Surprise… We Bought a New Truck…

After our incident on January 1st (where coincidentally enough I asked if this was a sign of what the year would bring…) and buying the camper that caused the problem… We started discussing options to keep from having to replace a back window a second time. My husband’s truck was a short bed and while most campers wouldn’t have an issue like that… This is a toy hauler… so the front is different.

Our plans really weren’t to get a new truck for another year or so… and when I say new, new to us, not brand new.

Anyway, we have some plans to start hauling the camper coming up in the very near future and I’m just about sick thinking about that back window.

Hubby went online, just so happened to find the needle in a haystack truck that we’ve been looking for. He contacted the dealership, deals were made over the phone, and BAM at 2 am yesterday we loaded up in the truck to make an almost 6-hour drive, which took us through 3 states (ours and 2 others). They made plans to have everything ready to go at around 10 am so that we could be back out on the road and hopefully not get home too late. 

My mother-in-law went with us. She gets off work at 2 am, came to our house to shower, we all loaded up in the truck, and we were off to Greenville, Texas. I seriously think some days we need our heads examined.

We went through Paris

Texas that is… I always knew that there was a Paris, Texas. Okay, well… always… since I was a teenager. I used to show horses with a girl from Paris.

One thing I had always heard about Paris Texas was there was an Eiffel Tower with a cowboy hat on top. Well… since we had to go through Paris, I begged to go see it. I almost hate to say it, but don’t bother. It was so underwhelming. Maybe as tall as a 2-3 story building. I really expected to see it from a distance. You couldn’t see it until you got to the parking lot it is in. I just figured Everything is bigger in Texas… So… Now you’ve seen the Paris, Texas, Eiffel Tower.

Dealership in Greenville

When we got to Greenville, we actually pulled in and immediately saw the truck we were looking at. No, not the one below. That was our truck. The last picture I’ll ever have of our truck. That truck treated us well… but it was getting up there in miles (around 160K which is fairly low for a diesel engine, so hubby tells me), and had a few problems.

But here’s the beast we went to see. We test drove it. And you know, they tell you not to act excited when test driving a vehicle. Wow, this dude was so awesome it was difficult. It is 4 years newer and around 100K miles less.

And it had some features that hubby was looking for. We had to pile all of our blankets and pillows from one truck to the other.

The other cool thing is it came with a 5th wheel hitch. One of the first things we do have to get for it though is a gooseneck ball.

Going the Distance

This is the furthest from home I have been since Covid-19 hit. It was a little nerve-wracking. Especially since we crossed not 1 but 2 state lines.

We were actually going into a fairly big metro area that was supposedly hit fairly hard by Covid-19. So to say I was a little stressed would be an understatement. This was our weekend to have the older daughter. Then it came down to, do we take them or not. We wound up taking them with us because we all needed out of the house. 

Uncle Julio’s

190 E Stacy Rd #3400
Allen, TX

This was also the first time we have eaten in a restaurant since then. While at home we would do take out, but when restaurants actually finally opened back up we just continued doing the take out. It was our way to try and help locally without going out… Honestly, we didn’t know what to do… so we just kept on as we had been.

It was a little nerve-wracking walking up to a restaurant and actually entering. This was the first time I had seen servers wearing masks and gloves to serve. It was just very shocking. But at the same time, it was good to see that they were able to find ways to get back up and running to support their people. And hey, we got to eat at Uncle Julio’s which happens to be one of our favorite places to eat.

I went with the Bacon Wrapped Camerones. Jumbo Shrimp stuffed with Monterey Jack and Jalapeño, bacon-wrapped and mesquite-grilled. Served with Mexican butter, pico de gallo, Mexican rice and beans. Holy YUM! 

I guess if this is going to be your first meal back to eating out… You can’t go wrong. Definitely go in with a Bang!!