'She's Gonna Kill Me' - Build and Existential/Financial Crisis Thread

Since I did not keep a diary for the last 3 weeks and kept you all in suspense, in the following posts I will provide a bit of a memoir..

6,215 miles. 23 days. 120 hours 39 minutes behind the wheel, 106 hours 14 minutes moving, 14 hours 24 minutes stopped or idling.

32 Fill ups, $1572.19 in fuel, avg $49.13 per fill up.

Average MPG: 12.8

Best MPG was 14.62mpg coming east across Wyoming from Jackson
Worst MPG was 11.33 coming across Missouri (Not sure what I was doing, unless I had a nasty headwind..)

Weight: atrocious..
Aerodynamics: lets not.

 

While I didnt have any breakdowns, I did pick up a nasty whine in the rearend, one of my new 12" smoothies started leaking, and I have a pretty ugly rattle on washboard roads coming from the front driver's side. Also if I run the wheel back and forth at low speed I get a clunk of sorts. I have a slow leak in one of my tires. And there is just an all around rattle and clank kinda vibe going on..

What I looked like:



What I sound like:



Changed the rearend oil twice and changed the engine oil once while on the trail. (Didnt get pic of first rear diff change). Used a M-301M oil filter from Mobil 1 which is over twice the size of a Toyota filter, which gave me a little more oil volume for the ride home and figured might as well since I forgot to bring a OEM filter with me..

 

No Reservations

Anthony Bourdain maybe would approve?

This how my Dad and I have traveled most of my life. We pick the first destination and then just go where whim takes us from there. We always have an idea, but one thing we have learned is the more plans, the more reservations, the more schedules seem to lead to more expectations and more pressure and more likely more disappointments.

Of the 22 nights out, 2 were with friends in Kansas City(once there and once back), 1 was with family in Kalispell, and 2 were in hotels. Only 2 locations did we camp two nights, the rest of the camps were one night, so had 15 unique camps.

The only reservations were the first camp at Grand Teton NP which was comped to me, and our last night stay before my dad flew home from Jackson, where we stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Teton NP, which was also comped.

All other camping was dispersed in National forests or BLM land, with two nights in a National Forest designated campground. We did not pay for a single night's camping. The only stay we paid for the entire trip was the stay at a Sleep Inn in Missoula Montana. That was also coincidentally the only showers we had on the trip until the Jackson Lake Lodge the last night. It got pretty funky, but I did take a couple bucket baths during the trip.. Which reminds me the truck smells a little rank..
*Edit for maths

 

