5th gen 4Runners in scenic locations

Just took that general route when traveling from Santa fe NM to Ridgeway CO to visit friends this past summer. There is some breath-taking scenery and white knuckle driving out that way!

 

Oh, for sure! I only moved to Colorado in February, so there is still tons of exploring I want to do, but what I've seen so far is an off-roader's paradise. Here's a couple more:

 

4WD came in handy. South Lake Tahoe, CA.

 

Not to smart taking photos on the side of a snowy highway....

 

Here?



Pre-4R in 2015...

 

Lucky guess...

 

30A across from STINKYS

 

Took these early this morning after getting off work. Might not be "scenic" by some standards, but the mist/fog gave it a "creepy" look/feel to it.

 

Drew, your license plate makes me laugh every time I see it. Just awesome. Haha And great looking rig as well.

 

Thanks... If ya know, ya know. First choice they denied was, "NFDEL."

 

My front yard!! There is a Gen 2 across the street!

 

Looks pretty, but that a huge "HELL NAW" for me.

 

Infidel I get but at the risk of sounding like an R I don't get your actual plate. I gotta know!!???

 

It's a Samuel L. Jackson quote from Pulp Fiction... "I'm a Mushroom Cloud Laying Motherf***er, Motherf***er!" It's a popular acronym for spec ops folks. The "DV" I'm assuming is, "Disabled Veteran".

 

Brilliant!

 

Correct...

 

SLJ is so great. And he has such a soothing voice for children’s story books:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ma-7jb9vEjA&has_verified=1

 

Mammoth Mtn Dec 2022

 

Kudos for braving that storm!

 

I love the way you’ve low key tied the blue in from grill to top. Very clean and classy. Nice rig all around. Welcome to the forum.

 

Took the pup for a drive on Gold Camp Road/ Old Stage Rd this morning. It was 21 degrees and gorgeous.

 

Gold Camp near Susanville? Love that area.

 

No, sorry, on the backside of Cheyenne Mountain (AKA: "NORAD"), between Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek.

 

Looks cool regardless.

 

Thanks! But you're right, Susanville area is awesome as well. Being a recent CA transplant to CO, I've done a bit of riding in both areas. Haha

 

India and I sought the cold, snow, and overcast in Flagstaff, AZ last week to learn what happens when there is no sun to charge the batteries. Knowing that most of the 400ah lithium battery bank energy is used between dinner, sleeping, and breakfast, and when there is no sunlight to charge the battery, I purposely went about it in a laissez-faire manner to see what happens. I knew we could always pack up our toys and drive home anytime.

The first night I went about it a bit too distracted blowing the invertor's 300amp fuze by using the induction stove (1800 watts) and Ninja Foodi (1800 watts) at the same time, as if at home. After changing the blown fuze, we were up and running again. With the electric heater (1500 watts) cycling through the night, a 12v electric blanket, and a sleeping bag we managed to stay warm during the night.

Very early the next morning, we woke up to snowplowing around us as we were boondocking in the Snowbowl ski area parking lot, and they were getting ready for the crowds that day post-snow.

After breakfast and a short hike, and the battery bank at 13.0v, we climb down to ~8k feet above sea level to drive around in order to charge the battery before bedtime again. With nothing else to do and knowing I had a nail in the front passenger tire for over a month, I thought to remove the nail and plug it just to see how much effort that would take. A lot! Once fixed, we drove around to recharge the batteries and finally settled in with the battery at 13.4v after making dinner.

The second night it was much colder and eventually reached 5F by sunrise. That night the electric heater cycled most of the night and eventually drained the battery to 11v before it shut down. Rather than drive home in the middle of the night, I ran the vehicle engine to charge the battery and continue to use the heater but more conservatively. Skipping breakfast, we headed home at sunrise.

Lesson learned, doable but must be conservative with battery vulnerability in cold weather.

That said, and for comic relief, here are two words with the same definition--Courage is knowing something is going to hurt and doing it anyway. Stupid is knowing something is going to hurt and doing it anyway.

Stay warm.