Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope this Thanksgiving is a happy, thankful time filled with family and friends.

We just got back from an unexpected and whirlwind road trip and will celebrate the holiday with just the two of us relaxing and doing a few things to get ready to move down to Florida in 9 days.

We have been considering a new truck, believe it or not we've had our present truck almost 6 years and it has 94,000 miles on it, still running fine, but it was time.  It was pretty easy as we both wanted another Ram with a couple new things, a multi-function tailgate, that opens normally, but will also split in the middle and open like double doors so you can stand right up next to the truck's bed, it wasn't available when we bought out present truck, and Jan wanted a sun roof, and other that that it looks almost like a clone.  There was an enormous change that has been incorporated in the new truck which away with the standard Hemi V8 engine and replacing it with a twin turbo straight six that has a ton more horsepower and better fuel economy.  So after a lot of research and price shopping we decided to order a new one at a very attractive price from a high volume dealer in Louisiana, Mark Dodge, and we had worked it out with the representative that we would order at the very end of September that would have it arrive in Jan, Feb, or Mar, so we could go from Florida to pick it up.  So out of sight, out of mind, we thought we had a long time to worry about that.

Meanwhile we still had dermatologist, dentist, oral surgeon, eye doctor, glasses, and hearing aid appointments to complete, and an upcoming visit from our son Jason and DIL Joanne for an early Thanksgiving. And we still needed to fix that coolant leak, turned out we couldn't, I couldn't even begin to turn the fitting.  We might have to get a real mechanic to do it in Florida.  And we even managed to fit in a Guinness lunch on our errands:-)

Jason and Joanne arrived and we met them in Canton for BBQ, then drove back up to Ellijay together, then they went to check in a their very cool, very remote AirB&B which even though it was officially in Ellijay, it was 15 miles away on a very windy narrow road that took every bit of 30 minutes to drive.  All worth it though as it was wonderful.

We visited a bunch and went out to several restaurants, but mostly it was hanging out having dinners at the cabin, including our early Thanksgiving dinner.

Cigars around the outside fire

Sitting around the fireplace inside

So with all this going on we were extremely surprised to get a call that our new truck was delivered to the lot near the dealer, a full 1 1/2 months before we expected it at its earliest!  Since we were trading in our old truck we had to get pictures taken, info swapped to get a trade-in value, but mostly we had to decide how to handle this unexpected situation.  We studied the map and to our surprise we found out it was 100 miles shorter from GA to LA instead of from FL. We have a braking system on the truck while we tow it that I have mentioned many times made by M&G Brake Systems which is in Athens, TX, which is 250 miles from the dealer, hmm.  So a plan started to come together, we agreed on a fair trade-in value, then put the rest together.  This dealer, Mark Dodge, we can't recommend them enough, is a high volume operation that usually ships vehicles all over the United States as well as delivers vehicles right at their facility.  Everything is completed on a Zoom call and online, all paperwork, all payments, and any other arrangements so when you get there you basically swap keys and you're done.  Amazing and Painless!  Meanwhile since Jason was here, he helped us get the roof rack and Rod Vault off the roof.  It was a very windy day, and as I was standing in the driver's side doorway, a gust of wind slammed the door into my arm, it really hurt, but seemed okay after a few minutes, we got the rack off, stowed, and then since our friends John and Dianne were coming for dinner and to see Jason and meet Joanne, they took off to get ready there and Jan and I packed up dinner for the evening.  I said let me wash my hands so I took off my coat and rolled up my sleeve and found I was covered in blood and had knot on my forearm the size of a golf ball.  Not good.  So Jan and I looked at each other thinking what should we do, it really looked like it might burst so we said we ought to go to Urgent Care.  We iced it and off we went,  the Doc deemed it okay, bandaged it up and we headed over, late now to the cabin.

The ice much reduced the swelling

John and Diane actually ended up following us in to the cabin which was fortuitous since their GPS would not have gotten them there, and we had a wonderful visit, dinner and evening.

Jason, Joanne, John, Diane, and Moi

So we said goodbye to all and then needed to make plans for our new truck.  We decided to leave Sunday very early and drive all the way to Lake Charles, LA, spend the night and pick up the truck in the morning, then drive up to Athens, TX, spend the night, and have the brake system installed on the new truck, then drive back.  About 1800 miles in 4 days.

But before we could leave we needed to get the brake system off our truck.  M&G has a great program that if you bring your present system to them they will install a new system for a nominal fee, but you need to get to Athens, TX.  We figured if we were that close we should get it done.

I disconnected the wires and the top of the system, and the diesel mechanic went underneath to unhook the rest.

Bright and early we took off, actually not bright at all, it was way before sunrise:-)  It actually came up while we went through Gadsden, AL.

It was uneventful, just long, but we were even able to find a place for a cigar and drink at the hotel.

And after an awesome Waffle House breakfast, over to the dealer we went.

They are enormous, but so well organized, incredible, and we would have been out of there in an hour or so, but we added a chore for them, we wanted them to take the tires off our old truck and put them on the new one, and the new truck's tires on the old truck, that's a lot of mounting and balancing, but we have off road tires that we only bought a little while ago and wanted to keep them.  With that all done and getting checked out on the new truck, we took off for Athens, TX.  Checked out is a very loose term, there is so much amazing electronic technology on this new one that it will probably take us a month or two to master it all:-)  Spent the night there and over to M&G in the morning.  They jumped right on us and then asked if we wanted them to wire the lights up also, we said yes.  They have a cool adapter to mount the light connection, air connection for the brakes, and breakaway switch.

We had initially planned to have them mount the base plate for the tow bar as well, but in our research we found that no base plates are available yet for this 2025 truck, so we will do that later in Florida when they come out.  So Jan will have to drive the truck down to Florida this time rather than tow it, NBD.

So now we have to mount the roof rack and Rod Vault, load up all our stuff that lives in the bed, lash the ladder on, get through a very cold series of days, highs in the 40's and lows in the teens, and then off to our new digs in Florida, but we don't have to worry about a trip to Louisiana anymore:-)