Requiem for a Middleweight

Trading in our 2001 Durango today on the new Ram truck (shaddup, og...)

So... as a motorhead, I feel an obligation to give an old friend a proper send-off. We're trading in this fine vehicle not because it's been problematic (far from it) but because we've outgrown it. We've discovered that the kids really love camping, and have bought our own travel trailer. The trailer really is too heavy to safely pull with the Durango, and I'd rather not thrash a perfectly good vehicle. Especially one that's been as good to us as our Durango.

In the six years we've owned it, this Durango has carried us safely over 60,000 miles. Aside from one 5-year-old-battery-induced breakdown, it's started and run reliably the entire time (and that one episode was ENTIRELY my fault for not replacing the battery sooner). It has had exactly three minor non-maintenance issues, all of which were handled promptly and at no charge to us (engine code from gas cap not screwed on tight enough, dash fan motor burned out, and the emissions computer went haywire, all were under warrantee).

This Durango replaced my 1998 Ram when it became abundantly clear that loading a 9 month old into an extended cab pickup stunk on ice. My wife took it over before my daughter was born; heck, this Durango carried my infant daughter home from the hospital (she, BTW, is adamantly opposed to getting a new truck...). It has towed our pop-up camper all over New England, from western MA to the White Mountains to our friends' cabin in ME.

Tuesday night, as I cleaned out six years of accumulated garf, I found myself getting sad for letting the ol' girl go. Motorheads do that. To me, it's more than a cacophony of cogs and camshafts; it's a motorized friend, a faithful companion to the good times we've experienced as a family. But I'd rather say goodbye to my friend than abuse her terribly towing a camper that's too big and heavy. I'd rather not spend her waning years cursing the failed brakes and white-knuckling down the highway as the wake from passing semis have their way with her on the open road.

My hope for this truck is that another family will find her and fall in love with her. She's got many serviceable miles left in her; heck, the BFG tires are only 1.5 years old. I hope whoever ends up with our Durango treats her well, for she has earned it... Godspeed, my Mopar machine.