What if…
Jack and I have been a team for a while now, coming up eight years in November. We’ve done a lot of kilometres together and whenever I’ve driven us into a sticky or sink-y or hairy situation, Jack has driven us right back out with no hassle.
Of course Im convinced my encouragement has helped a lot…
“C’mon buddy you’ve got this, I swear I won’t do it again…”
or it could just be that he’s bloody awesome and Im bloody lucky to have him getting me out of trouble.
But…. he’s nine years old.
He’s driven me over 290,000km. That’s 36,250km each year!
We’ve been across the Nullabor and back, down to the bottom of Western Australia and South Australia and to the top of SA, back across WA and up and down and around a dozen or so times (at least that’s how it feels).
So now, the questions I’m mostly asked these days relate to what Im going to replace him with, and when am I going to replace him, and have I thought about what I might get next.
I have to admit, car-wise I guess he’s getting a bit long in the kilometers, and maybe he has a few years on him. I tend to think of it more as experience.
I have thought about what I might get instead. I have a couple of thoughts up my sleeve.
I like the spaciousness of a Troopy, or Toyota Troop carrier. I’d quite like to see how I could fit one of those out for my trips, and maybe for longer term travels. They have a ton of room and I could deck one out really well and be very comfortable in it.
Or I could get a van, maybe a Mercedes Sprinter 4x4. That would be amazing! I’ve seen some fantastic fitouts of those. They look extremely comfortable, like a tiny house on wheels. There are many people living in them and travelling. I could definitely do that!
I briefly considered getting a Jeep Gladiator. They’re pretty cool and can really look rugged, and have a ton more room than Jack. Sadly though I think my driveway is probably a little too short for one of those though, and I don’t think I want to sleep in the back of a ute.
Jack is mine free and clear…, and to be honest he’s never let me down. I think 300,000km is pretty good for a well maintained Wrangler. I think if we keep up the regular check ups, and do a bit of pre-emptive maintenance too, we could continue travelling happily together for a couple more years yet.
What would you do?
