Truck Shopping and Miscellaneous Photos

The past week has been quieter than the past few weeks, no major purchases or events. This doesn’t mean we aren’t busy, though. Yesterday I went truck shopping to see what was available from dealers in a used Crew Cab truck. I looked at several Chevy, Dodge, and Ford units. Dodge seems to be the best priced, and one unit looked good:

2005 Dodge Ram 1500

This truck is already wired for a heavy trailer and has a heavy-duty hitch.The trim level is the “Laramie” package with interior upgrades for a bit more comfort and convenience. Engine is the famed Hemi V-8. Good for power, not so good for gas mileage. Pam likes the idea of the 4 doors as the dogs would travel in the extended part of the cab and could be let out and in through the extra doors. Having a Crew Cab does mean the truck bed is shorter than the standard 8-foot bed. The ATV would fit, but full-size sheets of plywood and lumber would hang out a bit. I don’t think this would be a problem as we have our 5 foot by 12 foot utility trailer to haul larger items.

We would have to take the Subaru in and see what kind of trade-in financing we could arrange. Asking price for the truck is $15K, but a quick search of the internet shows the same truck for sale at other dealerships for less, down to a low of $10K. The $15K price seems a bit much. We shall see.

Our daffodils (and dandelions) started to bloom yesterday. Spring is still not fully here, though, as below zero temps are forecast for this Tuesday night. Still it is nice to see the flowers progressing. Below is a photo for Mike and Virgil; these are iris plants they gave us a few years ago. Coming up nicely this Spring!

Iris plants doing well

The white lilac bush behind the iris plants is budding out as well. We’ll have to cover this bed Tuesday, though, to help protect it from the overnight frost in the forecast.

Here are a few of our daffodils blooming, and a literary moment:

Shortest Daffodils you may ever see

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth

We have begun working on the trailer, fixing things and checking items off our list. Small stuff, such as trying to find a replacement for the missing oven knob. I have a few items on order including some light fixture lenses and a replacement stabilizer jack. I did get the front window cover fixed, lubricated the slide mechanism, and started fixing the shades. A couple other items have cropped up that need attention: one drawer in the kitchen need the support rail fixed and one towel holder in the bath needs work. Again, small stuff, but needs to be addressed. Pam will be going through the shelves and drawers, cleaning them and putting down freezer paper as drawer linings. Lots to do yet before we’re ready to pull up the RV to the lot. Here are a couple more trailer photos.

Slide out extended

Front window cover repaired and open, slide out lubricated and extended. I put the matching spare tire on the ground and will use the mis-matched tire as the spare.

Rear of trailer with slide-out extended

I have extended the awning a bit to test it’s operation , but the trailer is too close to the trees to extend it all the way. Still, it looks like the awning is fully functional, if a bit dirty.

Awning and hardware looks OK.

Clean-up and repair work will continue over the next couple weeks. Trailer should be good-to-go by the end of the month.

Finally, a request:

Who’s visiting this blog?  Judging by the number of hits the blog page counter is registering (sometimes 20-40 in a 24 hour period), people are looking at these posts. Please leave a note and tell us who you are!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s 2 cents worth:

Our children have commented on the recent acquisitions.  Toby says, “Land for his birthday, an RV for Easter.  What are you getting Dad for Father’s Day?”  (I think the answer to that question is, “A truck.”)  Felicity draws a parallel between outfitting the RV and outfitting a covered wagon.  For one we need “horsepower” while the other relied on oxen.  Provisions are required for both, anticipating time in the wilds away from “civilization.”  Interesting perspective.