Goodbye 1983 Chevy S-10

Today the S-10 left us. Cody has been driving this truck since he was 16. He would repeatedly call it his pride and joy and say how much he loved it (until something went wrong and then he cursed the thing like you can only imagine!). Cody decided that since we had gotten another car there was really no reason to hang on to it. It has been parked in our garage since February. So he posted it on Craigslist last Monday afternoon and by evening he had multiple inquiries on it. Monday a guy came to look at it and handed Cody the money. But he didn't drive it away until today because we were waiting on the title to be mailed to us from Utah. When I first met Cody he was driving this truck, it has always been with us. We have TONS of memories in this truck, so I figure I would share the highlights (or lowlights...) from the past few years in no particular order.

1. It was in this truck that Cody took me out for my 22nd birthday with the four wheeler in the back and we went up the canyon. He took me on a four wheeler ride we enjoyed the sunset in the mountains and he asked me to marry him!

2. The infamous gas leak. To make a really long story short. Cody and I went to Salt Lake in January (it was freezing cold) to pick up an entertainment center. As soon as we arrived at our destination the gas tank wore a little too thin and sprung a leak. A big leak (and we only had about a 1/4 of a tank to begin with). Cody assigned me the job of laying under the truck and holding it with my sleeve to minimize the gas lost while he and a guy loaded up the entertainment center in the back. The hoodie I wore was destroyed, it was soaked in gas I held the leak for what felt like an eternity (probably 10 minutes). By the time we were leaving we had to get to a gas station FAST. I have never seen a vehicle run with the gas gauge 1/4 below empty (another fun fact, if the S-10 ran out of gas and stopped running it wouldn't start again this would be why it was imperative we got to a gas station FAST). Luckily we made it and filled up the truck while it was running, we enjoyed seeing the pool of gas gather underneath the truck as we put it in. We safely made it home and parked it where the rest of the gas could leak out. Good Times. Thank goodness for JB Weld.

3. Cody and I (and Savannah, our friend) were headed up American Fork, UT canyon to meet some friends for a campfire. It was at the beginning of summer and to get to where we needed we had to cross a stream or a small river it seemed. Cody was confident the rear wheel drive S-10 could make through. He was wrong. We made it half way when the tires kept spinning on loose rocks. The water was ALMOST coming in the S-10 it was about the same level as the cab. After repeated efforts to move in either direction Cody realized it was a bust. He took his shoes off and waded through 2 feet of ice cold mountain run off. He was going to run up a mile or so to where our friends were and get help. He left Savannah and I there to look helpless. By this time we had accumulated quite the crowd of people who were laughing and taking pictures of our predicament. It took about 10 minutes for someone to offer to help us. Luckily a nice guy with a four wheeler with a wench hooked up to the back of us and was able to pull us out back where we came from. We parked the S-10 and rode up the rest of the way with our friend in his 4 wheel drive truck. Definitely overestimated the S-10.

4. The brake line broke. I don't remember the time frame for this incident. I think we were engaged. But the brake lines broke and we attempted to drive to Tremonton from Orem (about an hour and half drive) without stepping on the brakes. Needless to say we left late at night to avoid any type of traffic. It was summertime and HOT. Of course there was no a/c in the truck so it was a miserable ride the whole way. Thankfully we made it there and Cody's dad helped him fix the brakes.

5. S-1o to the rescue?? I was about 5 minutes away from home at the store when my 01 Honda Civic wouldn't start. It had a lot of corrosion on the battery so that was the issue. I called Cody (who at the time was driving his scooter, oh how he loved that thing) he came to assess what was wrong and decided he needed his tool box, so he went home and came back in the truck with the tool box. After fiddling with my car for an hour and fixing it we were on our way back home. When 2 minutes into our ride the S-10 died and wouldn't start again. Cody was FUMING. He messed with it for an hour even went to the auto store and came back and messed with it some more. Still nothing. He then resorted to calling his friend who came and helped Cody push, yes push it home. Good thing we were only about 1/2 a mile away from home.

The S-10 has all in all been really good to us. It got us from point A to point B (though sometimes it took awhile...) and it was free. While I am not sad to see it go, it will be very strange to not see it in the garage everyday. We hope the new owner Charlie will have just as many adventures in it as we had. Hope he knows what he is in for!!