Anthony y El Burrito Blanco

How was the Mojave National Preserve? Been looking for good camping areas in Southern California. I want to start utilizing my truck rather than it just being a DD.

 

truck looks so fucking good! very clean looking and love the cap man

 

Looks good, ever thought about going along the bottom portion of the truck where that dent is with a rubberized under coating? I use to it with many of my past vehicles, always gave it a good two tone look/ off road look. Was durable and practical too.

 

That's a really good question. I'd say that it relies heavily on who you're going with and what you expect to do there. For me it was the perfect place - no camping fee, no designated camping spots, no real hiking trails (on the side of the mountain I was on), and no people - I only saw one other truck off of the paved road during the three days I was there. That said, I like all of the above and I'm really careful when I hike to always be scanning for rattlesnakes. The lack of hiking trails and the presence of multiple kinds of rattlesnakes makes it unsuitable for young kids and the lack of running water / restrooms while camping may not be preferable for some.

It definitely is a place worth driving through and checking out though. There are lava tubes, huge sand dunes, old mines, beautiful scenery, and a lot of wildlife to check out for a day while passing through for people who would prefer more amenities. Baker and Barstow aren't too far away so it's definitely not too remote of a place for people who would rather sleep in a hotel / motel and drive to it for a day trip or two. Joshua Tree and Lone Pine are places I think have more to do for a prolonged period of time that have a varied amount of activities rather than just roughing it. I've also heard of Anza Borrego being a cool place to go from another forum member and that's pretty close to you in San Diego.

 

Thank you! I have been trying to keep it clean looking and I'm glad someone noticed it. I like the cap too - it's the only one I've ever seen like it. My neighbor told me today his grandfather had one like it on his truck in the 80's. For some reason I liked that. I felt like it had an old-school vibe and I like how it looks with the modern look of the rest of the truck.

I noticed you have a regular cab too - they're pretty awesome for what they can do - not too big, not too small compared with older Toyotas and other brands. My dad used to work in Boston and I lived in Worcester for a little while when I was a kid. Love the aquarium and the science museum with Omni Theater there! The Red Sox and the Celtics are the only professional sports teams I've ever gone to see.

 

It's funny you mention that. I actually was going to use bedliner to do just what you're suggesting before I took off the fender flares. I even mocked it up with plasti-dip on each side with different heights to see what I liked better. Taking it off was not fun, but I eventually decided to wait. Some fiberglass fenders may be in my truck's near future so I'm going to hold off painting anything for now in case I need to sell some parts since I can't store too much stuff where I'm at right now. That's a great suggestion though.

 

These are some cool ass pictures!

Also like what you've done with that Tacoma.

 

Thank you! I bought a dslr camera about two years ago to make some videos with students I work with and it ended up becoming a hobby to head out and take pictures on weekend nights or when I go hiking. It's pretty easy once the basics become familiar - YouTube was a good way to learn them. I'm liking the progress of the truck too. It's a useful truck and it's fun to work on. I think you have a 2.7 too? These engines have a ton of power for a 4 cyl imo. Much more than my old 97 Tacoma.

 

My friend from Germany came back for his yearly vacation - only able to do this during the summer since he's a teacher, it was now or never to head to Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree Park. It was pretty darn hot, but it was definitely worth dealing with the heat. We made it back with a new definition of what hot is lol.

At the top of a dirt road in Mojave.


Posing by mining tailings in Mojave.


The moon was out while we were hiking in Mojave. So much good rock climbing on Providence Peak.


My friend does not like rock climbing as much as I do so we ended up taking some poser pics and talked about how bread tastes different in Europe compared to America. Pretty fun conversation, but I think it made us hungry lol.


Sunset in Mojave.


More poser pics in Joshua Tree. I'll be going back to do some climbing for sure. At this point he was teasing me because I wouldn't shut up about the rocks lol.


Sunset in Joshua Tree.

 

Went hiking in San Bernadino on Mount San Jacinto. The first picture shows San Jacinto from nearby Oak Glen. I started the hike from Mt. Marion near Idyllwild - the shortest way up if you want to avoid the cost of the tram ride. Spent two nights in my truck - loving having the camper shell to make myself a portable free hotel room lol.

 

Truck looks great man! I love your camper shell, what brand is it?

 

Nice Tacoma Dude

 

Thank you! It's been a really fun project for the last year and a half.

I wish I knew more about the camper shell. The guy I bought it from buys caps and covers from used car dealers and resells them. He didn't know anything about it other than it fit Tacomas. He wasn't really the kind of guy that keeps notes on what he buys - I had to dig through thousands of generic keys for half an hour to find a key that fit the locks lol. That said he had all the right stuff to install it and gave me a great deal on it.

 

Nice build & pics! This thread...

 

Thank you - without trying to sound cheesy - this truck has made a big change in my life! This website has helped me to learn a lot as well and meet cool people also. Keep enjoying your tacoma!

 

Thanks! Driving a truck and taking pictures are two things I didn't ever imagine I'd be doing a few years ago when I was riding the bus to work. I'm glad you like what you see - hopefully there's much more to come Take care.

 

Do you have his contact info? If so please pm it to me. Thanks.

 

I never really thought about saving his info since it was just a Craigslist find and his stock in his yard was mostly other model specific tonneau covers and another regular cab cap that was kind of overpriced for the condition it was in. He was up in Sun Valley where there's a bunch of junk yards and shady stuff with car parts - a cool kind of place Sorry about that. I had seen another regular cab shell about five months before that for $500, but I didn't have the money - this time I called within three hours of the ad being posted.

Tons pop up on CL in southern California so if you're looking for one, I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before finding a good one for a good deal especially since you have an access cab which has the same rear cab profile as the double cab and makes finding the shells way easier to find than the regular cab ones. Good luck!

 

I look from time to time. Found a dirty one in east LA once but let it go. I want to get a cheap aluminum one to see if I can go that route instead of loading my FWC for quick trips. The FWC is great, don't get me wrong but light it is not.

 

Yeah that's what I like about my camper shell setup - just throw my stuff in there and head out for a weekend or longer. Where are you located? It looks like we have a few similar interests. I just bought a guitar from a guy that has a camper like yours with a first gen Tacoma and we're talking about heading out to Mojave in a month or so.