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| 2014. Cleaned and a couple of weeks before shipping it back to Seattle . |
I'm giving my first-generation (1995 - 2004) 2004 Toyota Tacoma to Our Boy, who will be driving in a few years. So after buying it in the summer of '03, I've been keeping the maintenance up on it and twelve years later it still runs great. I feel it's due for a paint job though, but it still looks decent when some elbow grease is applied towards shining it up. OB actually prefers riding in the truck rather than Mrs Lenman's SUV, probably because he's been accompanying me to work (dropping him off at daycare along the way) when he was only months old and ML was done with maternity leave.
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| Arrival from Seattle in 2011. Pick up the pick up at Sand Island. |
In 2011, I shipped my truck to Honolulu from Seattle about two weeks before flying out from SEA because I wanted to have my own vehicle to drive after arriving rather than renting a car. And we weren't shipping ML's SUV just yet because I was going ahead of her and OB by a couple of months, so she still needed her transportation to go to work. So after picking it up from Sand Island immediately after landing at HNL, I was pleased to see it was waiting for me clean and ready to go thanks to Matson Lines. (I used Matson to ship it back to Seattle in 2014 at the same price and timeline, so if you're shipping a vehicle from the west coast to the islands, they're my recommendation to go with).
After signing the paperwork and starting her up, I immediately drove towards Waikiki - figuring I should 'Christen' my ride before heading over to the Navy Exchange to get something to eat and then checking into temporary quarters on Ford Island.
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| Kalia Road by the Hale Koa Hotel. |
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| Kalakaua Avenue just before Kapahulu. |
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| A good but lonely dinner at Pearl Harbor NEX. |
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| On Ford Island Bridge heading towards the lodge. |
I was jaded to be on Oahu and happy I had my truck with me on the island to start the next chapter of my career. But as I mentioned in one of the above pictures, it was a little lonely and a bummer that I was there without OB and ML being that we were all on the island together just four months prior - staying at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki. On the phone later that evening with ML, she said the truck was my 'security blanket' - having my truck with me was a connection to Washington and family still back there. Seems strange, but it was true.
My truck was great to have on the island and helped out at work and play on many occasions.
