...Loaded up and truckin'. We're gonna do what they say can't be done...

After running a few ideas by the wife and running the numbers we may be singing along to Jerry Reed in a few years. I've gone from despair to optimism.The monthly cost will go up a little bit but we'll pay it off two years sooner and with no interest which means we save $2000.

In a bizarre turn of events I've become enamored with the brown (Caribou) paint over my go to blue. I've seen both colors in the wild and the brown is just straight up prettier. It would also match the camper we're considering. These types of things are important to me. I've also figured a few extra options to spoil ourselves won't break the bank so we're going to try to get a loaded (at least for us) truck. This is a big deal for me.

I've taken delivery of a few new cars in my day and they're almost always the base model or very small step up. Hub caps, unpainted mirrors, and manual transmissions have adorned my featureless cars. My last two wagons have had quite a few creature comforts and my current Outback is a step above the base model. Craziness.

We're considering a few campers. The pricey one we really want appears to be hard to come by in the central states so unless we want to pay an arm and a leg and order one with everything we want we'd have to take a considerable road trip to buy off the lot and in both circumstances we wouldn't get to take a good look before making our decision. Ordering one sight unseen is out of the question for me and driving 1500 miles to simply take a look then mull it over for a day or two in a hotel then potentially leave with nothing is not my idea of a good time. Plus I'd much rather have my maiden voyage be a short trip. We've found some slightly less roomy but very viable options. They've even had some with attractive color combinations and features.

My notebook is getting filled with good stuff.

How A Crazy Person Buys A Caravan

My wife loves to plan while I'm more of a seat of your pants kind of person. My wife likes to pour over all of the details and keep a binder when putting together a family Disney trip. This may seem like work for some people but for her it's fun. It gets her excited for the trip. I don't plan much but when it comes to buying anything I like to know what I'm getting.

Here's where I become a crazy person. You might think two years in advance is too far ahead to start planning a vehicle purchase. Yeah, well, how about four years for a camper? I'm doing both. Yes, a large notepad is involved.

Is two years too soon to start planning that vehicle purchase? It's not if you like getting those white whale deals everybody talks about but few get. The MSRP of a vehicle is one thing but what a dealership pays is another thing. I like to see how long it takes for models to sit on the lot versus order and build dates. That way I have extra leverage with the dealer that wants to move inventory.

There are four of those in the area and each one orders different options and sells with different mark ups. I know the dealer that tends to order the options I prefer so now I need to figure out how long trucks sit on their lot. I want to pick one out in March or April and have it still be there in June or July when extra incentives are available for year end model clearance. The name of the game is eating up as much dealer profit as I can. Don't worry they'll make a couple hundred bucks off me so their kids will still have shoes when the school year starts.

I'm doing the same thing for travel trailers. Along with watching dozens of how-to videos and taking notes I'm also working on tracking down dealers that keep the types of travel trailers we want to see how far we'll have to travel for one and if there will be enough of them available to purchase when the time comes.

By the end of it all I will have cork boards with photos, push pins, and red thread all over my office.