addicted or afflicted. You decide.

[MOAK]

In two and a half weeks we are headed west once again. This time in the dead of winter. First stop, Buffalo Wyoming to check up on real estate. Then on over to Oroville Ca for Christmas celebrations. Eventually we will head south to Death Valley, then east to Great Basin, Grand Staircase, and the Moab region. Once we have had our fill of Moab, (we always gotta take in the Moab region seemingly on every trip, I think it is either an addiction or an affliction) then on down to the Painted Desert, then head east through Gila, traversing the back roads of New Mexico ending up at Big Bend Ranch & Big Bend NP. All in all between an 8,000 and 10,000 mile round trip. Our gear keeps us warm down to around 15 degrees so the temps will dictate our travels. For instance, if we learn that Great Basin NP is rather nasty and below zero at night then we'll keep heading south to Mohave and Joshua Tree NP, etc etc. I just hate the idea of being anywhere near Los Angeles or Las Vegas. (been there, done that). No matter what the temps, we will be camping somewhere in the Moab region. We'd love to see a bit of snow upon the red.
The only deadlines we must meet will to be getting to Oroville by the 24th and back home before the end of January.

Nonetheless, anyone interested in joining us for a bit while we are out and about PM me and we'll make arrangements..

With any luck at all I'm hoping to tell an even better story than my last one. Enjoy !!
https://tlca.org/toyotatrails/2018/1112/html5.html

 

[SubeeBen]

Look forward to your adventures. Do forget to share your trip. Good luck & safe travels.

 

[MOAK]

Hmmmm,,, trip changed dramatically... I assure myself that all things happen for a reason... anyone remember when Micheals radiator blew up? Same here, along with the front heater core. Immediately after the blow up I turned off the engine as I watched the temp climb rapidly. All this in Illinois along interstate 74. It’s still in the shop as now we are waiting on a rebuild of our heater core.. soooo, we rented a car and have been visiting family in Nor Cal, visited Buffalo Wyoming, and am now in Longmont Colorado.. Hopefully we can pick our beloved Landcruiser next Wednesday or Thursday, get back home, and begin planning for our next trip.. wheew!!

 

[MOAK]

Lessons learned:: Do not ignore a weeping heater core for three years.
Ours leaked less than a cup of coolant a year for three years. I ignored it. When the truck was humming along quite nicely, the heater core blew the tiny crack wide open. My wife heard the slight whistle, I heard the "POP", and instantly there was steam on the windshield. Then, bang! The hood popped a bit and steam roiled out. I immediately thought 'save the engine' and turned the key off. This all happened in just about 2 seconds. As it all turned out, because of the heater core's instant failure, the coolants lost it's pressure and began to boil immediately, thereby causing the radiator to become shrapnel, taking out the fan belts, the cowling, etc etc. Fortunately a relatively cheap lesson. We enjoyed ourselves visiting family in Nor Cal and metro Denver. However, we had a great time driving about in Wyoming. We spent New Years eve in a very quiet Mexican Cafe' , drove and walked around in the cold and snow. I feel fortunate to have discovered this hip little town that we will be moving to in the next couple of years. Living there will bring the entire west to our back yard and get us the heck off of this over populated eastern seaboard. Oh,, Big Bend in March. We thought about heading down there after we picked up our truck, but decided it was time to get back home instead.. peace out