Another Around the World Tacoma

X2

 

That's awesome you got such a long ride in man! Sounds like you're getting quite a bit of practice on her. The traction control sounds like its a pretty sweet system for offroad - seems like they've dialed it in exactly how you'd want TC to work offroad, which I think a lot of mfgs don't get right. The pictures of the bike & truck are beautiful, as always. That's smart to have a cover on it. That'll save her from sun damage & from the seat getting boiling hot on those summer days!

 

You're welcome! Thanks for reading along.

 

Definitely. A bunch more riding this weekend, having hiked the first three passages of the AZT successfully.

It is excellent in Dynamic Mode, though you can go to Enduro Pro (Programmable) and disable it completely. And ABS at the rear wheel (though never the front), so you can get even more squirrelly with it.

Thanks, that one with the Tacoma by the tree came out just so. I scouted the photo for two days before pulling out the camera and snapping the shot.

Yeah, the cover is a huge help. We left the bike alone almost all weekend, randomly in the woods and at TH's, and having it covered, with our gear locked to it, under the cover, keeps it way less visible and hopefully way less tempting.

I'll post a weekend update here sometime soon.

 

We hiked a lot this weekend. ~55 miles along the first three passages of the AZT.

The hiking was tough-ish, but it was always really enjoyable to finish the hike and then zip along on the bike back to the truck. It really puts into perspective just how inefficient and time-consuming moving around with just our feet really is. Haha

Another three passages this upcoming weekend.

We are camped out in a different area of the Coronado NF, between Patagonia and Sonoita AZ. A really beautiful area between these two tiny towns. Patagonia doesn't even have a gas station, but they did have free, easily accessible water for the water tank.

Camped near this absolutely massive AZ Sycamore. A truly beautiful tree. It has some Dr. Suess vibes too, with all of the hidey holes throughout its various branches and trunk.

Huge AZ Sycamore by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I can only imagine what it would look like in full bloom, especially with some water flowing by.

Three wild horses have been coming by each night to see what's going on I have the camera ready for them this time, if we get lucky enough to see them again.

Even blurry, the truck is still instantly recognizable.

Blurry Tacoma by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

One more, just because.

Peek-A-Boo by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I cannot wait until the weather gets nicer. It isn't too bad here now, apart from the clouds, but the temps are just a smidge too low for it to be comfortable. I'm ready to not always be covered in clothes all day long. Haha

Until next time.

 

Last time I was in that area was for the first leg of the AZBDR, it snowed on us and was 13 degrees, brrr

 

Subtle, un-important update time:

We are still hiking the AZT. Last weekend we knocked out Passages 4, 5, 6, and the remainder of 7. We hiked 61 miles last weekend. On Friday we were able to average 3.9 mph over 22 miles. A bit slower on Saturday, and then back down to 3.3 mph on Sunday. Friday feels like the hardest day, and by Sunday I feel like I could walk twice as far as we do.

We have now traveled to the northside of Saguaro NP, still in the Coronado NF, to continue on Passage 9, hiking the ~10 miles that we have not yet completed.

The weather this weekend is going to be much worse than last weekend (which was pretty temperate and pleasant). We had a pretty 'meh' bit of weather this past work week, which I personally find annoying. I am ready for spring, warmer days, and a lot less wind. We have had some nights where I powered down the Starlink due to lack of adequate sunlight. I thought we were past this, but nope. The weather seems to be nasty every other week. We are getting lucky to day though, its very windy and cloudy, but somehow the sun has been basically continuously shining through clear patches in the sky.

We are completing the AZT, and this has taken us to places that I otherwise would not adventure to. It sucks that the weather is less than ideal (up at 5,000+ ft in many cases), but I do enjoy that I get to see these otherwise non-noteworthy locations.

While we were in Patagonia, doing our laundry in the backroom of someones house (labeled as a launderette on Google Maps), I came across this Cybertruck while Stacy was buying groceries.

It was somehow even uglier in person than it looks on the internet. It looked a lot wavier too. The lack of QC was pretty apparent also.

It did get a lot of attention though. There were two groups of people standing around it when I pulled up to snap this shot;

Tacoma and Cybertruck by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Yeah, yeah, it may be ludicrously fast in a straight line, and capable of towing a large amount of weight, but egh. So not worth it imo.

Anyways, there isn't much else to report. The busy-ness of work, and the poor weather didn't lend any time to taking a good photo.

Stacy has been putting together little snippets of video of our hike along the AZT on the ig. I have decided to try my hand at making a weekly short video of the work week truck life to post on there as well.

Here are some various shots of the GSA. I have had to ride it on some less than ideal roads these past 8-9 days. We are excited to be leaving the trailer behind in just a handful of days, but we are still thrilled to have the GSA tagging along, even though it has shifted the dynamic of movement a bit.

I ordered a GMRS handheld radio to add to the bike to ease the communication between Stacy and myself. We will pick that up when we end up back in Phoenix in a couple of weeks.

GSA on AZT by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

29 degree ride this particular morning. My thumb tips were frozen, after just a couple of miles. The heated grips kept the rest of my hand nice and toasty, but my poor thumb tips had no support. Haha.

