Tikkabik

So Mom bought herself a killer Father's Day gift this year -- a moderately used Toyota Tacoma 4x4 (that's a compact pickup, in case you're unfamiliar with Toyota's product line). She's wanted a pickup for a while, in fact, back in the mid-80's, she had one. She went on a business trip today so she's lending it to me for the week, so I drove her to the airport this morning and had an opportunity to drive about 140 miles round trip in the process.

I'll be perfectly honest that my desire to see her get the truck was less than altruistic -- though I'm glad she's happy with it, I'm equally glad that Bonnie and I now have easy access to a vehicle that we can use to haul bulky material to the dump, like our past-its-prime sofa that's not even fit for donation to some needy cause. Since Mom lives on the other side of town, it'll be easier to coordinate with her than it would be with my father in law, the only other relatively close family member who has a truck. He lives about half an hour away.

Interestingly, it's the exact same color combination as the 12 year old Subaru Impreza it replaces -- a forest green exterior with a beige cloth interior. Unlike the Sube, though, the Toyota has working AC and a decent stereo.

As I said, this is Mom's second go-round with a Toyota pickup, although it's been more than 15 years since she last had one. That one, like this, was an Xtracab model, but these days the Xtracab means real seats in the back, while back then there was only a shelf that was moderately suited for our dog, but little more. This one's a 4x4, though, which should be better in the bad weather. Mom even wants to take it to the beach and go on the dunes with it.

Toyota pickups certainly built better with higher-quality components than they used to be, but what I'm amazed by is how similar they are, as well. Just like the last one, this thing has an inline 4-cylinder engine that looks remarkably similar to the same one in the '85 model she had -- relatively simple setup, unadorned with a lot of horrendously complex gadgetry and machinery under the hood. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as the saying goes.

I told Corey about Mom's truck last night. It went down like this:

Peter Cohen: so my mom just bought a pickup truck.



Corey Tamas: and she has an electric guitar

Corey Tamas: Wasn't that right?

Corey Tamas: Your mom is more metal than you are, Peter.



Peter Cohen: what's more, it's a 4x4



Corey Tamas: Wow.

Corey Tamas: How does it feel to be out-metaled by your mom?