....To have a second bike trailer? That is what Steve (jokingly) asked me yesterday while we were hauling our 100lbs of groceries back from the store. I wish that I had taken a picture of us, I'm certain we looked completely ridiculous. Let me paint a picture for your imaginations:
We were riding the sporty two seater bike with our new rack behind my seat, and we were pulling our kids in the bike trailer. We stuffed the dog food in the back of the trailer, with room for maybe two small bags on top of that, I crammed my extra large back pack full of 100 ct paper plates, 5 lb bag of potatoes, 3lb bag of apples, 1 pkg of pull ups, and a few odds and ends. The kids held some bread, chips, and other light smooshable things, and then we stuffed some bigger items under their feet. The bottled water had to be tied onto our bike rack and I wasn't sure it would make it all the way back without falling (but I should have had more faith in Steve's tieing skills). Then the last two small bags were hung on my handlebars, and off we went. I laughed the whole way back, imagining just how funny we must have looked to other people.
I'm glad we can ride our bikes to the store, even if it means having to find a way to get it all back to the trailer. It's good exercise and excellent family time. And, it's also fun to get all those crazy looks when we ride past people on the two seater (lovingly referred to as our SUV)....the world hasn't seen many two seaters I'm afraid. I'm hoping that by the time we move off the base we see someone else who was inspired by our family style bike rides and is also sporting the two seater bicycle, maybe even pulling a trailer.
So as for getting a second trailer....I don't think so, but perhaps a snazzy overhead storage container for the bike trailer like they put on cars (I'm picturing a homemade version for the bike trailer consisting of a gray tub from walmart held in place with a few bungies), and a nice new basket to hang on the front of the bike. Or I guess we could just buy less groceries........
-Katie
Welcome to the Trailerhood!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Where are the Satellites?!?!
We finally have satellite at the campground after what seemed to be months of the same DVDs and Blu-Ray. Among the most repetitive were Hercules and Tom & Jerry. There were a few lessons learned in setting it up.
We had all the equipment from the house but needed a stand for the dish. So we went to Camping World on a trip to visit family to grab a few things. We went with the Winegard Tripod Mount & Carry Bag (Item # 26276).
Upon our return, I purchased a 50’ length of rf cable and went to work. The first thing that was very helpful was the lack of information in the owner’s manual for the Cyclone. You’ll probably start to see that phrase used a lot. After running the cable and speculating which of the two satellite connections I should use, I turned the system on. Nothing magical and no signal either. I placed most of the blame on the lack of quality in the compass with the satellite stand. I also thought that the problem could be that I was connected to the wrong spot. Drenched in sweat due to the rediculous mid-south heat that seems to be here to stay, it was time to wait until the next day.
Fortunately, Heartland must have recognized that there was a large demand for more information than they provide in their owner’s manuals and posted the diagram for the cable/satellite system on their forum. So, I had originally guessed correctly and was now concerned that the connections may not have been made simliar to the water heater issue that I'll write about some day. There was still a possibility that my ‘eyeballing’ the other satellites in the park to align mine may not be the best method. There was also a tree line that could be causing the problem.
So, I tried three separate dishes with no luck. The problem couldn’t be with the dish. I even bought a little satellite signal detector which I thought would help, but it didn’t do much.
I randomly found a signal and decided to try to better tune it. The speakers in the garage and the set outdoors helped a lot in this. I was able to hone in on a signal from quite a distance while defeaning Katie with constant pinging for a signal. No matter where I went, I just couldn’t get more than 8 transponders out of 32 and that wasn’t cutting it. I tried positioning the dish everywhere that the 50' of cable would allow, even on top of the camper. That one got a funny look from a few campers across the road. I'm always glad to provide a laugh for someone. I bet they thought I was going to set my dish up there and leave it.
Just when I was about to give up, I tried one more time directly connecting the dish to the receiver. With the pinging piercing through Katie's head, I searched in the direction where I knew there were no satellites. BOOM! How is this possible? I had great signal and I’m the only one in the park pointing that direction. It didn’t matter, it worked. I moved the dish and set it up out of the way.
So, now we have officially supplemented our daily dose of Hercules and Tom & Jerry with a little bit of SpongeBob and Wonder Pets. It’s nice to occasionally sneak in some Discovery Channel and perhaps an episode of True Blood.
-Steve
We had all the equipment from the house but needed a stand for the dish. So we went to Camping World on a trip to visit family to grab a few things. We went with the Winegard Tripod Mount & Carry Bag (Item # 26276).