GSA on AZT by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

GSA on AZT by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

GSA on AZT by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Straight from the iPhone on last nights late night ride. I wanted us to get to where we needed to be to wake up early and hit the AZT first thing in the morning, and it is supposed to rain this afternoon, into the evening, and into Friday morning. I didn't want to ride through this, so we left our camp outside of Vail, AZ a day early.

GSA at Sunset - Reddington Road by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I have to say, I am really happy to not be hemorrhaging money into the Tacoma anymore. We just get to enjoy it. For now at least. I want to get some more front end reinforcement done at some point, but I think that will be after we retire, before we begin to tackle these longer distance trips.

Until next time!

 

Just read through the whole thread. Epic story so far! Excited to see where you guys end up when you head East!

 

@MR E30 Forgot to tell you if you and Stacy finish the entire AZT don't forget to complete the finishers survey and you each get a real cool copper belt buckle out of it

https://aztrail.org/the-trail/completion-award/

 

Hey, thank you! Appreciate you checking it out.

 

Oh nice, had no idea that was even a thing, so thanks for sharing.

We just finished through the end of Passage 11 this past weekend.

 

Hippo Hands: motorcycle hand covers for warm dry hands in any weather – Hippo Hands Inc.
Motorcycle Handlebar Muffs Black (wunderlichamerica.com)

Maybe not an issue with things warming up, but these help. And heated gear/jacket at least.

Continued safe travels.

 

I have seen these in a video or two recently. Definitely on the short list.

Heated gear is on order, and we will pick it up next week in Phoenix.

I definitely need to get smarter about temperature and riding. We finished a very hard 21 miles of hiking mid-afternoon yesterday. We get to the bike and I am fully warmed to the core. To get to the truck we have to ascend ~3500 ft up Mt. Lemmon. By the time we got to the truck I was frozen, riding through 42 degree air to get up there. Get layered at the top, then ride back to the bottom and I am all of a sudden hot as hell. Haha. Shed one layer. The sun starts to set, and the chills start to come back.

Thankfully we got to camp just as the sun was setting.

GSA at Night by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

Ok, so Lindsay drives truck and you drive bike, to end of hike. You leave bike at end of days hike, both drive truck to start. Leave truck there, hike to bike. Both ride bike back to truck. Lindsay drives truck, you drive bike, to night's camp spot.

Dat is some complicated lol! Where are yoi doing most of your camping, BLM or free nat forest? Or any campground places that charge?

 

*Stacy

The driving is only complicated on days where some physical, geologic feature breaks up the groove. Every day we ride the bike (at the end of the day) to the start of the next days hike (where the truck was deposited that morning), so we only drive the truck together in the morning, the bike stays put.

Out of the eleven days of hiking thus far, we have only had to do the dual bike/truck driving twice. Once due to Saguaro NP and just yesterday due to Mt. Lemmon. The other 9 days (including the weekdays where we stay put for 4 days) we camp directly on (basically) the Arizona Trail itself. I think half the nights thus far we have literally been camped within a stones throw of the trail. The other nights it has been just down the road or something like that, a couple of minutes away.

We moved into the truck 6 months and ten days ago. Since then we have only paid to camp for just a single night; in Petrero State Park in San Diego County, after crossing the border from Mexico. And that was only because I got tired of dealing with small sections of gated off private property blocking me from getting into public lands. The cost was well worth it, as we both took extremely satisfying outdoor showers the next morning. We just don't gravitate towards campsites it seems.

We have been camping primarily in Coronado NF since starting the hiking (we are near the northern edge of this massive NF now, north of Tucson AZ. The Coronado NF starts at the US/Mexico border). BLM is also very popular, with State Trust Land (I buy us a Family permit every year) coming in in third place. The beauty of the Arizona Trail is that it has to exist on public land (for the most part, small sections do cut across private property), so that fact allows us to camp with relative ease in its direct vicinity. It also has to routinely touch civilization, as traditional thru-hikers can't carry three months of food with them, so the trail cuts near/through small towns quite often. They also want to give non thru-hikers the opportunity to section hike the AZT, so it also exists near-ish to paved roads and 2-digit FS roads, so that all types of vehicles can make it to the TH's.

It certainly adds a few steps to each day. But the tradeoff of being able to jog/speed walk entire passages with very light packs on is well worth the added effort.

 

@MR E30 doh. Stacy! Sorry, I was too lazy to read backwards to check, knew I should have!

I was explaining to my son how you are hiking the AZT, since we talked about doing some of it, and how your logistics worked with the bike. But we ended up going surfing in Hawaii instead lol. Now we're going to dinner, and I'm gonna have to demo with salt and pepper shakers I guess heh...
Thx for the good reply!

 

Haha surfing in Hawaii sounds like a great time. Color me jealous.

 

Rented a Jeep Wrangler 4dr. Wow I hated it. Had that autostop where engine turns off when you stop, the worst. Disliked everything else in it too.

So I guess I know now, Tacoma is way better.

 

It's been a while!

A week of traveling for work, and then a week off of work to hike, has delayed the updates, despite a decent amount happening.

