The salesman said that the service guy dropped the bed liner in earlier today (yesterday).  I noted that the General Manager said that they could drop in a bed liner in the truck for me for the same selling price.  There are 2 problems with this:  1)  I had just gotten off the phone with the GM about an hour ago and 2)  the bed liner the salesman was showing me was DIRTY!  There would not have been enough time to install it and it should be at least as clean as the truck in time for my test drive, right?  The salesman said that they often had old bed liners left lying around.  And since I wasn’t born yesterday, I didn’t believe him.  I took a test drive to Steve’s workplace for him and me to have a little fun with it, accepted the man’s business card, and parted ways.  It wasn’t even the year of vehicle for which I had asked and the cheap air freshener smell had given me a headache!

We are not sure if we are in the market for a new truck or not.  The added expense comes at a time of a few life transitions, the biggest one being the visit and possible moving in of my Aunt Lori very soon.  Transporting her across the country in our Nissan Frontier, towing a travel trailer, has challenged several logistical parameters even our  German shepherd pup traveled in a kennel in the bed of the vehicle.  (The cage is on order, just in case!)  Renting a full-sized truck proved to be extraordinarily expensive and it’s a bit late to arrange airline tickets.  The latter involved staging a car at a local airport, a fair amount of expense that would come from the purchase of two air fares (since she is unable to travel alone), and my hubby returning from Florida separately with the pup and Camplite.  Doable, yes, however not so easy to implement when my Aunt couldn’t decide what she wanted to do about any of her affairs.

And so we are making decisions based upon prayer, speculation, clinical judgement from my experience as an occupational therapist, delay/disinterest from my Aunt’s adult children to act on their Mom’s behalf, already considerable costs-to-date, and reading between the lines of communication with extended family at a distance.  Sadly her health continues to fail, that is for sure.  We will be in her home State soon for my next medical appointment so it made sense to begin her trial visit with us with our return trip home.  I have been very stressed attending to all of the details of this process.

Regardless, plans are still coming together except for one big one:  deciding if our Nissan Frontier King Cab 4×4 SV is adequate to make the trip.  Can we tow a larger travel trailer that is just within the specs of our tow vehicle even with the new Anderson load bearing hitch?  Can I survive in a jump seat of a King cab for a cross-country trip, modified with pillows and a step stool?  Will Elle survive alright in the 90+ degree heat in a kennel in the open air, if shaded from the sun?  I have my concerns for her!  She was born and lived as an “outsider dog” before we got her 10 years ago.  A lot has transpired since then, including her becoming a lovely house pet and indoor companion for me!  Sorry pup!

The expense of a larger truck is considerable.  Stay tuned.  I do like the 2017 Ford F150 Super Crew 4WD . . . but I won’t be visiting salesman Jim anytime soon!  Ugh.  Next!  JJ

UPDATE 6.29.18:  No new truck at least for now!  We considered last minute airline tickets for me and my Aunt and staging a vehicle at the airport to get us home from there.  But it is time for us to come together as a family for this 3-week visit and it was my hubby who decided the best way to do that was a road trip together.  Low and behold with one day to spare, a full-sized rental truck with towing capacity became available in our city.  IT IS EXPENSIVE yet the right thing to do.  For now anyways.  :J