1. Buying the TV

For some time we had been talking about the ‘need’ in the future to upgrade from out tent trailer (PUP…stands for pop up) to some larger and more ‘convenient’ trailer…either a conventional bumper hitch 'travel trailer' (TT), or a 5th wheel (5er).

When on our family reunion ‘road trip’ to Pocatello in Aug., after setting up and taking down camp in our PUP, checking out all the different rigs on the road, in campgrounds, etc., I think we both decided that we were pretty close to ‘pulling the trigger’ on making a change. But we still had to decide what kind of trailer and what kind of tow vehicle (TV).

We started evaluating the options of having a larger SUV type vehicle that could seat 7-8 people (ala a Chevy Suburban or Ford Excursion) and being able to tow a TT, or an extended cab pick-up truck that could seat 6 and tow either a 5er or a TT.

I had done a lot of research (especially in the RV.NET forums where I had been posting/learning over the years) about GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating), payload, towing capacity, hitch weight, axle ratings, etc., so although we didn’t know yet what type of trailer we wanted, I did at least have a good idea of the minimum requirements for a TV.

After deciding that a ‘large’ pick-up would probably be the best option for us, we then had to decide which ‘brand’; Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Toyota…the options were almost endless. But Ford’s reputation for building great trucks, and the fact that they did NOT take any money in the Gov’t bailout program sort of steered us that their direction.

Over the Labor Day weekend Ford was having a big sale on 2009 vehicles, so we went on-line and did some dealer comparisons and decided Future Ford in Sacramento had the best selection of F150’s and F250’s (1/2 ton and ¾ ton). On our way to the Cal game that Sat. we stopped by to get a feel for what they had in stock, pricing, and towing capacities, and to discuss trade-in options. It became apparent that the sales staff were great guys, but basically knew very little about towing requirements…thank goodness I had done that homework!

On Monday, after deciding we would keep our 4-Runner as the ‘family car’, I then cleaned up the Subaru Forester and we headed back down to Sacramento…check book in hand.

Over a period of about 5 hours we had looked at pretty every truck on their Sacramento lot, and had even gone down to their Roseville lot and looked at most of the trucks there. Besides the normal issues of color, leather vs fabric seats, etc., the biggest issues became towing capacity and gas vs diesel. After camping and listening to the diesel pick-ups ‘rumbling’ noisily by us, we decided we did NOT want a diesel. (Of course they had a LOT of diesels to show us…go figure.)

When we got back to the Sacramento lot (quite disappointed that our search seemed to be going nowhere) the Sales Mgr. had a truck pulled out and waiting for us to look at. It looked great…but huge! It was indeed gas, but instead of an F150 or F250 it was a F350 (1 ton)…and instead of a 2009 it was a 2010. What?!? Is this like a bait and switch operation (just kidding). When it came to towing capacity this thing was loaded for bear (with heavy suspension, etc., it was actually almost a 2 ton!). With this baby we could tow just about anything out there (TT or 5er) w/out a worry! (6.8L V10, 11K lb GVWR)

And as far as pricing…well, it was fairly lean as far as (non-towing) options were concerned…and they did make us a good offer. Maybe we were just brain dead by then, but said yes…let’s do it.

Now that we had a truck we then needed to decide what to ‘fill it’ with.