Pennsylvania to Utah Roadtrip

Looks like a great time man,

Truck looks great,

Questions...
You traded hoods with a TRD Sport right?
Did you also get some factory SR headlights?

What brand are your bumpers.

BEST question of all??? What are you averaging on the freeway with the tires and bumpers?
Inquiring minds need to know!


Keep up the pictures and stay safe. Love seeing whats going on...

 

I did get a scooped hood but not sure from what. I had an insurance claim for a large dent on my old hood as the result of vandalism. The body shop agreed to put on a new oem scooped hood as long as I paid the difference in cost from the non scooped hood.

Headlights are the same ones the truck came with but I did do the black headlight mod. Totally worth it, completely changed the vehicles attitude. It's a lot easier than it seems, too.

Bumpers are relentless fabrication. Rear is steel front is aluminum diy that I welded up myself. Both bought from TW members.

Mileage is a bit worse than I had hoped but bear in mind I have 2 passengers, probably 200-300lbs worth of stuff in the bed and much of this trip was high altitude with many days above 6000 ft.

Mileage has been ranging from 15 on the low side through Kansas to a high of about 19.5. Not sure why mileage was so terrible through the flatest state, maybe it's the gas...? We're still a few days from completion but I estimate my total mileage to be around 5000 and total fuel cost to be around $800. Average mileage looks like it will be around 17-18.

I also estimate the front bumper is killing my aerodynamics at highway speeds. It exposes a lot of the front tires. The limit in some places is 80mph but I usually level of around 65-70mph.

I'll post up hard numbers after we get home, i saved every receipt and recorded odometer readings at every fill up.

 

Updates!

Sept 21 we camped at Great Sand Dunes National Park. It's an amazing place. Very unique in our park system. The area is covered by square miles of sand dunes and you can wander as you please. It's really cool to go up and over the first big row of dunes so you can't see the parking lot anymore. You feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. And the sand is difficult to walk in. After a few hours your ass will be dragging.

We did a more indepth visit of sand dunes park last year, this year we mainly did one night of camping.

The dunes!



Campsite



In the morning we prepared to drive the Medano Pass. It's a 4wd road that's a decent short cut from the park to Highway 69. The trail started as soft sand, deep in parts but overall easily navigable. I aired down to 18 rear and 20 psi front.





Later the trail becomes rocky and more mountainous. It crosses a creek several times, never more than 12" deep, at least at the time of our visit. I have no good pictures of that part tho...



This is near the end. We actually ran into road work! The was a small crew of guys and a bulldozer smoothing out the top of this hill.



Overall the trail was easily passed by my stock taco but I suspect an oem front bumper would drag a lot on some of the dips and approaches. I bottomed out hard somewhere toward the end, probably from going a bit too quickly and not choosing a better line, but I got my first real trail damage! I bent the lower mount of my bumper on the passenger side. No big deal, but it's something! Woo, this truck is, now legit, lol!



Air 'nup after the trail. The CO2 tank is awesome! I can fill 4 tires from 20 to 32 psi in like 3 minutes. Never timed it but it's probably a bit over 5 minutes to unwind the hose plug it in and walk to all 4 corners and air up then put it away. I have a fixed 150psi regulator.



After the trail we forged on to Dodge City!



There's a awesomely bad ass old locomotive in town! You can sit in the driver seat! It's so cool! Imagine steamin' across the plains in this thing! Epic fo sho.

 

The next day we trucked on to Joplin Mo. But first we stopped at Hutchinson Kansas to visit the Cosmosphere! If you have any interest in space travel this place is your Mecca. Well worth a weekend trip to Hutchinson. Plus Hutchinson also has the salt mine adventure. They take you down like 600ft below the surface to an old salt mine, preserved as it was in the 40s. It's also really cool and worth a trip! We did the salt mine last year.



The collection of history, exhibits and artifacts at this place is literally the best in the world. There are so many real articles here on display. It's an amazing place to visit!

