Lefty's golden taco.

So I'm gonna back up for a second. When I was setting up camp, I realized that I had forgotten my hose to connect my 5lb propane bottle at home. Luckily, I did have a couple of 1lb green bottles ,but I wasn't sure how full they were or how long they would last. The gas station did have some for sale ... man they sure did mark them up though. 1 bottle cost me what 2 or 3 would normally cost. Also, that night, I ran into an issue of finding a comfortable temp to sleep . The blanket that I had brought was just to much. I was either sweating with the blanket on or freezing with it off. I think the problem was that it just wasn't able to breathe enough to be comfortable. While I was getting robbed for propane I did find a Mexican blanket that was on sale and mostly big enough to cover me up. It was cheap enough to give it a try and ended up working out well for the rest of the trip.
The one other issue is our mvp in the chevy 1500, while a excellent driver was not really prepared for desert offroad travel. Mainly he wasn't able to really air up or down. I was happy enough to help him air down I wasn't sure if I had enough air I'm my tank to fill us both up a bunch of times. I didn't have enough time to get my tank refilled before the trip and I figured if I was just taking care of myself I would be fine..which was probably correct. But I did ask around and the 4runner with the SC offer to help out if I ran out of air. Which did end up happening. This has gotten me to rethink my co2 set-up. While really nice to have and super fast, but when it's out it's out. The new duel air compressors are super fast and cordless tools have come a long ways no longer nessatating the need for a air impactreat.
Now I'll get back to the rest of the trip.

 

Leaving Ocotillo we headed for out next destination Diablo drop-off. The name makes it sound way more ominous thank it really was. On our drive there we passed the wind far at the base of Mt Lugna which looks spectacular with the storm shrouding the mountains as well.

After a short drive we were on dirt again.

My moral inflate got a workout on this trip. While it's pretty awesome for inflation and it works pretty good for deflation too I think I'm going to finally set up my sultan deflators ,there just a lot less to take out and put away.

We drove through so mud slot canyons on our way to..
All lined up to go down.

And i need to upload a video. Gonna have to wait I'm at work.lol

 

Diablo drop-off turned into some more slotted canyons called sandstone canyon which is part of the Anza-Borrego state park.
We were going to camp in the state park but the campsite was expensive and pretty exposed. We ended up going down the road a ways and ended up camping at Ocotillo Wells HOV area. It was supper windy again. Thankfully we're I was parked it wasn't to bad.

 

That poor flag needs replaced.

 

Right!!

 

Well I've been a slacker. I'll try and get this caught up.
So after another windy night we had as a group made some decisions one some of the days plans, we wanted to see the insa famous sculptures .
Group caravan on the way.

We followed a meandering road to the different pieces
A little eclectic gasstation.






Some shanagans with the art. I was going to climb up too but some comments about the weight capacity lead to a more mundane picture. Better to be humble than break the sculpture.


The main attraction.

 

Next we drove to the salten sea specifically the navel air base.
The leach feilds on the way there.
https://youtu.be/-R5mDKu2hKY?si=i_xiV6mww_t59y62
Some shots from the base along the waters edge. It's crazy to think about how much higher the water level was, you can see the salt crust on the remaining peer poles.

 

So this the part we're I probably pissed off the group or at least a few people in the group. So I'm going to prefaced a couple of thing first to explain my actions.
1; the person who was leading the group regailed us with their previous group excursions were everyone was stuck .
2. I've been stuck in powder and mud caliche before. It sucked!!
3. My truck is way underpowered for the weight especially with the new bigger tires. To really spin the tires I need to be in 4low.
On with the story...

