My New Truck
I enjoy camping, exploring, hiking, and being out in the wilderness. Now that I have retired from my steady full-time job after 30 years, I want to do more of it. For the last five years I have been pulling my 10x6 CTC (Cargo Trailer Conversion) with my 1999 Ford Explorer. It has worked fairly well, but the six-cylinder engine has some difficulty pulling the trailer, as small and light as it is, up hills. It was time for a newer, more powerful vehicle.
Continued:
I thought long and hard about what vehicle I wanted for my future travel. Having driven the mid-size SUV for the last 20 years, I felt I now wanted something larger and more off-road capable with more power, storage capacity, and durability.
I decided I wanted to move away from the labors and challenges of towing a trailer to the more convenient setup of a slide-in pop-up camper. For this I would need not only a larger more powerful vehicle, but one that can handle the added weight of a camper and gear.
I finally decided a truck with a more powerful V8 engine would serve me best. And it would need to be a 3/4 ton to handle the added weight. I started researching used trucks that would be good for what I wanted to do and was affordable to me.
My research led me to the 2003 to 2007 Classic Silverado 2500HD 4X4.
The word on the street, and the internet, says that this vehicle with a 6.0 gas engine and an automatic heavy-duty 4-speed transmission with overdrive has proven to be a well bult, reliable, and capable vehicle. There are many of these trucks still around. The 1500 series is much more popular and abundant, but it was the 2500HD I needed for my plans.
I planned on taking the truck on off-road trails and overlanding adventures, so I of course wanted four-wheel-drive. I also wanted the extra storage capacity of a double cap, but a shorter vehicle for off-road trails, so I looked for an extra-cab truck with a short bed. I wanted a gas motor, not a diesel.
I did not care what color the truck would be, but I really don't care for red. Turns out the color Gold was a good choice for me. Besides coming up with the name, "Gold Rush", I have discovered the color is good at hiding dust for the desert trails. Although I definitely like to take care of my truck, I am not fastidious about washing it.
As a bonus, this truck came with a lockable metal bed mounted toolbox, a sprayed-in bed liner, and a rubber bed mat.
The truck was a one-owner vehicle with only 112,000 miles on it. If I hadn't known better, looking at it I would have believed it was a brand-new truck. It was that clean and in near perfect condition.
I will be applying many upgrades and modification to Gold Rush over the following months, as well as enjoying many travel adventures. I welcome you to follow along.
You can read my post, "An Example of How God Works" to discover just how I came to locate this particular truck.