How about this for things you probably didn't know existed. In the 50s the Soviets launched 2 of these small spheres (about 6" dia) to the moon, each covered in small medallions. Their hope was to scatter the medallions across the surface of the moon in a propaganda campaign to claim to be the first ones there. 5 were made and of those 5, 2 were launched. One other is in the Eisenhower Library, one is lost and one is here! Neat stuff.



An actual moon rock! The picture is a bit fuzzy but it was very sparkly. They say it closely resembles basalt here on Earth.



Some good quotes



Ain't that the truth!

This quote was funny. Amid all the high science and strict missions let not be forgotten the human element. These men of the early space program are easily elevated to hero status but they were all just brave and adventurous humans. And humans like something good to eat!



The actual Apollo XIII re-entry capsule!



This was one of the coolest things at the museum. This was the actual "White Room" used on many of the early space missions. This small metal room (maybe 6'x8') was suspended some 300 feet above the ground and attached to the launch gantry. That funny shaped cut out lines up with the hatch on the command module, where the astronauts sit. It was here that the astronauts saw their last glimpse of fellow humanity and said their last goodbyes. It was amazing, and kind of emotional, to stand in this small metal room. Some of the men who passed by here never returned. It's actually a rather powerful thing to experience.



This museum is quite marvelous. I encourage all with even a small interest in anything aerospace related to go and experience it. There were so many wonderful and well organized exhibits. They lead you through the history of space travel from the infancy of rocketry in WWII all the way up to the space shuttle and beyond. The exhibits are full of fascinating information and many wonderful quotes from the people who lived it. I only wish we had more time to visit, one could easily spend 4+ hours in these halls.

I emerged with a new found appreciation for the exploration of space and a sense of great honor, pride and gratitude to the men and women who boldly forged this dangerous but alluring path. I'm glad we have moved on from the "space race" days of the cold war and are now cooperating with other nations in the continued pursuit of knowledge and understanding of our universe. I believe space travel is not a nationalistic contest to be won or dominated, but rather it is the triumph of all mankind. Truly, it is a testament to man's ingenuity, perseverance and bravery. I hope the space programs of all associated nations enjoy many years of support and success.

 

Awesome trip log.This is something I always wanted to do.

 

Made it back home safely on Friday! The final numbers are in for mileage...

Total miles: 4936
Average fuel price: $2.83
Average mpg: 17.4
Total fuel cost: $806

Best mileage observed: 22.5 between Glenwood Springs, CO and Fruita, CO. Maybe it was all down hill, can't remember.

Worst mileage observed: 14.7 somewhere in western Kansas. Had terrible winds that day.

So mileage was a lot worse than I hoped for. I assumed I'd get around 20 and was hopeful for a bit more. I think the poor mileage was due to a few things, listed in order of least suspect to most. One, we had the ac going frequently, my tires are slightly larger than stock (235/85), we had more gear and two more passengers than I normally carry (maybe 400-500lbs more than normal), the plate front bumper kills any aero by exposing so much of the front wheels, speeds were average of 70mph and sometimes a bit higher, I suspect some places had already switched to winter blend gasoline (overall we got the worst mileage in Kansas, maybe they switched or have more additives than usual?)

It seems likely to blame the tires but I'm not so sure. They are about 1.25" greater in diameter but they haven't actually changed the mileage one bit in the city. Also whenever I came to one of those speed signs that give you a real time readout of your speed, my speedo was exactly consistent with the sign. Thus all the mileage listed is "uncorrected".

 

So far on my trip I am averaging 2 mpg less than usual. I am pulling a 5x8 uhaul with I'd guess about 800lbs The 2.7 isn't doing to bad. I'm in 4th 95% of the time with an occasional drop to 3rd getting through the Smokeys. If I was on stock sized tires I could probably cruise in 5th and drop to 4th on the hills.

 

Just wanted to say thanks for documenting with the photos and taking the time to post all this.
I am hoping to visit family later this year in Nebraska and I need to divert to see that Cosmosphere location.

Looks awesome.

How are the 235s working for you!

We're the Nissan wheels worth the trouble? They look great and I doubt you'll ever see them on another Tacoma!