So we leave the navel base heading north along the beach. It was a pretty drive . So the planned route was to follow the beach for a while and then tere was supposed to be a road the the next town. It was only supposed to be like 5 or 10 miles. BTW this was a new route that the organizers were trying out.
So it wasa little bumpy but not to bad then the ground started to get a bit softer. The big ram and the land rover felt that they need to let some air out of their tires. There was a bunch of grumbling among the group about it only be a couple of miles left. So some donuts were made in the sand while we waited. With my air situation I decided that I would probably be ok and would just tuff out the ruff ride. We were all at street air pressure. Well the people who ended up letting the air out were the smart ones. So for most of the trip I was in the back of the pack, the tail . Except for the ram who went crazy slow. Anyways so we're going along and the beach is becoming mud and the planned route is now underwater. The navigator is trying to reroute, and we are in the middle of a big ass mud field going way to slow for my tires to clean out and my truck is sinking trough the crust. I pulled the lever for 4wd which saps a bunch of power and I'm bogging down. I try shifting through 2nd and 3rd trying to stay in the power bandand not get stuck. Apparently I wasn't the only one having issues because someone else over the radio saying we need to go faster to clean out the tires. All I could think was that It would be a major tow bill if we have to get wreckers out there yo pull us out and I'm not going to be able to help anyone if I'm stuck too.
Well some other people had the same idea too beacouse next thing I know 3 or 4 of us are halling ass across the mud. The rover and the SC'ed 4runner and myself are quickly catching up to the lead truck. I heard some comments over the radio about me no longer being the tail... idkn. Maybe I should have hung back ,but I didn't want to lose monument to stop and put it in 4low. I probably should have aired down too. Not gonna lie a was upset with with myself but I was gonna be even more upset if I had to dig myself out . Eventually we found a path on some soft sand and everyone made it out safely. I was thankfull for the suspension that I have as I hit some big g-outs /mini washes leading to the lake.
The ram said the he was breaking though the crust too but then would get traction and keep going. The chevy said he was shooting out 20'rooster tails of mud.
a little while later we ended up at a gasstation. Nobody was really saying much. We got some food and gas and headed to the next spot. Bombay beach.

 

Bombay beach! A cool,eclectic, distopain art area.

 

After leaving the salten see we headed north for a bit and headed down some very ruff washboard road to our camp spot of the evening. It was thankfully without gusting wind.
We were treated to a beautiful sunset, you can see the salten sea in the distance.
After a good night of camp we headed out. Everyone seemed to be I'm good spirits. This was the last bit of our adventure before headed home..
First stop, Egale mountain trussel bridge. Not gonna lie glad I pooped befor heading out because there was no escape from the drones flying everywhere.

I took the opportunity to lose some weight off the back of my truck. This is probably where I lost the sphian too.

Next we headed over to the Red canyon trail. It was a fun roller coster of a trail that showcased the canyon below.
https://youtube.com/shorts/FbCsZxDwYS8?si=5-E89eDDmmLwcZ-J

 

After getting off the jeep trail we made out way back to an access road were we aired back up. The access road spit us out at a comity called chiriaco summit. Where I scored a killer deal on a massive Mexican blanket #2. Lol not wanting to pay anymore California insane gas prices I decided to hold out for Blyth ,in hindsight I probably should have thrown a couple of bucks in beacouse I coasted into the blyth gasstation on fumes. I swear the gaslight had been on for the last 15 +miles. One notable encounter we had on the freeway ,we got buzzed by a F35 doing a fly by freeway navigation. It was pretty awesome to see ,they were low and going fast.
Finished talking the 10 back to Phoenix after a long drive and it was getting dark I was finally home again.

 

While it was nice to be able to keep everything in the drawer, it did have a couple of little issues. It sucked to cook out of ,the grease splashed everywhere and the wind made a wonderful vortex in the box to add the the cooking enjoyment. So out came the saw. Not gonna lie I'm not much of a woodworker. I had saw someone else's drawer setup with 2 separate drawers one with a deacated stove area. So I measured once and cut 3 times . It perfectly fits my little stove and my two cook wear bags.

And I can still access the other drawer by lifting up the cover or sliding the other side out. They are just friction fitted but they seam to work for now.
Apparently your not suppose to carry propane on its side or in the compartment if possible. So I picked up a new bag that will hold my bottle and hose so I don't forget it again.

I got the new style connectors for my morel inflate

 

Went to Florida, drove down to the keys. We rented a hybrid Jeep, it was pretty impressive. The torque of that eletric motor was awesome, and maybe I'm getting old but there were times when we're going slow and it was running on just the eletric it was so quiet. I found that to be really peaceful and enjoyed it way more than I would have thought. We did make up for the hearacy a little bit.
What the duck?
It had a pretty rowdy LS in it.
We saw gators!

