A Guy A Girl and a Trail: Adventures in a 4Runner Limited

I got a rear bumper update, mine materials are 3 bumpers away from going to the welding station to start assembly.

It’s been 15 weeks and 3 days so far, stupid COVID shutdowns!

 

Ever fish in those waters? If so what you catch?

 

Nope. Honestly I would rather sit in a corner and watch paint dry on the walls than fish. I have less then zero interest in fishing, which sucks because my son has mentioned a few times he’d like to try fishing. I feel like it’s a just a matter of time until he’s older and I have to take him. lol

 

Hey No worries to each his own! I'm from Me. & I don't eat any seafood. once a year maybe tuna fish sandwich/mayo or Miracle whip/Starkist White Albacore In spring water, gotta have LOTS of Potato chips. Have cousins in the biz back in Freeport/Bath/Brunswick Me. Love to fish, catch & release Unless the fish is something a friend would eat. When I worked out shore on Platform My pilot loved me gave him ALL the Red Snapper and other fish. Just like to catch BIGGEST I can!! Going out on local fresh water "Lake" Army Corp of Engineers reservoir. Keeps the wifey happy to relax/float on her tube!!

 

Guessing I ordered the same one. A friend bought the Ryobi and said it didn’t do more than a garden sprinkler

 

If you look at the specs on a lot of that stuff they are for “3300 psi” pressure washers. I have harbor freight poverty spec electric piece of shit that tops out at 1750ish psi because all I use it for is cleaning off the patio, spraying down the house every spring, and knocking crusty dirt off the truck, I’m certainly not trying to strip paint. The sprayer I got would certainly do better with more power behind it, but it serves it purpose just fine.

 

I think mine is 3500 psi so I’ll let you know when it gets here tomorrow

 

I got a shipping notification, I have the dumbest f’n new part coming lol

 

Please elaborate

 

You’ll have to wait to see what stupid looking mod I paid way to much money for. I’m certainly not proud, but it IS functional lol

In the meantime, I made a video.

After some trial and error testing out different products and processes, this is what we’ve found to work really well for us in our current setup. Food storage, packing, camp setup, emergency supplies, kitchen equipment, electrical, sat comms, etc, tried to touch on everything a little bit. It’s always going to be an evolving setups, we’re always tweaking things in the pursuit of saving time, effort, weight, or space.

https://youtu.be/BlBNm57lNP0

 

Any update on the forth coming ridiculousness??

 

Wow I want So many things from your set-up. I already have the Streamlight “The Siege”. I use it for a 360* anchor light for my boat on night trips. I gave one to my old boss for Christmas too. Said it saved his ass when he lost power..

 

USPS is notoriously terrible at mail delivery in my town and unfortunately they shipped USPS, so a Thursday scheduled delivery has turned into the no estimated delivery day and the package has left Denver 3 days ago and hasn’t been scanned in anywhere since (I’m like 40 minutes from downtown Denver). So who knows what’s going to happen. I have another package coming, a Raingler cargo area attic but not actually Raingler... aparently the owners got divorced and the wife was sewing the products for Raingler for like 7 years now, so she started her own company to competent against them. She’s made the net with milspec wedding and the mesh (from Raingler if you order webbing + mesh you only get the cheaper non milspec version) for half of what Raingler charges. So sleeping bag and pillow storage is coming soon. That was supposed to get delivered on the 17th, it didn’t. So I checked the tracking number and it said failed delivery attempt at 2:18pm. First of all I was home, nobody came, second of all I have cameras on my house, I can prove nobody came. So today I go get the mail for the first time in a few days (never construction home so we have the community mailbox down the street that has like 20 boxes at one little kiosk thingy), in my mail box there is a the stick on note saying we tried to deliver your package but nobody was there to sign for it.... yeah no shit, I didn’t spend my day down the block at a community mailbox waiting for a mailman to eventually come. WTF?!

So we’ll see.

but I just got back from another trip and another one is coming up Tuesday, more pics coming soon, when I find the time.

 

I rarely use it, just the red light during bug season for middle of night pee breaks but’s it’s an awesome little light. I will say I wish it wasn’t D batteries, something rechargeable would be nice, but then again it’s ice it’s just toss the old one and drop in some new ones vs paying for a new lithium ion pack when it dies.

 

That’s awesome to hear, it’s nice to know I’m not a total dumbass and someone can find value in my opinion


New thing I tried this week... Therm-a-rest Synergy fitted sheet for the pad. The XL is a perfect for the the long/wide Roamer pad. You can’t tether them with the individual sheets but I believe they also make a double wide setup. I’ve slept on it the past 3 nights camping and I really like it, all the Roamer comfort but with a softer, smoother, machine washable surface.

 

Who is making the new nets? Company name, would like something like that as well for field stuff

 

https://toyotanets.com/ but the website just launched and doesn’t have a whole lot listed. You can use Rainglers website to come up with you want then email her (amycraigdesigns@gmail.com) about it.

