DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Rene At The Old Army Depot

Q: Does your car have a nickname?

A: A nickname? My truck does not have a nickname, this is not a human being. This is a truck. No nicknames!

Q: How long have you had it?

A: I've had this truck brand-new since 2003. I'm the original owner.

Q: Why did you decide to come here today?

A: We're here today on the site of the old Sacramento Army Depot. Apparently, the old Army Depot no longer exists. It's been shut down for years now. They still have the Army Reserve center here, but the old Army Depot is gone. I am in the Army Reserve and I thought that the Army Depot still had some iconic value in Sacramento.

Q: Tell us about your Toyota Tacoma. What's its main use?

A: My truck is a work truck. It is used to work! And the kind of work I do varies from transporting my art to projects around the house, moving, hauling, carrying, delivering, traveling, you name it. This is a work truck. It's also a passenger vehicle. So when it's time to take a vacation, you can't have a truck with only two seats because your kids won't fit. That's why I chose the four-door, room for five, plus I still have all that space in the back.

Q: What kind of art do you do?

A: I'm a painter. I paint with acrylics on canvas. Murals, paintings, fine art is what I do. It runs in the family. My mother and father are both fine artists and teachers. My father's retired from Sacramento State University, but is still very active in the art community. In fact, just finished a mural in San Diego, an almost 40-year-old mural in Chicano Park that needed restoration. They look fabulous now.

Q: What are some of your favorite features of your truck?

A: The top three features of my truck is that bed back there that has a cover and acts like a large trunk space. The second is room for five, four-door. And the third feature of my truck that has been a lifesaver has been a DVD player separate for my son and a DVD player separate for the adults--completely independent of each other and also has the headphones, so you don't disturb each other.

Q: What's your favorite day trip from home?

A: The best place to go for a day is anywhere that will get me close to the Golden Gate Bridge because there's so much to see and do in the San Francisco Bay. I love crossing the bridge and exploring the Marin Headlands area of San Francisco.

Q: Do you have any rules in your car?

A: I have one rule. The rule is, you may not roll down the window, climb out of the truck, and get on top of the truck, while I am driving. Because that happened once.

Q: Really?!

A: Yes, it did. My friend fell off and smashed his face into the ground, but he lived to survive. So no climbing out the windows, while I'm driving the truck.

Q: If your car had a human emotion, what would it be?

A: There's a lot of human emotions. There's a whole scale from the happiest in the world to the lowest, down-in-the-dumps. But my truck would have a human emotion just like me, which I would have to say is exhilaration.

Q: Why exhilaration?

A: Because exhilaration is one of the highest, happiest human emotions that we can have. And I feel exhilarated just being alive and enjoying my job as a teacher and my second job in the United States Army Reserve. I love life and all the people in it.