This afternoon, while driving up to Dayton to celebrate Easter with my family and girlfriend, I’ll be passing over the 100,000 mile mark on my Nissan Xterra. Having a job where I work primarily from home, I don’t put as many miles on the truck anymore. So, this 100,000 milestone has been slowly approaching for some time. And, maybe because of that, I’ve thought about it quite a bit. At first, the thought seemed kind of sad—maybe sort of a reminder of the number of miles I’ve accumulated on my own mind body and soul. But a brief comment from my cousin—something to the effect of “it’s really more of a badge of honor than anything”—quickly changed my mindset.

I bought the truck brand new in January 2008. So every mile, except for maybe the 5 or 10 from the factory and dealership, are my miles—and they’ve been some great miles. Nearly 8,000 of them were accumulated in a short span of 33 days driving around the country in 2013—a trip I so vividly imagined during my first test drive.

So, yesterday, in preparation of today’s odometer turning, I gave her a bath. While, drying her off with a shammy, I inspected every ding, dent and scratch and I was reminded of each and every story of how they came to be.

This may all seem silly to be writing about such a thing, but, for me, it has been fun to think back about my last 7 years and how this truck has been a part of them.

Here is to another 100,000 miles!