What a day!
Back story: Up until a few hours ago, I drove a 1997 Dodge Ram 1500. It got about 8-10 mpg, and was really getting run down. I put over $1000 into it on a repair recently, and it hit me that the thing wasn’t worth much more than that.
Yesterday Jodi and I went out to get a freezer for the basement. When I started backing out of the driveway, it made an interesting noise. Hard to describe, but clearly not right. It was fine in drive, but sounded funny in reverse. This got us thinking that I should really replace it BEFORE it craps out on the side of the road on Rt. 2 at 1AM.
One thing led to another and I decided that a Toyota Tacoma was the right choice for me. Of the compact truck market, they got consistently good reviews, and were priced on the low end as well (this is a range that goes up over $30K, so “low” is a nice term).
Some research resulted in a surprise. A 2008 Tacoma with 57K miles an the options I wanted was around $24K. A 2010 with the option I wanted was around $26K. $2K more for brand new? Sounds like a good plan to me!
I went out this morning to Boch Toyota. They had the exact truck I wanted in inventory. Black extended cab V6 w/grey interior and the SR5 package. The SR5 includes cruise, power everything, backup camera, and a bunch of other bells and whistles.
Took it for a test drive, loved it, and 5+ hours later drove away in it.
The delay came in part due to a computer systems problem mid-transaction. Too far in to stop, unable to finish. So I just hung out. Yay iPhone, keeping me sane!
So there it is… my new baby 
The process took a LOT longer than I was expecting, so we ended up running late for STAR WARS IN CONCERT! Fortunately running late was based on wanting to get there really early, so we didn’t miss anything.
AWESOME AWESOME SHOW!!!!!!!
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing music from the 6 Star Wars movies, with Anthony Daniels narrating. It was about 2 hours long, and very, very good. Huge movie screen, laser show, pyrotechnics and a full orchestra. You don’t see that every day
What a day/night!
I have to go back to the dealer Wednesday morning to get the remote starter / GPS alarm system installed, and get my inspection sticker put on. So while I’m all excited to drive my new truck, I should probably keep it local until the sticker is there. I have 7 days to get it done, but no reason to cause unnecessary fuss.
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