"Go West 'Young' Man" (With your wife for your 25th Anniversary)

when I drove to Colorado this past summer, I tried to stay at Marriott properties using my accumulated points from my industry days… breakfast quality varied… I chalked it up to good or poor management or motivated employees. If the breakfast looked less than appetizing, I found a nearby Perkins, Denny’s or Micky D’s instead.

 

Same here. Not trying to be too harsh in the Covid conditions, and some don't have the resources available that others might. But one place could have made a bit more effort with the resources that appeared to be available. The response from the attendant at night when we arrived was, "we're sold out so I can't do anything." Just kind of set the tone for the stay after asking for a first floor room at a place with a half empty parking lot. And we did wind up at Micky D's.

 

Similar experience… Colorado Springs… 10 cars in the parking lot… walk in w/ my bag… before I can say anything the clerk at the registration desk said sorry, we’re sold out… I said good for you, business must be booming… appreciate the information, but, I do have a reservation…. Ohhhhh ok then… but it did set the tone…. and when I left in the morning ~06:00, still about 10 cars in the parking lot.

 

Any updates OP?!

 

Working on it. Back to work is busy, MIL is coming to town for a week, and I really want to get the truck back in the again. Maybe this weekend I can find some time. Build thread needs some catch up too!

Thanks for the interest.

 

So, the truck almost didn't make the trip. We had planned on leaving after work and driving to Roanoke, knocking out 3-4 hours of road time. About 90 minutes down 81, my wife thought the passenger floor was kind of warm. Then she felt the tunnel on her side and said it felt warm. Then she picked up her thermal cup and it also was warm to the top of the center cup holder.

So I grabbed the first exit, pulled off in a gas station thinking transmission issue. Nope. No runs, no drips, no anything. Including answers. One of the great things about TW is help is just an ask away. So I called @3pooches who lives in the area and after talking through it (and talking me down), we went to his shop and gave it a once over. Again, no leaks, oil looked good (for 78k miles), just heat. We did notice the passenger side cat converter didn't have a clam shell heat shield on it and thought that could be it. Since the sides were relatively clean, we thought this must be it. (I'd been playing in his mud pit two weeks earlier and we thought maybe I'd left it there. ) A call to @ilubtimmyhos also added to our certainty that this was the issue.

Header tape and clamps added. Then Chris did the thing he does. He fixed a small dent from an errant socket that fell during the bed rack installation. So shameless plug, check him out. https://doordingdoctor.godaddysites.com/. Door Ding Doctor in Staunton VA.


(See how good he is!)

Back on the road. As we progressed, the heat began to dissipate. When we got up the next morning, I poured some water on the header tape. And as a safety net went to Haley Toyota in Roanoke and bought the trans fluid I would need if this wasn't the answer. I figured if we needed to change the fluid, the rest of the stuff I could get rather easily on the road.

While there, I talked to Penny Riddle, the service manager about the issue. While she didn't have a tech who could look at it in yet, she convinced me to have enough faith in the truck, and said they don't see 3rd gen Tacoma's under 100k with transmission issues. (I was still thinking about going home for the wife's car and taking that, adding six hours of driving to the day.) Penny talked me down, I packed in the fluid, and off we went. We drove through rain for about two hours, and when the header tape dried out, no extra heat. Problem solved.



Not really. When we got home I went to order the catalytic converter heat shield for the passenger side. There is not a clamshell shield there, only the body mounted shield, and mine was in place. We also confirmed this on a used truck in the lot. So, no idea what happened. The converter isn't plugged. And no signs of other issues. And the truck performed flawlessly the remainder of the trip.

 

Roanaoke to ABQ, relatively uneventfull, aside from some construction and an unfortunate headwind. The overnight stop was Memphis, TN. I'll have to locate the itenirary for where we stayed, but we planned our stops along I40. A few from pics from the road.

Nashville, TN from I 40, south of downtown. Couldn't get a good shot of the Bell South building.

Oklahoma Info and rest stop. Nice intro to the state.

