Driving a Tacoma around the world

A very good lifestyle, but extremely dangerous. Almost bought the farm 4 times in 16 years, and I mean minutes from life ending disaster.

 

I believe it. My son worked on a salmon boat in Alaska a couple of years ago and was happy to have him back whole. I used to rock and mountain climb pretty’s seriously when I was younger. It to had several times when injury and worse was close at hand despite being cautious. Like commercial fishing, potential danger is just apart of it

 

Incredible - what an experience!

 

I was struck by the lack of trees, so I looked it up. Seems there used to be trees, but they used them up.

 

Very observant! Yes, there are very few trees here. People although are now replanting in a few areas. I’d guess that maybe 1/4 of the island was suitable for growing trees (I been a forester all my adult life), but grow very slowly here due to very cool summers. It makes for wide open visas

 

While waiting for the truck to arrive from Iceland we spent five days in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium.
Here’s the Grand Place in Brussels. Very impressive




We headed to Rotterdam, Netherlands to pick up the truck via train. Wow! Standing room only, we really appreciate the truck


The truck at the Rotterdam port. This is the second time we’ve done a roll on, real life ferry with absolutely no problems!


On to spending 11 days in northern France

 

Great area NL, Belgium. Breda is a great city to explore as well and has a great history, if you find yourself around there.

 

Wow, that architecture is amazing in Europe!

Too many people for my consitution though. I mean any city, anywhere….

I am seriously bummed out if I go offroad for a few days and see even one other person. I am in training for my hermit degree. No, change that, I am an honorary instructor.

I will never be a traveller unless it involves bugs, bears and fish.

However, I sure do enjoy looking at your travels. Saves me a ton of money, which I don’t have anyway.

 

Well darn! We transferred trains there but never left the station!

 

I empathize with you. Traveling right now through northern France it is very crowded and hard to find wild campsites that aren’t just a parking lot with a bunch of other RV campers crowded around us. Europeans seem to have a lot smaller sense of space and will think nothing of squeezing in their camper 3’ away.

I am looking forward to spending three months in Alaska just fishing, camping and hiking. We love truly wild places

 

Beautiful and truly amazing area! (although I was floored by just how many plastic frenchfry forks littered the ground. The cobbelstones were almost paved by them!)
The two HUGE museums there in Brussels were worth every second spent in them! (Actually only saw the one military building. Have to go back to see the automotive building. Soon hopefully!)
Keep sharing!! Loving seeing it all.


This photo is NOT in competition with any of your beautiful scenery shots!! I'm just adding it because it's Toyota, in Brussels, at the museums I mentioned.

 

Never could understand why anyone would eat French fries any other way other than with your fingers.

No worries about your pics, keep ‘em coming

 

We’ve been quite impressed with seemingly minor French tourist stops other than Paris

Cathedral in Rouen

It’s absolutely huge!


The detail is incredible!


Even the inside, wow

The town hall still has bullet scars from the days after D-day

 

When they're smothered in fritessaus you appreciate the fork. Damn....can't wait to get back to Belgium.

Enjoy northern France. I spent a couple of years living in France racing bikes. Mainly in northern France but lots of racing in Belgium as well. Lovely part of the world.

No one usually says this of norther France but...enjoy the heat!

 

It is surprisingly great! Coming from a month of 50 to 60 degree highs in Iceland, we’re loving the heat. I can even wear shorts!

 

Love the Lego brick repairs to the walls.

 

We had custom Deaver rear leaf springs installed to handle the extra heavy weight of the camper and have performed admirably. About a year ago however the truck started to have some tremendous squeaks, pops, and creaks going over the cobblestone roads. Last fall I had a shop take a look at the leaf springs and found that the spacers (red arrow - new ones in place). between the springs had been obliterated so this spring I had them replaced. Thanks to Deaver for sending new ones!


Unfortunately this only solved about 2/3 of the noise. OK, it’s kind of embarrassing driving down the narrow European streets and having people stop and stare at you and not because of the unusual truck but because of the noise. As you can see at the blue arrow the leaf spring bracket is rubbing on the leaf springs.


Unfortunately I had to use the Highlift jack near its maximum height because I needed to take the weight off of this leaf springs. However I used a handy short log as a backup safety measure. I also had another log underneath the axle as well.


I wanted to insert some Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene but first am testing with a triple layer of flexible plastic cutting board and voilà! It works! Basically all the noises are gone and the suspension feels much smoother. Now it’s time to order it up and cut it to size.


Spent a cool day driving in the champagne region of France. Sharp eyes can see some ripening red grapes above the drivers headlight. Yes, red grapes are used to make champagne. They just make sure not to press too hard so as not to impart the red color from the grape skins. Who knew? I drink beer

 

Hm I wonder if that’s why mine squeak too. Gonna have to investigate and potentially steal your idea

 

Hey Andy spray some standard WD40 in there too. My leaf sprimgs squeaked like crazy all the time from so many offroad trips, dust, mud, grime etc. Pressure wash them first of course. I pressure wash my leaf springs after every offroad trip.

A good temporary fix, a good spraying should last a few weeks even with your extra leaf pack.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Paul. I tried that but didn’t pressure wash them first. It would last about a day before all of the various noises returned. I’ve even tried Tri-flow, which is a high end ($17 a bottle) Teflon lubricant which lasted maybe a week.

cheers!