John bought it when he got home from his mission (we won't mention how many years ago that was) and at one point, he sold it to his brother, but then bought it back a few years later. The old Toyota was just a part of John.
When we got married, we had a bit of a debate about what we would do with the truck. I had memories of my neighbor suggesting that it might be best if my brother-in-law, Tyler (who had a very similar white Toyota truck) not park in front of her house anymore. I thought the Toyota would really enjoy living out in Wyoming on his uncle's property; John thought it would be the perfect vehicle for Kevin. Now Kevin has never been a materialistic person, but as a senior in high school, I wasn't quite sure how he would feel about driving the truck. I should never have doubted...he was thrilled.
The week after we started parking it in front of the house, we found a scribbled note under the windshield wiper, "Slimbo, you're bringing down the neighborhood." Kevin died with laughter. (He didn't realize that John's friend, Mark, left the note...given away by his using John's nickname "Slimbo.")
I came to understand why John thought it was the perfect vehicle for Kevin. It would only go about 30 mph downhill with a wind at it's back. We never had to worry about Kevin getting a speeding ticket. He learned how to drive a stick shift and the importance of using the emergency break. (He only told us right before he left for his mission about the morning he woke up early to go to school and went out to the curb, only to find the truck missing. Huh! He looked around and low and behold, the truck had taken a trip across the street, luckily stopped by the street curb before rolling into our neighbor's living room. And yes, it was the same neighbor who asked Tyler to not park his truck in front of her house...hee, hee)
We got a lot of good use out of the truck. When John and I were dating, he decided it wasn't really Christmas without a real tree. We stuffed one in the back (and nearly had to tie the tailgate closed because it decided it didn't want to latch anymore) and enjoyed the smell of pine through the whole season. We brought Johnny's crib home in the trusty Toyota. Kevin and I bought John a massive treadmill that he was sure he wanted for Father's Day. It filled the entire bed. The whole way home, I kept asking Kevin, "What have we done??? Should we take it back?"
Before Kevin left for his mission, we discussed that it was probably time to say goodbye to the Toyota. We took a picture of it's best angle and John put it on KSL.com on Sunday night about 10 p.m. At 8 a.m. the next morning, we had a guy on our doorstep with $500.00 cash. John gave him a complete rundown of the Toyota's weaknesses. (Boy, I didn't know that much was wrong with it. Maybe I shouldn't have been letting Kevin drive it back and forth to Provo.) The guy listened to everything, nodded his head and asked in very broken English, "It starts? I take." Since it had new breaks, new tires and a new battery, we had listed it for $1000.00, but all of the sudden, John just wanted to sell it and be done with it. With the picture on the ad, how many offers would we get? We took the money and felt good about it.
Would you believe that we have continued to get calls on that truck for 3 weeks now?
So long, Toyota. We'll miss you guy.
Thats an awesome story! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletegreat story. ;)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to tell Tyler that. True justice =)
ReplyDeleteLove the story!
ReplyDelete