Upon our return, I purchased a 50’ length of rf cable and went to work. The first thing that was very helpful was the lack of information in the owner’s manual for the Cyclone. You’ll probably start to see that phrase used a lot. After running the cable and speculating which of the two satellite connections I should use, I turned the system on. Nothing magical and no signal either. I placed most of the blame on the lack of quality in the compass with the satellite stand. I also thought that the problem could be that I was connected to the wrong spot. Drenched in sweat due to the rediculous mid-south heat that seems to be here to stay, it was time to wait until the next day.
Fortunately, Heartland must have recognized that there was a large demand for more information than they provide in their owner’s manuals and posted the diagram for the cable/satellite system on their forum. So, I had originally guessed correctly and was now concerned that the connections may not have been made simliar to the water heater issue that I'll write about some day. There was still a possibility that my ‘eyeballing’ the other satellites in the park to align mine may not be the best method. There was also a tree line that could be causing the problem.
So, I tried three separate dishes with no luck. The problem couldn’t be with the dish. I even bought a little satellite signal detector which I thought would help, but it didn’t do much.
I randomly found a signal and decided to try to better tune it. The speakers in the garage and the set outdoors helped a lot in this. I was able to hone in on a signal from quite a distance while defeaning Katie with constant pinging for a signal. No matter where I went, I just couldn’t get more than 8 transponders out of 32 and that wasn’t cutting it. I tried positioning the dish everywhere that the 50' of cable would allow, even on top of the camper. That one got a funny look from a few campers across the road. I'm always glad to provide a laugh for someone. I bet they thought I was going to set my dish up there and leave it.
Just when I was about to give up, I tried one more time directly connecting the dish to the receiver. With the pinging piercing through Katie's head, I searched in the direction where I knew there were no satellites. BOOM! How is this possible? I had great signal and I’m the only one in the park pointing that direction. It didn’t matter, it worked. I moved the dish and set it up out of the way.
So, now we have officially supplemented our daily dose of Hercules and Tom & Jerry with a little bit of SpongeBob and Wonder Pets. It’s nice to occasionally sneak in some Discovery Channel and perhaps an episode of True Blood.
-Steve
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The crappy day!
DISCLAIMER because Katie doesn’t want to be associated with my foul language: This entry contains the following language that may be deemed as inappropriate: shit, and shit tank. I apologize for those who would rather it be called black tank or holding tank, but after you’ve spent some time crawling around in shit tanks, looking for cracks, corrosion and inspecting work, you’ll understand why I call it a shit tank. And after reading this, you’ll probably be amazed that my language was not worse.
Well, after a couple weeks of traveling and finally coming back, it was time for the dreaded first shit tank draining evolution. Of course, the gloves were left at the other house, but doodie called and I was itching to experience something new.
I guess my facial expression said it all, because Katie said that she could tell things had gone to shit when I opened the door and said I needed help. Actually, I think my exact words were “I have shit all over my hand”.
Apparently, someone didn’t pay close attention during the walk through nor did he have the common sense to check a key element prior to starting use of the facilities. I now imagine that part of the winterizing process includes opening all the gate valves to the shit tanks because that’s the position I found them in. Of course, I didn’t check the valve position first. You’d think with my background involving many nuclear checklists I’d know better. But, I didn’t. I have a vivid memory of checking the valves at the dealership, and I know now that I didn’t check them, just noticed where the valves were.
So, as you are starting to understand, there were some open valves. Amazingly enough, the little twist-on caps for the sewer lines held back quite a load. After I easily removed the sewer hose from the box and hooked it up to the sewer connection at the site, I thought this would be a piece of cake. Then, I went for the part I was least concerned about, removing the cap on the sewer line. Much to my surprise a little bit (perhaps a little more than a ‘little bit’) of liquid came out. Even more surprising was the awful odor that appeared microseconds after the liquid surged over my hand.
I instantly had flashbacks to the days of crawling around in shit tanks on the boat looking for cracks wondering why someone with no experience inspecting shit tanks had the ultimate responsibility for inspecting and closing them out. I figure it was part of the indoctrination process. I quickly twisted the cap back in place and was grateful that I had taken it slow since it was my first time.
Did I mention I decided to do this at 11:00pm? That’s right, it was dark and I was exhausted. Sounds like fuel for a great critique. I just needed some jackass saying that he didn’t use the procedure. Oh yea, I didn’t. [Sorry that all you ‘non-Navy nukes’ don’t understand that reference. Just imagine doing something wrong and knowing why it was wrong and then discussing the root causes and reasons for something going wrong for a few hours and follow it up with some nice paperwork that gets routed and re-written multiple times. You really need to sit through one to get the full value of this reference.]
