Ryan's Tacoma Build and Adventures Thread

ABSOLUTELY!

 

So back in Mid September we took our Scout out for it's first trip. The truck handled the setup like a champ. Sadly only took two pics of my truck the entire time (on my phone). I need to steal my wife's phone
so I can get some more.

We went down to Marysvale, Utah with the toys. Had originally planned on renting two cabins, one for my wife and I, and one for my parents and sis. Surprisingly, I got the camper early, so we were able to change one of the cabins over to an RV spot. If anyone is interested, check out Rocky Ridge Resort . There website is pretty lacking, but the folks running it are awesome. We stayed there about 5 years ago, and they've only made it better. You can easily ride for days outta this place, as it's right in the middle of Utah's Paiute Trail System.
























Here's the other truck pic I took... down near Vegas hitting up Jason's Deli! Wish there was one closer to us!

 

One of the guys I previously met on the Monkey Run decided he wanted to run Section 3 of the WABDR for his birthday. Did an open invite to all his friends on FB. I may have invited one of my friend's too. I think we had about 9 people from Avants Offroad.





Ended up with 13 rigs on Sunday, and somehow I ended up leading most of it. Was a ton of fun, even if there was a lot of traffic up there with hunting season in full swing.

Met up in North Bend before heading for Love's in Ellensburg.










Stopped at Reecer Creek Snopark to air down before getting to the fun stuff.

 

Our first stop wasn't far up from the Snopark. Someone called on the radio saying they needed to stop and bundle up their dog cause they were shivering. Come to find out, it wasn't anyone in our group. It was someone else on the same GMRS frequency, lol.




Was very glad my buddy Mike showed up to help out on the run. Wouldn't be doing anything like this if it weren't for the driver of this sweet Ranger.




I couldn't get enough of this Colorado. Gorgeous rig.




Having Mike along also meant he knew about the Tronsen Ridge trail. Not everyone could safely fit, so we left a couple Raptors and a couple other rigs worried about pinstriping behind, but met back up with them soon after.















The Beehive Washout is always pretty fun. This is the Birthday Boy's Colorado. He just got the build "done" a couple days ago.

 

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE! Looks like an absolutely AMAZING trip! FOMO4REAL!

Great share!

 

My new tires rubbed my mudflaps off and on the entire day. It made me think of you!!

 

idk what you're talking about!

 

Thank!! Was a great time. Hopefully I'll get to do more of this stuff in the future. Finally meeting some people that wanna get out there!

 

FB Memory today! It's been ten years since I picked up my 2011 Tacoma DCSB TRD OR. The first and only street legal vehicle I've ever purchased!

 

Obviously not Tacoma specific, but I had dropped my Yoho in the back yard to use the truck and make some modding of the camper easier. Decided to test out the softer Froli settings and some foam and mattress topper in addition to the standard mattress. It's SUPER comfy now. Slept great Saturday night and didn't wanna get outta the bed in the morning.



10 nights for the Yoho!

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/step-by-step-diy-alternator-replacement.384165/#post-10533195

Thanks to the above post, my camping trip up to Larrabee State Park here in Washington wasn't a no-go. My Battery light had come on the day before we took off, but it had happened once a few months before after I had aired up all my tires with my on board air without running the truck. Battery charged up and all was good. I figured I had left the lights on too long when I was loading the camper or something. As we got further north on the way from Kent to Larrabee, a few miles before Everett my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Truck was running fine, but ABS/Airbag/TractionControl/EVERY light was on. We were in 20-30 mph traffic so I kept rolling for a good exit. Pretty soon I was calling to my friends following in their 4runner to let them know I was exiting. No answer on my Ham radio. Then I realized the Ham was off, as was EVERYTHING in the cab. Even my speedometer wasn't working. Got off the freeway with nearly zero engine power left, and coasted to a stop at a stop light. People proceeded to pull around my on the shoulder where I was trying to move my truck. It was two lanes too... not sure what the hurry was. O well. Used my jump packs to get me over the overpass and into a shell station parking lot where we used the above instructions to go buy what we needed and swap out the Alternator. Luckily they had one in stock a lil over a mile away at an Autozone. Bummer was that I took out my Tool Bag and put my RC car in it's place. Had to buy all the tools, lol. Didn't think I'd need any as this trip wasn't with my ATVs. It will come on all trips from now on.







Only Picture of the truck/camper I took the whole weekend. We stopped for breakfast on the way home Sunday morning. Wished I had taken some in the shell parking lot for posterity, lol. My friend really saved me. I had told them to head on camping without us, and he helped us decided this was part of the adventure. Few hours later, and we were on our way! The girls even had a chance to go hang out at a nearby bar while we worked. Overall, good memorable trip!




