"NEW" TRUCK!!!!

Pulling my horse trailer over the Rockies last fall convinced me that my 150 truck was just not up to the job. She was fine for my smaller Circle J trailer and over the flat lands, but with my living quarter and mountains to travel, I knew it was time to upgrade. I only had 34,000 miles on my '05 truck, and it was a nice truck, but have been looking for a Ford 250 extended cab for awhile....without much luck. I happened to be at the Ford dealership when a local contractor was trading in his personal truck....and I decided to give up on a gold/brown 250 extended cab, and bought his trade. It just happened that the Doherty's were arriving in town at the time, so I had them check it out for me, and got their approval. Cindy and I test drove it out to the ranch, and decided it would look good with the trailer, too. So I am now driving an '06 Ford diesel 350 Lariat crew cab 4x4 short bed. I "girlied" it up a bit by adding chrome side protectors, handles and wheel well protectors, and will be adding a soft cover on the bed tomorrow. The gray leather interior should do a much better job of hiding Wylee's hairs...they really were a pain getting out of the old black carpet!! I really appreciated the extra power when I hauled Bart over the mountains in Yarnell on the way to the Las Damas ride. No need to downshift....we just drove right up! It feels big, and that diesel is the usual noisier motor, but I do feel much more confident when I am hauling now. And I discovered at the Las Damas ride that a white diesel 350 is pretty much the norm for hauling trailers....LOTS of rattling diesels running as we were all pulling out on Friday! And to top it off, I got 15 mpg driving it on short pulls and over the mountains. I would have been lucky to get 9 with the 150 gas truck, so that helps offset the higher cost of diesel fuel. And my old truck? The dealer sold it to his son-in-law an hour after I brought it in!

So now I am ready for that long haul to Minnesota, but this summer the new truck will stay home. I have decided to fly up with Mom and visit family and friends, and will drive the Camry back....if the ol' gal will make it. She now has 180.000 miles on her! But for now we are talking about a camping trip to Groom's Creek Park at Prescott next month.......WOOHOO!

And what is a good name for a big white truck??????
Blizzard?
Larry the Lariat?
Grande?
Fred the Ford?
KeepsMeBroke?