Defeated and wreaking shit tank water, I opened the door with my clean hand and told Katie I needed some help. Having no bucket onboard despite hearing recommendations to have one, we had a solution. Katie had the foresight to pick up a trash can that day. She didn’t realize that her impulsive decision would soon save the day.
I was able to get the valves shut and used the trash can to drain the sewage from the piping downstream. I dumped it into the sewer connection and sprayed down the crap on the ground. Thank goodness for the outdoor shower line! Having some experience with sewage leaking during my days on the boat, I also dumped the bleach water used to deodorize the trash on the crap puddle to combat the unsanitary condition.
Making matters a little crappier was the fact that we have two shit tanks with separate drain lines. Yes, shit tanks. There are also 2 grey water tanks off of the forward drain line. Even though I knew the business that had occurred and flushed into the aft tank, I figured that I would empty the drain line since my hands had been properly prepped from the forward tank. Wow, was I right. The aft shit tank was infinitely worse than the front. I think Katie vomited in her mouth a little, but you’d have to ask her. I was glad that I hadn’t discovered this ordeal with the aft tank since by this time I at least had a couple grocery sacks to protect my hand.
After draining the drain lines, I connected the sewer line to the forward drain connection and successfully drained the forward shit tank and grey water tanks. I left the aft for later. Today was later and it was still awful, but I was thankful that I decided to clear downstream portion of piping the other night. This time it was only the odor that was terrible and the liquid was gone. I was armed with gloves this time which restored some of my confidence.
In the end, I was glad that this occurred at night. It saved some embarrassment from passersby and gave Katie a great chance to perform at her favorite job…holding a flash light during the best circumstances ever. She never seems to figure out where to point it no matter how many times I require flash light assistance. I doubt that her constant gagging helped her to hold it steady. I was proud that she didn’t vomit. After seeing her weak shit-tank-odor gag reflex, I doubt that she would survive many duty days on the boat.
So, for those of you who may read this, I have made you a list of things to remember:
1. DO NOT put a load in a shit tank or any tank unless you check the drain valve position.
2. DO NOT attempt to drain shit tanks without gloves.
3. DO have a bucket onboard at all times because you never know when the shit will hit the fan.
4. DO be prepared for the crappiest scenario possible.
I hope you enjoyed my great experience. For the RV dealers out there who can’t believe that first timers get such a large rig, please remember to be thorough on the walk thru. And for those out there who asked if we had dealt with draining the tanks yet, I hope that my first experience didn’t let you down. ;) And to Katie, I hope you’re not too embarrassed that I posted this for all to see :)
-Steve
Well, after a couple weeks of traveling and finally coming back, it was time for the dreaded first shit tank draining evolution. Of course, the gloves were left at the other house, but doodie called and I was itching to experience something new.
I guess my facial expression said it all, because Katie said that she could tell things had gone to shit when I opened the door and said I needed help. Actually, I think my exact words were “I have shit all over my hand”.
Apparently, someone didn’t pay close attention during the walk through nor did he have the common sense to check a key element prior to starting use of the facilities. I now imagine that part of the winterizing process includes opening all the gate valves to the shit tanks because that’s the position I found them in. Of course, I didn’t check the valve position first. You’d think with my background involving many nuclear checklists I’d know better. But, I didn’t. I have a vivid memory of checking the valves at the dealership, and I know now that I didn’t check them, just noticed where the valves were.
So, as you are starting to understand, there were some open valves. Amazingly enough, the little twist-on caps for the sewer lines held back quite a load. After I easily removed the sewer hose from the box and hooked it up to the sewer connection at the site, I thought this would be a piece of cake. Then, I went for the part I was least concerned about, removing the cap on the sewer line. Much to my surprise a little bit (perhaps a little more than a ‘little bit’) of liquid came out. Even more surprising was the awful odor that appeared microseconds after the liquid surged over my hand.
I instantly had flashbacks to the days of crawling around in shit tanks on the boat looking for cracks wondering why someone with no experience inspecting shit tanks had the ultimate responsibility for inspecting and closing them out. I figure it was part of the indoctrination process. I quickly twisted the cap back in place and was grateful that I had taken it slow since it was my first time.
Did I mention I decided to do this at 11:00pm? That’s right, it was dark and I was exhausted. Sounds like fuel for a great critique. I just needed some jackass saying that he didn’t use the procedure. Oh yea, I didn’t. [Sorry that all you ‘non-Navy nukes’ don’t understand that reference. Just imagine doing something wrong and knowing why it was wrong and then discussing the root causes and reasons for something going wrong for a few hours and follow it up with some nice paperwork that gets routed and re-written multiple times. You really need to sit through one to get the full value of this reference.]