12 nights in the Scout now!

 

Dude! that sucks your alternator crapped out; that spot looks absolutely stunning though!!

 

I'm just glad we didnt let it ruin the weekend!

 

Wife thought a canopy might be a good idea again for when not hauling the camper. I let her know it wasn't the easiest thing to take off and reinstall all the time. Decided to look for a tonneau on FB marketplace and found a good deal on an Undercover SE missing the truckside hardware. Was left at a home after renters moved out. I bought the hardware and new keys and got it installed this afternoon. Supposedly only 1 minute to take off, as it clips into the truck side and has two thumb screw to lock it on.





Honestly wasn't a fan if the single piece tilt ones like this, but it was a great deal and should be easy to swap on and off as needed.

 

I can't stop laughing at how crazy tall the rear is without anything on it besides a bumper LOL

The tonneau cover is nice to have, I need to replace the struts in mine; I might just buy the Redline hood struts at the same time and have a strutactular day haha

We miss you guys, we'll have to coordinate another trip, or just use Avants as an excuse to hang out with my buddy

 

It's always weird for a day or two after loading/unloading the camper. Feels like I'm gonna slide forward off the seat after removing, or like I'm super nose high right after loading it up.

Definitely look forward to planning some camping trips in the new year. Don't know whether or not I'll be there, but have you checked out https://www.overlandexpo.com/pacific-northwest/ ?

Not cheap, but it can be pretty cool to see everyone's setups and decide what you like/dislike.

 

Haha that was basically my plan for joining TW and the PNW Fellowship. Much cheaper

 

Finally getting around to posting a couple pics from our trip down to see the family for Christmas. Was gonna camp up in the foothills of the Olympics near my grandparents, but snow was getting deep fast and coming down hard. Decided I didn't want to wake up to a foot of snow on top of the 8 inches I was already driving in. This first pic is on the way back down. Ended up camping in my grandparents field Christmas Eve. Was the first night we could sleep with the fireplace on low all night. Usually it was too hot and we'd have to turn it off. Was prolly low to mid 20s.




Night after Christmas camped out in my parents' driveway. Used an extension cord and ran an electric space heater all night. Definitely not as much output as the fireplace, but was still comfy in there.



That makes 14 nights in the Scout.

 

Decided to make weekend before last an impromptu 3 day weekend and made reservations at the KOA in Leavenworth. Then they proceeded to get like 4 feet of snow and all the passes were closed. Luckily they let us move our reservation to the following weekend (MLK weekend). Having the electrical hookups kept us from using any propane for the weekend. Just ran a small 1500 watt space heater while at camp.




Lotta dear in the campground, I think I counted 8 or 9, including one small buck, a 2 point.




We did Ludwig's for dinner Saturday night and it was delicious. Well, my meal was. My wife was not impressed with the chicken and potatoes. As we ate, we noticed a lot of people heading into the back of the restaurant, along with a guy with a bass or some type of large string instrument. Apparently they had a larger seating area back there and were gonna be playing some polka music. We moved down there after eating for awhile. Was a good time.




And always my favorite part of a good trip, BREAKSFAST! Louie's Cafe was a good choice, for sure.




Last but not least, we hit the Leavenworth Ski Hill for some tubing before heading home. Lines were crazy Sunday afternoon, so came back early Monday morning shortly after they opened and there were no lines at all.




Overall great trip. Leavenworth is a lot nicer when not doing just a day trip. Also helps when there are FAR fewer people than usual. I think the fear of all the snow helped a lot.


16 nights.

 

Rescued my buddy's Ford ExploDer Friday night. Apparently one of the spark plugs decided it wanted to escape.




And then on Saturday night he helped me rescue my sister's trailer. Someone tried to steal it while she was outta town, but failed (3:35am-3:38am, in and out in less than three minutes per neighbor's Ring camera). They pulled the emergency breakaway though, and the tires locked up. They left it in front of a neighbor's house half a block away. Unfortunately it was a steep downhill street and sometime between 8:30am when a neighbor saw it parked on the street and when he got home a couple hours later the battery ran outta juice and the trailer rolled into another neighbor's hard. Only superficial damage to the yard, and the trailer, thank God. Coulda been way worse. The battery cables were even melted from holding the brakes for somewhere between 5 and 7 hours straight. Lucky it didn't catch fire. Keep those trailer brake batteries in good shape, may save you big time!!!