Trip went like this...
Day 1: Left Knoxville and drove to KC, stayed with friends
Day 2: Drove to WY, camped in desert. Rear diff started whining driving across Nebraska. Awesome. Wicked Storm rolled by this night, tore off my rain fly. Packed tent back up in storm, slept in dog's bed in cab of truck, Sadie not amused.
Day 3: Picked up Dad in Jackson at noonish, Camped in Jenny Lake Campground, Grand Teton NP. Repaired rain fly with paracord. Huge mule deer buck was chilling right near our campsite, then a fox cruised by.. It was hot. So Smokey you could hardly see peaks.
Day 4: Worked half day at Jackson Lake Lodge, drove to Bear Canyon, Pryor Mountains, MT. Camped in canyon
Day 5: Hot as Heck and dusty(95 degrees). Hunted Black and White Fortified Agates, Camped same site. Changed rear diff oil, was pretty black and ugly. Gnarly Storm Blew in, got dressed at 1 am in case tent ripped apart, but it held, no problem kids!
Day 6: Woke up it was 55 degrees, storm blew in a cold front. Drove around area looking for fossils, then hit road to Judith Peak, about 100 miles north of Billings. Camped in woods near peak.
Day 7: Hunted Double terminated quartz crystals at Judith Peak, drove east to Arrow Creek and busted open some honkers of septarian nodules, drove to Strawberry Butte, just south of Helena, and camped on side of road near top of butte. Kinda Rainy day, but just misting mostly.
Day 8: Dried up a bit. Hunted Topaz Crystals at Strawberry Butte, and then drove to Pat's Gulch. Hunted Garnet and Epidote specimens at Pat's Gulch and camped.
Day 9: Drove towards White House Campground south and west of Helena, stopped at Boulder River just off interstate, and found some Barite Specimens, caught a nice Rainbow Trout along the way. Camped that night at White House Campground.
Day 10: Hunted Barite crystals near campground, and fished for trout the rest of the day in the Boulder River.. Caught a creel full of nice Brook Trout, with a couple rainbows. I have eaten most every trout you can catch in the US and small pan sized brook trout are my hands down favorite.. Saw a bull moose just below our camp. another wild storm this night. Loudest thunder I have ever heard. Turns out camp was at junction of Thunderbolt creek and Boulder River, go figure..
Day 11: Drove through Butte going up Big Hole River to Calvert Hill mine in National Forest, but forest was closed due to fire. Decided to go to Crystal Park further south. Backtracked a little and drove up Wise River and found a place to camp right on the river. Had pan fried ribeyes for dinner, which were killer. (no campfires allowed the entire trip due to fire risk, except first night at Grand Teton NP)
Day 12: Hunted for crystals at Crystal Park, camped at different spot on Wise River kinda near fist, and fished for trout during afternoon. Caught a few Brookies for sport and released them.
Day 13: Went back north and east of Helena to dig Sapphires. Afterwards camped up dead end road in hills above Missouri River sapphire area. Sadie had a stand off with a Angus bull, but I stepped in so they could settle down. I grew up around cattle, and Angus bulls are pretty docile compared to others so I wasnt too worried.. Sadie just thought that Bull should pick a different route then through our camp..
Day 14: Drove to Cooper's Lake area to hunt Pyrite cubes in mountains. Then drove to Missoula to get a hotel. That shower was well overdue..
Day 15: Drove to Kalispell to visit family. Went for Pizza, then hung out with fam, and slept in travel trailer on street, "almost like camping..!"
Day 16: Headed towards Idaho. Took a detour through a Buffalo Preserve and ended up caught in the middle of a heard on the gravel road. Pretty fantastic experience. Continued South and west and found a wide spot in the road up in the NF above Clark Fork River, near St Regis.
Day 17: Changed rear diff oil again, looked much better, but still rear still whines. Fished the Clark Fork a bit, then continued on back towards Butte and south to Idaho. Our next stop was Cinder Butte east of Spencer, ID which was now a municipal gravel pit and closed to collecting and camping. We arrived there after dark, so then shot north into the hills to hopefully find a place to camp. Found a great spot up in the Nf there which ended up a beautiful spot when we woke the next day.
Day 18: Changed Engine oil, Drove to Spencer to Visit Spencer Opal Mine Store. No collecting allowed, so bought a couple opal specimens and headed west. Stopped at a road cut near Liddy Hot springs to look at rocks, then carried on through Arco, ID and up into mountains just north. Awesome ride up Pass Creek Canyon, and camped on side of road near Lime Creek. Had sautéed shrimp for dinner, another excellent meal!
Day 19: Hiked way up Lime Creek, found some really sweet agates, and wore ourselves out on the side of that mountain above creek. Drove to Bitch Creek to look at a roadcut that sucked, couldn't find anything. Fun fact, Bitch Creek was the only creek or river this trip that didn't have a sign naming the creek on the road. after poking around here, shot up into the hills again in the national forest looking for a camp. This Nf sucked, but we eventually found a wide spot in the road to camp. This was our last camp and kinda sad.
Day 20: Headed back to Jackson. Shipped Dads rocks home, and went to Lodge to check in. Drank a few beers at lodge and re-organized the truck. Had cocktails at the cocktail lounge in Lodge overlooking the Grand Tetons(big titties in English) then Prime Rib at then restaurant. It was a great night and we drank too much.
Day 21: Slept like shit. Took Dad to airport, said goodbye. Drove across Wyoming through Casper, then into Nebraska. Nebraska sucks by the way. total shit-hole. Camping is difficult to find, they dont take same day reservations or walk-in reservations at any state parks, and its all private land and fences and gates. You cannot even find a dead end road to camp on. Just sucks. So I drove around until I found a recreation area that had the shittiest low effort camp sites you ever saw. And they wanted $23 a night. I tried to get change for a $100 at the visitor center but the guy saw me coming and locked the door while staring at me getting out of my truck(it was right at closing time for them) and scurried off before I could get to it and knock. I ran into an attendant on a 4 wheeler after I picked the least worst campsite they had, and he said sorry and to settle up tomorrow when they open at 10. 10? Ha, I was to be on the road by 7. So I pirated the shit out of that crappy ass site and yeeted out the next morning without paying.. That and this was the first place with biting bugs the whole trip. Thanks Nebraska.
Day 22: Drove to Kansas City. One of the Pilot Travel Centers in eastern Nebraska has marijuana growing off the side of the parking lot where I walked Sadie. Thought about trimming some of the mostly seed-bud for my pot-head neighbor as a joke, but figured it would be just my luck to get busted interstate trafficking the nastiest ditch weed you ever saw.. Had a nice evening with friends.
Day 23: Drove final stretch to Knoxville.


Pictures to follow, maybe later..

 

Camp Pics in chrono order(missing one or two nights):

 

Illicits!

Nebraska Ditch Weed. Like everything else there, it was crappy.



