Well, This Adventure Just Got Expensive....

This week I celebrated the 36-year anniversary of the day I married my best friend. I spent the day staring at the miracle that is my wife and mother to our children. Barb was so happy she spent the day weeping tears of joy in the fetal position with a bottle of whiskey stuck between her lips like it was a lifeline. Funny how some people just show joy differently, I guess. 

To celebrate, we spent the week working on Forrest's and Somer's house! I know, who could think of a better way to celebrate! We made great progress in the bathroom getting that project finished. It went from this.....

To this.....

The countertop is a large slab of butcherblock that Somer finished by staining and varnishing. I even managed to drill the drain and faucet holes in the correct place the first time. The shelves above the sinks are left over chunks of the butcherblock that Barb finished and mounted. I had never done a floating vanity before so that was interesting and like every plumbing project, I had to make 3 trips to the hardware store to get everything I needed. 

Somer finishing the butcherblock

Other than that, we did not get as much done as we thought we would as we got a little sidetracked by a couple of big, bright, shiny objects and one small and furry one.

Monday, we drove to Beaverton, just outside of Portland. We got an itch to look at new trucks and there was one up there that we were interested in, so we took a day to make the 5-hour (one way) trip up there. 

We learned two things that day.... One, is that we live a very sheltered life in South Dakota (which is why we live in South Dakota). Everything we had seen on the news over the past year we saw in real life. While the rest of the country seems to be weaning themselves off mask wearing, Portland is one of the last strongholds. I think we were the only ones we saw without them. The homeless encampments are a real thing up there, mainly around Salem, but scattered all over in Portland as well. Garbage and junk everywhere. I won't go into any more dialog on it but it was eye opening. 

The second thing we learned, or reaffirmed, is how much we hate looking at new vehicles. We went up to look at one specific truck, a Ford F350 Super Duty Dually listed for $91,000 online. (The reason I mention the price will become important later). It was literally the only 2022 1-ton SD Dually we could find in stock within the 3-state area! Barb had talked to the salesman by phone and text several times on both Saturday and Sunday and got the particulars on the truck. It had an aftermarket "Off Road" package meaning it had a lift kit and oversized tires but thought it would still work with our camper.  So, we packed up the dogs early on Monday morning and started our journey north. 

As soon as we got there and saw the truck, we knew it would not work. The bed was a good 7" higher than our current truck and the bed rails came up to over Barb's head. But we were there, and had never driven one, so we took it for a drive. It was a beautiful truck and loved everything about it other than that off road kit. Once we got back, I explained to the salesman that it was too tall and too wide (the 37" tires extended a good 2" past the fender flares on each side) and that it just would not work. About then the "Sales Manager" walks out and they both start the hard sell on the truck. Telling me it is not too tall; "Think of the places you could camp in that truck". They went on with lines like; "It's Monday, our slowest day, what is it going to take to get you in this truck". Every line in the car salesman book....They do not care if the customer is happy or if it is a good fit, they just want to make a sale. I am too tired and too old to play these games. Then the "Sales Manager" says "What if I take $10,000 off the truck?" Now, that got my attention! For $81,000 I could take it somewhere and get the lift kit and oversized tires removed and sell them turning it back to a stock truck. In his next breath, he says "That will bring it down to $108,000." Are you fricking kidding me? You are going to play that game? I held my composure (proud moment there) and said nope and started walking to our truck where Barb was already inside. As I was walking away he kept shouting numbers "$104!", a few steps later, "$99!". I got in our truck and drove away....God, why do car salesman have to play these games?!?!?

But all was not lost, Barb enjoyed our day together, saw some new country and..... got to stop and see Zoey's people parents, Amy and Eric, on the way home as we passed through Sweet Home, OR. We only spent 20 minutes or so there catching up with them and meeting two of their new dogs while Amy played with Zoey. 

Then there was the day that Forrest came up with a new puppy for Lily! They had been looking for quite a while and Lily had her heart set on a Toy Poodle. When Forrest came home with it, Lily was so happy she cried and cried. 

             

Jack looks like he is thinking life as he knows it is over....

I have never been a huge fan of Toy Poodles, my only exposure to them has involved nipping and yipping, but this one (Chloe) is very cute and so far as not made a peep.

Wednesday night after work Forrest and I headed to town as the Social Club was having a Texas Hold'em tournament. They hold them "Final Table" style where 6-9 players play around the table and the last two players standing win the entry fees. We played 4 sets and guess who ended up winning one of them? Me! It was really a fun evening, and I gave Forrest my winnings since he staked me the other night and that night. 

Thursday morning, we were in the truck before sunrise once again to go look at another truck. Forrest was looking on Facebook Marketplace and had found a "used" 2022 Ram 1-ton with 495 miles on it. We were skeptical; Why would someone sell a new vehicle after only putting a few hundred miles on it? The description said, "It was too big for my driveway, ordered a shortbox to replace it". Well, this one was only two hours away, so we went and looked at it. 

We have always been Ford/GMC owners, but we know plenty of people who own Rams trucks and love them. Plus, like many RV'ers, we keep up to date on the latest truck specs and know Rams are solid trucks. We were beyond skeptical driving there not knowing what we would be driving into but away we went! Two hours later we were trying to squeeze our truck into a beautiful, gated home outside of Talent Oregon. As the owner opened the gates our truck barely made the corner. Okay, question #1 was answered. 

We did not really think we would like it but once we got in it, we absolutely loved it! It has almost every bell and whistle you can think of. Long story short, we are now the proud owners of a 2022 Ram Dually 6.7 HO Turbo Diesel!

Oh, and Forrest and Somer are now the proud owners of a 2013 GMC 1-ton Dually. Yup, they bought our old truck so Barb and I can drive back together, and we do not have to deal with selling it when we get back home!

Whew, what a week!

We did get one other project completed here when Forrest and I installed his Starlink receiver on top of his house. After waiting over 2 years, he finally received his Starlink equipment. They had horrible internet here at ~1mb/second. Now it is over 400 mb/second! But the installation was a little sketchy. When you have an A frame any roof work is sketchy. Forrest and Somer have mountain climbing gear so both he and Somer get into their harnesses and Forrest climbs a ladder secured to the roof while Somer is on the other side holding a rope in her harness in case he falls. I then carried the satellite receiver up the other ladder and handed it to him and he secured it. In this picture we are about 20' up off the deck and over 30' to the ground. As long as I did not look down, I was okay..... But, we got it up and it works wonderfully!

Meanwhile, back in South Dakota..... We got an alert from our security system that someone was prowling outside our house. We quickly looked at our cameras and saw this suspicious character putting a scratch coat on the outside of our house where the stone will eventually go. I sure love our security cameras!

Kevin said it was warm enough this week to do the scratch coat. He did in 6 hours what would have taken me 4 days. Thanks Kevin!

Having l***ost a good 2 days of progress on the house here, next week we will be in full work mode as I fear we have more work to do than time we have!