I haven’t received mine yet, it’s sitting at the post office awaiting pick up, but she’s seems reputable. She was quick to make and ship it and I got a legit invoice emailed to me to pay after discussing it with her (as in not just “PayPal me $x)

 

My buddy and I decided to take the minions on a camping trip. It was... interesting. They don't normally camp and it definitely showed, but we had a pretty good time none the less. It was right in time for a cold spell in general, up at 9000 feet it was down in the 30s at night. We got a bit of rain as well. Exploring we found cave, that was pretty cool.


Having some breakfast on the way out (we got Kongs - eggs, bacon, ham, cheese, and hash browns on a sub roll). Some dude rolled up in a beat ass old lowered cambered out Subaru Forester and asked me if I would be interested in trading vehicles lol.










Find the climber


Easier to see him here








Rain was coming












Catching bugs


Collecting firewood

 

Rain with some light snow and hail


Watching Captain America in the rain










That's all the smile he could muster up standing in fresh snowmelt lol








The RV leveling blocks are his responsibility, he packs and unpacks them, he sets them up (with help), takes them down, and cleans them off when we get home.


Tired kid, but he only got 1 full day to relax and recover before we were back at it again.

 

Enjoy having your helper as long as you can. My son decided that after we get back from anything, he's tired and needs his relax time

 

We got home from the last trip Saturday late afternoon, we had Sunday to relax, and Monday was the start of the next trip. My best friend was coming out for his annual Colorado Adventure trip, but this year instead f just me and him, we brought our kids, and his girlfriend and her son came along as well.



Day 1 - They drove through the night and arrived around 11 am Monday, we went and rode dirt on the front yard dirt singletrack, all the kids LOVED it. Then they played in the sprinkler in the back yard. My buddy butchered his cow, Optimus Prime Rib, so he brought fresh day old steaks for dinner, and then the adults hung out for the night while we packed up.


Day 2 - We loaded up the trucks and left first thing in the mourning, stopped for breakfast, stopped by RCI Metalworks, and headed out into the mountains. We did some off-roading to get to a favorite camp spot of mine, dispersed deep in a national forest 9000 feet high at the top of a valley with awesome mountain views and no active fire bans. We set up camp, had dinner, and got a fire going.


Day 3 - We had a deer stroll through camp in the morning during breakfast and then we went and exploring and hiking around. We found some remote hard to get to water and went in for a dip and found it was loaded with gold flakes! We collected a few big pieces with our fingers so we can test it to see if it’s real or not before going back. The boys practiced some bushcraft skills - collecting firewood, starting a fire, using different tools to break, split, and saw wood.


Day 4 - We got up, eat breakfast, and headed out. We had a couple of hours of dirt to get back to paved roads, we stopped at a waterfall and I picked a hike that’s scenic but relatively flat as it parallels a river. We were up high so I didn't want to kill them making them hike elevation. After our hike, we stopped at a calm spot on the river so the kids could dip their feet, then started headed home. The out of towners made the unanimous decision that they wanted to go do more off-roading so we hit a drive thru and headed back into the mountains for some close to home trail riding and we finally arrived back at home around 10 pm. Since my buddy and I only get to see each other a handful of times throughout the year we hung out in the garage drinking until around 3:30 in the morning before finally calling it a night.


Day 5 - Everyone was slow to get going but we had breakfast and went for another hike, my wife took the day off and joined us. It was slow going for some of the flatlanders but everyone made the summit, the rule is you have to make the summit in order to get a Dairy Queen Blizzard. We hiked down in some very refreshing rain then got our ice cream. We went home unpacked, cleaned up, helped repack, and then dinner. After dinner, they started the long trek home and I went to bed for the next 12 hours.


The minions used walkies to talk to each other during the drive














My buddy's pic of following me


Double rainbow at camp


Home for the next few days

 

The deer that hung out for a bit during breakfast
















If that's legit gold were definitely coming back to pan it












Playing backgammon, no electronics necessary

 

I took him to the easiest trail I knew of so he could try to fit his big ass GMC Sierra Denali HD (2500) down the trail

 

Funny story about these Osprey kid hydration packs. I got my son one so he can carry his own water (its 1.5 L bladder inside) and snacks. He uses it all the time for hiking and biking. My buddy's kid sweats like crazy and goes through a ton of water and a water bottle is never enough. So he orders one for his son and has it delivered to my house to ensure he will get it on time... so obviously I did what any sane person would do and I opened the package when it arrived, put it in a gift bag and then give it to his son as a gift from Uncle Ryan when they showed up lol


Pregnant mom made the hike




We started at sub-6000 feet so I didn't feel bad making them work for this one

 

He doesn’t have a choice, if he wants to come on adventures he has his jobs he needs to do.

He has to pack and unpack his 1 toy bin, he has to pack his clothes (then I go back and remove most it because he takes way to much), the leveling blocks are his job, the final camp walk around is his job, and if he wants to have a s’mores he has make the fire.

He handles it well for a 4 year old.

 

All 3 yours? Is that land cleared from wild fires?

 

Great lesson! Too bad more parents don't do that type of "teaching"!

 

The boy is mine, the 2 girls are my friend's kids. Some of it was fire but a lot of it was beetle kill.