When my Dad got his GMC truck -- he was so happy, proud even! -- we did everything with it. I'm not sure if it just evolved, or it was planned this way, but he put a shell on the back, and bought a pop-up tent trailer for all of our trips in the 70s and 80s.
Before he put the shell on, we rode in the back of the truck up Highway 17 to Santa Cruz. Any of you who have driven it know it as a winding highway through mountainous terrain. Back in the 70s it was 4 lanes, no divider, and a history of many, many crashes. There are portions of the road that are steep, and the curves come upon a driver much faster than you realize if you've never driven this road before. How we were allowed to ride in the back of a truck on this kind of road was surprising!
Every December, usually the first weekend, we would make this trek up and over the mountain to trudge our way along a hillside looking for the perfect Christmas tree. We always found one we thought we liked -- they weren't usually as perfect looking once we got it home, but decorated up and the "bad side" turned against the wall and it looked as perfect as it needed to be!
We would saw the tree down, toss it in the back of the pickup and we'd climb in after it. Sometimes, if the weather was cooperating, we'd stop in Santa Cruz to check out the beach, maybe get a cone at Marianne's Ice Cream!!
