This took me awhile to fully process.
I knew we would be doing it, we'd talked about it for awhile after the test drives. I had been all over the RAM Trucks website and NADA guides looking at options that we would want, and then spending just as much time looking at the available inventory, mostly in the PNW, but beyond. But still, we were ordering something!
It was an interesting progression from my previous vehicles. I started off years ago with a 1971 Datson 510. Had to rebuild the engine, but it was a fun little car; until I put it in the back end of a Volvo. No more Datsun. Then I acquired a 1971 Dodge Coronet station wagon from my great grandfather. He was original owner. Drove that thing all over, including from California to school in Missouri, three times. I still have it, though it needs some TLC. I hope to have some time and money for it once BoB is 'done'. There was also a 1989 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo for a daily driver. Fun car, and much better mileage than the old Dodge. Sold that and picked up an 1998 Audi A4 Avant. Another wagon. Fun car, great for the open road, and still respectable in the twisties. Its been my daily driver for about 8 years now.
There was a theme though. Two, actually. This would be my third silver vehicle, and its really just an oversized wagon.
Yep, BoB is silver. That was one of the main reasons we ordered instead of buying off the lot. I did NOT want a white van. Anything but a white van. It was hard to figure color details online, and the dealer didn't have any paint samples. We thought for awhile about the granite color, but decided the extra heat load from a dark color was something to avoid for our hot summers. Then it came down to the sandstone and the silver. It was nearly a coin toss, but after looking at Google images forever, it seemed that the sandstone color had a bit more of an 'RV' feel to it, something I wanted to avoid. So... silver it was.
So, one order placed. ProMaster 3500. Diesel. 159" wheelbase. Extended length. And almost completely optioned out.
The only things that come to mind that we did not order was the GPS navigation (our portable Garmin is great, and we're used to it), the extended mirrors (which then disallowed heated mirrors, and I think remote adjustable, and we're not towing a wide trailer, so don't need them), and a partition (definitely not needed, nor wanted).
But the rest of the goodies are there. Interior package. Exterior package. Alloy wheels. Backup camera. Sirius radio. Cruise. Heated seats. Sliding door window. This all made for one pricey van, but its been worth it, having exactly what we wanted, and none of what we didn't.
The dealer's initial comments were it would be an 8-12 week wait. I smirked, and gave the salesman a soft bet that it would be 16 weeks. That's the wait that I had seen from the fleet order status websites.
Now it was time to wait. And wait. And forget about it for awhile. And wait some more.
Time was spent coming up with a floorplan that would work for us. Many revisions and wacky ideas were sketched out and abandoned. For awhile I was playing with Sketchup to do a 3D model of the layout. This helped with the initial ideas, but I got lazy and didn't want to learn the details of using Sketchup to create a fine-tuned model and layout. Instead, I made a few sketches, but it was mostly in my mind.
During the wait we did start buying things for BoB (who wasn't BoB yet, just 'the van'). The first big purchase that I remember was a full roll of Thinsulate from Hein in Hood River, OR. I live a few hours away and was headed his way one weekend, so I picked up the roll directly. This was mid-April. For the next couple months the roll of Thinsulate lived in the corner of the garage, often getting in the way. I think the initial roll was 50 linear feet, 5 feet wide. That was the recommended amount from Hein. Seemed fine, but that would change down the way.
Sometime mid-June I got a call from our salesman. The van had been built and was in transit. It showed up at the dealer on Monday, June 8, 2015. They wanted a day to process it. We wouldn't be able to have free time until later, so we picked it up evening of Thursday, June 11, 2015.
We now had a darn big van to fill up the driveway. And so it has ever since.
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