According to Wikipedia, "Morphed [Power] Rangers generally possess enhanced strength, durability, agility and combat prowess." Come April, I will get to find out how much a Ford Ranger shares with that claim (minus the agility because like, it's a pickup truck).
Long story short, my uncle passed away last Friday. He was my mom's only brother and ended up a bit estranged by his own choice, living in Washington state and working as a stone mason in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island. I never met him and he hadn't spoken to my mom in ~10 years. Even though he was estranged, everyone we've spoken to said he read our annual Christmas letters and knew what we were up to. He was apparently proud of his only nephew and all the car things I got up to. So, when we go out there to spread his ashes and gather his things in early April, I will be driving his truck home to DC with some of his masonry work (a few artsy pieces) in the backseat.
The plan is to clean up the truck, sell it, and split the profit between furthering my racing season and a donation to the non-profit that helped him out for about five years. We collectively think he'd be okay with that, so... here goes.
I've never driven cross-country before and will obviously be taking the northern route across I-90 and I-94. My plan is to log some pretty heavy days and stay with friends along the way. His case worker and her husband are having the truck taken to their local mechanic, who will do an oil change and give it a general PPI type of inspection. Anything big will be fixed before I set off, anything small can be ignored or repaired once I'm home. We've been told Dennis took very good care of the truck, since it was used to run his business and was one of few material possessions he was proud of.
It looks kind of filthy but I think it'll clean up well with some elbow grease. It'll make a great first car or beater truck for someone.
What I know so far:
Should be a nice drive home, I hope. Wanted to have a place to catalog everything I learn between now and April, and provide trip reports as I go.
TLDR: I'm inheriting a high-mileage Ford truck and driving it 2,900 miles home sight-unseen. What could go wrong?
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