Old Wilson joins the family..........

A man needs a truck and preferably a truck with personality. I lucked out yesterday.

A friend of mine who I got to know real well when he was the K-Town girls basketball coach decided to pass along a truck he's had for nearly 30 years - a 1965 Chevrolet. The thing's a beast. It's a two-tone (gold and rust), has a Grateful Dead decal on the driver's side window, has a four speed and is a little tempermental on the choke. Basically, it's perfect. I named him "Old Wilson" because the truck is 45 years old, and because my friend's name is Scott Wilson, so it just fit.

When coach parked the truck in front of my house, he apologized to Brittany for probably making our neighbors hate us. It runs a bit loud. I drove coach home and he asked if I had a cell phone to call Brittany in case the thing died on my way home. We laughed, but there was an element of seriousness to his voice.

A man and his truck.

Delaney was skeptical, at best, when she saw Old Wilson. I had to bribe her into the thing when I took it to the grocery store about a half mile away. She was worried she was going to die or something. The truck backfired and for a second there, she was concerned there was gunfire on our street. I think she looks beautiful in this picture.



Here I am having difficulty starting up Old Wilson. Once I get it started you might be able to hear my comment as I fired 'em up. "That's a 5.8 on the richter scale!"
Coach wouldn't let me pay for the truck, as he said he's hopeful I can get a couple of dump runs with the thing before it decides to not run for a solid three or four months. I don't get to see or talk to Wilson as much now that he's not coaching anymore coupled with the fact that I don't work for the Daily Record as well. But in the three seasons I covered Kittitas girls basketball, we spent plenty of time talking about everything except basketball - life, marriage, kids, eduction, motorcycles, trucks, politics...you name it. Obviously, we discussed basketball plenty and I got to cover probably the most dominant period of K-Town girls basketball ever. A handful of the girls went on to play in college, but more importantly, they were very respectful, smart women that had a heck of a coach. There was a trust coach had with me that allowed me access to practices, and pretty much shadow them at home, away, district and state games. Great times. I had some great coaches and teachers during my formative years, and Coach Wilson would have been on that list as well.