My Catharsis

Hello all,

New member here. I've been lurking for a couple of years now. This time last year I purchased my Tacoma. What followed can be thought of as a catharsis in the classical sense.

I lived, loved, and grew up in the hills of East Tennessee for 25 years of my life, since 1988 actually. My girlfriend of 9 years and I had just parted ways. The home, the garden, family, the life, my world at the time ... all of it gone. On top of that I recently had my 2003 Solara SLE convertible stolen and was looking for a new vehicle. My GF had artfully convinced me to start a business in Key West with her and her little brother with part of the money instead of getting a new vehicle straight up like I wanted to initially. Being independent and having our own business was a mightly powerful allure...

I had been riding the bus back and forth from Key West, FL right about this time last year, trying to salvage the relationship and our budding, new business. I returned to TN defeated and without my 24 ft Renkin Cuddy cabin fishing boat to boot; additionally having already given my 2 weeks notice at my job with a defense contractor.

As I sat in the ashes of once was, I decided to cash in the few grand I had in my 401K, what was left of my savings and the money from the Solara (minus the boat and business expenses, etc) and move somewhere else. Somehwere far away from the ghosts of my memories. A co-worker of mine hooked me up with an interview in Pueblo, Colorado and I was set. All I needed now was a suitable vehicle.

I got on Auto-Trader and widened my search radius out to 500 miles in search of The Perfect Tacoma. I got a loan from my Credit Union for 10K and was all set. I found her in Butler, Ohio. Black as my heart and tough as a coffin nail... yeah as soon as I saw her I knew that she was the one. TRD Off Road package, Access Cab and most importantly, affordable. I took a bus to Northern Ohio and drove her back. Slightly over 200K miles on the Odometer and she lacked nothing in power or integrity. Everything solid just like the pics and paper trail indicated. The rust present underneath was considered normal for a vehicle in N. Ohio.

I packed everything I could fit into plastic bins, bought a 7x9 tent and some rudimentary camping supplies from Wally World, sold what was left in the house and headed to Colorado. I stopped by Fox Toyota to thank them for all their help in making sure the truck I ended up with was solid, also to get an oil change, OEM rear brake pads, and an axle seal.

I drove from Knoxville taking I-40 and the southern route through Oklahoma and Texas. On the way up the panhandle, a lowboy carrying a backhoe flung a giant rock and put a nice sized crack in my windshield. I stopped at the nearest auto parts store and applied a windshield fix kit and was on my way. The change of scenery was having an electric effect on me, this was encouraging.

I began the ascent up into Colorado late at night. It grew noticeably cooler. Arriving in Pueblo, Colorado at dawn in late July I discovered that much like my childhood memories of it in the late 1970's, there was a grand total of Jack and Shit there. Even the pizza joint I remembered was gone (Shakey's ?? not sure about the name). I moved on to Colorado Springs, Denver, Ft Collins, Estes Park and many other places that I can't quite remember the name of anymore. I camped for about a month in various campsites settling in Colorado Springs about October-ish.

Before settling down though during my travels I saw Elk, lots of Elk. I ate Elk burger grilled over wood. I saw Mountain Goats! Ran into a few Big Ass Bears that were remarkably chill aside from absolutely mangling a local dumpster or two. Then there were the coyotes. Packs of them would arrive around the campgrounds just before dawn and begin serenading the sleeping humans with banshee-like wails that made the hairs on my arm stand.

Finally found a decent little job in November and discovered Gold Camp Road - a dirt road up in the Cheyenne Canyon area overlooking the city. I was home...for now.

With over 217K miles on her Odometer now, the memories keep piling up. At this point, even if I won The Lottery, I would never consider parting with her. She would just get a massive upgrade package.

Anyway, sorry about the long winded introduction, but I had to get it off my chest. Thanks for reading. and have a great day.

 

That post was amazing!
Welcome to the forum, you are in the right place to get that thing to double its miles easily!