The Tactical Panda's Sometimes Funny Great White Money Pit Build and Observations on Life thread.

Yesterday I installed the 8-foot ARB Awning.

By myself.

With a broken foot.

In a big plastic boot.

On a ladder.

In the rain.

Yes, I'm stupid.

 

My wife asked me "What are you going to do today?"

I said "Nothing."

She said "But you did nothing all day yesterday!"

I said "I'm not finished."

 

Looks like a good fit!

​

 

It is important to be consistent...

 

Since my Tacoma has a Black & White motif, I call it the Panda. So why not a little Panda art?

 

Latest update.

On September 27th, I finished installing the Audio Plus 500 Reference audio upgrade that I bought through @TacomaBeast. The "plug and play" system is not quite as simple as they make it out to be and their documentation is outdated but the sound is a vast improvement over the stock speakers.

 

OK. So back in August I broke a bone in my left foot; fifth metatarsal to be exact. I wish I had a great war story to go with it but it happened rather ignominiously when I put simply weight on it while stepping out of the shower. Who da thunk it?

I've had problems with my feet my whole life; my parents had to buy me corrective shoes when I was a toddler so this thing goes way back. The doctor says that my near constant walking on hard concrete surfaces is what probably weakened it and I should start taking care of the other foot as well. I have a set of custom made insoles on the way.

I ride the VRE Commuter Train to DC every day and then have to walk (on concrete, of course) three blocks to my actual workplace. So to give my poor tootsies a break I invested in this little scooter to get me from Point A to Point B with minimal pounding on the old foot bones. So. When any self-respecting gearhead gets a new mode of transportation, what's the first thing he/she does? Mod it, of course.

Here's my new ride with all my mods (so far).

 

Needs a TRD emblem....

 

Nice. Need to mod that cane holder to make it pivot, so you can joust.

 

Good Idea!

 

I was thinking a Harley Davidson decal, but TRD would work too.

 

So my new puppy Sebastian, aka Little Big Dog and I went on our first adventure on Friday after Thanksgiving. I was able to check off an item on my Bucket List and visit a section of the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike.

But first, a History Lesson:

The original Pennsylvania Turnpike was built in the 1930s and ran from Philadelphia in the Eastern end of the state to Pittsburgh in the West. It was, at the time, the most technologically advanced roadway ever built in the United States; a state-of-the-art motor vehicle superhighway, four-lanes, limited-access, divided for most of the distance. The new turnpike was to be a prototype of sorts for the American Interstate Highway System.

The trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh had to cross several mountains. Some of these mountains were so high that several tunnels were bored to get over (or through, as it were) the mountain to get from one side to the other. Some of the tunnels were new construction and some were re-purposed railroad tunnels from the late 1800s. Though the turnpike was primarily four lanes, it was necessary to narrow down to two lanes (one in each direction) when passing through the tunnels.

By the 1950s traffic volume on the turnpike had increased to the point that the two-lane tunnels were causing too much of a bottleneck that slowed everyone down, so it was decided new tunnels would be bored parallel to the existing ones so as to maintain four-lane travel for the full distance. In two cases, however, cost estimates suggested that it would be less expensive to re-route the highway around the mountains rather than building new tunnels through them so this is what they did. This resulted in about a 13-mile stretch of the original turnpike that was simply abandoned. This abandoned section includes two of the original tunnels. Today, the "Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike" is sort of an unofficial tourist destination popular with bicyclists, hikers and urban explorers/adventurers like myself.

I located a likely access point with the help of Google Maps and set off from my parent’s house to get there; it was only about 45 minutes away. Upon arrival we found that "access" entailed climbing a steep embankment (covered with dead weeds; the kind that have burrs that stick to your clothing). So the dog and I scaled the embankment (him with his four-paw-drive getting the better of me) and made it to the top. No sooner do I climb over the guard rail when up drives these dudes in a Cadillac Escalade. They are probably not state highway workers, what with the Caddy and all, but how did they get here?

I asked the guy and he said there is a spot about a mile down the road where you can drive right on. I asked if there was any signage saying you could drive on to the old highway. He says "There wasn’t a sign that said you could, but there wasn’t a sign that said you can’t either." OK. That’s good enough for me.

So we fumble our way back down the aforementioned embankment, I deburred the dog and myself, then drove back to main highway and soon found the entrance that the Cadillac Cowboy had told me about. The road leading up to the old Pike was covered with freshly poured gravel. Hmmm.. What’s up with that? I needed 4WD to get up the steep road and loose gravel we but soon found ourselves on a highway that was all but forsaken 60-some years ago.





So we are heading east on the Westbound side (the Eastbound was all covered over with vegetation) and had driven about a mile and soon could see the western portal to the abandoned Rays Hill Tunnel and later could see a black Chevrolet pickup parked in front of the tunnel entrance. As I approach, the driver’s side of the Chevy opens and out steps this security guard. [Rut Ro]. I slow down, lower my window and as he walks up to my truck I say "Let me guess. I’m not supposed to be here, huh?" He said, no, I’m not. That’s when I noticed freshly paved asphalt leading right up to the tunnel’s entrance. Another WTF? moment.







Turns out the guy is not working for the Commonwealth (thank God) but is a private security guard hired to protect the tunnel entrance. It seems that Paramount Studios is making a movie for Apple TV and this is to be one of their sets. He is there to make sure no one tags the new asphalt with graffiti which seems to abound around here. He did allow me to take a few pictures so I did then got back in the truck, turned around and headed back to the main highway and headed west towards Breezewood to get gas.





That’s when I realized "Oh Crap! I didn’t take any pictures of my truck on the old pike nor any pictures of Little Big Dog. How could I have been so stupid!?"

Shit.

Oh, well. We’ll come back next summer and try again.

 

The Tactical Panda getting his Rudolph on.

 

I took the Tactical Panda on a little Christmas Day excursion to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

 

One step closer to being able to go camping.

 

Latest project:

I wanted a Dog Platform for the rear seat but I still need to carry the occasional passenger now and then.

Best Solution: Create a platform that folds out of the way.

Full Build Here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-improved-dog-platform.661131/

 

After much trial and error I finally got my camp shower/privy project done. Now I can shower, shave and shit in private when on the trail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpoZJZckGr0

 

Who needs privacy? Give your fellow offroaders a show.

 

Uh, no.

 

A bittersweet day here at the Dog House. Today I parted with my Toyota Corolla tuner show car, aka the "Rockin' Rolla." I had a great 12 year run with the little car. It was fun to drive, very nimble in its handling and performed quite well despite its humble reputation. Corollas aren't generally known for being sport tuners; no, Corollas are the kind of car Grandma buys after Grandpa passes away.

I found out that it started life as a rental car out of Sea-Tac airport in Washington state. Somehow it found its way east and I bought it with only 52,000 miles on it at the local Honda dealer. Originally I got it to be a commuter car but eventually my job situation changed and then I could go back to riding Public Transit to get to work. So what to do with the little thing; keep it or sell it? I decided "Let's keep it and see if we can have some fun with it."

I put a shit-ton of money into it over the years, more than I care to think about but got more than a lot of enjoyment out of it. My most ambitious mod was converting the rear brakes from drums to disks.

But I hadn't been to a car show in over two years and I simply didn't drive it much anymore. So I took out an ad in Facebook Market place and sold it in less than a day. This young Latino kid from Woodbridge bought it. He and two of his buddies came down this after noon; one of them was a mechanic who gave the car a once-over and declared it sound. He also was the translator because the buyer and the other dude no speakie English.

He paid cash, I signed over the title and the deal was sealed. It is in good hands.