We paid a bit more but we got a smaller boat with just the family. $$well spent

Florida was super pretty we were probably there the best time of year,I'll never go back. The people are horrible drivers. Lol
The wife was all about wanting getting a jeep after we got back,we've talked about wanting a convertible for a long time. But I just wasn't very comfortable in it to be honest. We did test drive a new Bronco....she doesn't take about the jeep anymore. Maybe in a couple of year when they make a hybrid we'll revisit it. She said I have to many offroad vehicles that I was quick to remind her about.

 

Speaking of to many off road vehicles. One of the current bane's of my existence. The 4runner had gotten some love.i finally finished the front end. New rack ,pump,lines and upper control arms. Did some interior refreshing.
And of course it was all going swell tell I was wrapping up the power steering pump and a random bolt that comes out from behind the timing cover 'it locks in the belt tensioner" went from right tighty to lefty loosy. FML. I was just trying to get it squared up so I could sell it.
Oh and the last picture shows were all my money's went. Thoes pavers go all the way to my backyard wall and I got a bunch of turf put in too. No new camper for me tell I get rid of some toys now.

 

The tacoma finally got some more love. I've decided I'm no longer going to run the Co2 tank anymore. There's just no need,the air compressors are so fast now and power tools have come a long ways in strength and affordability ,big ass impact. Has just really made it obsolete.
So I hit up @Yacob_D and he was able to fabricate me a dule can holder for my swingout. A couple of the pices of the single can mount were repurpose to help gard and reinforce the can holder. I'm bad a backing up so they needed the protection.
When he was closed my swingout when finishing up, he noticed that mytire attachment was rusted and cracked . So he whipped up some reinforcements and burned it all in. Should be good for a while now and no worries of losing a tire.
All painted up.

And that about catches me up for now. I've got a couple of things to do here and there. The plan is to sound deadening the interior, redo the rear shelf ,relocate the battery to the bed and finally add the second battery. And hopefully I'll have time to get my shocks relocated correctly and do a mini tub in the front to get ride of the battery hump. Oh and I have to trim my flairs. That drove me crazy on the last trip.

 

I look forward to seeing all of the updates in person in September my friend!

 

Can't wait!!

 

Got a chance to test out the new gas can holder, they fit nice and tight. The new sphian hose reaches the gas filler and both tanks nicely, it's 10'and like 3/4" diameter.

Oh a nigh note I was able to fix my 4runner without having to disassemble 1/2 if the front end. I had tightened the bolt so much I had unscrewed the stud. Lucky I was able to unscrewed the nut and I was able to get the stud threaded back in and everything all tightened back up. It was the stud nut that was a suport for the power steering tensioner. It's slow working on the trucks but knocking little /big projects out really helps the psychic.

 

So I had a little slush fund that I was saving and adding to in order to get myself a fancy new camper some day. Well I was browsing Facebook marketplace ,low and behold I see a gem of a camper on a first gen tacoma.

Now I've tried to allocate myself one of these toppers in the past but it never panned out. So I messaged the seller with low hopes because the good deals don't last long. To my surprise I was able to linked up with the seller and after a couple of day of back and forth a deal was made and a day was set. I did have to make a 2hr drive to Prescott but at least it was in state and in cooler elevation.
With the help of my neighbors I took my topper off a couple of days earlier in anticipation of a deal being made. So I ran the truck naked for a day or to and enjoyed the some of the benefits of not have a tall shell and a bunch of weight, which had me really rethinking putting anything back on the bed.



Being able to use the rear view mirror was a novelty

Fitting in the no touch car wash

Ran up to Prescott on Wednesday morning from Phoenix. So nice to be able to fly up the mountain in 4th and 5th gear. I even managed to get 13mpg while doing so.
With 4 people and almost dropping it 3 times we were able to transfer it from one truck to the other. I did bring some saw horses to set it on during the transfer.
And how it's sitting. The springs haven't settled yet.