A few weeks ago my truck — a 1990 Ford Ranger — died. As I was pulling into the parking ramp at the hospital, I had to gun it to avoid running over a cyclist who played right-of-way games on the sidewalk. That last push of torque snapped something in the transmission, and from that point forward the Ranger was no more.

After the hospital security pushed me into a makeshift parking spot — I blocked one of three entrances to the employee lot at morning rush hour — I had the ol’ girl towed home.

The Ranger has been replaced with a 1998 GMC Jimmy SLS 4×4. This two-door SUV has a full luxury package, including a moonroof and all-electric controls. Everything works like it should and the old owner had just put new brakes and tires on it.

The Jimmy rides like a dream. I got it used from the original owner, who obviously took good care of it.

The Jimmy passed it’s first medium-haul test with flying colors. Yesterday I drove Alaric and me to Kalamazoo for lunch at Saffron and spirits browsing at Tiffany’s. We also popped over to the WMU campus for a nostalgia tour, then returned to G.R. for a beer-tasting event at Brewery Vivant. Yummy. The Belgian sour ales were heavenly.

In any case, now that we’re staring down Old Man Winter, it’ll be good to have a vehicle that (a) goes forward reliably when you depress the accelerator, and (b) stops when you touch the brakes.