Tophers Tenacious Tacoma 2013

I did a sticker bomb on the storage doors right before I shipped the my truck.










Fresh wash the day before we took her to the boat.

 

My wife and I are about to take our first mini over landing trip. We shipped the truck from Hawaii and it will be arriving in Houston Texas very soon. From there we will be taking a small road trip camping at a few state parks on our way to our new home in Washington DC. I wish we could go more off road and explore the back country on this trip but there is just not the time.

We did place this small order that will make the trip a little bit nicer:

ARB Simpson III Rooftop Tent
ARB Rooftop Tent Annex
Tan Softopper with the Rear Mesh Screen panel
Softopper Truck Cap Rack

Caint wait to get it all installed!

 

I had two failed atemps at ordering the ARB RTT. It seems that most places have sold out and there is a back order of 2-3 months from ARB on them. So we had to change directions and contacted Jerry at B.A.M.F. to place an order for a Tepui Authana Siberian, Annex extension and the anti condensation mat. Cant wait to get everything installed on the truck and start our trip!

 

To day was a great day!!! I got word that my truck made it safely from Hawaii to Texas. Then I was emailed the mock up photos of the aluminum roof rack with integrated LED light bar mount that I had made for the trip. Can't wait for the mod day later this month when I am finally reunited with my truck!!!

 

Here is the info and link to Zach, who is the builder of these racks.

PrInSu Design Studio Roof Racks

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...e/317754-prinsu-design-studio-roof-racks.html

 

Looking good topher! I wish I could justify the cost and shipping fee of a RTT here in Hawaii
Can't wait to see your truck with all the goodies installed.

 

Glad your truck made it there safe!! You must be super excited about starting your trip. Seems like its gonna be fun and exciting! I'll be following your adventure for sure!!

 

Nice, how much was it with the light bar set up? 40" or 42" light bar?

 

It's set up to run my 52" light bar that I got from Amazon. I bought you got a chance to see the light bar with the brackets that Ratha and myself modified to fit. I will PM you the price of the roof rack.

 

Thanks guys! It's been driving me crazy ordering a TON of stuffs and not being there to play with it all as it comes in to my moms house. The mail man has gotten to know my mime quite well over the last month. Just found out that my RTT is being delivered on Tuesday! I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas!

 

We have confirmed our reservations for the camp grounds thatwe will be staying at. We used the www.recreation.gov website and if you have not check this webpage out I highly recommend it! Now I know that this is not exactly roughingit but it should be a good shake down run on all of our new RTT and camping gear. Here is the list of camp grounds that we willbe staying at during our move to Washington DC.

Starting point Lake Livingston, TX
Buffalo Point Campground, AR
Hurricane Creek Campground, KY
Indiana Boundary Campground, TN
Goose Point Campground, VA

 

Here are a few pics just after we got the roof and bed rack, softoper and RTT installed. This was a few days before our trip when we where practicing our setup.

 

The start of our trip 0600 on July 5, 2014. It took us about 8hrs to cover the 485 miles to our first destination Buffalo Point campground in Arkansas.

The truck all loaded up as we pull out to start our adventure. We had about 100lbs of fire wood on the roof rack. This killed our Gas mileage we averaged a tad over 10mpg for the first leg of the trip. Another down side was that we could really feel all of the extra weight up top when the roads got twisty in the back country!



We made it safely to the first camp and with out any I issues. We where here for two days and got quite a few pics from here. On our last night we had a crazy thunderstorm with heavy rain that delayed our departure a few hours. The RTT did great with the 4hr downpour with no leaks.




First camp meal







Our cat has taken to camping very well. He is easy to walk on his harness and can get up and down the RTT ladder with no problems, I swear he thinks he is a dog!

 

july 7, 2014 We set off for our next amp ground at Lake Barkley hurricane creek campground in Kentucky 330 miles in about 6 hours. Our gas mileage increase to 13.5 now that we don't have all of the wood on the roof rack. The tent went through another test, this time it was constant 30mph winds with gusts of more than that. We where woken up at about 1am when a trash bag was slapping the side of the tent which is a bit odd when your 8 foot off of the ground. Then at 3 am we where woke up by he rain flap vibrating quite loudly. Got up and tightened it down and went back to sleep. The tent held up great and we felt safe the whole time.
















The sky's where chalked full of twinkling fireflies. Tried to get a shot of them but it would just not come out right.



The view from the tent this morning.

 

Today we will be visiting the Cherohala Skyway. If any one has other tips or sights to see in that area it would awesome.

 

Wow bro! the tent is fantastic!!! Does it weigh alot?

 

It's about 110-120 lbs

 

might not hurt to up your tire pressure a little bit to account for the extra weight too.

looks like a fun trip

 

With all of our luggage and gear and full size spare I bet we have to be close to 700-800 pounds this old girl has to lug around on our little trip.

 

Well...you mentioned you wanted to see my truck with it...see my sig. After seeing your truck with the OEM skid, I decided I needed to get in on that as well.

Of course now I'm looking at your lift and remeasuring my garage to see if my lights will clear.

Well done.