MMoreno16's 2018 Tree Hugging Hipster Cupcake Build, Adventures and BS

I def want to hit up deer valley sometime for sure. Dude that trip sounds sick man what’s the deets on that?

 

Thanks buddy!

 

Leave friday mid-afternoon, June 7th. SLC to Calgary, Up to Whitehorse via Banff and Jasper NPs on the Icefield parkway. Head north from there to Inuvik, then make the 75ish mile push to Tuk. Road was just established last year, used to only be airplane accessible. From there, head back down to Whitehorse, then come home through BC and western Washington. Aiming to be home Wednesday the 26th to have enough vacation for Xmas. My boss said he'd let me slide if I went over a few daysif I only took this trip and xmas, so I'll likely take all the way to the 29th or 30th. Gonna be passing through or nearby to Fernie, Kamloops, Nelson, Kelowna or Whistler/Van depending on where we re-enter the states. Super tempted to bring my bike with so much great riding en route, but the guy coming with me is by no means a biker...or in shape, plus I don't wanna destroy my bike up north with all the rugged roads and commit quite a bit of bed space on a DCSB. Not sure what I want to do just yet about that. ~6500 miles, and a horrifying gas bill, but a great trip.

Gonna see:
2+ Canadian national parks
Hot spring in Laird River
Swim in the Arctic Ocean (for like 5 seconds)
Ride a moose?
Camp on an abandoned cold war airstrip (with a resident Griz says some)


My main goal:
Find a bitching fur seal hat.

 

Dude holy shit that trip sounds epic as hell! Hahaha talk about a WITAF hat to find out there. I bet once you cross the border you might have a pretty good shot. I agree that the bike could be cool to bring, but with the company I would just hold off too. Also you might find the weather around there not that enticing to get out that much. I bet that gas bill is well over 1k...or atleast my truck would be for that distance...but dirties arnt efficient at all. So is this +2 talk pretty legit? Would be stoked to see you join the LT club, although a 3.5 IMO is more fitting for the funds.

 

Yeah, gas bill is gonna be between $2500 and $3000 depending on fuel economy and gas prices assuming somewhere around 6600 miles @ 16 mpg *$6/gal

Not sure. +2 would be cool, and Bruno at Baja Kits is trying to hook me up with a killer deal. Not quite convinced the LT game is for me just yet. I agree that if I did it, I'd eventually want a +3.5, but the appeal of not having to mod a lot of stuff to make a +2 kit work is my main draw right now. Knowing I'd be likely buying twice is making me do some serious soul searching. Don't want a repeat of installing OEM Kings, then immediately wanting more. Plus with this big trip bill, and my ever slipping goal of saving for a house, its a big commitment to start phase 3 of the taco truck.

 

Ah man I would love to hear the deal on the Baja kits...also if you arnt about flying through stuff more than crawling then maybe a +2 is a better fit. I like using my truck for whatever, but honestly crawling doesn't really interest me like flying through stuff does. I do agree the partial swap out going +2 is solid although you know that kings still are pretty demanding on the market. Yea I totally get that with all of life going on LT takes a lot of consideration for everything else as it all has to be there unless you want to just be a grocery getter until you get the full package.

A big question...do you like the look of glass or would that turn you off to your truck if you went that route? I LOVE the glass look and only further pushed me to go 3.5 instead of +2 which is what I originally was going to do.

 

I love the look of a +3.5 DCLB with the bulgy fenders and the full TT arched glass rearend. I honestly think I may keep my truck relatively the way it is right now, and after buying a house, finding an affordable earlier 2nd gen and making it a prerunner monster over time. Kinda nervous, because I may get to that point right as my job/career decides to move me to Boston, or BFE, New York or somewhere LT would be ridiculous.

 

Man that would be a bummer to do all this just to get moved back east. Aye...Boston? That's probably the one good thing about my job is man I don't think they ever plan to move out east and im sure when they do there will others wanting to bail. I figured you would likely stay out west...is there talk of you having to go east?

 

Speaking of jobs! I accepted a job offer from RocketLab in Huntington Beach! Super excited about this opportunity!

 

Nice man! When does the new one start? I am going to my new job on Nov 19!

 

Downside of working for an east coast based company with a majority presence back east...its kind of inevitable. If I did go back east, we have a diesel particulate filter plant in Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech is. Guess that wouldn't be all bad. Although Blacksburg would probably get pretty small after a short while.

Good for you man! Little bit of google-fu and that sounds like a good place to be.

 

The tentative start date is Monday. Have to do background and drug tests.

 

.... and skids will finally be installed today.

 

Skids look nice, almost looks like the rear would work with a TRD Pro skid as well.

 

Those are nice, I will eventually replaced my bent other brand(who must not be named) skids.

 

Blacksburg aint bad. Roanokes 30 minutes down the road and that's where I grew up. Sorry to jump halfway into this conversation. Been reading this entire forum all day and I feel like I know you all too well. You ever been in that area for a long period of time?

 

BTW Trucks looking great and sorry for your loss however many months back. The grey was a sweet color. Tried Getting my truck in grey but that would have been a godsend to find that. At least that's what the dealers told me. Hopefully everything goes smoothly with this build.

 

It ain’t no fun, if the homies can’t haaaave none

 

《 4 years long enough?