Chevy? Ford? Dodge?

Giving a man a bunch of money and telling him to buy either a Chevy, Ford or Dodge is much like lining up a three beautiful women, a blonde, brunette and red head and telling him to pick one.

Oh, the choices!

Travis's boss gave him a nice vehicle budget and LOTS and LOTS of choices for his newest company vehicle. SUV's, cars, crossovers, TRUCKS.

Don't get me wrong. We felt blessed with the 2007 Chevy Impala he quickly put 75,000 miles on. Travis's boss is very perceptive, though, and apparently saw him drooling over some of the company trucks on the road.

"Black Beauty" (the Impala) went to a good home to a new employee in another state about a month ago. Travis drove a little "stand-in" while he (impatiently) waited for the his custom-ordered "lady" to come in.

He would have liked to have ordered a "loaded" version of ANY brand of truck. He proved his loyalty to the family over his wild man desires and opted for a more modest quad-cab version so the whole family could fit comfortably in the new rig! ;) He also took my color recommendation, although I encouraged him to choose what he liked. Now THAT'S a dedicated husband!

She rolled up in the drive Friday, and the kids ran out to see the new girl like they were going to greet grandma and grandpa! We HAD to go for a ride first thing. She needed gas, so we took the three-mile trip to town to get some. Travis revved her a couple of times, but then remembered he had to gently break her in.

Dawson sat in the middle in the front between Travis and I. All-cowboy, I think he was more proud than Travis to be in the new truck. Travis tuned in the Serius satellite station to old country and rolled down the windows. All of the kids, especially Dawson, were in Redneck heaven.

I snuck the keys and took the kids for an errand run one evening when Travis was napping. I got a phone call in the checkout line at Wal Mart and the first thing he asked is if I had wrecked his truck yet! You gotta love that he has confidence in his wife's driving abilities. Never mind that comment. Those of you whom saw my handiwork at our 2nd Hugoton house know that Travis's question was completely valid. I got his new baby back into the driveway in one piece and the kids even put in a good word for me and told him how well I did driving.

So, here she is. Travis's new 2009, 1/2-ton Dodge Ram. She doesn't have a name yet, but I'm sure she'll have one, soon. Travis truly enjoys his new truck and thanks God every time he drives it. I have to say Travis nor I have never felt entitiled to having a company vehicle and feel truly blessed by God and his company to be provided with one!

*A note to all you guys reading this blog and wondering when Travis became a Dodge man. Travis used to be loyal to Ford and owned several OLD Ford Broncos. He says they don't make them like they used too. He didn't choose Chevy because he wouldn't have been able to get as many perks. Trust me, he made that budget go as far as he could!