As if I didn’t know.

This is what I drive…

That’s right. A 2004 Ford Excursion DIESEL. Go ahead, say it. Everyone else does when I get out of/in it.

“Do you know how much diesel costs?!”

or….

“I bet you hate filling up.”

Let me answer this for you.

1. Yes, I aware what it costs. I pay attention when I fill up. I don’t mindlessly put diesel in my truck and never bother to see how much it costs.

2. No I don’t hate filling it up.

Let me explain to you why at the height of our “gas crisis” I bought this. First, I haul around no less than 4 to 5 kids around each time this beast pulls out of my driveway. 4 of which are in a car seat. I do not care what anyone says…..I have not met a mini van that will seat 4 car seats and 3 other full grown people even though they are suppose to seat 7. I tried it, it didn’t work. And those 5 people are extremely special to me, so if some ding dong isn’t watching and hits me…..chances are those 5 folks are gonna be just fine. In a mini van…..I don’t wanna think about it. I owned a mini van. I was hit in a mini van. I do not wish to have that ever repeated again in my lifetime. Diesel is more expensive than gas. And diesel trucks/SUV’s are more expensive to buy. For a reason. Diesel itself is due to taxes and supply & demand. The diesel trucks and SUV’s are more expensive for a reason. When those cute little mini vans finally met it’s maker at 190,000 miles……..I will be trucking on by. A gas engine is only designed (even with careful care) to get x amount of miles. There are rare times when it gets more than 200,000 without a major repair. Major repair meaning transmission, engine replacement or other costly repairs. My diesel? 400,000 - 500,000 miles. See my point? Oh, and the more miles I get…the better my fuel mileage gets. Yes way. Right now my one ton SUV gets 18 mpg in the city and around 22 on the highway. Pulling my 16 ft. enclosed trailer loaded down……18 mpg on the highway. My friend has a mini van that is relatively new, she gets the same mileage in her light weight van. i also have a 44 gallon fuel tank. 41 gallons with a 3 gallon reserve. it is nice to fill up and see that I have roughly 800 miles or more until I need to fill up. Yes, it cost me $175 to fill up. But if I am careful with my trips, don’t have a lead foot and turn the a/c off I can make that last me nearly 5 weeks. I do have to leave the house at least 4 to 5 days a week for kid related running. In the summertime I am hoping that it will last me 6 to 7 weeks. Do the math, y’all are smart. That cost me at the most $35 a week. I think that is great compared to the fact I have to go out a lot to pick up kids, drop kids off and so on. I make my trips count and only go to the store on my way there or on my home from those trips. Very rarely do I make a trip to one place anymore. Though it does happen every once and awhile. Still, $35 a week is a lot less than I used when we had our 15 passenger van. Now I have leather, power pedals, power windows and power what else I could think of. Best part? We paid cash for it. No finance charges. So I am not making those awful payments and filling up too.

So when people ask me those questions I wish I could tell them everything I posted right now. But really who wants to listen? I just will smile as I always do and say what I always say, “It’s worth it. I love my truck.”

And I do. I really do love my truck.

God Bless,

Michele