That didn’t take long, filling the feed

So I carefully created my Craigslist ad yesterday, including a pretty thorough description along with 9 or 10 pictures.  I published it and waited for my phone to ring.  To be honest it didn’t ring as often as I expected.

My first contact was a text message from some guy that offered me $3000, over 2k less than my asking price.  He qualified his offer with an acknowledgement that it was a low offer but was all the money he had.  I politely told him I couldn’t sell it for that but thanked him for his offer.

I then got another text from a guy that said I should text him when I got home, presumably so he could come out and see the truck.  Once I got home I texted as promised but got a response he couldn’t come out tonight but he would be in touch.  I then got a call from a guy from Fort Myers.  He was definitely interested but couldn’t come down to see the truck until the next night.  I told him that was fine, as long as I don’t sell it ahead of time.

Then about 7:30 my phone rang.  It was another guy wanting to know if I sold it yet.  When I told him I had not he said he could come right over, since he also lived in the estates it should only take him 15 minutes or so to get there.  I told him to come on over.  While we were waiting Cindy and I did another round of interior clean out of the truck.  Cindy had already pulled a lot of the personal items  out when she cleaned the inside but there were a few more things in there.

Shelby pulled up in his big full size diesel Ford truck with his wife/girlfriend in the passenger seat.  She stayed in the truck the entire time for whatever reason, apparently uninterested in the potential purchase.  Shelby seemed like a cool younger guy.  He has his own handyman business and does some car repairs as well.  He is very familiar with the Tacomas and owned one several years ago that he liked.

Unfortunately the sunlight was fading fast but I showed him some examples of where the clear coat was failing.  He said his brother actually does paint/bodywork so that would be a nice fit.  I brought him a flashlight which he used to get a better look into the engine compartment and under the truck.  We went on a 5 minute or so test drive where it seemed clear he liked the truck.  The negotiation actually occurred during the last 1/2 mile of the drive.  He offered me 600 less then what I was asking, I said I would be willing to split the difference and he agreed to it.

Once we got back we talked about the logistics of the transaction.  We agreed on him running to the bank this morning to pull out cash and then meeting me at my office since we can do the transaction right here.  I then would hopefully be able to hitch a ride to the gym with my buddy and will get a ride home from Cindy at the end of the day.  Now of course my experience with the first potential SSR buyer who backed out after giving me a deposit makes me not willing to count my chickens before they are hatched but I am pretty confident the sale will transpire as planned.

The sale of the Tacoma will culminate what has been a quite busy month or so with the SSR sale, 2016 Tacoma purchase followed by the sale of my 99 Tacoma.  As I looked through the folder of repair documentation I was going to deliver with the truck it brought back many memories.  I bought the truck in October of 2001 for $15,300.  To be able to sell it some 15 years later for almost 5k is a testament to Tacoma value.

I expect there will be more sentimental feelings as I see the Tacoma drive off compared to the SSR because of longevity.  I have never owned a vehicle for as long as I have owned the truck.  It’s not even close.  It has served me tirelessly over so many years in endless projects, races, and just commuting on a daily basis.  The various maintenance and repair tasks I have taken on with the truck have provided me with many challenges to overcome with the accompanying sense of accomplishment when I eventually succeeded.  It’s been a great vehicle and I hope it continues to serve it’s new owner for many years to come.

So I got my rebooted podcast online yesterday.  You can find it with this link or search “duf-cast” on iTunes.  My plan for now is to convert my YouTube vlogs to mp3 podcasts.  After uploading the video to YouTube I pull back the processed mp4 file and then convert it to mp3 format.  I then use the Blubrry plug in in WordPress to create the feed which is fed into iTunes.  It takes some work to get the content out there but it isn’t too bad.   The podcast really is for nobody else’s benefit but my own as it will help me work on talking through my thoughts instead of keying them.  If somebody finds it entertaining enough to listen to outside my immediate circle, great.

I shot my first and last vlog entry in the 99 Tacoma on my way to work today.

I have been having a TON of detailed long dreams the last few nights, too bad that detail is mostly lost when I awake.