Leap of Faith

Looks great! Some details about your rig would be appreciated. That is auxiliary gas on the roof? What else is up there?

In 76 I drove an old chevy stepside with a cap - made of plywood by my father and I - with window curtains made by my ma - from New Orleans to Chicago to Seattle to Salt Lake City and everywhere else in between that looked good on a map or from the highway or was in a song (the Grand Coulee dam was included cause of Idiot Wind and was well worth the detour). I am jealous.

Travel light travel far keep us posted.

 

Nice adventure, keep the pictures coming.

 

I just checked out your web site very cool story look forward to following your blog

 

Wow, so cool. I'd love to do this someday. Keep the pics coming!

 

Thank you all for your responses. @Shwaa thank you very much I was really trying to keep things as stock as possible. Tires are 265 75 16 KO2's, Bilstein 5100s all around with the front set at the second clip, toytec aal. That's about it for suspension. I really love the ride and so far she has been bullet proof. @sioux we have been lucky and have had plenty of friends and family sprinkled throughout plus motels are budgeted in here and there, also using a solar thermo water bag on roof soaking heat(makes for a nice rinse) non sent baby wipes are the bees knees too. A few Marina wool pieces of clothing help with cold/smell. Have leds inside shell powered by my many makita batteries. Built out a sleep platform and have a good cooler for the obvious. Using a 3" topper and working out well I feel. Have a little USB powered fan for air flow. @Sidney Vicious I ordered a ARE camper(killer deal long story) and later talked the wife into getting a rail and rack to install and then a basket. As time went buy and budget being met we were able to get a few other things like a 4gal rotopax tank, legit GPS. Up top is two Osprey bags full of extra stuff like TP, fuel for grill, camp gear, etc. Got my bass rod up there and of course the fuel tank. Under the sleep platform is more stock, cookware, fire stuff, ax, my plumbing gear for odd jobs and chairs. The wife has her makeup kits(professional) set up nice as well. Plus cloths in bags and camera gear. Glad I put in the aal really.
PS sorry so long

 

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Nice platform! +20 hp for biscuit jointer skills.

 

Jeez can't sleep tonight. More mods iv done are install sound deadening mats to doors and any exposed metal really. My tunes sound better and got a way noticeable noise difference. After reinforcing my tailgate I installed a pop n lock handle and installed a wireless camera into the pop out for a stock/hidden appearance. I put in fog lights, tint all around and had an alarm with keyless entry installed. Oh and I almost forgot the non CD deck I put in. I never really use cds so I was happy with the clean look.

 

Thank you so much. Though the less screws the better. Definitely had help. Big fan of the biscuit jointer now. Turned out really nice and strong.

 

Forgot Grand Canyon pictures

 

fun trip!!

you quit your job? and let your SF apartment go? what is the plan for the endgame? coming back to bay area?

 

@P51DeP What do the letters indicate on your route map?

 

No sf apartment. We were saving for some time (even before wedding) for this. We were living with my inlaw helping out around the property (singles older mother) until we reached our goal amount. I left my job on good terms and have a door open if we do come back but we budgeted for 4 month bills paid and planned on this as a scouting trip for our future family. Colorado is looking like the place. Ppl are so amazing and so much going on even compared to the valley.

 

It's just how Google map has the map maker set up. It's really a mess of a program with quite the learning curve. Point A to point B kind of thing. The wife worked for Google and let them know how sh$# it was. Kinda funny. The map is a very loose idea of what we are going to do. We are also a day ahead with our time table.

 

What are your plans for Minnesota? If you could swing it, a trip up the north shore would definitely be worth it. In fact, I'd hold off on thinking Colorado is the place to settle. Minnesota is the bees knees! But then again I'm a bit biased. Colorado is my next favorite state though!

 

We have cousins in Minnesota, planning on another few days of rest in the area. North shore huh? Very cool, will check it out.

 

I agree the steel wheels look awesome, but the performance difference with the 2.7 when you change to alloys is definitely worth it. I won't go back to steel unless its a hardcore rock crawler, just my $0.02.

Pictures look awesome OP. How is the truck handling loaded with 265/75r16's?

 

Driving through the rockies with a lot of weight was totally doable with the 2.7. The wife was not keen with the idea of new alloys "we already have wheels". My the speedo is about 3mph faster then GPS so that's kinda nice to avoid speeding. I'll be honest tho I have been foot to the floor in 3rd a bit. I am really happy with my choice in tire size.

 

Okay. We have been through about 5 states since my last posts and boy what a ride. No problems with the law thank God but 3500mi in to trip and the check engine light is now on. I'm hoping is just the "oil change pal" light. I'm running full synthetic and have about 4k miles total since last oil change. Any thoughts?

 

Here are some photos of South Dakota, a place that was not really on my "exited" list but really knocked my socks off.