Central Iowa Taco Guys

Nick we didn't get much of a chance to talk about Tornado Alley Cruisers (TAC).

We are a very family oriented group of about 75 members scattered across MO, KS, TX and even one member down in NM. For most of them, wheeling is a family event. There are about 12 of us in the KC Metro area with 80's series that get together for build/maintenance projects fairly often. There are more 80's, a few 100's, half a dozen members with 4Runners, 8 with FJC Cruisers, 11 FJ40's, several mini-trucks, just a couple of Tacoma's and 4 that are building FJ45's.

Anytime any of you want to venture down to one of the off road parks down this way give me a shout. I am always up for an adventure.

We will be hosting a Fall Crawl event at Flat Nasty Off Road Park Sept 16-18, 2016. There is everything from mild to wild there for wheeling and it is in the heart of many awesome floating/fishing streams in the Ozarks. Jadwin Canoe rental is 3 miles down the Hwy and will stop at the front gate to pick up people with prior arrangement as it is on the way to canoe put in.

It was great to meet you guys and I look forward to seeing you soon.

 

About 45 mins south of Des Moines around the Melcher Dallas area.
Also a couple quick photos I still had on my phone. Pardon the poor cropping and lack of stability control.

 

Yes thanks Nick! I had fun shooting for the first time. Big thanks to TJ for sharing his knowledge, guns, and ammo. Enjoyed the wheeling mess despite not being able to go very far. Rob, not a problem winching you out, unfortunately for me you ended up having to return the favor. Glad to hear you didn't put a hole in the tire. All in all it was a fun day. Can't wait to do it again. (hopefully I will have my own gun)

 

Lol, you were trying to drive...I would expect poor pictures.

 

Yea man tell me about it had a rollover I got called out on so I didn't make it out it sucked

 

Yep, a big "thank you" to Nick and his supercool family for having us out there! Had a great time.

 

There is an offroad event this weekend at Make it or Break it (MIOBI.org). Property is private and located near Hamilton Iowa, which is 12 miles or so south of Knoxville off of HWY5. Approximately 300 acres or land with trails from mild to wild. Their website is current down, but they have a facebook page that has the details. Basically $35 a day or non-members or $65 for the weekend. As long as we don't get much rain from now till then I plan on going Saturday for the day. Let me know if interested.

 

There hasn't been much interest or any responses about meeting up on June 4th so we can reschedule for another date.

 

I'll be in wisconsin camping

 

I'll be running the High Water Mark Trail down in Arkansas the weekend of the 4th.

As promised, here are some shots of my storage drawer system I built over the last couple of days.

 

Do I spy another Yota in the driveway?? Drawers system looks great!

 

Thanks, I think the drawer system is going to work out great! I'm adding external tie downs and some carpeting to it today to make sure none of my camping gear shifts around too much next week.

That is one of my good friends rig, an FZJ80 with Super Charger, and with the excellent wood shop I was using. I have a complete parts rig in my back yard. He has a much more serious Toyota addiction. 3 FJ40's, 5 FZJ80's and a mess of parts he has acquired over the years.

 

@t4rwadle5 Trying to run some wiring for new back up floodlight and found my rear quarters are still full of that silty muck from your creek that came through the holes where my flares removed.

 

I really like the drawer system setup you have. How heavy is it? What kind of wood and thickness? I started a platform in my 4Runner before our trip to Moab and Phoenix last June but ran out of time to fully complete it. Still haven't really finished it.

Sounds like a couple people I know around here. You probably know them as well. One has the initials CC

 

I will.

 

It is almost 2 full 5' x 5' sheets of 3/4" Baltic Birch Cabinet style plywood in 4B grade. About 25-30 lbs each sheet, hardware probably another 15 lbs. Slides are 28" 250lb capacity. The tray the fridge is on is 1.5" x 4" aluminum angle I salvaged from somewhere years ago with a piece of 1/2" Baltic Birch equivalent to left over scraps of 3/4".

Some dead space behind the fridge so I could have gone 36" but that just makes a huge drawer. I like the 1' compartment by the back of 2nd row for accessing stuff without having to open swing out, hatch and drawer. The module that replaces driver side 2nd row evens things out nicely for sleep platform and gives a huge volume of under storage.

 

Getting ready for my fishing/camping trip June 10-12. Got the kayaks cleaned and ready. I'll be transporting them on my trailer once I get the kayak mounts.

 

Currently looking at kayaks. Nothing extreme, maybe just some fishing and basic cruising. Are those things really that comfortable. . also I'm 6"3

 

Haha sorry man! But for next time hopefully you mount the lights high so you don't have to worry about them being knocked off from some crazy line that you take. Also was going to ask, did you ever get any water coming in around the steering column like you talked about?

 

These are pretty basic kayaks. They work fine for cruising but aren't really set up for fishing. If I were to buy one I would buy a "sit on top" that already has rod holders and additional space for fishing gear.