November 28 -- I Find Tundra's Worthy Successor -- Another 2004 Tundra...

And that is one VERY big worry off my mind... As I related in an earlier post, I'd gone to a Dodge dealership in Henderson, Nevada and was less than impressed with the customer service there, so I wasn't really looking forward to going through that all over again, possibly ad infinitum. I was talking with my dad who's in San Pedro at his condo when he said "Have you checked out CarMax yet?" Well no, I hadn't, and I remembered there was a CarMax lot in Henderson, close to the Dodge dealership and Auto Mall row, so I looked online, plugged in the zip code for Overton, typed in "2004  Toyota Tundra" just out of curiosity -- and came up with nothing, though there were later models available. But I have a loyalty to the "old" body style, of which my DOA Toyota Tundra was the last year before the Tundra was "super sized", so I thought that was that as far as CarMax was concerned. Then my dad called me back and said he'd found a 2004, 4WD Tundra with everything I asked for -- except a "cowcatcher", as the front grille guard is called, but I can add that later -- and it was only $19,000 with no haggling! I went to the CarMax's Buena Park website, and knew the truck was for me -- V8, bedliner, camper shell, extra-cab, running boards, tow package -- and SUPER clean, judging from the 33 photos I viewed. CarMax had all the info on it for viewing -- only 1 owner (probably an older person who was meticulous about the truck), 84K miles, no outstanding recalls, meaning the owner had taken the Tundra in when a recall came up (and there was a recent one concerning the airbags), no accidents, just everything sounding perfect all down the line. But it was in Buena Park...So I call the CarMax there and get the manager, who said no problem -- they'll send the Tundra to their Henderson lot at no extra charge, and it should arrive there sometime next week. And I'm not locked into buying, and can return it within 5 days of purchase and get my money back if not satisfied. The website even has a calculator that computes the cost of license fees, sales tax and other additional fees depending on the state you buy in -- and buying in Nevada is at least $1,000 cheaper than buying in California (now what doesn't that surprise me?). So I'm all set to check out the truck when it arrives in Henderson next week; it really is the "best case scenario" after having my Tundra declared totaled by AAA, my car insurance company. It's still hard to believe, the "road" I've gone down since having the deer hit my truck on my way to Portal -- I'm buying the house of my dreams in  possibly my favorite location of all, I will probably have a worthy replacement to my Tundra, and Discovery I will be replaced by Discovery II in late January, so I can get some mileage on "her" before I take Tundra II and Discovery II up the Alaska/Canada Highway starting in June. I was just watching the beginning of "The Lord of the Rings" and thinking to myself, I too am on a journey, and I have no idea how it will turn out but as in the movie trilogy there is a Happily Ever After, though the going may be rough..I'll be heading back over to the Overton Wildlife Management Area this morning, for more testing of the Canon 7D Mark II and to do a bird count to be submitted to eBird through my BirdsEye app on my iPad Mini. I still can't believe that I can do that one day, and if I want to (and I invariably DO) do the same thing the next day...

Here are some more highlights of Travels of Discovery so far --

Cameron Falls, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada

 Waterton Lakes From Bear's Hump Trail

The revival of horse races at Osoyoos, British Columbia! (Thanks to my friends Gaye and Lee Horn for taking me there)

Brrrr!  An early-season snowfall at Fishing Bridge Campground, Yellowstone National Park, mid-September 2013 as seen from the door of Discovery

Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone NP

Bison -- please, NOT buffalo -- in Yellowstone NP's Lamar Valley

Another of my top fave locations -- Capitol Reef Nat'l Park, October 2013

Thanks once again for coming along for the ride with me; there's much more left to see and do...