I have been doing a fair amount of bitching about the inadequacies of the new pickup the Outfit purchased for me to use. Maybe not here, but the complaints have been made.

But today, two definite good points.

First, it is a whole lot easier to drive home with an injured golden eagle tucked under your left elbow when you're in this rig with the automatic transmission.

And second, the extended cab is large enough to allow you to put an eagle-sized pet carrier in the back seat and still have room for two heelers up front.

With the old rig, changing gears was kinda difficult when one hand was being used to restrain the deeply-taloned feet of an eagle, and the heelers had to stay home when I hauled an eagle the 120+ miles to the rehab folks. Or else the eagle and carrier had to ride in the bed of the truck, which is not good in the winter.

So, two definite positive points.

We're off on a 240+ mile drive now...