Defeated and wreaking shit tank water, I opened the door with my clean hand and told Katie I needed some help. Having no bucket onboard despite hearing recommendations to have one, we had a solution. Katie had the foresight to pick up a trash can that day. She didn’t realize that her impulsive decision would soon save the day.
I was able to get the valves shut and used the trash can to drain the sewage from the piping downstream. I dumped it into the sewer connection and sprayed down the crap on the ground. Thank goodness for the outdoor shower line! Having some experience with sewage leaking during my days on the boat, I also dumped the bleach water used to deodorize the trash on the crap puddle to combat the unsanitary condition.
Making matters a little crappier was the fact that we have two shit tanks with separate drain lines. Yes, shit tanks. There are also 2 grey water tanks off of the forward drain line. Even though I knew the business that had occurred and flushed into the aft tank, I figured that I would empty the drain line since my hands had been properly prepped from the forward tank. Wow, was I right. The aft shit tank was infinitely worse than the front. I think Katie vomited in her mouth a little, but you’d have to ask her. I was glad that I hadn’t discovered this ordeal with the aft tank since by this time I at least had a couple grocery sacks to protect my hand.
After draining the drain lines, I connected the sewer line to the forward drain connection and successfully drained the forward shit tank and grey water tanks. I left the aft for later. Today was later and it was still awful, but I was thankful that I decided to clear downstream portion of piping the other night. This time it was only the odor that was terrible and the liquid was gone. I was armed with gloves this time which restored some of my confidence.
In the end, I was glad that this occurred at night. It saved some embarrassment from passersby and gave Katie a great chance to perform at her favorite job…holding a flash light during the best circumstances ever. She never seems to figure out where to point it no matter how many times I require flash light assistance. I doubt that her constant gagging helped her to hold it steady. I was proud that she didn’t vomit. After seeing her weak shit-tank-odor gag reflex, I doubt that she would survive many duty days on the boat.
So, for those of you who may read this, I have made you a list of things to remember:
1. DO NOT put a load in a shit tank or any tank unless you check the drain valve position.
2. DO NOT attempt to drain shit tanks without gloves.
3. DO have a bucket onboard at all times because you never know when the shit will hit the fan.
4. DO be prepared for the crappiest scenario possible.
I hope you enjoyed my great experience. For the RV dealers out there who can’t believe that first timers get such a large rig, please remember to be thorough on the walk thru. And for those out there who asked if we had dealt with draining the tanks yet, I hope that my first experience didn’t let you down. ;) And to Katie, I hope you’re not too embarrassed that I posted this for all to see :)
-Steve
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The 2011 Ford F450 and the excitement leading up to it.
Update 2-12-2016: My opinions of this vehicle have changed over time. Mostly due to Ford and Ford's franchise dealership's lack of customer service. The truck ended up being a dud I suppose, and Ford made no effort at keeping a customer. If you read this, I would not recommend Ford based on the lack of customer service alone. Linked is one of the blog entries regarding this vehicle's problems...
It seems that customer service continues to go down the tubes in America along with graduation rates and SAT scores. Who ever thought it would be difficult to send a dealer build codes for a truck, get a price, order, and receive a vehicle.
The truck…the 2011 Ford F450.
Any of you out there that have bought a Lariat Crew Cab Super Duty, have probably noticed that Ford does not make very many without the front console. With the needs of our family, we need the extra seat up front which requires searching tirelessly for dealerships that have one on the lot, spending extra when a dealership brings one from another dealership, or custom ordering.
With the newness of the 2011 SDs, we chose to order the perfect truck (for us) so that we (I) would be happy with it (and so Katie could get the next vehicle purchase even though this was for her ;) ). After months of research and anticipation, the 2011’s were out.
Dobb’s Ford at Wolfchase in Bartlett, TN was the first dealership that I could find that had one. Conveniently, it happened to be right down the road from us. While visiting family in Texas for Easter, I searched dealerships from central Texas to Eastern Tennessee. I was shocked to find a 2011 F450, white, Lariat and almost perfect on the lot at Dobb’s. It was the only one found in all my searching. I was excited, but the sticker showed the bad news, a console in the front. Still, we were excited and called Dobb’s upon our arrival. Having had the great fun of purchasing most of our vehicles, I decided to save a few days on the end of my life and let Katie do all the negotiating with me in the background, anxiously waiting the day I could sign the dotted line and grab some keys.
The first phone call went something like this…
Dobb’s Ford.
Yes, I’d like to know if you have a 2011 F450 on your lot.
2011 SDs aren’t out.
Well, there’s one in your online inventory.
No, they’re not out yet.
Have you checked?
No, they’re not out.
Well, can you check?
Yea, I’ll check and call you back.
