This is a personal essay. It may not mean much to my readers, but then again it might. We all have some precious possession, whether of monetary value or purely sentimental worth, that we would grieve if we lost it. I have many such possessions but this story is about my truck, my faithful companion for 24 years. It recently gave me a good scare with the possibility of its engine being chewed up and dead. A friend said it was just scrap metal now, that I should have it towed away and buy another vehicle (like that’s easy?!). Scrap? A guy at work just lost his wedding ring, setting it down momentarily to wash his hands or ? Gone. It matched his wife’s ring, custom made, silver and turquoise. Was it just a piece of metal? Can he just buy another one? Please… As is typical of my Red Feather, it’s running fine after a little TLC and taking me where I need to go.

It has taken me across the country numerous times.  I trailered it from Arizona to Montana, and from there it took me by ferry to Skagway, Alaska, down the Alcan to Seattle, and over to East Glacier (where I worked for Amtrak and parked with cows).

It’s safely transported all of my dogs,

And shared incredible adventures!

My Toyota keeps me safe on ice, once, at its own expense.  It’s worked hard for me and been patient, sitting out in the snow while I work.

This is not scrap metal, not just an old vehicle that needs replaced.  This is my baby, one of my kids, a trusted friend.  Here’s to Red Feather and the many memories still to come!