Brand New Truck and RV !

What a week !

We started on last Saturday at a local RV show about 70 miles away to "look only" at some Arctic Fox 5th Wheels. After looking at EVERY ONE, we decided to buy the Silver Fox Edition you see in the photos. It's a 2006 29-footer that has hardly been used.

But....we don't have a truck to pull it with! Quick...look online to find a truck...oh wait, it can't be just any truck, it has to be an F250 extended cab, long bed and, white (Kim's favorite car color - it's safe). They cost around $56,000 new and that's waaaaay too much money for us to spend.

I found one in Brentwood, about 60 miles away. I called and arranged to go see it. Monday off we headed out the door early and drove down to see if this one could be The One. Turns out the salesman and I went to Alameda High School together, about 4 years apart so we spent a bunch of time talking about mutual friends.

The truck was a 2008 with only 12,000 miles on it and a great price so we went into his office and, an hour or so later, walked out the the paperwork for our new addition. I drove it home and Kim followed behind me....wow...it's huge...and looooong.

We drove down 70 miles yesterday to have the tow package put in the truck and to get a "walk around" indoctrination of our new RV. We were at the dealership from 9am until 3pm. Driving home in all that traffic was pretty interesting. We got 19.8 mpg going down (empty) and 10.8 coming home (towing)...not bad.

A number of our neighbors came over that evening to see what is this beast in front of our house so we gave them the outside and inside tour. I think we'll have an RV Party this weekend so we can celebrate. We've been looking at an RV for over 6 years at least. We've gone from a 14' tent trailer for $8,000 all the way up to a 40' motor home for $350,000 and back down again. This is the one we've decided was right for us.

So...loan papers, new registrations, more paperwork, RV clubs to join, towing package to be put in....pant, pant, pant...time for a cold one!

New Backyard Furniture

One of the first things we did was to make some end tables to match our outside furniture. They're quite simple but match our BBQ prep table that we did a month ago. We stained the arms of the chairs a darker color to match as well. Now....on to a patio table that so we can eat all that delicious grilled food !

Stocked Refrigerator !

Of course, one of the first things we did was to stock our refrigerator. Gotta keep hydrated during the Indian Summer. It was 95 here in Dixon yesterday and 98 today and 101 for Monday....gasp.