No calls, but the next day we drove by the lot. There it was, big and beautiful, even with the console. Fortunately, someone was kind enough (or maybe dumb enough, see above comment) to leave the doors unlocked. Right away the improvements to the interior were noticed, specifically with storage. The old SDs had a useless metal contraption under the rear seat that not only took up valuable space under the seat, but was completely useless if you used your crew cab for passengers. This was gone and replaced by lockable and compartmentilizable (made that up) storage. I later found that there is more lockable storage with a 12V connection inside under the front center seat which is a huge improvement.
So, needless to say, Dobb’s was not doing well on earning our business. After we saw it, it was time to start negotiations. I hopped onto USAA’s car buying service for the first time and ‘built’ my F450. It was great, you get done and it tells you the price and three dealerships to choose from in the area based on zip code. Armed with this information, Katie called Dobb’s to get a quote…
Dobb’s Ford.
Yes, I’d like to get a quote for a F450 and I can fax the specs.
We have one on the lot that we can sell you.
It doesn’t have the stuff we need.
Like what?
The 5th wheel prep, a center seat and a spray in liner
Ok.
Later that day we got a quote. It wasn’t terrible, but was definitely higher than the USAA quote (that they didn’t know we had). So, we did the next step, we called Homer Skelton Ford in Millington and asked for a quote. That was a week after Easter and I still haven’t heard anything from them.
I also submitted my build to the third option on the USAA service, West Brothers Ford in Sullivan, MO. A couple days later, we had a call from Doug at West Brothers Ford. He told us that the USAA price is what we would get and we could order it.
Not wanting to drive all day to pick up a truck, we told Dobb’s that we had a better offer from somewhere else and we wanted to see what they could do. We told them we would rather stay local, but we were offered a lower price and a lifetime powertrain warranty. We just wanted a quote for the truck and the Ford extended diesel warranty. The result was not getting a different quote, but being harassed about the options we wanted…
Why do you want a factory bed liner, we can do that cheaper.
What is this 5th wheel prep, we can install aftermarket. I don’t understand what it does, it doesn’t make sense.
We can’t come down in price on the extended warranty, that’s an expensive warranty (meanwhile you can purchase one at a great price online, just google Ford extended diesel warranty).
So, after realizing that Homer Skelton would never call and that Dobb’s didn’t know what they were selling and what options were available and what they actually were, we decided West Brothers Ford was the answer. Though getting the exact build completed seemed to take a little longer than I would expect, we finally got the build with the price we were quoted incentives and all, and gave a deposit. 4-6 weeks and we were going to buy a new truck.
I immediately put my current truck on Auto Trader, and within 3 hours had a call from Lenz Auto. They wanted to buy my truck. We negotiated and my truck was sold. They sent someone to pick it up and the process was great. I’d sell them a truck any day and am considering purchasing an Excursion from them in the future.
So, we survived in the ’95 Honda Accord for about 6 weeks. Once the truck came in, we made the trip to MO. (This is the only caution I have for USAA car buying service, the service showed 226 miles, which turned out to be more like 300ish, but it was still worth the drive.) We arrived at West Brothers Ford, and with USAA’s dealer check, test drove, signed some papers, Doug took us to get a tank of Diesel, and we were on the road.
There was a small hiccup with purchasing insurance. Apparently, not many non-commercial drivers drive F450s, which with 2011 is just a F350 with a different differential. But as I expected, USAA came through and are still the BEST company I have EVER dealt with, I could say differently about UPS, but that’s another story. USAA offers nothing be great products and top notch customer service.
Overall I was very disappointed with the customer experience from the dealerships. I imagined I was a dream customer that showed up with not only the options, but the build codes to enter into the antiquated computer systems and a price that guaranteed a pretty good profit for a little amount of work. I still wish that I could purchase a vehicle like I can buy a computer. Dell’s website will let me customize a computer and show the ship date and price while I build it and change options. If only Ford did the same thing. West Brothers Ford combined with USAA’s car buying service are definitely a close second. I would highly recommend both of these to anyone looking for a new vehicle (and don’t forget to tell West Brother’s that you heard about them from me, contact me to find out more! Did I mention they will ship the vehicle to you?)
-Steve
It seems that customer service continues to go down the tubes in America along with graduation rates and SAT scores. Who ever thought it would be difficult to send a dealer build codes for a truck, get a price, order, and receive a vehicle.
The truck…the 2011 Ford F450.
Any of you out there that have bought a Lariat Crew Cab Super Duty, have probably noticed that Ford does not make very many without the front console. With the needs of our family, we need the extra seat up front which requires searching tirelessly for dealerships that have one on the lot, spending extra when a dealership brings one from another dealership, or custom ordering.
