Do Crocodiles Actually Cry Big Crocodile Tears?

Vacation! It’s coming soon!

Do you know the last time we went on a real vacation? A real getaway? Me neither.

In a few weeks we are going to pack 900 pounds of stuff into the back of Momma’s truck, and guess what…it is all Ace’s!

Seriously, how can such a little guy require so much stuff? The list of stuff to pack is 3 or 4 pages long!

Anyways, if we manage to successfully drive the overloaded vehicle (at what point are you required to stop at the weigh stations with the semis?) halfway across the country, we are going to be in for some good fun in the sun!

So you are probably imagining a beach somewhere,  South Carolina? Florida? Nope, and nope…Iowa!  Yes, I said it…Iowa!

Seriously! We are driving to Iowa to visit some old friends, and we are staying at one of those hotels that have the indoor water park! I’m excited! (I’m really a 12 year old in a…man I hate to say it…almost 30 year old’s body)

Not only do they have an indoor water park, the hotel is located on a lake for some outdoor water fun as well!

I’m so excited!

Even though all of this puts a big smile on my face there is one thing about the trip that I’m sure will make me cry big crocodile tears…

The gas prices make me cry big crocodile tears!
I think I cried 23.743 gallons after filling up my truck. 🙁

I plan on taking a record number of pictures on our road trip, as long as I remember the camera (and we don’t have to pawn it off to pay for gas to make it all the way home) 😆 .  I should have some good shots to show all of ya’s .

Oh yeah!  If the weather cooperates, Ace will be visiting the zoo for the first time this weekend!  Please don’t rain! 🙂

This summer is going to be sooo much fun! 😀

My Stuff Is Not Your Stuff

Why do people think that what is mine, is theirs?

I went out to my truck at 5:30 this morning to get in my truck to drive to the airport and found the inside of my truck to be trashed.  The center console was tipped up and everything was thrown into the back seat.  The glove box was open and everything was on the passenger side floor.

Luckily I had nothing of value in my truck.  They got away with my change and a bag full of hotel brand ink pens.  Woo hoo!

It was partly my fault because I forgot to lock my doors, but this still pisses me off to no end.  I live in a decent neighborhood in the burbs and still I have to worry about people taking my stuff!  This is the second time in a little over a month that someone has broken in to one of my vehicles!

I remember growing up in the country.  We never locked our doors to our house or cars.  We left the keys in the ignition at all times.  Nothing ever got bothered.  Maybe I should move back out to the country…

…or maybe I should invent a lethal alarm system for our vehicles.  If I could figure out a way to rig a tazer to fire when the door opens I would do at this point.  How about rigging the door handle to provide a nice jolt of electric?

I’m going to figure out something.  Time to put that $40,000 electronic engineering degree to good use. 🙂

So, thief beware!  My truck might be the last one you attempt to break into! 🙂

Update: When Momma came home last night she found my bag of hotel brand ink pens lying in the neighbors front yard.  Looks like I just lost about $1.50 in change.

Do Kids Affect The Car You Buy?

I’ve always driven a truck except for the past few years. I bought a Ford Ranger 5 or 6 years ago and my wife bought a Ford Taurus. When I took on this last job we switched vehicles…she drove the Ranger and I drove the Taurus.

I have never liked the Taurus, but drove it because I couldn’t drive the Ranger for work. It was too small. I carry tools and luggage on a regular basis and it just wouldn’t fit.

When we had Ace, we traded in the Ranger on a Ford Explorer. The Ranger was not big enough for all three of us. Plus it is not safe to have a car seat in the front seat. And I stuck with the Taurus.

The Taurus finally started to show it’s age. We bought the car with 13,000 miles and it now has 127,000 miles. It was a great car. I never put the first part on it. Just the routine brake pads, tires, and oil changes. Recently the check engine light came on, it didn’t like to start all of the time, and sometimes would almost die when accelerating hard. So we decided that it i time for me to get a new vehicle.

I hate buying a new vehicle. I hate car salesmen. I hate the whole sales approach thing. How hard is it really? I told them what we were looking for, how many miles it needed to have, how old it could be, what we could pay per month, how much we could put down, and how long the loan term could be. All they needed to do was show us the right vehicle.

Sounds simple, right? Wrong! Our salesman found us the “perfect” truck.  I liked it.  He assured us it met all of our criteria. We took the truck on an overnight test drive and I fell in love with it.  We went back the next day and they couldn’t meet all of my criteria.

Finally after many hours of visiting car lots and negotiating with the dealers we found the perfect truck.

Now that we have Ace, we had to consider a few more things. Will a car seat fit? How would the vehicle do in an accident? Would it be safe?

The biggest challenge for us was finding a truck that would fit a car seat. Trucks with big extended cabs or quad cabs tend to be pricey! However after being very persistent we did find the perfect truck that met all of our criteria…

We are the proud owners of a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT 4×4…

2004 Doge Ram 1500 SLT 4×4

2004 Doge Ram 1500 SLT 4×4

Happy birthday to me!

Hostinger