Big Blue

To be exact - Dodge Ram 3500 Megacab - Chris' new toy!

This has been in the works for a while - he ordered one and the dealership strung him along - "Oh yes, it will go on the line soon!" Well, 6 weeks later, still no joy and he was getting very frustrated! Not to mention that I was SO tired of hearing about the damn thing and "I wonder if the dealership will call today."

So last Wednesday, he's at the gas station and a guy drives up in a brand new Dodge - almost the one he wanted, but bright red and of course, he had to go ask the man about it. It turns out this guy bought it through an agency in Idaho and it saved him thousands of dollars!

Chris comes home, filled with the story and starts second-guessing himself about having ordered the custom truck and what should he do! Next thing he is on the phone to Idaho, and lo and behold! there is a truck on the line that almost exactly meets the requirements! Same color - Atlantic Pearl - same size - 1 ton - with all the extras and when they worked out the price (don't ask!) it was $5000 less than the original deal!

Well, this is not rocket science!

Thursday, while out on the sailing course, Chris placed his order, that evening we didn't the credit app online and sent the necessary details, booked a flight and we were set to go on Saturday morning.

It's an hour flight in a puddlejumper to Spokane, and the dealership, Dave Smith Auto Sales sent a van to pick us up for the 70 minute drive to this little town called Kellogg. This place is amazing - barely more than a blip on a map, every possible parking lot in the town was jammed with trucks. In the sales office there are 30-odd desks and people milling around.

We arrived and checked in; the saleman was called and he immediately came to meet us and took us out to see Big Blue. Of course, it was pouring but that didn't deter us and we were amazed at how big the thing is! And actually how pretty (if you can call a truck pretty.) Chris saddled up and we went for a test drive with Ryder, our salesman giving instruction on everything! Then back to the dealership. While we waited to see the finance man, we were offered hamburgers and hotdogs at the ongoing barbecue! We sat down with the finance guy, who had all the paperwork in order and ready to go. We signed our names and they handed us the keys and off we went! It all took less than two hours!

This place moves the most trucks in the country and they have it down to a fine art. Even thought Chris had only talked to them on Wednesday and made the commitment on Thursday, and had ordered option stuff, like spray-lined truck bed, mud-flaps etc, all of it was done and ready.

I've never experienced a car purchase like that! There's no messing around with prices - they sell at wholesale and somehow work with their incentives to make money! And the financing we got is 0%! How's that for a good deal? And they threw in a sunroof because it was already installed!

We thought that we would probably spend the night somewhere - not knowing how quickly the deal was to go together - but as we left so quickly, we decided to drive straight through. So we got to Seattle around 6:30, went and picked up my car at the airport (it feels very small now) took the ferry to Bainbridge Island, had dinner at the Island Grill and were home by 10 or so.

This is rather fun - we drove to the airport in my Suv, crossing the Sound on the big ferry. Then we took the shuttle from the car lot to the airport proper. Next we got on a prop plane and flew to Spokane, across the mountains, and were picked up and transported in a commuter van. Then we got the big mondo truck and headed back, crossing bridges a So that is six different modes of transportation - make that seven adding our feet! - we used in one day!

But today I am very tired! And though the weather is ok, I'm taking it real easy.