Saying goodbye to a trusted friend – my 2018 Chevy Diesel Colorado.
It’s hard to know where to start a blog about travels and adventures. I cannot find a beginning point that makes sense to start with. So I will start with an ending that is also a beginning, and work in both directions (all directions?) Life is always about going around in circles anyways, right? It was also a surprise ending – I had no idea I was going to move this quick on the idea of going RV’ing (with an eye on eventually going full-time once we figure a few things out!).
The ending is saying goodbye to my trusted friend that has stood faithfully by my side, my 2018 Chevy Diesel Colorado. We bought this truck as a compromise between a road car / daily driver and a road trip vehicle that would have more space, and have the capacity to tow a small trailer. The exact model I had been dreaming about was on the lot of a Chevy dealer just down the road from my work. It was a 4×4 Z71 with the long bed (fits a bicycle laying down perfectly), painted black rims, Good Year Wrangler off-road tires, Bose stereo (good but still sucky). Mandy and I totally put this truck to work, both hauling stuff for construction projects around our house as well.
First, I will include a little back history. In 2017, we sold our 2014 VW Diesel TDI Golf back to Volkswagen – another car I loved. I was not willing to take a chance on that car with VW that they would get the upgrades right to bring the car in emissions compliance. The 2014 Golf TDIs did not have an “add blue” DEF tank. Without it, I could not be certain that the required software updates to make the car “pass smog” would preserve the way it drove. My parents temporarily loaned me a car for a year (technically they sold it me but they “unsold” it to me, paying me back for the money I had paid including all the upgrades – thanks Dad!). Mandy started to get serious about looking at RV trailer rentals in the beginning of 2018, wondering what that was like.