Big Red — Andy Arthur.org

Last visit to Piseco-Powley for Big Red
Last visit to the Finger Lakes for Big Red
Last visit to Schoharie for Big Red
Last oil change for Big Red

In many ways I don’t know if this all is true, but there is kind of sadness knowing the era of Big Red is coming to an end. That there will be no more of “X” adventure in the future. But I want a controlled decommissioning of him, when I can calmly unpack and take gear off him and preparation of moving to a new rig, while I still have a vehicle in good working order that I can take to car dealerships to learn what vehicles are available and ultimately trade in. I don’t expect to get a lot of money for a rusty-old 14 1/2 year old truck, but that’s not the point – it’s to retire him – before I’m left on the roadside of some rural road with no easy way to get all my equipment home.

Things were different in my late 20s and early 30s. I had the lift kit on the truck 10 years ago this December, I bought Red during early October 2011. I am now in mid-40s, maybe still a bit of a wild cowboy, enjoying many nights in wilderness. And I’m not totally ready to toss my hat, indeed I plan to get a camper shell on my next truck and move the solar and other equipment on the new truck. But it will never be as big or lifted. It was a fun decade – actually decade and a half – yet soon it will just memory and photos. Things will be a lot tighter for packing gear and camping, but it also will more snug and a heck of a lot easier to park in tight little parking lots and narrow city streets. And at least a few years of worry-free driving.

It’s not that I haven’t had sleepless nights with Big Red. Or drank endless amounts of beer and smoked some weed. Or had some fire, burned some wood and other things. And indeed, I will look back with fond memories of times that were. It’s not like I am giving up travel when I get my new rig, which inevitably will be more reliable, more fuel efficent and a heck of a lot easier to drive. Indeed I am planning that trip to Michigan next summer and probably West Virigina and New River Gorge next autumn. But it will not be same. Any new truck I get will be much smaller, not have all memories both good and bad over the years. There will be not another Big Red, just like I will never have enough day in my late 20s through my early 40s. Things just were different back then.

The next truck will likely last through my mid-to-late 50s and my early retirement. While I am still traveling and exploring, possibly doing the furthest and most interesting trips with my new rig, it will be a definite next step in my life. The next rig probably inevitably wll be used for commuting and probably at least starting out my to be built homestead, though eventually even it will get used up and need ot be replaced. New memories, but it won’t be the way it was.

For 13 1/2 years I’ve been using Big Red as my primary vehicle — that is for camping and traveling, though in the city I use buses or walk to get most places except maybe for the weekly or these days every-two weeks grocery shop. I like Big Red, but I realize even if I do keep it in good repair, it has a limited useful life.

Having a Big Jacked-Up nice truck is fun when one is young. You should do it once, if you have the money. But I am no longer in my late 20s or 30s. Priorities change. I don’t want to spend $50,000 on a new truck, nor do I want to spend money on big tires or a lift kit. It’s not that I don’t have the money, but I’d rather allocate the money to other things in life.

The big truck is fun, but it’s costly. Repairs are more with a lift kit, as are the tires. Bigger tires, bigger engine, heavy uses more fuel, which became an issue in the past year when gas prices pushed past $5. But even when you don’t worry that much about fuel — as I drive recreationally — a big truck kind of sucks.

Big Red is a bitch to drive around parking lots, through narrow city streets, and anywhere there are a lot of other automobiles, like at repair shops or even the dealership. Big Red keeps me away from crowded trailheads in back country, as he’s too difficult to park. Even many smaller campsites are tricky to park in at Red.

Nowadays, my priority is more towards owning my own land and early retirement. A big truck is fine, but I would rather have land where I can shoot guns, have fires and livestock. Out in the woods, where I’m free to do what I want without people bossing me around. I’m trying to grow my wealth, not spend it all. As I want to have more options on where and how I live my life, especially as I head into my 50s, which likely whatever vehicle I get next will go with me into.

I haven’t decided for sure if I am going to get a truck next. I’ve thought about electric vehicles or even a sedan, to save money. But if I want to do more camping in a truck cap, then I’ll need a truck. And probably 4×4 to get on the rough, snowy roads I like to traverse. I really don’t want to spend a lot of money, as inflation has made everything so much more expensive, and money spent now is money that can’t grow in the markets.

Big Red 📍

Too often these days I say … 🛻

Why my next truck will likely be smaller 🛻

The Grunt of Big Red on Tan Hollow Road

Old and New

Mine’s Bigger