Mushrooms on poop. I didnt eat them..

 

Critters

Saw tons of deer, antelope and a few elk. Only took a few pictures of each as most were further out than I could reasonably take with my meager equipment and have be interesting..

Saw one 2nd year or so Bull Moose but all I have is a shaky ass video that may cause epilepsy so I need to find some video stabilization software to try to tighten it up.

Prairie Rattlesnake I guess, but more white(less tan) than I have seen them.. Pryor Mts


One of the Highlights of the trip:



Mule Deer Buck (fat sucker) Grand Tetons NP


Rainbow Trout from Boulder River


Brook Trout Boulder River


Trout as the good lord intended..


Ruffed Grouse, on a dumbness scale of 1 to chicken, these things fail to make the rankings..


Bull Elk Chillin


Cow Elk Grazing the creek bottom..



Tatonka


White Tail Doe


Mantis


White Tail fawn and doe

 

Super jealous of your adventure, even more jealous thinking about 30 days off work!!!

 

Haha yeah and it still went by too dang fast.. My work wasn't crazy about it but didnt give me too hard a time I guess. I tried not to advertise it about the place..

I just realized you are in Treasure Valley. Way back I helped my cousin get a Cattle ranch going north of there just off the Weiser river near Council. I love it out there.

 

Glad you've got a gig like that!

Yes! I am loving it too, real recently moved here but we intend to make it home... I keep telling people it sucks though, maybe that way they won't move here too!

 

Ha I hear that!

 

I love my dog.. Seeing her happy makes me happy.. Dont judge me..

Fav pics of her from the trip..

Strawberry Butte


Car Snacks


Pat's Gulch


Helena NF


Boulder River


Wildcat Rec Area, Neb


My Dad and Sadie, Pass Creek Rd, Id


Enjoying a 'Harvey Cone' from Burgertown, Big Fork, MT


Some of them mornings were Chilly..



Strawberry Butte

 

Rafted the Gauley River in WV with a buddy of mine Saturday.. It was badass.. Biggest river I have rafted, and had plenty of class IV and Class V+ rapids to keep it interesting. We did the Lower portion(about 5 hours), which I heard afterwards is pretty tame compared to the Upper. Will definitely be doing the whole thing next year. The Gauley high season is 5 weeks in Sept-Oct when the dam dumps pretty hard. I had the sweet spot front left. Camped a couple nights on ACE property which ended up being one giant party amongst all our surrounding camps. Was def not feeling 100% heading to the river.. Didnt get any pics of the camp really except one of my truck..

 

Badass!!! Looks fun!

 

She's going to kill me! I'm already dead she shot me 1 year ago. Nice Pics OP!

 

It was a trip.. I really think I have the rafting bug after that experience. been looking at best rafting in the US, and The Salmon river made the list of top 10.

 

Haha I hear that! And Thanks!

 

Since the last trip have not been getting much done lately to '2014 Magnetic Gray Mica Double Cab Short Bed Tacoma with Off Road Package'. Had a job out of town and followed by a family emergency in Florida(all is good now).

This week I was able to change my oil, and also pulled my Total Chaos UCAs off of my Blue FJ to install on my Taco and replace the FJ's UCAs with some Camburgs I got cheap and rebuilt. The Total Chaos UCAs I will put on the Taco and rebuild the SPCs again and maybe install them on my other FJ which had the Long Travel setup.. Its all kind of a mess but whatever. The Log Travel FJ(the Pig) has shock tower gussets so the cambugs did not fit. I am hoping the SPCs do but we will see.

Also picked up a set of slightly used Wet Okole seat covers for the front seats. My GF was a professional cleaner in another life and was able to get them looking pretty much like new. Let me tell you the Wet Okole really are the best. I have Cover Kings now and they are not even close to the same quality. This was probably the best used item purchase of the last year. I have been on the lookout as the Cover King drivers seat is getting to its end of life and I have always wanted to try the Wet Okoles but couldnt stand the thought of paying full price...

Also, wanted to show the difference between the Mobil 1 Ford Ranger filter I installed in Idaho compared to a stock Toyota Filter.. Honestly if I didnt already have a dozen or so Toyota filters I would switch to the Mobil 1, for two reasons: increased thermal mass, and the fact that the larger filter acts like a larger heat sink. Technically you can do two oil changes on one filter this sized, but I never liked that idea. Amsoil makes the same sized filter and I have used it on my FJ. The Toyota filters are premium filters, no doubt, but these Mobil 1 filters are pretty nice..

 

Little birthday camping this past weekend with @Newlife and the girls. Had a great time. A little chilly but imo perfect camping weather.

 

Smoked a bird for thanksgiving.. It was a hit! We also had a bacon wrapped turducken, which was really good..