Betsy the Toyota Tacoma

Along each journey a snowboarder makes, there is one consistent and reliable mode of transportation that gets you from home to shredding.  For me, a truck named Betsy the Toyota Tacoma has made every journey, every snowboard trip and has safely brought me home each time.  I bought her brand new in 2004 and now 24,000 dollars later I have just made my final payment.  

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I figured if my truck had a name, it might last longer and treat me better.  She’s been along for the journey of being dependent to independent.  I knew when I bought her that I needed to buy a manual, that I drove too often in the snow and being able to downshift through snowy conditions would be beneficial, unfortunately for me when I bought her I couldn’t drive a stick-shift, I never learned so I bought my brand new truck without ever driving it (thanks dad for test driving it for me).  As soon as I got home, I learned to drive it on the street I grew up on…stalling it a lot.  

After a day of learning to drive a stick-shift, I hit the highway and lived at Mt Hood for the summer where I learned even faster how to drive a stick-shift without stalling in front of the camp vans during stops.  Eventually by the end of the summer, I was better and I didn’t have to think how to change gears anymore.  From then on, my truck took me everywhere.  We traveled to Whistler countless times, to Tahoe to enjoy the epic season, to Oregon, to Washington, from mountains to ocean and finally to Colorado, she was there for every journey, trip and fun moment.  

Over time my truck has changed, the stickers I represent on my truck have changed from websites to companies to websites.  I now represent shayboarder.com (trying not to piss off too many people with my driving skills of course) and Never Summer.  

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The best part is my truck has helped me shred, reliable and always got me to the mountains when I needed to be there.  I could have gotten there faster with a subaru but the toyota keeps me in check, makes me watch the road conditions and know that I’m not indestructible.  She’s hit black ice many times, she’s hit a guardrail once with no damage and she’s taken on dings, scratches and marks from the years of abuse.  But she’s taken them in stride and still looks good. 

 

Even though I live in a resort town, I spend a lot of my winters on the stretch of highway between Steamboat and Summit County, a mere 1.5 hour drive that can turn into 3-4 hours if a snowstorm is in effect, no visibility, no lanes on the road, snow and ice on the road and winds blowing hard so you have no idea if you are on the road or not.  Each time I have made the drive, I’ve made it to my destination safe.  The best part is in the safety of my truck, I come up with all the ideas behind this blog and things that would be great to write about.  

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