A funny thing happened on the way to the forum (truck trade)

[Second Chance]

No - I'm not into musicals or Stephen Sondheim... I've just always thought the title of this one was funny. Of course, in the case of the musical, "forum" refers to the Roman forum.

So... we've been in our medical home base for a week of doctors' and dentists' appointments (including a root canal for my wife, poor thing!). Since we had gone out to the fort to get Laura's new ID card on a previous day, that freed up Friday (yesterday). I decided it would be a good opportunity to take the truck, a 2013 Sierra 2500HD Duramax, to the dealer we bought it from to get the oil changed and the transmission serviced.

When I'm at this dealer for service, I always stop over and talk with my salesman, Tony. He was asking about how our first 18 months on the road was going and said that he thought about us from time to time because our truck was "unusual." "Unusual?" I asked. He said that it was the first diesel 2500 he'd ever sold that wasn't 4WD. I told him RVers sometimes like that because it gives us a few hundred pounds more payload. I then told him about having to keep the fiver on a constant diet - especially the basement, front closet, and under the bed - due to the fact that we're always running right up to the limit on the rear axle and tires on the truck (a little over 3,000 lbs. payload reserve and right at 3,000 lbs. pin weight on the 337 per the scales). He mentioned that they had a lightly used F350 DRW PowerStroke on the lot and that he thought it might take a while to sell because it, too, was not 4WD. Jokingly, I said, "Trade you even." He stood up quickly and said, "hang on a minute." In just a minute or two he came back with someone I later learned was their appraiser and asked, "Where's your truck?" I told him that I had already said it was back in service getting the oil changed. They disappeared again...

About ten minutes later they came back and said, "He'll do it" (meaning Jason, the sales manager). I said I was just kidding but he kept a pretty earnest look on his face. I started to get the impression this wasn't a joke and my heart rate started elevating. Remember - Laura is back at the rig taking pain meds and resting after her root canal. I told Tony that Laura would probably kill me (there are survivor's benefits on all of my retirement income sources, but I don't know what they say about homicide). I was eventually talked into driving the Ford back to the rig to show Laura.

About fifteen minutes later I pulled up in front of our rig in a 2012 F350 Lariat DRW with the factory fifth wheel prep and all the trimmings - including an industrial strength front grill guard. Laura's first response was (my wife... the former missionary), "That's a bad-****** truck!" She rode back to the dealer with me and when we got there, I still didn't know if we were going to leave in our Sierra or the Ford. We ran both trucks through KBB and I called my brother-in-law, a farmer/veterinarian/hunter/RVer/truck guy, and talked it through with him. We used the Sierra to meet friends for dinner last night, but I went back and traded trucks this morning. The Ford is a year older than my Sierra but had 3,000 fewer miles on it. Both trucks essentially looked like new. So, for the $249 transaction and processing fee plus the cost of an extended warranty, I moved up to a truck that will handle the pin weight of the 337 plus anything else I want to throw in the long bed or trailer storage (OK... within reason). My one regret was that our RV dealer here in town said there was only one of the puck-to-rail adapter kits for the Ford in the entire southeastern U.S. and he couldn't get it here in time for us to pull out on schedule. I guess I have to add the cost of the OEM series PullRite hitch to the deal (it's OK - Laura knows all about it). I've got the hitch up to the highest point and hope we're close enough to level when we hitch up tomorrow because the two of us aren't strong enough to unbolt and re-position the Demco Glide Ride pin box... and tomorrow is Sunday. We are, however, excited about our new adventure!

I guess I should have put the disclaimer up front about my inability to do the Readers' Digest version of a story. Sorry.

Rob

[Steve7]

Great documentation of events Rob. Very entertaining. Sounds like you will be happy with the F350!

[JCR GD]

Great story Rob and congrats!

[Paul & Deb]

Great story Rob! You'll be very happy. At least according to my Ford friends I can attest to the relief of finally "towing legal"

[WhittleBurner]

What a sweet deal for you , here's to many happy towing miles!

[kevinpo]

Congratulations! I'm sure it will take some stress out of your towing days.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Sandi]

Rob I don't care if your stories are about oil pressure or any other boring topic, I always read your posts!! You are hilarious!! Great story! Congrats on a great deal!!

[LCBoyer]

Rob, I didn't realize that you were a horse trader. Congratulations!

[Canyonlight]

Rob--very entertaining read and sounds like a good truck trade for you......good stuff ! Tom better look out, you are giving him a run for his money on "story time !"

Dan

[Second Chance]

Rob, I didn't realize that you were a horse trader. Congratulations!

I'm not! The joke turned into reality and surprised all of us!

Rob