It is hard to believe how many possessions you can accumulate in 4+ years in one home. Yard sales, Goodwill trips, give aways, and chucking stuff out front by the road hardly seemed to make a dent. We carted a 17 foot U-Haul full of boxes and other treasures to Gainesville and the Bickmeyer family graciously absorbed it. The packing would have never been completed without Nug. I always found a legitimate excuse to avoid such as surfing or hanging out with friends because “I won’t see them for a long time baby! I have plenty of time to pack!” In the last week I was tossing valuables that I originally would “never get rid of”. Our last few days in Jax Beach were a revolving door of friends coming over to visit and leaving with literal armfuls or truckfuls (in James’ case) of our belongings. At the time it was distressing to watch it all go, however the worst of all was bidding farewell to White Lightning. I posted the following ad on Craigslist and it created an absolute feeding frenzy.
1999 Toyota Tacoma SST Model
Just under 123k miles
I have had White Lightning for 9 years and have kept up with all scheduled maintenance. She does have a lot of character (dents and scratches) and I would keep her for another 10 years but we are relocating out of the area and I will have no use for her where I am going. I have had this speed demon longer than I have known my wife and she has always been good to me (both of them for that matter). The engine starts right up and the A/C is downright freezing. This baby really is a one of a kind type of vehicle. It is with wet eyes and a heavy heart that I say goodbye. Come and steal this beauty from me before someone else does!
The price is $2500
Rednecks with Super Duty trucks from as far away as South Carolina were foaming at the mouth to pounce on the deal! She sold within an hour and as I watched her become a speck in the distance the realization that we were leaving hit me like an uppercut. I bought White Lightning before moving to Jax and selling her before we left represented the end of a chapter. Over the next several days as we packed and said goodbyes, I had mixed emotions as I knew it would only get more difficult because I knew we would miss our friends and family the most.