No-Mater

Those of you familiar with the chldren's movie "Cars" will appreciate this.

My old truck that has been carying the load for the past year died in the most unceremonious fashion when Is sputtered to a stop a month ago. The day I bought it I was out to show it off a little to some of my friends. Their children marvelled at its rust spots and hard looking shape and how it looked, smelled and likely ran much like the truck from that movie "Cars". So from that moment it would become Mater.

I was carrying a few stumps to a little patch of bush in the slough behind my house when I got stuck. I worked and worked to try and get it out but in the end I think I pushed the old girl too hard. It quit and would not start up again. I towed it home with the neighbor's tractor hoping that some rest and a few diagnostics would get it roling again.

I started with some electronic modules and the ignition coil, still nothing. I replaced the distributor, rotoe, plugs, wires (all purchased from the wrecker down the road) and nothing. It was time to accept that nothing short of a miracle was going to bring Mater back.

It took a few weks to get over but I did find a truck to buy, it's an upgrade to be sure. Extended cab, comfort, air conditioning, tilt steering, floor mats. Oh this truck has it all. So it's 12 years old with 300,000 kilometers. Mater would attest to the fact that I love a challenge and an oppertunity to get dirty. Why, as a matter of fact I've already replaced break lines, almost every conceivable light and the smell of old tobacco smoke.

Yup this truck should laxst me a few years and witgh no nicknames (yet), it's sure to live a long happy cartoonish life. But as we know some cartoons don't end in a happy way, just ask Wil-E Coyote.