Driving a Tacoma around the world

Thanks Hugh! We're a little slack in updating it but we'll get better.

Very nice about the 130, is it the pickup version? Do you have some pics? That is one of the very short list of alternatives i considered to the Tacoma.

 

Yes it's the pickup, had an inspection done and they sent a bunch of pictures but they were all close ups so above is the best I could find. The 3000 lb payload along with a couple other things is what pushed us to the 130. I just hope we don't have to many problems on the road.

 

Defender owners call little things like replacing alternators and steering box rebuilds as maintenance but the beauty is that it will get you anywhere. You’ll have fun!

 

Wild camping in the Warner mountains


Was a beautiful cool night at 6,000 feet. Now we’re off to Nevada

 

Tip for ya. Everything in Monaco is expensive including air to breath. I stayed in Ventimiglia, Italy and the cost was half as much. Then leave in the morning and visit Monte Carlo, then get the hell out...lol. Same thing with Nice, France. Stay in Villefranche-sur-Mer, and visit Nice in the morning...
Zim

 

Thanks Dave! Love that part of Europe, had good memories as a 20-something walking along the beaches

 

The iconic shot of Delicate arch at Arches National Park, sure we had it all to yourselves, regarding that bridge I’m selling...


Only if i could have gotten a photo of the truck there

 

What day of the week were you at Delicate Arch? We stopped by on Saturday (3 days ago) and the parking lot was so full we couldn’t even park!

I hope you got to see some other sights in the area. This was our first trip to Southern Utah with our Tacoma. Bryce, Hile in the Rock Road Canyoneering, Capitol Reef, and Moab were overwhelmingly amazing.

Here is a slot canyon we did in Capitol Reef. Not for the claustrophobic!

 

Hastings road outside of green river Utah
Great place to camp right along the green river
Without the Moab crowd.

 

Dang! Almost connected. We were in the parking lot this Monday morning around 8 am, we knew its super crowded. We’re probably coming back to Utah in October, need to check out Capital Reef that is if the truck’s not already on a boat

 

Nice! We’re looking for a nice wild camping site for Friday and Saturday night around the Moab/green river area. We chickened out on driving on the 4wd roads in the Needles area of Canyonlands, might be to tight for the truck.

 

You should try and get a permit and do the white rim trail it’s not hard and very beautiful camping
But yeah hasting road is Pretty chill spot. Just drive right past the public campground and there is a couple spots up the way right near the beach

 

If you're in Goblin Valley and are experienced, geared up and feeling adventurous, here's an idea for you!

https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/t/utah/san-rafael-swell/goblins-lair

https://www.climb-utah.com/SRS/goblinslair.htm

As mentioned, boondocking is decent. I've tent camped in that area (NW of park) many times. There are also a bunch of decent hikes all over the front side of the San Rafael Reef in the area.

 

I continue with completing stuff on the truck. I had to figure out a storage spot for the mosquito netting which when rolled is 5” by 50”. Moving it in and out every time we packed up was a pain so I had this idea:

The netting slides into two 6” pieces of 6” plastic pipe attached to the camper overhang with an upside down ubolt hanger drilled through with 9” bolts. The head of the bolt is only 1/4” off of the truck roof; hopefully things won’t flex that much!

Next project was adding a plexiglass faring in the front of the camper over hang.

I’m hoping it will improve gas mileage, reduce wind noise, and keep bugs off of the near-inaccessible camper front wall. It’s clear 1/4” plexiglass hanging in the gap between the camper and the top of the taco. Bending it was easy using a propane torch and some hep from a friend.



Only 4 more mods on the list to go.

 

Found two excellent wild campsites all to ourselves between Moab UT and Durango CO.

Just east of Canyonlands


In Valley of the Ancients National Monument

Truck and camper are working well in the 95 degree heat.

 

Curious how this fairing works out. I’ve been considering doing the same on my truck

 

So far it is working very well. Wind noise is a fair amount reduced and it seems gas mileage might be up 0.5 mpg. If you have a cabover camper what I have realized is you must maintain at least a half inch gap between the camper and the faring as it flexes on bumpy roads and the faring can hit the top of the truck. The actual bending of the plexiglass and drilling and mounting was pretty simple

 

Are you heading south by any chance? BTW, there's some unusually cold weather coming midweek. NM has freeze warnings as far south as ABQ.