NEW TRUCK!

2011 CHEVROLET SILVERADO 2500HD
Exterior color: Taupe-Gray-Metallic
Interior color: Ebony

ALLISON Transmission

DURAMAX 6.6L Turbo Diesel

397 horses and 765 lb.-ft. of torque

4x4 Crew-cab Standard-bed (6 1/2 feet)

Michellin 18" tires

11% improvement in highway fuel economy

36-gallon tank


The truck we wanted finally came in to the dealer, so, Thursday we went to look at it, took it for a drive, took care of the paper work, did a lot of oooohing and ahhhhing....then left our new big bad boy at the dealership because they had not received the running boards yet. We should be able to pick it up for real sometime before Tuesday or Wednesday. Then we'll take it to have it undercoated, rain-guards and front window tint installed (to match the back windows), and Rhino bed-liner done.

Next, we'll put some miles on it to "break in" the engine before we go to pick up the RV we chose, a 2011 Keystone Fuzion 360 Fifth-Wheel Toy-Hauler, that will be our second home until we can sell the house and we plan to use it for many, many years to come.

Needless to say, we're pretty excited! This was a major decision and a huge purchase for us. It took a lot of planning, but we think we made the best choice for us and plan to use this truck for many, many (many, many, many) years.
Life is short and you just never know what's around the next corner, so we decided to take the plunge and enjoy what time we have left on this planet. :-)

Are these good weeds or bad weeds?

Should I let these grow or get rid of them?
What are they?

They popped up in my peony patch.

I've been told this is called Virginia Creeper, and some people actually buy it to grow in their gardens. Others say it is used for medicinal purposes. I'm thinking I should get rid of it, because it could take over the whole yard...NOT good.

This one seems to be a tree?

(anyone know?):

Still not sure what this tree is. Mulberry, perhaps?


UPDATE (August 21, 2010): The weeds are GONE! After doing a bit of research, we decided they had to go. William dug them out a few days ago, so, now it's just the poeonies, a few Lillies of the Valley and a few Violets in the patch. :-)

The RV is GONE!

These two pics are from when we went to pic up our 2010 toy-hauler at the dealership for the first time (September 2009):




These two pics are from the Thunder In The Hills Bike Rally we went to in Bandera, Texas around the end of March, 2010:

We learned the hard way, like many first time RV-ers. Our toy-hauler travel-trailer may have looked "COOL" (as in "hip") on the outside, but with no slides, it was just too darn small on the inside.

It's a really good thing that we LIKE and love each other so much, because we lived in that thing for 4 1/2 months last winter! Also, something that we had not figured on (never having been to the Gulf coast before)...we had to keep the Road King and bicycles IN the garage when not in use (which was MOST of the time), because the salt-water air would have ruined them! And because of the constant high winds, we were never able to use the awning to sit under, so we ended up living in appoximately 22' X 8' of space for those months! (the trailer was 34' long)
Whew! What an experience! Hahahaha!

I didn't mind it so much, but William absolutely hated having no elbow room whatsoever. I would just curl up in a corner of the bed (we had a 32" flatscreen TV in the bedroom), or more often, the dinette bench and get comfortable (CAN you get comfortable on those things?) with my laptop computer for hours....HAD to, because the weather was miserably cold and rainy for most of the time.

Well, William said there is no way we're going through THAT again, so, let's see if we can sell this thing, so I put it on Craigslist and "poof", it sold for what we were asking. Thank goodness! A young athletic family with two boys bought it for their dirt-biking excursions, which is perfect for them! Yay! A win, win situation!


The truck was sold too! We LOVED our Nissan Titan 4x4 truck (gas), but it's just too small to pull the new fifth-wheel that we plan to buy...a 2011 Keystone Fuzion 322...(any advice or opinions, anyone? Now is the time!).

Our new truck is a 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD turbo diesel 4x4 crew-cab standard-bed in charcoal metalflake gray...and that bad boy can pull anything! We are waiting for it to be delivered any time within the next day or two. We are hoping to get many years of use out of both the new truck and the new fifth wheel, so, in the long run we figure that these purchases will actually SAVE us money. I will, of course post some pics of the new truck as soon as it's here.

The sky before the storm...

...yesterday...(in Michigan)