Dear Ford Motor Company,

I wanted to take a minute to write you a letter and tell you about my dad and his Ford truck. I’m sure you receive a lot of letters on a daily basis, from customers all over the world, but I’m not sure you’ve ever received one quite like this.

First let me tell you a little bit about my father. My dad’s a 62 year old consulting forester who has worked hard every day of his life and will continue to do so until his body will no longer let him. Almost 20 years ago, he set out on a new adventure….he started his on forestry business. And with his new adventure, came a brand new 1994 Ford F150.

I remember the day he got that truck. I went with him to to the dealership to pick it up. I sat quietly in a too-big chair waiting for him to finish signing all the paperwork, excited I got to be the first one to ride in it with him.

Since that day, that truck has seen most of the state of Oregon and some pretty rough terrain. As a forester, he’s on gravel logging roads, dirt logging roads and sometimes no roads at all, for the better part of the year. It’s hauled tree seedlings for new plantings. He’s been to Canada in that truck, bringing home a moose in the back.  And I’ll never forget the countless camping trips where that truck pulled our family camp trailer.

Needless to say, I think his truck as served him well over the years.

When his truck reached 300,000 miles, my sisters and I, concerned he may get stranded out in the woods somewhere, would ask him when he was going to finally go buy a new truck. He’d just get this twinkle in his eye, smile and laugh the way only my dad does, and say, “I’m going for half-a-million miles.”

Of course we thought he was joking…or crazy…or even a little bit of both.

But that? Well, that was over a hundred-thousand miles ago…yes, more than 100,000 miles have passed since then.

As of today, or at least the last time I checked, he’s tipped 430,000 miles on his truck’s original motor and is well on his way to his goal of half of a million miles.

“Built Ford Tough” takes on a new meaning when it comes to my dad and his Ford F150…wouldn’t you agree?