Hi All. I decided in November that 2021 would be the year I buy a vehicle suitable to get me out on some adventures! I had planned on saving my pennies this winter and spring, then buying something, probably a Toyota Tacoma, in the summer, then spend the rest of the year equipping it and myself for adventures to be had in 2022 and beyond. Careful what you plan for because things have a way of moving in the direction of your intentions! I told a buddy of my plans and he tells me he's got a 2006 Dakota that's cheap, clean, needs some work, and is for sale. Well, the work is somewhere between resetting the timing chains and replacing the heads and pistons! Which is work I can do. It's pretty clean, it does run, albeit extremely rough, it's a V8 and 4x4 and a quad cab, which is what I was looking for anyway! So, we struck a deal for $1750 on payments. It'll be paid for about the time I would have been shopping for a truck anyway, and by then, the engine will be repaired, the dent in the bed will be fixed, and I'll have had time to make a suitable rack for it. My level of experience is, I'd say "experienced novice" at general camping and "off the beaten path" travel, and a novice novice at wheeling. I've gotten stuck and unstuck in the snow, but that's it. No experience in recovery yet. I don't plan on any "hard-core" offroading, but I also know that sometimes the path has surprises. My goals are just to seen the things that make this country special. And maybe one day, see other parts of the continent. So much to see and enjoy, and my Dakota is gonna take me there. My friends are starting to ask "where ya gonna go next summer" and I just tell them "wherever the journey is". They don't understand the concept of enjoying the journey. I don't either, fully. But it's something I'm looking forward to understanding. I think this forum is the right place to pitch my tent!
Thanks
Keith
Looking forward to learning more about all of this!