With the newness of the 2011 SDs, we chose to order the perfect truck (for us) so that we (I) would be happy with it (and so Katie could get the next vehicle purchase even though this was for her ;) ). After months of research and anticipation, the 2011’s were out.
Dobb’s Ford at Wolfchase in Bartlett, TN was the first dealership that I could find that had one. Conveniently, it happened to be right down the road from us. While visiting family in Texas for Easter, I searched dealerships from central Texas to Eastern Tennessee. I was shocked to find a 2011 F450, white, Lariat and almost perfect on the lot at Dobb’s. It was the only one found in all my searching. I was excited, but the sticker showed the bad news, a console in the front. Still, we were excited and called Dobb’s upon our arrival. Having had the great fun of purchasing most of our vehicles, I decided to save a few days on the end of my life and let Katie do all the negotiating with me in the background, anxiously waiting the day I could sign the dotted line and grab some keys.
The first phone call went something like this…
Dobb’s Ford.
Yes, I’d like to know if you have a 2011 F450 on your lot.
2011 SDs aren’t out.
Well, there’s one in your online inventory.
No, they’re not out yet.
Have you checked?
No, they’re not out.
Well, can you check?
Yea, I’ll check and call you back.
No calls, but the next day we drove by the lot. There it was, big and beautiful, even with the console. Fortunately, someone was kind enough (or maybe dumb enough, see above comment) to leave the doors unlocked. Right away the improvements to the interior were noticed, specifically with storage. The old SDs had a useless metal contraption under the rear seat that not only took up valuable space under the seat, but was completely useless if you used your crew cab for passengers. This was gone and replaced by lockable and compartmentilizable (made that up) storage. I later found that there is more lockable storage with a 12V connection inside under the front center seat which is a huge improvement.
So, needless to say, Dobb’s was not doing well on earning our business. After we saw it, it was time to start negotiations. I hopped onto USAA’s car buying service for the first time and ‘built’ my F450. It was great, you get done and it tells you the price and three dealerships to choose from in the area based on zip code. Armed with this information, Katie called Dobb’s to get a quote…
Dobb’s Ford.
Yes, I’d like to get a quote for a F450 and I can fax the specs.
We have one on the lot that we can sell you.
It doesn’t have the stuff we need.
Like what?
The 5th wheel prep, a center seat and a spray in liner
Ok.
Later that day we got a quote. It wasn’t terrible, but was definitely higher than the USAA quote (that they didn’t know we had). So, we did the next step, we called Homer Skelton Ford in Millington and asked for a quote. That was a week after Easter and I still haven’t heard anything from them.
I also submitted my build to the third option on the USAA service, West Brothers Ford in Sullivan, MO. A couple days later, we had a call from Doug at West Brothers Ford. He told us that the USAA price is what we would get and we could order it.
Not wanting to drive all day to pick up a truck, we told Dobb’s that we had a better offer from somewhere else and we wanted to see what they could do. We told them we would rather stay local, but we were offered a lower price and a lifetime powertrain warranty. We just wanted a quote for the truck and the Ford extended diesel warranty. The result was not getting a different quote, but being harassed about the options we wanted…
Why do you want a factory bed liner, we can do that cheaper.
What is this 5th wheel prep, we can install aftermarket. I don’t understand what it does, it doesn’t make sense.
We can’t come down in price on the extended warranty, that’s an expensive warranty (meanwhile you can purchase one at a great price online, just google Ford extended diesel warranty).
So, after realizing that Homer Skelton would never call and that Dobb’s didn’t know what they were selling and what options were available and what they actually were, we decided West Brothers Ford was the answer. Though getting the exact build completed seemed to take a little longer than I would expect, we finally got the build with the price we were quoted incentives and all, and gave a deposit. 4-6 weeks and we were going to buy a new truck.
I immediately put my current truck on Auto Trader, and within 3 hours had a call from Lenz Auto. They wanted to buy my truck. We negotiated and my truck was sold. They sent someone to pick it up and the process was great. I’d sell them a truck any day and am considering purchasing an Excursion from them in the future.
So, we survived in the ’95 Honda Accord for about 6 weeks. Once the truck came in, we made the trip to MO. (This is the only caution I have for USAA car buying service, the service showed 226 miles, which turned out to be more like 300ish, but it was still worth the drive.) We arrived at West Brothers Ford, and with USAA’s dealer check, test drove, signed some papers, Doug took us to get a tank of Diesel, and we were on the road.
