what a trooper

i am not a motorhead. but recently we donated our isuzu trooper to habitat for humanity and so i thought it deserved a little write up. we purchased the trooper in corvallis, oregon, in the summer of 2001, after we'd returned from our year in india. it was so cute and red and boxy and reasonable, and we needed a vehicle. it wasn't until we arrived at a wedding a month or two later and a friend said, "you guys have an suv?!?!" that it donned on me, yes, indeed, it was an suv. i never really got over it.

but the trooper (as well as the used subaru we purchased that summer) pulled us and our load across country to michigan that dark september of 2001, while bush gave a post 9/11 state of union and so many cars on the road had little flags flapping. freaky times. still are.

dan drove the trooper, packed to the gills, and also pulling a uhaul trailer. myself and a three year old tashi followed in the subaru, also packed to the gills. dan and i used little walkie talkies to communicate. i gave tashi 50 mile treats, little coloring books and wooden toys and puzzles. it was a happy day when we finally pulled into ann arbor. and another happy day when it delivered us safely to charlottesville several years later.

for five years the subaru and trooper took turns breaking down in major ways. and last year the trooper failed inspection for a lot of minor details that added up to too much money. like a good hillbilly family, we just couldn't let it go, so it sat in our driveway engulfed in greenery. i used it as a shed and stored a table in it that i still need to strip and paint. finally, a few days ago, we donated big red. it seemed the most respectable thing to do.

i guess i'll paint that table now. . .