So much more than just another pretty Flake.....

Reading Katie's recent post about the demise of her beloved Camry prompted me to reflect on what Flake has meant to our family over the years. About a year and a half ago Scott came across a contest in a ski magazine for the best ski car, and he and Dave put this little essay together -- Dave actually wrote it, but in Scott's voice. The prize was a helicopter skiing trip, which, inexplicably, Flake did not win. Still, I'm glad to have this little piece of her history to preserve for posterity.....

Dear Skiing Magazine,

Fourteen years ago, my dad and older brother stopped at a rundown gravel plant in Concrete, Washington, 80 miles northeast of Seattle, hoping to find a decent set of wheels for a newly licensed driver. They discovered Flake, a 1989 Chevy S-10 4x4 pickup. Two hundred and twenty thousand miles later, Flake continues to thrive. After being stolen, stripped bare, totaled twice, and making hundreds of trips to ski resorts all over the west, there's still no doubt that Flake is the greatest ski car. She is named for her love of snow and because of the durability (or lack thereof) of her original General Motors paint job. New paint and body work last spring replaced the flakey paint on the hood with ice-blue flames, further strengthening her bond to frozen H₂O.

Cherished because of her reliability, Flake is rapidly closing in on 300,000 miles. But don’t let the multitude of miles fool you, she still has the juice to pass you going up to the mountain on a powder day. Early in her career she focused on the Cascades, transporting skiers to Crystal Mountain, Mt. Baker, Timberline, The Passes of White, Steven, and Snoqualmie, and even an international Christmas trip to Whistler-Blackcomb. She then decided to conquer the Wasatch, hauling my brother and everything he owned (mostly ski gear) to take a job in Park City. She saw him through several seasons skiing Park City, Deer Valley, The Canyons, Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Sundance, and Pommerelle, ID, as he tried to finish a college degree in just under a decade. He finally graduated and I inherited her in 2005 when I moved to Utah, and she's continued her run of western ski resorts, adding Beaver Mountain, Powder Mountain, and Snowbasin.

Even with this impressive resume enabling my family’s ski habits, one important item remains for Flake to accomplish before she can call her life complete. She has never met a heli. Skiing Magazine, please let Flake go into retirement at the top of her game. Doesn’t she deserve it?