There was a small hiccup with purchasing insurance. Apparently, not many non-commercial drivers drive F450s, which with 2011 is just a F350 with a different differential. But as I expected, USAA came through and are still the BEST company I have EVER dealt with, I could say differently about UPS, but that’s another story. USAA offers nothing be great products and top notch customer service.
Overall I was very disappointed with the customer experience from the dealerships. I imagined I was a dream customer that showed up with not only the options, but the build codes to enter into the antiquated computer systems and a price that guaranteed a pretty good profit for a little amount of work. I still wish that I could purchase a vehicle like I can buy a computer. Dell’s website will let me customize a computer and show the ship date and price while I build it and change options. If only Ford did the same thing. West Brothers Ford combined with USAA’s car buying service are definitely a close second. I would highly recommend both of these to anyone looking for a new vehicle (and don’t forget to tell West Brother’s that you heard about them from me, contact me to find out more! Did I mention they will ship the vehicle to you?)
-Steve
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Our Latest Adventure
We left home last Thursday and started our journey north east to Ohio to pick up our brand new trailer. We left ahead of time so that we would have a chance to look at some campgrounds along the way that would accomodate our new beast of a trailer. It was a long trip up there, but we had a good time along the way.
I was nervous the whole morning before we went to pick it up. I was afraid there would be just too much information to remember during the walk-thru and I did not want to get out of there without Steve knowing exactly how to work it all. Once we arrived I was more nervous that we would never get to leave. They were very busy that day and the initial walk-thru took about 5 minutes and I was more than worried about that. After chasing down different people to get everything taken care of, Steve finally got someone to give us all a proper walk-thru, and just as I imagined, there was SO much to know. Steve seemed to be absorbing it all and acted like it was easy peasy, I was completely lost in my excitement for our new toy and was not paying attention at all. After all of it was over, Steve backed up, hitched it like a pro, and we were off!
First stop, East Fork State Park in Ohio. It was a nice park. We had a nice secluded spot, which was nice because I'm always afraid the dogs or kids will bother other campers. When I reserved this spot I picked it because their website said it was long, had plenty of room for slideouts and had room for a large tent as well (which we used the night before we picked up the trailer). Well, this beast barely fit. We were as far back as possible and just barely fit in without sticking out into the road. I would go into detail about this first backing experience, but that seems like something Steve might want to post about....maybe he could title it, "The Million Point Turn", or something to that effect. All kidding aside he did a great job keeping his cool, I would have given up long before and settled for camping in the middle of the road. After sleeping for a little while (on an incredibly comfortable mattress, I might add) we got up, had breakfast, and were off to the next place.
Next stop was back to the Barren River State Park in Kentucky. I really enjoyed camping there. There were two families parked on either side of us that were very friendly. We enjoyed talking to them and the kids enjoyed playing with their kids. Steven made a fast friend with a little boy who loves cars as much as he does. Adelyn enjoyed the air conditioning and movies, and only came out briefly to play with Steven and his friend. Later, Steve took them both to the park to run themselves silly, and they did just that.
There was much more to see there, and I wish that we could have taken advantage of it, but there just wasn't enough time on this trip. Maybe we'll get to go back one day and see the caves and visit the Dinosaur Park.
We ended our trip by bringing the trailer to rest on base. Getting through the obstacles at the gate were a tad stressful, but we made it through without a scratch! If you saw the trailer and saw the obstacle you just wouldn't believe that we made it through. We parked her here in spot 18 and we haven't wanted to leave. We've made a few trips back and forth between the house and the trailer, but the majority of our time is spent in our new home. The kids love it, and Adelyn even cried when she thought we were going to stay in our house, the dogs don't care where they stay as long as we are close by and the a/c is cranked down low, and so far Steve and I have no complaints.
-Katie
I was nervous the whole morning before we went to pick it up. I was afraid there would be just too much information to remember during the walk-thru and I did not want to get out of there without Steve knowing exactly how to work it all. Once we arrived I was more nervous that we would never get to leave. They were very busy that day and the initial walk-thru took about 5 minutes and I was more than worried about that. After chasing down different people to get everything taken care of, Steve finally got someone to give us all a proper walk-thru, and just as I imagined, there was SO much to know. Steve seemed to be absorbing it all and acted like it was easy peasy, I was completely lost in my excitement for our new toy and was not paying attention at all. After all of it was over, Steve backed up, hitched it like a pro, and we were off!
First stop, East Fork State Park in Ohio. It was a nice park. We had a nice secluded spot, which was nice because I'm always afraid the dogs or kids will bother other campers. When I reserved this spot I picked it because their website said it was long, had plenty of room for slideouts and had room for a large tent as well (which we used the night before we picked up the trailer). Well, this beast barely fit. We were as far back as possible and just barely fit in without sticking out into the road. I would go into detail about this first backing experience, but that seems like something Steve might want to post about....maybe he could title it, "The Million Point Turn", or something to that effect. All kidding aside he did a great job keeping his cool, I would have given up long before and settled for camping in the middle of the road. After sleeping for a little while (on an incredibly comfortable mattress, I might add) we got up, had breakfast, and were off to the next place.
