Prepping for long road trip!

I hear you and feel your "OCD". In another life I had the same circumstances and felt compelled to "be prepared". I can honestly say that the day I came to the realization that my world wasn't going to stop if I didn't have it (actually my "shrink" wife said to me - "if you don't have it and need it, go buy it, and since you probably have one at home, give it or throw it away after you're done with it"), and she ended up being right, and I have never looked back or regretted it. And y'know, my equipment is reliable, well maintained and paid for, and I wouldn't hesitate to leave tomorrow for anywhere. Again, enjoy the trip!!! There is some awesome country between there and Dallas!

 

Sounds like you’ve got your mechanical, security, and survival bases covered. I’ve made several similar trips into the areas you’re going to be traveling. Three times over the past six years I’ve driven from Southern MO to attend Overland Expo. I spend a day looking around the Expo and then take the next seven or eight days to explore and loop thru AZ, CA, OR, ID, WY, NV, UT, CO, and NM. What keeps me going back to this majestic part of our country are fun/interesting stops along my route. Spend some time investigating the route you plan to travel. Check out the regional sections of this forum or others. Ask locals what you should see when in their neck-of-the-woods. Find routes that get you to your final destination but keep you off the most traveled path.

Only piece of kit you haven’t listed, that I would never travel far from home without….

Spork

In the glove box for quick deployment when I have an ice cream hankering.

dd

 

I'll be doing a similar drive twice this year. I'll be heading west to san diego to spend a few days with my sis, up to sacramento for a few days at my dad's and up to oregon in august. in october, i'll fly back to okc, get the mrs and her car and we're taking the northern route through colorado, salt lake, idaho and into oregon. hoping for some beautiful colors during that second trip

 

Yessssssss spork is mandatory!

 

Yea I'll be doing it twice also, and can't wait! The solo drive I'll be doing will be awesome, because I can stop anywhere and anytime

 

that's what i'm looking forward to also, despite it taking me through mostly desert (and i've driven the san diego-sacramento leg dozens of times).

 

My leg will be through Colorado Utah etc basically bad ass mountain scenery but return trip will be desert so we get to see some kick ass stuff

I can't wait to take a ton of pics, and post em up in here along with my prep setup...

 

maybe on the way back swing through @chris4x4 's place in arizona and leave a box of spiders on his doorstep?

 

Lmao!

 

I think that you should trade your Taco in on an eighteen wheeler and appropriate trailer - make sure it has a fully equipped and staffed emergency room.

July 1962 drove from Iowa to LA non-stop in a VW Beetle. The only 'spare' I took was a quart of oil. Had a small cooler with some sodas, cheese and crackers'. Returned with the oil.

 

I'll watch this thread for ideas that fit my level of prepping, but I am no where near as OCD as some of you guys... but if s$%& hits the fan, I'll be screwed and you wouldn't be. I'll be driving from Long Island NY, to Flagstaff this summer. We'll stay for a week and see what we can from there. Then we make a leisurely drive to Yellowstone, before heading to Minnesota's Iron Range for another week with my wife's family. Then we need to pick a route home (how much of Canada do I want to see?). We'll be out about 4 weeks. Oh yeah - and I'm doing it with my wife, 5 year old daughter, 8 year old son, and a Coleman popup!! I won't have the space to take half of the things you guys are talking about.

Like I said, I am going to watch this thread to see how prepared I can be with the space and weight I already have to carry. Thanks again for the ideas.

 

My wife and I just returned from a similar trip in this order:

GA to NC (Asheville)
NC to TN (Memphis)
TN to AZ(Sedona, Flag, GC, Marble Canyon, Vermilion Cliffs)
AZ to UT (Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Moab (WRR and all the NPs there)
UT to CO (Glenwood Springs, Denver, Boulder, Estes Park)
CO back home to GA

It was just over 5k miles in 23 days (roughly 200 miles were off pavement). My Tacoma is also a '12 DCSB TRD Sport and I'm just over 65k miles. We experienced zero issues with the truck during this trip (mechanical or otherwise) - to include the tires (old style BFG ATs 265/75r16 with about 40k on them). I contribute that to the Tacoma being a well-engineered and built machine, and the fact that I stay on top of maintenance and follow the Toyota maintenance schedule religiously. I joined the Tacoma family after owning three Jeeps and I can assure you if I did this trip in one of my previously owned Jeeps we would have had at least one mechanical issue to deal with - they're finicky to say the least.

