Sarasota FL
Today we decided to buy a truck. It really comes down to the journey and what we want it to be. We could quit – just settle here in Florida and maybe try again later, but this is really not acceptable to either of us. We already know we could not tent-camp for a year, so that option isout, too. We thought about continuing the adventure with the Colorado or Prius, and switch to cheap hotels. That really doesn’t work either. We’d give up cooking our own food; we’d lose all sense of home; the trip would be considerably shorter (the money would run out more quickly). A bigger truck is the best solution to this problem.
Kelly told me that many of our friends had told her we should get a bigger truck. Maybe they told me too, and I just didn’t hear it. She tried to tell me I wasn’t a failure for not seeing this one coming, for not buying a new truck earlier in the process. She reminded me that we started planning this trip with a pop-up tent as our shelter – the Colorado could handle that weight with no problem.
I nursed my wounds and Kelly did hours of Internet research. We decided: no older than 2006; no more than 40,000 miles; no history of towing. We found prices in the mid-20s, about $10,000 less than new trucks.
We started wondering whether it made sense to consider a new 2009 truck. The 2010s were available in October, so the 2009 models were on sale, with lots of incentives. It looked like we might end up paying roughly the same amount of money for a 2009 as we would for a used truck.
By afternoon, we were ready to go look. We looked at the Chevy Silverado and the Ford F-150. Each of these has several lines, with several models within each line. How many cylinders? What axle ratio? (These two determine towing capacity.) How much space behind the front seats? How big a bed? Our heads were spinning! We looked at both used and new trucks, and test-drove a new Chevy Silverado.
The Chevy dealer worked some numbers for us on a new Silverado, based on trading in the Colorado. We weren’t ready to do hard negotiating yet, so we took his numbers and moved on. Because it was dusk by the time we got to the Ford dealer, we did not test-drive any of their trucks. Their pricing was about the same, but they did not have attractive incentives or 0% financing. Also, the warranties on Ford trucks were not as robust as those on the Chevy trucks.
I was really worried about the money. We still don’t know what it really costs us to be on the road and I wasn’t comfortable making such a huge monthly commitment. Still, it didn’t much matter – to move forward, we had to buy a truck. No truck: no trip. We came home and did more Internet research.
We also decided to sell the Colorado privately, if possible. We contacted Beth, one of our kayaking friends and offered it to her, at Blue Book. She accepted and we settled on an amount. This will work out great for all of us.
Today we decided to buy a truck. It really comes down to the journey and what we want it to be. We could quit – just settle here in Florida and maybe try again later, but this is really not acceptable to either of us. We already know we could not tent-camp for a year, so that option isout, too. We thought about continuing the adventure with the Colorado or Prius, and switch to cheap hotels. That really doesn’t work either. We’d give up cooking our own food; we’d lose all sense of home; the trip would be considerably shorter (the money would run out more quickly). A bigger truck is the best solution to this problem.
Kelly told me that many of our friends had told her we should get a bigger truck. Maybe they told me too, and I just didn’t hear it. She tried to tell me I wasn’t a failure for not seeing this one coming, for not buying a new truck earlier in the process. She reminded me that we started planning this trip with a pop-up tent as our shelter – the Colorado could handle that weight with no problem.
I nursed my wounds and Kelly did hours of Internet research. We decided: no older than 2006; no more than 40,000 miles; no history of towing. We found prices in the mid-20s, about $10,000 less than new trucks.
We started wondering whether it made sense to consider a new 2009 truck. The 2010s were available in October, so the 2009 models were on sale, with lots of incentives. It looked like we might end up paying roughly the same amount of money for a 2009 as we would for a used truck.
By afternoon, we were ready to go look. We looked at the Chevy Silverado and the Ford F-150. Each of these has several lines, with several models within each line. How many cylinders? What axle ratio? (These two determine towing capacity.) How much space behind the front seats? How big a bed? Our heads were spinning! We looked at both used and new trucks, and test-drove a new Chevy Silverado.
The Chevy dealer worked some numbers for us on a new Silverado, based on trading in the Colorado. We weren’t ready to do hard negotiating yet, so we took his numbers and moved on. Because it was dusk by the time we got to the Ford dealer, we did not test-drive any of their trucks. Their pricing was about the same, but they did not have attractive incentives or 0% financing. Also, the warranties on Ford trucks were not as robust as those on the Chevy trucks.
I was really worried about the money. We still don’t know what it really costs us to be on the road and I wasn’t comfortable making such a huge monthly commitment. Still, it didn’t much matter – to move forward, we had to buy a truck. No truck: no trip. We came home and did more Internet research.
We also decided to sell the Colorado privately, if possible. We contacted Beth, one of our kayaking friends and offered it to her, at Blue Book. She accepted and we settled on an amount. This will work out great for all of us.
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