Next stop was back to the Barren River State Park in Kentucky. I really enjoyed camping there. There were two families parked on either side of us that were very friendly. We enjoyed talking to them and the kids enjoyed playing with their kids. Steven made a fast friend with a little boy who loves cars as much as he does. Adelyn enjoyed the air conditioning and movies, and only came out briefly to play with Steven and his friend. Later, Steve took them both to the park to run themselves silly, and they did just that.
There was much more to see there, and I wish that we could have taken advantage of it, but there just wasn't enough time on this trip. Maybe we'll get to go back one day and see the caves and visit the Dinosaur Park.
We ended our trip by bringing the trailer to rest on base. Getting through the obstacles at the gate were a tad stressful, but we made it through without a scratch! If you saw the trailer and saw the obstacle you just wouldn't believe that we made it through. We parked her here in spot 18 and we haven't wanted to leave. We've made a few trips back and forth between the house and the trailer, but the majority of our time is spent in our new home. The kids love it, and Adelyn even cried when she thought we were going to stay in our house, the dogs don't care where they stay as long as we are close by and the a/c is cranked down low, and so far Steve and I have no complaints.
-Katie
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
It's Really Happening!
It hit me today as Steve and I were trying to plan what weekend we will be able to pick up the truck, trailer/camper, and our moving trailer, this is really going to happen! I mean we are talking about just a couple of weeks now. The truck should be done next week and the trailer is supposed to be ready just in time for Steve's birthday (which is not far at all).
We are trying our best to plan around his schedule for work, and also give ourselves enough time to pick up each item. We will only need one day for picking up the truck. However, both trailers will take quite a bit more time. When we pick up the camper/trailer we will be driving around 600 miles to get it. So the trip there will take around 10 hrs, that's one whole day driving. We will do the paperwork, let them show us how everything works, hook it up and probably find a place to stay over night that is not too far away, just in case we have any issues. Then the dreaded 10 hr drive home, that will be considerably slower because we will be pulling a heavy trailer. And last, our moving trailer. We will drive all the way to Buffalo Gap, to pick it up, spend some family time there, then head to Ponder and drop off a few items, and have more family time, then drive back to TN and figure out what the heck to do with two giant trailers, neither of which fit in our driveway.
So today I am supposed to be calling places where we could store our camper until we are ready to live in it full time. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten anyone to answer yet, and they don't have direct emails so I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for someone to call me back.
I am so excited just trying to think of where we want to go first....do we want to just wait until there is space on base and set up there? Do we want to try out the state park near here that we haven't seen yet? Do we want to venture into Arkansas where we already know it's beautiful? What to do, where to go? So many choices and I'm just too excited to choose!
I'm so happy that it's all happening. I think this will be a wonderful experience and I'm looking forward to all the different places will be able to show the kids. There is something so special about camping together, and traveling together as a family. I loved it growing up and I think they will too.
-Katie
We are trying our best to plan around his schedule for work, and also give ourselves enough time to pick up each item. We will only need one day for picking up the truck. However, both trailers will take quite a bit more time. When we pick up the camper/trailer we will be driving around 600 miles to get it. So the trip there will take around 10 hrs, that's one whole day driving. We will do the paperwork, let them show us how everything works, hook it up and probably find a place to stay over night that is not too far away, just in case we have any issues. Then the dreaded 10 hr drive home, that will be considerably slower because we will be pulling a heavy trailer. And last, our moving trailer. We will drive all the way to Buffalo Gap, to pick it up, spend some family time there, then head to Ponder and drop off a few items, and have more family time, then drive back to TN and figure out what the heck to do with two giant trailers, neither of which fit in our driveway.
So today I am supposed to be calling places where we could store our camper until we are ready to live in it full time. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten anyone to answer yet, and they don't have direct emails so I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for someone to call me back.
I am so excited just trying to think of where we want to go first....do we want to just wait until there is space on base and set up there? Do we want to try out the state park near here that we haven't seen yet? Do we want to venture into Arkansas where we already know it's beautiful? What to do, where to go? So many choices and I'm just too excited to choose!
I'm so happy that it's all happening. I think this will be a wonderful experience and I'm looking forward to all the different places will be able to show the kids. There is something so special about camping together, and traveling together as a family. I loved it growing up and I think they will too.
-Katie
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