I've had a pickup truck for about 7-8 years now. And it's one of the best investments I've ever made. As a liberal myself, I have some advice to the liberals who think poorly of pickup trucks, their owners, and a kind of hick culture that is associated with owning a pickup trucks: Think twice about mocking the pickup truck and its owner. Rest assured one day you will be humbly asking some pickup truck owning friend or neighbor for some help moving something around. And he or she will gladly put their truck at your disposal, too. It's partly why pickup truck owners purchase these vehicles, so that they can use it for these moments to lend a helping hand. Today, I helped a friend move a refrigerator from one place to another, and not only did the pickup make the job infinitely easier, it also allowed for about an hour or two of good socializing. Now I need to say that this friend is not the kind of person to go around making fun of a stereotyped pickup truck culture, but I do know that there are those out there who do joke at the pickup owner's expense. It's just that driving around and having a good time with my friend as we moved the refrigerator around made me think about this a bit, and so I wanted to have my little say here.
I can be quite snarky at times when it comes to conservative "red America" culture. And the pickup truck is clearly associated with this culture. And though I think there are some things about "red America" culture that I find silly, the pickup truck is definitely not one of them!
I've long thought we are due for a resurgence in the El Camino concept of pick up/car hybridization. Subaru has made a couple of stabs at it, but I think a mainstream brand that launched a car w/ a utility bed large enough to haul a load of 8 foot 2x4s from the hardware store to your house would do bang up business... if you can even legally build such a car anymore.
ReplyDeleteI am as grateful for the pickup as you are, maybe even more since we use it each month to transport all the things we need for the Arts Market, pots, wheel, tent and booth furniture. Don't even know if participation in the market would be possible without the truck. I would note, though, that your truck is a fairly modest one, not a road or fuel hog. The larger varieties seem excessive, especially here in the city where they don't fit well on the roads. My 2 cents about pickups...
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