The minivan death watch has been ongoing for a while now, and the clock has just about run out. After work this evening I drove by the Ford dealer to check out a truck that had caught my eye. The sales rep came out to talk to me, and it turned out that the truck was too new and expensive for me, but when I described what I wanted he told me about a truck that they had out back, that they had gotten in trade less than 2 hours before. Not even vacuumed out yet. A 2005 F-150 Lariat SuperCrew, 5.4 L Triton V8, fire engine red, 97000 miles. In perfect condition. Apparently, the original owner just traded it in for a brand new truck that was almost exactly the same...same body, same engine, same trim, same color, same options, new model year...and he had just driven away. And he must have taken care of it like it was his baby. I ran home to get Beth and the kids and we test drove it, and told the guy we wanted it and would be back tomorrow after I get our loan and insurance taken care of. They're going to give us $2000 trade in for the minivan, so we're going to take it.