To love and hate a truck

A couple years ago the time had come to purchase a new truck.  After a long search I found a new Ford F-450, Diesel, crew cab, 4x4 dually, for a good price.  From the start I have had a love hate relationship with the truck.  For starters the truck is white a color I hate.  The interior however is King Ranch leather with heated seats, DVD, navigation, and satellite radio all things I love.  The truck has great power, handles amazingly and the dually gives me the stability while pulling my six horse trailer, all things I love when the truck is running.  The thing I hate is the trips to the service shop and gas stations.  The truck has an exhaust system that traps particles then injects fuel into the exhaust to burn the particles to decrease emissions.  When it works the exhaust cleaning system makes it so I get about 5 miles a gallon.  When it does not work the truck shuts to half power and I have to pull over, turn it off, and hope the computer resets.  If it does not I have to take the truck to the repair shop ( 6 trips for this in just over three years.)  In addition to the poor fuel economy the strain on the engine from the exhaust clean has caused two cooling systems in the truck to crack and need replaced.  I hate the truck.

A couple months ago I had a friend tell me about an exhaust delete kit I could put on the truck.  Basically it is a chip that tells the truck's computer the exhaust is clean and replaces the muffler system with and old standard one.  I took my friends advice a week ago and put the kit in.  My truck now runs cooler and has doubled its fuel economy to 10 mpg while pulling my big six-horse trailer, and 16 mpg when just driving it around.

While driving to Houston Texas and actually passing gas stations I could not help but think of the irony in my truck and the government.  New government regulations are aiming to force car companies to improve the fuel economy in cars, while other government regulations from the EPA made my truck get 5 miles a gallon.  Things like this make me love and hate my government.

I spend my life outside working with the creations of this world.  One of my favorite things to do is pack up some horses and head into the Rocky Mountains and enjoy old growth forests and listen to the Elk bugle.  My 5-year-old son knows if we pack it in we pack it out. I want to decrease my "carbon footprint" and be a good steward of the land.  I also need to be able to afford to drive to the mountains and horse shows.

The truck shows us a solution.  If we get rid of half the government regulations we currently have and allow after market solutions to help performance through the private sector mileage improves.  If I am only slightly increasing my emissions, about 2% in this case, but decreasing my oil consumption by half we are on a good track to finding a balanced solution on how to drive my truck were I need to go and protecting the places I want to go.  With practical solutions to radical ideas we can also start to end the love hate relationship we currently have with our government.  The best part is I now just love my truck.