On Tuesday last, my bride and I made a flying trip to Billings, almost on a whim. That is where I get all my leather for saddles and chaps from, mostly. I do have a couple neighbors who usually have some chap leather on hand and I can run up to their house and buy some, and actually see the stuff. Color, weight and thickness. Pretty handy, but for the stiffer, thicker stuff, I just call up Montana Leather in Billings and they ship it.
I had ordered a hide and when I got it, I noticed it was a bit thinner than I thought I wanted. I cut out a couple small pieces for a set of chaps and tooled them, and just wasn’t real pleased with it. So, for what it cost for me to ship it back and the cost of getting a different hide shipped down here, I decided to just take it back and exchange it. We were needing a road trip anyway.
We passed thru’ Belle and on down the trail. On our return trip, we took the interstate, down to Sheridan and around thru’ Razor City, into Sturgis, turned east and headed home. So we made a pretty good circle, considering we didn’t leave until a little after 10 am. 12 hours of almost straight driving!
She, “who must be obeyed”, got us, a new to us, Ford Ranger, back on our Anniversary and it was the first longer trip we had in it.
Oh, your wondering why she would get me a pickup for our anniversary….well, that’s easy… I deserve it! I tell you, I treat that woman like a Goddess! All my life I have slaved and sweated to make her life better and happier.
What?
You don’t believe me?
Well dang! A man can’t even lie to you people and get you to believe it!
In actuality, her old vehicle, tho’ in good shape and nothing much wrong with it, other than it was getting some miles on it, was still serviceable. But…..it was one of them smaller SUV’s. She loved it. I, not so much. And around here, it’s kind of a remake of the movie Driving Miss Daisy. She is Daisy and guess who that makes me? Yeah, the driver. It was hard for me to get into, kind of noisy as far as road noise and again, was getting quite a few miles on it.
So, I thought about it long and hard and started in about a year ago, complaining about her car and how many miles it was getting, and how much better a pickup would serve our purposes. Finally got her to go look at them, then we drove some and finally she picked this one out. A white, Ford Ranger, 21 edition.. No, not 1921, 2021!
It had low miles and heated seats. Two of her many requirements. 4 door so she can haul grandkids and ride back there when we are hauling someone else with us. And lots more head room, for me and my hat. And you set up higher and can see the road better. It even gets pretty good gas mileage. She spent more than I would have, but then again, I am pretty easy to please….she is making the payments, so what the heck. If she lives long enough it will be all hers and by then, if I am still alive, I can use it for a ranch vehicle! Win, win!
She even took off and drove it to town and back for some errands, all by herself, the other day! Oh, yeah, and got her plates for it.. and guess what she did? Yup, ordered Vanity plates!
When she came home and told me what she had done, I couldn’t believe it! And she thinks it’s quite a joke, as they say, GPAANNI…..That supposedly spells out Grampa’s Anniversary Present, I am told…..I think she needs to go back and take spelling another year or two!
The day we got it was our 44th anniversary, so I teased her that it sure was a nice, tho’ expensive, anniversary present for me. She thought that was real funny…. Ha..ha..!
So if you happen to see a 4 door white Ford Ranger, with those plates, be sure and wave. Heck, even at our advanced age we still see pretty good, as long as we have our glasses on! If we ain’t arguing about something, or trying to figure out where we are and where the next turn should be, we will wave back. It’s what we do in this country!
By the way, I call it White Lightning. It’s pretty smooth and seems to have a little kick, if you step on it! And pretty comfortable to! “Mighty, mighty pleasing…..White Lightning!”