Anyway, it sounds like you have a great trip planned, and unless I'm missing something, it's more of a traditional road trip - nothing wrong with that.

Off the top of my head, here are the items that I would say were essential during our trip. Like I stated above, we experienced no break downs, but these items offered serious peace of mind when we were in the backcountry or on long stretches of highway in between towns (HWY 89 in AZ/UT comes to mind):

-A quality camera to record the memories. My wife talked me into this and I am so glad we did it. We took over 4k photos and it will be cool to share these photos with our families and kids one day. iPhones are great, but they cannot touch what a dedicated camera is capable of capturing.

-Stand alone GPS that does not require cell service to triangulate (i.e. not a smartphone). I hard wired my 7-year-old Garmin 205W and it worked like a champ for turn by turn directions. It's reliable and I trust it. I also hard wired my Bad Elf Pro GPS receiver and Bluetooth linked it to my iPad and both our iPhones for standalone GPS use. I use ScenicMaps (a mapping app) on the iPad. This allows me to have essentially a road atlas of the entire U.S. (It also includes topo and BLM road / hiking trail overlays). It's a self contained program that does not require you to cache map files before leaving a wifi source - simply put, the maps are all completely downloaded on the iPad and ready to go. I mounted the iPad on my Birddawg TechDeck and used it as an interactive atlas to verify our location and scout ahead on the map in real time, all while the Garmin gave us turn by turn directions and estimated arrival times, etc... You're also dead on the money with paper maps. Always have a backup paper map in the event of a GPS failure,

-Extra fuel. We carried two NATO 5 gallon jerry cans. I used them once to top off in northern AZ. As you probably know, gas stations out West can sometimes be 70 miles apart or more. We hit strong headwinds that day and my MPGs were in the single digits (the damn RTT acted like a sail); it threw my planning off and the "E" light cut on in the backcountry. It was nice to pull over and fill up half of my tank on the spot.

-Air pump, quality air gauge, tire repair kit. Take care of your tires on your trip and be prepared to plug and subsequently air them back up. I checked our tire pressure at each fill up and inflated the tires that needed it (altitude changes and plunging temps will alter your PSI). Keeping your tires properly inflated will yield better fuel economy (which will keep $$$ in your pocket and keep you on the road longer). We have an ARB Tire Repair Kit and it's a solid kit with the addition of a small tube of rubber cement. I also kept our speed around 65 MPH the whole trip to help with our fuel usage.

-Basic mechanic's tool kit, extra hose clamps, quality duct tape, HD zip ties, working jack, spare tire(s), couple extra lug nuts and wheel studs in case you lose a nut or break a stud during a tire change. I would also recommend a quality tire iron. We also kept a flashlight under each seat and a headlamp for each of us in each door pocket.

-Have a method of jump starting yourself. At a minimum have a set of jumper cables. The best option would be a dual battery setup or a Micro Start power pack so you do not have to rely on anyone else in the event you are alone or are in a bad area.

-I think you touched on this, but hide an extra key for your vehicle somewhere on the truck in case you lock yourself out in the middle of nowhere - you'll get tired or rushed and your mind will slip, it happens to all of us.

-We kept a handgun in the vehicle that was easily accessible in case of an emergency and carried it on all of our hikes. I also stowed my Mossberg 500 in the truck and kept it readily available while camping (in tent at night) in case of a bear, coyote, or worse - the shotgun is good insurance IMO, but I would say not necessary if you're forgoing camping.

-Bring lots of water and refillable water bottles (Nalgenes). We filled up our own water bottles before hikes and had plenty of water in case of an emergency. Refillable bottles are great as they eliminate the extra trash you would accumulate with one and done water bottles.

-Cooler/Fridge. We did food prep before the trip and only ate out for dinner when we wanted to. It was also nice to have a meal ready for lunch while in the National Parks where lines are long and food is expensive, if it's available at all.

