The first new vehicle I ever bought. A '97 club cab Dodge dually truck with a V-10. Socked away every dollar I made for 8 months straight, and bought it once I had saved enough money. I still have the cancelled check somewhere as a memento. Even at 20 years old, I was never one for buying anything on credit. Too bad the rest of our country doesn't feel the same way.

This was shortly after I bought it, on a camping trip in Los Padres national forest in late '96. Not long after this picture was taken, I took it exploring on a fire road and and got it stuck in a ditch while trying to turn around. That's when I realized I should have got four wheel drive.