Kubota's new ride

At a full 240 inches in length, Kubota constipates the traffic flow in our driveway when he does not pull far enough forward when he parks.  Mrs ERJ suggested that the green swim noodle and the tire blocks were too subtle to use as cues for where he needs to park.  She was right.

We have a new granddaughter.  Her name is 'Sierra' and she was born in 1999.  Ironically, 'Sierra' was the name of Kubota's first girlfriend.  Something Freudian, there.

She is not petite.  She has a curb weight of 5900 pounds and a gross vehicle weight of 9400 pounds.

Process
As adults we learn that the best process is to NOT fall in love with merchandise before buying.  It is better to coldly and clinically research, winnow the field down to where you could blindly throw a dart and hit a great candidate...then let 'chemistry' take over.

Kids, of course, are much smarter than adults.

Kubota fell in love with this truck before he even saw it.  It had all of the amenities that define "Coolness".  Tires large enough to shoe open-pit mining equipment, speakers that can crack windows in the next county, four-wheel-drive, a V-8...

Most important it was priced at the exact point that was his maximum budget.

It is not the years.  It is not the miles.  It is the KIND of miles.
It is not currently sitting in our driveway.  It is in the shop.

Kubota drove his new truck to school the other day.  One of his buddies asked, "Hey Kubota, what do you call that?  The 'dust control special?'"

Kubota asked, "Whaddya talking about?"

Buddy, "It is gushing fluids."

Yupper-doodle.  Kubota bought a leaker.

Mrs ERJ commands
Mrs ERJ ever mindful of contaminated drinking water commanded "Hie thee down to Wilder's shop of Mechanics and Chancre Lancing and have him fix it."

We had, of course, recommended that he do this before he bought the vehicle, but as noted earlier, kids are much smarter than adults.

The vehicle that was EXACTLY at the limit of his budget is now $2000 over it.  Tennessee Ernie Ford had it right.

The upside is that it has fewer miles on it than any of the other vehicles in the ERJ fleet.  Once the leaks, wobbles, grinds and shimmies are sorted out it should be good for another 200,000 miles.