 continental states.
I drove it on dates. I drove it to funerals. I drove it to move homes. I drove it to haul trailers for my friends and my parents. I drove it to haul my vehicles and my friend's cars. I drove it to pick up and bring home puppies. I drove it to everything.
I've seen my country with this truck. I've taken friends on road trips. I've slept in it when my road trips went sideways. I've crossed the continental divide, I've seen fault lines, I've gone down Route 66. My truck and I have both felt the spray of the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans.
For much of my life I thought that people identified me with the car I drove in high school, my '67 Mustang. But no, it is likely this truck. I've seen the world with this truck. Felt her highways and side streets roll beneath her wheels. I have had strangers stop and talk to me because they had one just like it.
I put over a quarter million miles on my truck. This weekend it hit 400,000 miles. I'm ready for another 400,000 more.
