By Joe Cermele

Last July, while backing my float boat into the river at a tight ramp, I made the mistake of focusing only on my side-view mirrors and not watching my front end. Next thing I know, there's a nice little paint scrape on the bumper thanks to a tree stump (below). It's one of those truck wounds that's not so bad I feel the need to dump buckets of money to fix it, and it's not so terrible that it bothers me every day. But over the weekend a buddy of mine saw it and said, "wow, you should really take better care of your truck." I probably should. At the same time, I look at a truck as another tool that is going to get somewhat messed up if you're using it properly. Take the trucks of fishing guides, for example.