I guess the moral of the story is to check your oil on a regular basis.

I check mine every single day first thing in the morning (Or when ever I decide to wake up). All fluids get checked and then I turn on my 4 ways and running lights to make sure all my lights are working. I check the air pressure in the tires usually on the weekends. I am very anal about proper maintenance. I keep a note pad in my console that I log each mileage interval that I changed the oil at. Oil gets changed every 3 months or 3000 miles which ever comes first. If I do a lot of towing with my truck I will change the oil after only 1500 - 2000 miles. I've had it for 3 years and I'm already up to 113k miles. I plan to run this truck well past 250k. Proper maintenance will be the key.

Hurst