Our Beloved "Beast" was Stolen Yesterday - Fri., Mar. 24, 2017

What was supposed to be an exciting drive north to Athens, Texas yesterday to view the manufacturing of park models and manufactured homes turned ugly. I was going to pick Bob up from his work and he was going to lock his truck in his company's yard while we took the trip north. 

When I arrived to pick him up, his first words were, "The worst thing that could happen happened." 

I replied, "What do you mean?"

"My truck was stolen!" he blurted out.

Oh, man, our "Beast" is gone. We fell in love with our 2000, sapphire-blue, Ford F350, 7.3 liter PowerStroke, crew cab truck from the first moment we saw it in Portland, Oregon. 

Here is an excerpt from the blog when we first found our truck in 2011: 

"Here's our story about how we got our used pickup truck: Bob saw an ad on craigslist for a blue, 2000, Ford F350, 7.3 liter at a small dealership in Portland. We had been having a hard time finding that particular truck with a 7.3 liter engine. We went to the lot and searched for the truck...no truck. The salesperson who helped us didn't know anything about it. (He was new, only at the lot three days.) 

"We got into our car and started to pull away from the curb. Coming onto the small side street we were leaving, was a beautiful sapphire blue Ford F350 crew cab pickup truck and it pulled into the lot we had just left. We re-parked the car and marched right back into the dealership to ask if that was the truck advertised on craigslist. Sure enough, it was. If we had left two minutes sooner we would have missed "our" truck. Apparently they had it out for detailing which was why it looked so shiny and beautiful. [Bob's recollection is that they took it out to buy lunch.]

"We got back together with our salesperson, examined the truck, took it for a test drive and called a friend of ours who lived about 1/4 mile away to take a look at it for us. (He is a pretty good mechanic and takes pickups and airplanes apart and rebuilds them.) He told us the truck had been used pretty heavily. To me, that meant it had been broken in. LOL. He had us take it to a transmission shop for a pull test, which the truck passed. We bought it on the spot."

That truck has hauled our 5th wheel all over the United States with barely a repair needed. We are heartbroken that it was taken.

Trucks stolen in Texas are typically taken across the border to Mexico to transport illegal aliens across the desert. If they are recovered they are usually in awful shape. 

Neighbors of ours in the RV park had their Ford pickup stolen from downtown San Antonio about a month ago. It was returned about 11 days later in awful shape. The rear seat had been removed. There was trash all over the interior. The bottom of the truck looked like it had been run through a mud bog. They had already picked out a new truck but hadn't purchased it yet. When their truck was found, they then had to make all the repairs as their insurance company wouldn't total it. They were devastated.

We will hope for the best, but planning for the worst. Starting next week, we will rent a car so we will have two vehicles again. The insurance company requires us to wait two weeks to see if our truck will be recovered. In the meantime, we are looking for another used truck to buy if ours is not returned.

If you should see our truck, please notify police. It has Texas license plates starting with CPH. The tailgate has a 26.2 sticker and the bumper has a Johnson/Weld political sticker. Here are some photos of the Beast...

Sparks Marina RV Park, Sparks, NV

The Beast

Sparks Marina RV Park

Fishing Bridge Campground, Yellowstone

Flaming Gorge overlook

Flagg Ranch, Grand Tetons, WY

Hilltop RV Resort, Ft. Stockton,  TX

Lake Pleasant Regional Park, AZ

Buffalo Bill Dam, WY

Badlands, SD

South Dakota Air & Space Museum, Rapid City

Black Hills, SD

Houghton, MI

OK, now you all know what it looks like. We hope it will be found in good condition so we can use it for our vacations in May and Sept./Oct. If not, we will get another truck. Hopefully, it will be as wonderful as this one!

TravelBug out.

Changes and A Home Base in San Antonio, Texas - Friday, Mar. 10, 2017, Part 2

After spending time on the nature walk Friday morning, I met Bob at his work and we went out for Thai food. When we finished eating, our next destination was Tim's Tiny Homes in Seguin, Texas, to look at park models and manufactured homes.

We do not plan to stop traveling, but we do want a home base for our travels. Traveler's World RV Resort in San Antonio, where we have lived for five years in our 5th wheel, is the place we want to call home. The people are wonderful. During the busy season (fall & winter) there are many activities from which to choose. Plus, the temperature is pretty mild during the winter. 

At Tim's Tiny Homes we looked at park models (under 400 sq ft) and manufactured homes. This is the third place we've been and found a manufactured home we really like. The home is two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. It is made by Athens Park Homes. 

March 30-31 we plan to drive to Athens, Texas, to visit the manufacturing facility and see how Athens manufactured homes are built. While we're in the area, we also plan to look at Diamond and Platinum manufactured home builders.

Careful consideration is going into our decision and we think it's the right one for us. Since we're both working, we won't be traveling full time for a few years. This move will allow us to bring the contents of our small storage unit here from Oregon.

Our jobs allow some long vacations, so we will still be traveling. 2017 travels will take us to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida in May. Then we will go on a six-week road trip to Washington, D.C. later this summer.

I am changing from full-time permanent to full-time seasonal and will work from November through May. If needed, I can be on call during the slow season.

Because of this change, I will be traveling quite a bit this summer with my friend, Susan, and her husband, Darren. 

1. In June, we will be on a three-week driving trip to Billings, Montana for the Volksmarch convention. We will stop along the route to do Volksmarches at state capitals, national parks, national monuments and other interesting places. We hope to do two 10k walks per day (feet, hips, and knees permitting).
2. In August, we will go on a five-day driving trip to Grand Island, Nebraska for a Volksmarching weekend during the total eclipse of the sun.

Then later in August, I will fly to Portland, Oregon to visit my family for two weeks. Bob is working full time. I invited him to go with us, but he can't get that much time off work. Bob and I will, however, have two weeks together on our Florida trip and six weeks on our Washington, D.C. trip and I'll be home from mid-June until mid-August.

That's the latest news from Texas. Have a great Wednesday, y'all. TravelBug out.