907 Monthly tAKoma meets!

Doubt we would need a huge amount... Twenty maybe?

And I would be happy with trb's design or CIAGDDS's (thanks to California and +1 to both of you), though I think the clean look of trb's would match my truck better.

 

Here's one with less detail:

 

Hey guys, thinking through a little business. Moose's Tooth is pretty tricky with big parties, and I think our group is only going to get bigger. They also won't seat you until everyone is there. So if we're going to do mooses tooth, the people on that list really need to be there. Ya dig? What are your guys' thoughts? I'm trying to work out other venues that might serve us better in the future, any ideas welcome. Preferably somewhere with a back room we can all fit in.

 

Gonna have to count me out.... I'll be in Kodiak for work, won't be back til the 9th . Did you guys have a gathering at buffalo wild wings awhile back? Cause I saw a bunch of tacos in the parking lot.

 

There's another pizza place that I used to work at when I was younger its called uncle joes they have plenty of seating and a bar.

 

I never went or heard about a gathering there, but man that'd be a great place for one. Now I really want some wings!

 

hows it going every one, i live up here in ak and would love to come to the meets. sadly i just sold my taco for a 4runner. just wondering if it is open to toyota lovers or just taco lovers.

 

dan is actualy the reason i herd bout this post. went to pick up a manual tranny for a 3.4 swap and auto to manual swap in a second gen 4runner and he told me bout it.

 

Nice! Networking is net-WORKING! Come on by bro!

 

ill be able to be there on time. I cant think of other places off the tip of the top of my head. BWW is pretty good too though. SOOOO, how many confirmed do we have now?

 

Uncle joes is pretty good. Did anyone think of the peanut farm?

 

Peanut farm would be good too. We're at about a dozen, but I went and visited green tree fabrication and dans gonna really spread the word so we should get a lot more folks, especially in coming meetings. Dan was building some pretty sweet stuff down there. Anybody looking to get fab work done, he certainly knows his stuff.

 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

If a Noob gets a vote I would say....as an idea for my truck, which is Spruce Mica I would want the background to be clear vinyl and the rest to be a negative of what is shown above. Meaning the state would be black, black T-OMA and white AK.

Don't believe that I'm knocking this one at ALL its Bad Ass for sure...I'm just offering up an additional idea.

If some of these went for production I would totally want in on the purchase!

Q

 

awe...

My bad I see you all were working on window stickers....my mind went to bed badges...FNG!

Those would be sweet in the rear window.

 

I think people were thinking about both. Someone wanted to replace their TRD sticker too.

 

I wish I could come!

 

The only suggestion I may have is instead of using AK to spell tacoma, spell it Tacoma but with 907 running vertically top to bottom using the 'O' of tacoma as the zero in 907. And use the same background. That might look good too. But there are a lot of cliche "907" related stickers around so I dunno how that would look.

 

I'm not sure either. Sounds cool though. Draw it up mang!

 

Alright guys, here's what I'm up to in regards to this group. Let me preface this by saying that we all have one thing in common, our love for our trucks. But I think that there is a lot more to us than just our rigs. If we do this right it'll be putting AK on the map in the 4x4 community nationwide. There's a huge market up here that's virtually untapped and is the reason we have to pay ridiculous amounts in shipping every time we need anything substantial for our trucks. We've got to give folks like ARB, and Sierra expeditions a reason to come up here and do business. And to do that we need to get organized.

Alaska has over 25,000 miles of trails. That's comparable to most of the entire lower 48. There is still land up here that's never been explored I think we need to change that and I'm not alone in that sentiment. There is a TON of offroad rigs up here that love going out and doing what we do, but they're just small pockets of people scattered throughout currently.

What I'd like to do is bring all those folks together. Build our group to where it's not ten of us on a list trying to get a table somewhere, but having to rent a facility when we get together. I want to start building this community that's already here but hasn't been gathered. Companies will see that and it'll open up avenues we've not seen before. Things like sponsorship will start to become a reality. Heck I know I'd like to be sponsored and I know I'm not alone in that. Some things I'm actively pursuing are:

Branding:I think it's important that we're recognizable. That promotes growth and installs comradery. If you see somebody sporting our swag or stickers, you've got common ground with them already! That's a win!

Product development: I'm working with volants Vice President to develop a snorkel designed for our vehicles instead of something that just happens to fit. Danny and I email regularly about progress on this and I think it'd be something that really benefits us up here as there's no shortage of rivers to cross and I don't want to just bolt up any old thing because its the only one on the market (ahem safari).

Networking: talking with folks that have done this before. I'm good friends with nick over at underground performance and he's been in the business of creating our dream rigs for several years now, he knows the guys who are out doing this on their own. Same thing goes with Dan green at gtf, another guy who has huge insight I to this community that wants to see it grow. People like that, who've gone before and done this are invaluable to us. They've seen the hangups and know what to expect. I want to be well prepared moving forward with this.

Tacomaworlding: (its a made up term i know) I'm staying active on here so that my reputation helps all of us. I've got a lot of positive rep on this site and I'd like to keep it that way so that it helps spread what we have to other places. I'm planning a trip to Arizona the beginning of next year and plan on building relationships with that community there so that we can hopefully do some stuff together down the line. How cool would it be if you had a place to stay everywhere you went just because you had the same vehicle as the guy?! Lofty I know, but I don't think unattainable by any means. I know for myself I'd love to have members come up and experience Alaska. I love sharing my home and state in that capacity. These sites offer us relationships that we couldn't get in any other way, not this efficiently. It's a place t be learned from for sure, but this is a community first and foremost, and I'd like to take advantage of that and apply it to our great state of AK.

Dealing: I'm trying to get us better deals on just about everything. I've talked with the fastenal branch in Seattle and they'd love to see more shipping lines opened up to us. So much do that they cut their profit margin waaaay down when I dealt with them. I'm trying to get all my armor built at once so it's going to cost me a fortune to get it all up here....in theory. I did enough talking and the Brendan at seattles fastenal quoted me about 50 cents a pound. Which I'd outrageous, having worked for FedEx for several years I know just how cheap this is. So for me to get an oversized pallet up here weighing 800 pounds, is about 400 bones. So I'm working to rectify the largest issues we have up here to bridge that gap. Sometimes I just can't leave well enough alone haha.


I don't mind doing the legwork in this stuff guys, this is my hobby, and this is my state. Lord willing I'm never leaving and there's just too much here to have us not be the center of the off road world. Alaska has too much to offer to not have its own dedicated offroad outlet. If there's one thing Alaskans are passionate about, it's playing with their toys. So lets play together!

Haha alright, now that that's out of my system, I'm going to hit the hay. See y'all in the morning!

Ak ftw!

 

I totally dig the direction you're taking Ben. I'll do what I can to help out with my busy schedule. I've often thought about this community (TW) as a spot to find friendly folks in travel, so I totally understand what you mean in that regard.

A lot of excellent ideas!