---

I'm sorry I wrote a book, but we literally just returned from this trip, so my goal was to brain dump what worked for us. My best advice would be to research your route and see what may be along it that's off the beaten path and worth exploring. Make daily goals, but stay away from overdoing it and coming up with a strict itinerary - leave room to improvise and stop along the way to check things out that look interesting. To me, half the fun of a road trip is the journey and not necessarily the destination. With a June send off, you have a lot of time to plan, research, and prepare your truck for the trip.

Sedona was amazing, you'll love it. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend driving into town in the AM on Schnebly Hill road - it will be dramatic and the scenery is nothing short of stunning. I know you're not planning on leaving the pavement, but it will be worth it. PM me if you need anything. There are a few amazing locales along your proposed route that are definitely worth checking out and I can pass them along if you like.

Good luck and have fun!

 

The reason I'm interested in this thread is I'm planning a trip to Denver next spring/summer. After I mod the hell of my truck. My uncle died in May & left me a bunch of stuff. Plus I get to do Black Bear Pass, Yankee Boy Basin, Imogene Pass, ETC, and maybe Holy Cross if I'm up to it. So I'll keep an eye to this thread

 

It's funny you mention these routes as I'm planning on hitting them (with the addition of Engineer) this summer if everything works out.

Another thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post is build your truck to suit your needs, and if your goal is to do these type of long trips, keep it as stock as possible to retain the reliability that Toyota engineering is known for. Efficiently planning and packing your payload will also drop your vehicle's weight, thus reducing the strain on the drive train components and the work your engine has to do to move the truck down the road. Think backpacking - ounces make pounds and pounds add up. Make a list of everything you think you may need, scrutinize it, eliminate redundancy (unless it's absolutely necessary), then start packing.

 

Very strong post right there! I dont know if you caught the update i posted, but this will actually be two trips now. One in April when I go solo up to oregon to pick up the wife from relatives and we will be driving back down the west coast through the desert, and the one in June you have already read about. Solid info in your post, and any amazing Locales you have to offer are for sure appreciated. During my solo trip in April up to Oregon, it will mainly be seeing stuff right off the path of travel, but during the June Trip we will be exploring a little further off the beating path. We are huge hiking/kayak people, so we will be getting in as much as we can while roaming the states.

@INBONESTRYKER Like i mentioned before, Some people say I am over prepared, and some may some I am not prepared enough. My prep is where my level of comfort is, and I am ok with that.

 

We have friends who live in Denver (will also be a part of both trips) and we frequent the area. Absolutely love Denver, and if we didnt want to move to Asheville so bad, we would move to Denver. Hell we might wind up there anyways. Cant wait to see the pics from your trip! Especially Black Bear pass!

 

Please post a pic of your Molle setup behind the seat!

 

That is coming! Right now its torn down while i sort through things on my off days, so give me a bit and I will post the setup

 

No problem and I'm glad I could share.

If hiking is your thing, I would recommend checking out the Vermilion Cliffs Nat'l Monument when you pass from UT to AZ. You can turn off on House Rock Rd. (a well-maintained dirt road) off HWY 89 South in southern UT and continue heading south. You'll cross the UT/AZ border off pavement (which is really cool) and pass the Coyote Buttes North area where the famous Wave rock formation is located (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave,_Arizona). You have enough time to secure a pass (I believe only 10 people are allowed a permit each day to explore the area) and if you could get a couple of permits for you and your wife, I'm sure it would be one of the highlights of your trip.

The White Pocket is further south off of House Rock, you'll turn east off the road and onto the top of the plateau. The White Pocket is an area in the Cliffs that is full of wacky rock formations that resembles the surface of Mars. There are plenty of petroglyphs and abandoned homesteads from early Mormon settlers to explore and photograph. It's takes about 1.5 hours to reach the Pocket and it's all sandy dirt roads that are easy to traverse in a Tacoma. The scenery along the way is cool too, lots of hoodoos and exposed marbled sandstone. Check this out for some visual inspiration - http://www.thewave.info/TheWhitePocket/index.html .

The great thing about the Vermilion Cliffs Nat'l Monument is it is so close to Lake Powel and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon that it's often overlooked and less crowded. You need a high-clearance 4WD to explore it too, so that keeps the majority of people out. I think we saw six people all day and maybe four other vehicles - which were also Tacomas, which was cool.