Anybody that knows me knows I'm not a huge fan of painted or black wheels, and I've also been a bit lukewarm on the 5th Gen Rams (because I love my 2012 so much), but this thing is just that damn cool.  After I talked it over with my wife the night before, I went to see it the next day, thinking that I could be happy with something like that.  Well, reality set in.  First, she's only 5'2" and already has issues getting into my 2012 2WD (with steps), so there might be issues here - this thing is 7" taller than my 2WD 2012 Ram.  Second, as I was climbing up into it (I don't normally have to climb up into anything), my knees were like, "Really?! You want to do this every day?!"  And finally, I asked the salesman why they were letting it go for just $60K, and he replied, "Oh no... it's listed at $85K."  Are you freaken kidding me?!  I showed him the ads I printed from CarGurus.com, AutoTrader.com, and even their own website showing $59,505 as the list price, and he gave me some excuse about not being able to list the total price including the SCA Performance aftermarket package that makes this truck a 'Black Widow.'

OK... I think we're done here.  I'm not $85K in love with this truck, after all.  The Awfulplex strikes again - should've known better.

But now I've got 'new truck-itis,' and my wife and I talked about needing to get one soon so we're not still making payments when I'm finally done with work.  So I came up with this plan to get the same truck they would've sent off to SCA Performance to turn into a Black Widow, then get some cool wheels & tires with a leveling kit once I wear out the stock tires - it would look pretty much like this cool truck, but not be as ridiculously tall, cost as much, help the Awfulplex make a sale (yeah, I still hate 'em that much).  I found around 15 Laramie Sport 4x4 trucks, similarly equipped (minus all the Black Widow B.S.), picked what I thought would be the best deal, and talked it over with my wife when I got home from work the next day.  She thought the one I'd picked out was cool, but she showed me one she picked out, which turned out to be just that much cooler... and yes, a little more expensive (but not anywhere close to $85K).  It already has wheels similar to the Black Widow's, and is loaded up with just about anything I could ever want and never knew I needed.

Which brings me to one in the pics above.  The next day at lunchtime, I called Huffines Chrysler/Jeep/Ram in Lewisville (DFW Area) and spoke to a really cool guy, Kent McKee, about the truck and he started the process of putting the deal together.  I took a few pics of the 2012 and sent them off, then went to the credit union on base and talked to them about it.  They got all the paperwork done for a draft and I went home with everything needed to go get the truck the next day.  Later in the afternoon, the finance people called me and said they'd give me full trade-in on the 2012, but couldn't do a draft - they needed a bank check instead.  Well crap, the day was over and the credit union was closed, so I'd need to swing by there on the way out to go get the truck the next morning.

The next morning at the credit union, I completed the rest of the paperwork and got the bank check and finally got out there around noon... just 3 hours later than I'd wanted to (took a bit for coordination with the finance folks at the dealership), but that's normal for these things for me.  Abilene was a hot mess because of construction, and that took almost 45 minutes to get through, and then I hit Weatherford right about the end of the day, so more traffic.  Kent called me up asking where I was, and that there was a major accident on 35E that was going to take several hours to clear up... right along my intended route.  He gave me some new directions and I arrived at the dealership right around 5 hours after I'd left San Angelo.  He checked over my trade-in and after signing their paperwork, I was out of there in less than an hour.  Knowing I wasn't familiar with the DFW area, he programmed the Nav System with a good route to the house, which worked quite well.  Getting out of DFW went pretty quick, and I stopped in Ranger, TX (on I-20, about the halfway point) to get a drink.  So far so good.

I decided to call my buddy Dave and let him know what was going on, but in doing so, I missed the on-ramp to I-20 (no stripes, short ramp, and my color-vision sucks especially at night). As we were talking, the Nav started b!tching at me about missing the ramp, then Dave asked who that was.  I told him it was the Nav and he said she sounded pissed.  LOL!  Then she told me to pull a U-turn soon, since the frontage road dead-ended soon.  As I was talking with Dave, and trying to make the U-turn, I caught myself trying to shift my Monster Ultra tall can into reverse, which made both Dave and I laugh, because the gear selector is on the dashboard, not the center console like my old truck.  I got back on the interstate in the next few minutes, and everything was fine after that.  Once I hit Abilene, I managed to miss most of the construction I'd run into on the way there, and wound up calling my wife and talking to her pretty much the rest of the way back to San Angelo... which was nice being able to use the new technology while driving - made the time go by much faster.

I pulled into the driveway around 0030 the next morning, completely wiped out from the whole day of driving.  The truck did awesome, and I even got some compliments when I'd stopped for food and a drink on the way back.

The next day, I had a Community Band concert (3rd of July Pops), which was a blast, but had stopped by Tuff Shine to order a bed cover and some rain guards... which arrived the following Thursday, and now I'm just about back to the same place I was with the old truck, just with a new truck that I still need to make my first payment on.  Everybody seems to like it so far, so it looks like we picked another winner.

Stay tuned for more pics and a few minor mods after the stock tires wear out in about another 15K miles.