So my wife grew up on a small family farm. There are no gas stations nearby the farm, so they had gas and deisel on the farm. She hadn't seen a tractor getting fuel at a gas station before.

"Okla City", because Oklahoma City is too big for the sign? "Skydance Bridge in Okla City... The Skydance Bridge (oftentimes called the Skydance Pedestrian Bridge or Scissortail Bridge) is a pedestrian bridge and public artwork in Olkahoma City. Architects Hans and Torrey Butzer conceived of the bridge as being inspired by the Scissortail Flycatcher, Oklahoma’s state bird.[5][6] The double-winged structure would be a sculptural landmark and provide support to a pedestrian deck that connects two portions of Oklahoma City’s Scissortail Park. The concept was developed into the competition-winning design by Hans Butzer, Stan Carroll, Ken Fitzsimmons, Jeremy Gardner, Bret Johnston, Laurent Massenat, Chris Ramseyer, and David Wanzer in collaboration with MKEC Inc." Wikipedia.

We have a few Texas pics floating around somewhere, so when I find them I'll throw a few in.


BNSF / Santa Fe pulling about three miles of containers and trucks west toward all the Christmas presents sitting on the ships. This one had a helper engine mid pack. We saw several of these headed both east and west. And he was moving. We were running near 80 and it took a bit to pass him.

Not bad for a "selfie shot."

 

The last time I was on I-40, I was heading east on my last PCS move from California. It was in really good shape then. Ca. to Pa. in three long days in my youth… got off I-40 around Nashville. Is it still in good shape? Great pics… thanks for sharing. PS, my ride back then? 1987 Toyota 4x4 Access Cab; 4 cylinder 22R w/ a manual transmission.

 

Aside from the construction areas, most of it was in good shape. And scenic.

I hadn't fully secured the overhead console (hadn't ordered the correct plastic body panel plugs) after doing the upfitter switch. I was napping and Gwen hit a pothole reminiscent of MI roads or the PA Turnpike that knocked it loose. I woke up to her holding it with her right hand while driving in a construction zone. I unplugged it, put in the back, and went back to sleep. Black duct tape did a good job of holding it for most of the trip.

 

Great pics!!

 

Thanks. Just getting warmed up.

 

You should of asked on this post about the pass side cat shield as many of us knew that. Drivers side only on 4x4 to protect the front driveshaft.
If you have any skid plates they funnel/trap heat up into the trans tunnel. My coffee stays warm on my long drives! I pad the drive holder with napkins for my cold cup on long drives as my metal drink cup bottom can get pretty warm if I don't. Lots of 700-850 mile days and my second trip was alone as wife had enough after 1 trip ha ha.

Agree even the better brand hotels now seem worse after no income for a year and they have not kept up on maintenance and buying new bedding/towels and it shows.
Coffee, yogurt, and bananas were all i even expected or ate at any. Always had a cooler with me so had beer, milk, cereal, snacks, etc. Had to laugh as asked for a salad at a McDs and no such thing anymore only fatty foods that are quick to make as employees lacking to prepare.

Good luck sorting thru all your pics as I too always end up with a ton of them and most never look as good as I thought they would and don't show the great view I/we saw.

 

Not much to say about this as the pictures will do most of the talking. We got into ABQ about 2130 (9:30 pm for you standard clock users). By the time we had something to eat, unpacked the necessaries, and got to bed it was 2300 (any guesses?). Alarm was set for 0400. In the truck by 0430, and on the grounds by 0450. We had read about terrible lines to get in if you waited to go past 0500. Good thing they had coffee and food there.

Th only disappointment was the weather we couldn't see. There were two cold fronts due to pass through the area that day, one as they were prepping to launch the balloons, one later that afternoon. The unfortunate part of that was the winds at cruising altitude (about 500 feet). They were too fast and blowing toward the mountains to the north east, so they put a yellow flag up which only allowed for static displays, no launches. The only balloon to go up was the one designated to carry the colors, and he wasn't in sight very long.