Envision it: it's three weekends back, and you have worked all week, and you're ready to do 2 passages of the AZT before heading into Phoenix to pack up and fly for work.

Fire that truck up. And you see a Check Engine Light. WTH?? Bust out the Xtool D8 (which needs an update of course, nothing like keeping it suspenseful) and find out the issue.

Turns out, while camped, a mouse made a little temporary home in the engine of the Tacoma, deep down in the center of the V.

And he/she decided to munch on one tiny little wire down in that valley.

Yep, the knock sensor wiring harness. Truck had the CEL and idled well, but would buck pretty bad under acceleration.

Welp, time to scrap all of the hiking planned for this weekend, and to simply head back to Phoenix early so that I can address this problem and fix it.

Que the 3 hour drive/ride home, in the cold rain for me on the GS to boot. I thought I lived in the desert? We have been having serious rain every ~5 days now for quite some time.

Anyways, we limp the truck back, and its too rainy to crack it open that Friday, so I start early on Saturday, doing something I did not want to do to this truck; opening up the engine.

Desperate times call for desperate measures:

Top cracked off

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

All the way down to the fuel rails (which have to be removed too) exposed

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

There it is. All of this work, hunched over and into the engine bay for hours, just to get to this one wire.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I hope it was delicious at least.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

~35 dollars and a trip to a nearby dealership and I had a new wiring harness. PN for reference, though like the AC condenser I hope to never replace this again.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I followed a video from YT, and the guy in the vid didn't mention lubing the fuel injector O-rings, so one must have been bound up upon reassembly, because fuel poured out of the engine when we started it back up.

Disassemble everything again, lube O-rings, reinstall, and hope for the best. Thankfully the second time was the charm.

8 hours later and the truck is as good as new. Another CEL was thrown when the fuel was leaking, fyi. A low fuel pressure code (I forget the number), but I cleared all of the codes and they haven't returned.

While in Phoenix I did the 30,000 mile oil change, albeit a bit early.

This mileage, minus 121 miles (forgot to take the picture until we had already driven back towards Tucson).

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

We also updated our laundry situation, using the track in the ACCC to mount two rings, which we then clipped the laundry bag to. Another Stacy idea that is working out very well. No laundry flies out while driving quickly, and it keeps it plenty aired out and not stinking up the roof box.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

The diesel fuel tank had an issue as well. The first glued connection of the tubing quick disconnect to the tank itself had failed.

I had originally just glued it to the outside, and hung the tube by the connection. But this did not last.

To remedy it I reglued it on the exterior. I also installed a hose clamp to the disconnect on the inside of the tank, and pulled the connector tight while tightening the hose clamp.

I also put some glue on the inside of the tank too.

Finally, I drilled a small hole and installed a hose clamp, clamping the fuel line to the camper itself, keeping it from pulling down on the glued connection entirely.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

No more diesel fuel smell, or leaks. Though I did do a bit of a number on the tanks coating of paint, but oh well.

Gave the truck a bath, and lightly cleaned the inside while we were at it.

That sums that mess up.

We spent the past week hiking our legs off (literally it feels like), making it all the way to Superior, AZ. More bad weather kept us from knocking out another 20 miles, but the break was definitely nice.

Had 2 days of 25+ miles in a row, and then a 36 mile day. That one was a killer.

Had to leave the bike in this sketchy wash for a day and night. Riskiest (to me at least) place we have left it thus far.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Straight from the iPhone

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

We ended up dropping the bike 8 times in two trips. The first two were on a portion of the AZBDR. We took the truck up a paved route, and had to cross this massive water crossing between the paved road and the BDR. I opted to take the BDR route with the bike in the afternoon to avoid this huge crossing. The route was ~14 miles long, and it started out smoothly enough, but then it got nasty as the walls closed in.

Dumped it once in a mud hole, and then a second time in some deep sand. We had some seriously sketchy descents and ascents, stuff that I would second guess riding solo, nothing to speak of having a passenger on the bike. For her part, Stacy does great. She locks down solid on the rear grab handles and just stays as rigid as possible. We got through a lot, but lost it those two times nonetheless.

On the second day we had to ride out of this rather nice dirt road that we rode in on the previous night (not the portion of the AZBDR, a nice, well graded, wide road).

Only problem was that it had dumped ~2 inches of rain during our hike, when the forecast said none was going to be falling.

The road was one of those that just soaked up the water and got #slickerenshit immediately. As soon as we left the TH parking lot I knew we were in for a struggle. Rear end waggling hither and thither. I swear I aged a whole year on that single ride.

We never got hurt, all of the crashes were very slow speed, and our gear keeps us padded, but the bike did take two gouges to the valve cover.

Random Over Weeks by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

We proceeded to ride it all around this area of AZ, dirty as can be. These small towns don't have carwashes! Or laundromats either.

Work is keeping me busy, and the weather has been crud too, but it is supposed to warm up and get sunnier as the week progresses, so I'll try to get a photo or two to share with you all.

More hiking this upcoming weekend.

See you soon.

 

Nice update, thx! Yah, tons of rain.