Back in Mission !!

We arrived at Retama Village last Wednesday. It was a rainy and gray day and it took us a while to park in the rain, but we got it done and now we are starting to relax. We have never been that early at Retama and we were actually the first ones to arrive on our side of the street.

We unloaded the rig on Thursday and now starts the daunting task of emptying all the boxes and suitcases and find a place to put everything. Actually we emptied three suitcases today and it was not that bad. At least we found most of our winter clothes, which helps, since we are going to Germany for Christmas.


Larry and Linda arrived here on Sunday and now we are having our daily "Happy Hour" again. It is good to be home, even though it is really got and humid, which we are not used to. At least we got to cool off in the pool a little bit yesterday afternoon. Our truck should be done today and we should be leaving here tomorrow to pick it up. I will keep you guys posted next week in our blog.

Our New Addition!!

We picked up our new truck today!! It only took three more hours than expected, but we were finally on the road to the shop by 3 pm. Luckily, we got to the shop just before they closed and we handed off the truck to get a quote done on the work we want done.

But, first we pulled over in a rest area on I-35W and I got to take some pictures. Here they are!!





Isn't she a beauty!!! Pictures of the inside have to wait until we get the truck to Mission and at this point, I am not sure when that will be. We will leave here tomorrow and head down to San Antonio. Stay tuned everybody!!

The BIG Red Truck!!!

Yes, we bought a big red truck!! No, I have not taken any pictures of it yet, since last week was a little bit crazy. So the picture is of a truck like ours still on the lot at Arrow Truck Sales (stole it from their website).

I am so glad that our search is finally over!!! The truck is a 2005 VNL780, is fully automatic (which makes it easier for me to drive), has the workstation bottom and a bunk on top. As I said, pictures will follow next week.

We went to the dealer last Monday and both of us did a test drive. Next stop was the VIS test, which we went to MCH for. I will be happy to never darken their door step again!!. We were grateful that they were able to get the VIS done without having an appointment. We had to wait a couple of hours for them to find a tech that could do the test, but that was okay. The part that really ticked me off was that we waited for over one hour for them to produce a bill to pay after the test was done. Doug actually got into the truck and if it would have aired up faster would have left, but at least it got the guy going on our bill.

We went back to the dealer and discussed what needed to be done and gave him our offer on the truck. He had to check with his boss and get the repair estimate from the shop (nothing major - Doug can explain it better) and by Tuesday afternoon we got the call that our offer was accepted. We went back on Wednesday to sign the paperwork and thought we would leave for Mission on Thursday to drop off the rig and come back to pick up the truck.

As you might have noticed by now, our plans seem to chance a lot and fast. Doug found a place south of Fort Worth that does wheel balancing (since we need that) and can also do the singling of the truck. He gave the guy a call on Wednesday and really liked what he had to say and that he knew and understood what we want to do. So we decided to check him out on Thursday and leave Denton on Friday, as originally planned.

The shop looks okay and we got to speak to the guy that would be doing the work. So yesterday we moved the rig to a campground south of Fort Worth and we will pick up the truck from the dealer on Monday and bring it over to the shop down here. We are planning on leaving here Tuesday to head south, but can stay longer if it takes longer to get plans done on what to do with the truck. I will take pictures on Monday and post again as soon as we get back to Mission, which should be sometime by middle or end of next week.

Rain, Rain, Rain!!!!

We left Kansas City last Wednesday after the Dyno test went very strange on Tuesday. It took forever to get the test done and I believe that they altered the test, since the first printout did not include the blowby number and after 1/2 hour of debating suddenly a number appeared on the printout. We were disappointed, but it was time to move on, since there was also some strange noises between 4th and 5th gear. We spend a night in Thackerville to get our last gambling fix in and got to Denton, TX on Friday. It started raining around 5 pm and really did not stop until late this afternoon.

Friday we went to Arrow Trucks to check out another truck and found one that really is nice. It is a Volvo 780 without a clutch pedal, which makes it easier for me to drive. We went for a test drive today and had a VIS test done. There is some stuff in the front that needs to be fixed and we still have to talk them down on price, but other than that it drives really nice. Stay tuned, maybe we will be buying a truck this week!!

If it does not happen I hope Mike is right and the right truck will find us, or we will find it. Time will tell.

Looking at big trucks!

What a week it has been!! From Sioux Falls we went south on I-29, checked out a truck in Sioux City and moved on to Nebraska City for the night. One more state that I can check off on my list!! Next day we moved on to Peculiar, MO, since there was a couple of trucks in Kansas City that Doug wanted to take a look at. We got settled in on Tuesday and found a place to do the Dyno and VIS tests, should we find a truck in the area.

It is strange how sometimes things happen very unexpectedly. We arrived at the dealer and looked at the two trucks Doug had seen on the Internet and were not that impressed. However, the dealer had an older Volvo 660 on the lot that was looking very nice on the inside and was even white. We went to another place to check out another truck and started talking on the way back to the campground. The white truck was very interesting, but there was still a place about 200 miles south in Arkansas that had some trucks for sale that we needed to check out first. So on Wednesday evening we decided to take the car to Arkansas and check the other trucks out on Thursday. We left Peculiar at 7:30 pm, staying in Joplin that night and went on to Springdale the next morning. We climbed in nine of these trucks and they were beat up. There was nothing there for us and we went back to Peculiar on Thursday.

Friday it rained in Kansas City, but that did not stop us to go back to the dealer and check out this older Volvo. It started right up and Doug took it for a test drive. The engine sounded find and the handling was so much better than the Volvo we drove in Casper, WY. On Saturday we went back to the dealer and I actually got to drive the truck in their huge parking lot and I did NOT stall it!! The Dyno is now scheduled for tomorrow and if it checks out, we will do the VIS test next. If it all checks out, we might have a big truck by middle of next week. The good thing is that the dealer can keep the truck there for as long we need to get back to Texas to drop of the rig and vehicles and Doug can fly back to Kansas City to pick up the truck later. It looks like we will have an exciting week ahead of us. I did not take any pictures of the truck yet, since I don't want to get excited and then things might not work out. So stay tuned and we might have some more news to report end of next week.!!