We did learn a few things about the launch process. The first group that was scheduled to go up was a group of 11 called the "Dawn Patrol." They would have gone up as a group to verify the weather for the launch of the colors and the next group, stage 1. The stage two would be prepped and ready to launch and so on as the previous stages launched. When they reached the back of the field, the next waves would move to where the Dawn Patrol was and prep for launch and repeat this process until all the balloons wre in the air. All totaled, 517 balloons were due to launch. What a sight that would have been. All in all, a good time, worth the short sleep.

 

Next stop, Lee's Ferry, Vermillion Cliffs AZ. We spent two nights here, and I have to say, this area to me is absolutely spectacular. The cliffs and peaks are nearly a thousand feet up (according to the elevations signs on the road). Just across the road from where we stayed was a BLM trail. The owner of the resort (I have a hard time applying that word here) said that about two miles out you could look down about a thousand feet to the Colorado and what's considered the start of the Grand Canyon area.

From here we went to the Cliff Dwellers area, the California Condor Release site, crossed the original Dominguez-Escalante Trail, and a Navajo interpretive site & bridge, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Those pics will be posted a little further down.

A few pics of the lodge and our view from about where my truck was parked. Which is in front of our room.



I had to borrow this one as I'm still sorting through the pics on the Gwen's phone. No rainbows when we were there.


Room 10. And the cleanest my truck would be for the remainder of the trip.

 

California Condor Release site. Unfortunately, not much to see here. The birds were due to start migrating back to the area for winter in November, according to the information there. We did see some a couple of days later down at the Cliff Dwellers area and in the Petrified Forest.




No birds, but we could see a couple of nesting sites. They show up as white stains from the feces on the rocks. In the pic, not that they show, they were above the little viewing area shelter.


Yes, that's what the sign says. 114 inch wingspan, 9.5 feet. That's three feet taller than me.

And point of interest, a feature called "The Wave" is a few miles down the road past this site. It is permit only and not maintained BLM road. We didn't get there, but it looks pretty cool. Google pic.

 

Just down the road from where we stayed is an area called "Cliff Dwellers." (This portion is out of sequence to stick with the area theme. We did this and the next section on our way to Monument Valley. We had already done the North Rim and Point Sublime trail, which I'll cover a bit later.) It shows how some of the native Indians lived among the bolders and cliffs in the area. There are also some vendors selling some nice handmade jewelry and tourism related gifts and such. We spent a little time walking through and talked to one of the vendors that we bought a hand made wooden Christmas tree ornament from featuring a bear claw design and a few other smaller details. It is said to represent strength and peace.

 

Very close to Cliff Dwellers is the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center. We spent about an hour here walking through the display and across the bridge. This is also where we saw our first California Condors. Unfortunately, they were in more a sitting around and watching stuff mood than energetic and flying around mood.

 

Monument Valley.

Well, after a little longer break than anticioated, and a little wheelin' on the side, another update.

We arrived from ABQ to Monument Valley about dinner time. It was a nice clear day and we could see forever. The next morning it was a completely different picture literally. A cold front came though with rain and a little snow. We woke to 36 degrees, clouds, and wind. And wind. And did I mention wind.

Way too many pics to pic from, so a random sampling. It does include a traditional Navajoe home, hieroglyphics, ruins of some native tribes, and a picture of our horse less windowless carriage for the tour. The only way to see some of this is by the paid tours. You can drive a maintained 2WD road, but you wond't see a lot of what we saw.

 

Vermillion Cliffs to the North Rim - Grand Canyon

I've just realized this is out of sequence, but that's a lot of editing to correct, so it stays as is. We actually did this the day before Monument Valley. We did Point Sublime this day as well, and that's coming up.

The drive was about and 90 minutes to the Visitor Center. The drive was nice, and we stopped along the way for some pics and just to take it in. Driving out of VermillionCLiffs and into the Kaibab National Forest was a neat experience. We gained a little over 1000 feet in elevation and transitioned from a desert to mountain forest over five to six miles. Vegetation went from desert scrub brush to small pine trees and larger scrub bushes to full height pine trees as we went up.
The extra time on here includes the trail out to Point Sublime.










An old burn scar with Aspen (I think) starting to fill in.