WE HAVE A TRUCK!!!!

That's right Questees, The Giving Quest finally has a trusty steed. How trusty it is remains to be seen but we have got a good feeling about it!

So 2 days ago we went for yet another jaunt into Illinois. Seriously we have almost spent more time driving around those highways than we have sitting in St. Louis. We had 3 trucks lined up to view; one that was far too cheap, one that was far too expensive, and one that was just right... but 3 hours away and still more expensive than we wanted.

First stop was Highland, about an hour away from home. Such a cool little town! Lots of independent stores set around a well kept town square. It had a Gilmore Girls vibe to the place. Unfortunately that didn't stop the truck we were going to see from being a rust bucket. It looked so good online but one glance at the support beams under the truck bed and this was a no no, didn't even take it for a test drive. Annoying but it did give us a chance to wander around.

A gift shop with an oddly similar name...

We love old theaters, and Tris matched the sign!

After scoffing a pretty baller chocolate dipped strawberry since Zora stuck her bottom lip out about not getting one on Valentine's day, we headed next to Collinsville. This truck was way way better. A 1997 Dodge Ram 6.4l, 24 valve, V8 Cummins. It was nice! I'd like to think that I've learnt a bit over the past few weeks about what to look for in a diesel engine, that and the fact that a website had specifically said that this was one of the best engines ever made helped impress us both. It wasn't very clean, but there was not a speck of rust on the whole thing. Travis took us out for a good test drive and the truck really performed extremely well. However the price tag was $13,500. It was probably worth it but that is just too much for us. The trip wasn't wasted however, because we saw another middle America tradition... a novelty water tower!

This one's for you Tom.

The final stop of the day was a convenient two and a half hour cruise up to Peoria. Ugh. If this one was a bust then our day would have been totally wasted and I would have driven for 7 hours for nothing. Fortunately this was the one! Zora had been talking to Phil, who seemed like a really nice guy and was selling the vehicle for his father in law, and he managed to change his plans at short notice to come and show us the truck. It is a beauty. A 2001 Ford F-350 Super Duty V8 Diesel with only 143k on the clock! It drives great, it pulls like a black hole, it has been kept super clean and tidy, AND it has a tape deck (bring on the audiobooks!).

Also it is reassuring to meet someone who will go out of their way to help you out, and is not so cynical that they wont trust a stranger. We didn't have cash on hand for the purchase, and the bank wouldn't wire the money through that evening, but Phil didn't want us to have to travel the extra 5-6 hour round trip again to pick it up, so instead he gave us the title and let us drive home with the truck that night. We left a check and photos of our licenses with our address. The deal was that we would wire the money from the bank first thing, then he would send a photo of the check torn up and delete the license photos. And wouldn't you know it that's what we actually did?  So thanks Phil, you are the best!

Our ride back was of course harrowing, because Zora was behind the wheel of the van as I drove the truck. Every time she has to drive for more than 20 minutes it is invariably dark and raining and treacherous! This was no exception. Plus we were on mostly unfamiliar roads and I was driving a strange and very large vehicle. But we got here, AND NOW WE HAVE A TRUCK! It needs 4 new tires, and we need to purchase some brackets so that the front jack stands on the camper will be wide enough to fit around the dually wheel arches, but after that we are good to go! This is extremely exciting and very real and totally wonderful!

Oh, and by the time we got back to St. Louis my new axe had arrived!!!!! That was just the icing on a big, fat layer cake of a day.

It snowed. What do we do with this stuff? I think this is the first time we've seen in properly snow in years. Can't wait to dump the rats out and see what they make of it!

Eagerly awaiting a 3000 lb camper to balance it out.

Can you believe that this thing is 17 years old? Most teenagers are disgusting!

Zora is very excited about the truck and the snow.  But not enough to actually come out into it. It's too cold!!

We have reached base camp!

Hey Questies,

Well after months of planning, weeks of selling, shifting, lifting, pulling our hair out and tying ourselves in knots, days of recuperating after the madness, and now minutes of wolfing down good St. Louis Chinese food, we can finally say that we have officially completed our move! It has been a stress tornado but the storm has passed without too much damage to our mental health and it is almost entirely thanks to the amazing help we received from our fantastic friends. You know who you are, and how much you helped us, and we are eternally grateful!

So, as reluctant as we are to put Hawaii in the rear view mirror, we did move back for a reason and there is, as usual, precious little time to prepare for the road ahead. So far we have been concentrating on the truck camper, and not just what we are going to call it (obviously we have to meet it first, but Tristan has been working on a couple of puns). Today we went to see the second truck camper on our list, out in the county to the west around O'Fallon. It was a beautiful spot nestled in some open farmland, and the people were very nice, but unfortunately the camper itself did not suit us properly. It was a little too small and a little short on bells and whistles. We like the idea of travelling light, but we would at least like an oven and space to take a few steps. There is definitely a compromise to be made between price, age and weight. The camper we saw yesterday was a great old thing, but with 26 years of perishing on the plastic components will our head spring a leak in the middle of the desert? Also it weighs a bloody ton, so we will have to get a bigger truck, and that is going to increase our costs on gas. There is definitely a sweet spot, and it seems to be around the late 90's age wise, the high 1900's lbs wise, and the cheap as we can get it price wise.

We have put out some feelers to sellers in Indiana and Illinois, so hopefully the search can continue in the next week. If any of you guys know of a lead that we can follow please put it in the comments!

Other things that we have been extremely happy about are the weather, which has not been reminiscent of a scene from The Day After Tomorrow much to Zora's relief, and the massive surge in website views! Thanks everyone for checking out our project, following along on Instagram and Facebook, and submitting quests and suggestions! We have had some seriously good quests set in the past couple of days, and we will get around to updating them on the challenges page and map very soon. Also we got our first quest aimed specifically at helping a charity. Thanks to Bromogida for their creativity and for absolutely nailing the spirit of TGQ. If anyone can think of some quests or charities to help in Arkansas or Louisiana then hit us up! We need to get some in for the start of the journey.

As always it seems like life is going too quickly to keep up, but the ride is fun, and there are adventures out there!