The Truck is Dead, Long Live the Truck

I’ve been working on a number of big projects at work of late, and have been racking up some big hours. Last Thursday I left the office at 8:45 for a 60 mile commute back to home. I was greeted to a Minnesota winter; a cold front had hit and brought cold temps and light snow to the region.
I climbed into my cold 2003 Mercury Mountaineer, and was greeted with an outdoor temperature reading of 14. I pulled out of the office and pointed the rig north for my daily hour and ten minute drive home.

My commute crosses the Minnesota River, and moves up and down large bluffs a couple of times. As such, my transmission gets a work out. Unfortunately, the cold and hills conspired to kill the transmission, and while I could limp my vehicle home, the transmission was toast. Given the vehicle has 195,000 miles on it, replacing it made no sense. Thus, we headed to the dealer the following day.

Here’s the new rig.

It is not tricked out nearly as nice as my old ride, but there’s a recession on and upgrading any more than this seemed a luxury far too great. It does have integrated Microsoft Sync technology, which is really impressive. Sync makes calling, reading (actually, hearing) text messages, playing my iPod, and other such communications completely hands free. The voice activated technology associated with it is remarkable in its ability to understand my spoken words.

The old rig will be donated to the Disabled American Veterans, and will hopefully serve them well. It served me well for 7 years, two career changes, countless trips to northern Minnesota, and nearly 200,000 miles.
Great truck, and I’ll miss it.