The End of an Era...
If you love something, let it go...
As many of you know, I get overly attached to things, especially vehicles. All of my vehicles have had names, and I even named a couple of the trucks at work before I left. So today I did something that was very hard. I watched the Duck and Cover (known usually as the DAC) get towed away to be sold at auction. The auction is for a good cause- the amount that the truck sells for will all be given to the Denver Dumb Friends League. I knew it was time to let it go, because it was living a life condemned to the garage, being used as storage instead of a vehicle. Not a fitting end for a vehicle who gave me so many years of service.
There were a lot of memories in that little truck. My family bought it in the early '90s to be towed behind our motorhome. When I turned 16 it was my vehicle. I learned to drive in it, since my mom insisted I learned to drive stick before auto, and I took my driving test in it. Me and my small but loyal band of friends in high school gathered around it, rode around together in it, and had many wild and crazy adventures. We chased trains, braved thunderstorms, and used it to ditch class. It got me back and forth to college in downtown Denver. It took me to friends' houses. I even commuted every other weekend to Colorado Springs from Denver, and ran from Denver to Colorado Springs, to Denver, to Fort Collins, back to COS and back up to Denver in a 24 hour period when I was working in television.
The DAC braved all sorts of bad weather and circled many parking lots and condo complexes when I was working security. It was a hide out, a stake out point, and a warm relief on bad days. It was good camouflage since no one expected the person towing vehicles was riding around in such an unusual little vehicle.
It had a bright red door on the driver's side to replace the one that got dented at a gas station who's lanes were too narrow. It donned shark decals on the back of the camper shell which had been there since I was 16. The lifters click and make it sound like a windup toy, and it didn't do so well passing it's emissions tests, but it only left me on the side of the road once in it's entire career. It had an 11-foot CB antenna of the back bumper than I kept tied down with a coat hanger when not in use. On good days on the highway, it would get 30 miles to the gallon with it's little 4-banger engine. It wouldn't win the Indy 500, but I did get it up to 97MPH once. It was my freedom, my hideout, my patrol partner, my confidant.
DAC, I'm gonna miss ya. Hope you go to a good home who appreciates you as much as I did.
Down and gone,
~Laken
...who thankfully didn't cry in front of the tow truck driver.