I used to….

There was a time when I used to own a 1978 Land cruiser.  See, we had been thinking about getting a third vehicle.  The baby boy was almost 16, and that meant getting a drivers license.  That meant he could finally taxi himself around and that would have been a good and a worrisome thing.  We are not buying the baby boy a car, we just don’t believe in that.  You want a car, you work for it, earn money and pay for it.  With six kids we just couldn’t go buying every kid a car.

However, it would be nice if there was third vehicle that would serve multi-purposes.  With 40 acres up in the mountains a utilitarian vehicle would come in handy, you know, one that wouldn’t get stuck in a little bit of snow or mud….remember this….I do!

Coincidental, that same day, we drove through Lincoln, MT (which is one of my favorite cities in Montana) and saw this:

Now that is a vehicle that wouldn’t get stuck, and if it did it was equipped with a wench, perfect.  Note: It comes with a winch not a wench, McGyver read this and laughed his ass off.  He said he wished it came with a wench but it doesn’t, unless I’m in there. I stand corrected, it’s a winch.  With those big tires, it also meant that it probably couldn’t go faster the 55 or 65 mph.

Perfect car for teenage boy to use.  The baby boy just thought it was cool, mama was thinking how he couldn’t drive fast or fit too many other teenagers in the car (can you hear my evil laugh). 

We searched the internet, we looked at other vehicles and this one just seem to fit our needs the most so one fine sunny Saturday we set out to Lincoln to buy this not so pretty, mostly impractical, but fit-our-needs practical vehicle.

It was a great day for a drive, we saw a bunch of Mule deer (oooh surprise):

Amazing little buggers.   Look at them jump.

We finally made it to Lincoln and test drove the Land cruiser.  We knew it required some work such as no blinkers, speedometer didn’t work, etc.  We weren’t buying it to restore it to it’s former glory (and there are  people out there who love to do that, flip these cars and get mucho bucks for them!)  After the deal was made we stopped for lunch at:

Also known as:

It was decorated kinda cool.

Since Lincoln only has a population of about 1,500 people, The Pit Stop also has an entertainment room.

and movie rentals!

I could imagine this as an alternative location for the film Clerks.  Just replace convenience store with burger joint and place Jay and Silent Bob out front and it’s perfect.

After we had, what else? Our burgers, it was time to take our newest toy home.

Ooof Da

See honey, I can still get it up…I mean get up, no step stool required.

Ready to go!

Oh happy day, even if the blinker arm is missing and the speedometer doesn’t work and the tachometer is taped to the steering column.

And we’re finally off, I follow behind, don’t have to worry about a speeding ticket!

We made it  just out of town and then this….

The differential (that’s what McGyver told me it’s called) broke.  It has something or other to do with the drive train, which somehow or other, using gears, makes the wheels turn.

Folks, this is not good.  We are 2 hours from home so McGyver says call the people and tell them we are coming back. 

I have a confession, I’m a chicken.  I didn’t want to call them, what if they told me to go to h-e-double hockey stick.  I was already crushed, I couldn’t bear to hear that I’m an idiot too.

With pouty lips and puppy dog eyes I got McGyver to give them a call.

Well, it turns out that they are pretty nice people. We drove the Land cruiser back (the baby boy was crushed), they gave me my check back and said they’d fix it, then give us a call to see if we still wanted it.

I used to own a 1978 Toyota Landcruiser, for 45 minutes.