Time to say adios to 'Troupey' our faithful Isuzu Trooper SUV

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - When our Toyota Tundra pickup arrived in the driveway two weeks ago (with us inside), our 1997 Isuzu Trooper probably knew its days were numbered.

With the Tundra home from Mexico, the Trooper will now be sold to someone else out looking for  adventure, we hope.

It certainly provided us with plenty.

We bought the Trooper - nicknamed Troupey - the same fall that we dragged the original Gray Goose Express traveler trailer from Pat and Sanders Lamont's house in Sacramento, through California and Arizona and down all the way to Tenacatita Bay.

Eventually, the Gray Goose Express was parked in Arroyo Seco, where it was temporary housing for Laura McCartney while she was teaching English to the village children.

Troupey served as a great go-to-the-beach vehicle as well as a family loaner. A lot of people borrowed the SUV, frequently using its 4-wheel drive function in the soft sands of Arroyo Seco.

Last summer we used Troupey a lot here at Seneca Lake, managing in the fall to get it stuck up to its axles trying to retrieve the sailing vessel Crimson Tide. Eric Hazlitt came by and pulled the entire rig from the soft sand and gravel at Fitch Beach in Valois in that episode.

Troupey will be missed, but the Tundra will take its place quite handily as the primary tow vehicle here in New York, for the various watercraft already in our fleet, and perhaps for one new one - a Windrider 17 sailboat if I can find a good deal.

Trooper and Grey Goose at Jim Carr's house in Arizona where we had to dump nearly 1,000 pounds