Blog hiatus

What a weekend. I started running on Saturday morning, and just finished up ten minutes ago. No, not that Monday is on a weekend, but I've been busy with kids and life and the lady and my marriage. It's been a wild ride, but hopefully life will get back to basics tomorrow. (I just remembered. I have a contractor coming to give an estimate on a countertop.)

But anyway, everyone is happy and healthy and well, and life is good. I bought a truck today on the way back from Baton Rouge. I'm not normally impulsive, and I had discussed buying a truck with milady. She agreed that my current pickup is ten years old and is coming to that portion of its lifetime where..... It'll start to be an old truck. It still runs good, and we are going to give it to her son, who needs a vehicle to take him through the next year or so.

Anyway, we were coming back through New Roads, LA today and stopped at the Ford dealership. I saw a 2001 Ford on the used lot and we looked at it, test drove it, and signed the papers. I normally buy trucks that are four or five years old. I take advantage of letting someone else drive my new truck and buy it after the worst of the depreciation has eaten at its value. Looking at this truck showed me that the vehicle had been well maintained, and I used a couple of tricks that my ASE certified son taught me. It's great having a mechanic in the family.

This is the first extended cab pickup I have ever owned, and I think I am going to like it.

The only problem is that I promised myself I was going to look for a smaller pickup and the one I drove home today is a larger pickup. V8 engine, extended cab, long bed. It is a hell of a lot of truck, although the ride home (almost 100 miles) tells me that I am getting better than average gas mileage for a full-size truck. The tank was bone-dry when I bought it, and I made the dealership fill it up as part of the deal. The salesman got a credit card and we went to a gas station, where we put $40.00 worth of gas in the tank. That comes to 20 gallons. When I got home, I saw that the gauge showed three-quarters full, so I figure I used about 5 gallons to go almost 100 miles. That would be about 20 mpg. I don't believe that figure, but I figured I would get closer to twelve miles to the gallon.

Before anyone rags me for buying a gas hog, I need a pickup truck, I have to have a pickup truck. But when I have a choice, when I am driving by myself, I am liable to be on my 40 mpg motorcycle. The scooter gets ridden well over half of the miles I drive every year. So, I figure I am averaging over 30 mpg for all miles driven.