240915 Heading East

Heading East
Episode 1

Back in 2011 I wrote perhaps the most liked story I've ever posted. Its title was: "The Final Voyage." I think about that frequently And it always makes me smile.

I've always liked trucks. I've had 2 trucks over my lifetime and I loved having both of them.

Yesterday I was dragging my little hand cart home from the grocery store. I approached a little used cross street. There a young man pulled up to the intersection and was waiting for traffic to clear so he could continue his journey.

He was driving a beat up old Chevy truck. I asked, "56?" He replied, "57." We talked for several minutes and then parted ways.

Seeing that old truck made me happy as I thought about it all day long. Late in the afternoon I decided to write another story, similar to the well liked: "Final Voyage story."
This time I will be heading east instead of west.

My story begins. I've become restless living alone in my apartment. Friends here come and go in less than a year. They're off to another journey, while I stay in a static lifestyle here.

I began looking for an old truck on car buying sites. I saw one listing that stated: "54 Chevy stepside, looks bad but runs good!" That was my trigger. I contacted the owner, sent him a deposit and said I'll be there in a few days to purchase the truck.

I canceled my lease on the apartment, withdrew my money from the bank and took a bus to Saint Louis. There I went to see the owner of the truck. He was correct in his description, the truck was shabby looking. I took it out for a test drive and was surprised at how well the truck performed. The owner had rebuilt the engine and all of the moving parts in the undercarriage, but he ran out of money before he could make the truck look like new. That was perfect for me; it was everything I had dreamt about for years.

I stopped at a sporting goods store, bought a tent, a small Coleman cooking stove and a host of packaged meals, just add water, heat and eat. I fired up the old Chevy and headed east, crossing over the bridge into Illinois.