His New Toy

Punky's dad has a new toy.

On his way into work third shift a few nights ago, his truck fell apart.  Literally. 

The technical terminology escapes me, but suffice it to say that a big, important hunk of metal fell out of the front end causing a tire to go from vertical to almost horizontal and leaving him skidding to the side of the road.  Luckily, he had just exited the interstate and was only going 35 miles an hour at the time. 

We knew he was in dire need of a vehicle.  The truck was over fifteen years old and sucking money out of us left and right.  Plus, it was only a two seat pickup truck...no option for a car seat.  We were working on a plan to get him a new truck but didn't expect to make a move so quickly.

Fixing the old one would've been a huge waste of money.  The estimate was around eight hundred, and I just couldn't justify putting that kind of cash into it...not after what we already spent the last few years.  Enough was enough already.  It was time to bite the bullet and truck shop.  And it didn't come without sacrifice...

Our only option to be able to afford a newer truck included the sale of his beloved Harley.  And although I'll admit I wasn't sad to see it go, I was sad for him.  He put years of blood, sweat and tears into that old bike, not to mention buckets of money.  It was his baby.  His all-time favorite toy.  And I'm proud of him for letting it go without much struggle when it was really our only choice.  

Once he committed to the idea, he wasted no time at all in finding the truck he wanted.  He bought a used 2009 Dodge Ram pickup with 26,000 miles on it.  Big.  Manly.  Beast of a truck.  If it were any bigger, I'd need a damn step stool to get in it.  

Between the high payments and the huge increase in his car insurance, we have a rough couple of months ahead of us.  We really need to buckle down and spend only what we need to spend until we get adjusted to this new set of bills.  Perfect timing with the holidays quickly approaching...

The dealership delivered the truck to us on Friday.  I haven't seen Punky's dad since.  Okay, so I've seen him, but only for as many minutes as it would take for him to find yet another excuse to run somewhere and drive his new toy.  Seriously.  He's been like a little kid all weekend.  The newness will wear off eventually, but it may take a while.

The truck isn't brand new, but it's the newest vehicle he's ever owned.  I think his "newest" car was a decade old with over 80,000 miles on it.  He always bought old hunks of junk and made them last as long as he could.  This is an entirely new experience for him.  

He's been working so hard on this insane seven-day rotation for over a year now.  He deserves to have something to show for it.  Now we just need to make it through the next few months of bills without ending up in the poor house.  And I'm thrilled that my car will no longer bear the brunt of the mileage every time we go somewhere as a family.

Punky had her first ride in Daddy's truck on Friday.  I thought it would be exciting since she's only ever been in my car, but she wasn't overly amused.  Different car, same car seat, I suppose.  I guess it wasn't much of a unique experience since she is still rear-facing.  She had the same view of the back seat she gets in my car.  When I asked her what she thought of Daddy's truck, she said "It's big!"