The Traveling Thread

[Volunteer]

Post up pics and your story of where you've been in your cruiser. Family trips, Worldly travels, or maybe a tour where you were able to drive a cruiser. Should make a good thread. (To Isaac's credit it was his idea and he's our resident world traveler)

**note please keep event pics and comments it the event thread**

[PScottBx]

Awesome idea... I don't suppose my trip to Ziggy's and passing by your house counts??

you can delete this post

[sparkplug]

Do you like Gorillas bearing machine guns, war, and violence? Well if you do, don't go to Nicaragua because it is defiantly not like that anymore and has not been that way since the early 90's. This is a trip that my wife and daughter took in 2003. I have been back twice since that trip and never had a problem with the kind and friendly people of Nicaragua.
We spent most of our time in Granada. It is a 500 year old city that looks a lot like New Orleans. Next to Granada is a Volcano called Mombacho. It has not been active in the last 500 years. It is about 1400 meters high. We, or should I say, I elected that we should try and climb to the top in my FJ-60. Well, after a little persuasion, we were off to climb the volcano. When we arrived at the bottom we were greeted by the park rangers. I told them that I wanted to drive to the top and they said that it was not a good idea. They said that we should pay to have this huge military vehicle take us to the top. It had tires like 6 feet tall! But, it didn't look in the best of condition. My Land Cruiser was only 19 years old, pretty much brand new, right? Anyway, I convinced them to let me take my rig to the top. But before I could take off I had to sign several wavers. Just before leaving, one guy told me to turn on my heater before I started up. I pacified him and started up the mountain. I wasn't about to turn on my heater. It was like 95 degrees outside. About half way up I noticed that my temperature guage was like almost pegged. Maybe turning on my heater and rolling down the windows wasn't such a bad idea after all. 3 minutes later my temperature returned to normal but cabin temp was pretty hot. After about 30 minutes we made it to to the top in 4 low. In 4 high I couldn't get enough traction in the deep ruts. Because this was a volcano, it was mostly rock and just had a very steep grade. At the top of the volcano we went to the observatory and met a scientist who was very happy to show us a orchid that he had just found that day for the first time. A new species. It was about the size of a pen head. He showed it to us via magnifier glass. It was a awesome view from the top and we explored many trails that led us to the heart of the volcano. Needless to say, I was very proud of my cruiser. She was stock with the exception of 2 1/2 lift and 31 swampers. Oh and she had a brand new Toyota radiator. Even with the new radiator she was trying to overheat because of the steep grade!

[sparkplug]

The volcano Mombacho from Granada. Next is looking down into the volcano and my daughter and I at the top.

[sparkplug]

Pics of the city of Granada.

[sparkplug]

This pic of my cruiser is under a tunnel of fruit. The people of Granada make this for new years good luck. If you notice, my truck only takes up a distance between two poles. It is like 6 cruiser lengths long and is a solid fruit ceiling the whole way. Tons and tons of fruit.

You don't want to get to close to this volcano.

Toucan, but not Sam.

Hope you have enjoyed this.

[cajun65]

Absolutely impressive. Apparently I need to make a road trip.

[sparkplug]

Originally Posted by cajun65

Absolutely impressive. Apparently I need to make a road trip.

Thanks, and go for it!

[Volunteer]

Awesome bud, I love the thread already Our resident traveler.

After reading a trails write up about a gentlman and his Dad and their adventures in their 40. I'm planning a trip for the boy and I this summer. I'm going to drive the 40 up to Tennesse and camp at State Parks along the way up there to break up the drive in the 40. When we get to Chattanooga take the mountains through Cherokee, NC and over the Smoky's to my parent's place. Not a marvelous trip but a good father and son trip we'll both enjoy.

[sparkplug]

Originally Posted by Volunteer

Awesome bud, I love the thread already Our resident traveler.

After reading a trails write up about a gentleman and his Dad and their adventures in their 40. I'm planning a trip for the boy and I this summer. I'm going to drive the 40 up to Tennessee and camp at State Parks along the way up there to break up the drive in the 40. When we get to Chattanooga take the mountains through Cherokee, NC and over the Smokey's to my parent's place. Not a marvelous trip but a good father and son trip we'll both enjoy.

Sounds marvelous to me! Thats awesome. I drove my 60 up to Chattanooga about 10 years ago. Very nice place. Lots of Jack Daniels up there. I was on a trail and ran over a tree that popped my sidewall. I heard the sound and thought it had got the radiator. If you get a chance go to Gatlinburg. You can buy buckets of dirt for 1 dollar(well 10 years ago) and they are full of garnets, rubys, sapphires, amethyst and all sorts of cool gems. In every bucket you will get at least a handful of semi-precious gems. Your son would probably enjoy that. I know I did.

[Volunteer]

Originally Posted by sparkplug

Sounds marvelous to me! Thats awesome. I drove my 60 up to Chattanooga about 10 years ago. Very nice place. Lots of Jack Daniels up there. I was on a trail and ran over a tree that popped my sidewall. I heard the sound and thought it had got the radiator. If you get a chance go to Gatlinburg. You can buy buckets of dirt for 1 dollar(well 10 years ago) and they are full of garnets, rubys, sapphires, amethyst and all sorts of cool gems. In every bucket you will get at least a handful of semi-precious gems. Your son would probably enjoy that. I know I did.

The folks live in Pigeon Forge so that will be the destination, its 10 min down the road from Gatlenburg. I've been going there all my life and didn't know about the dollar dirt buckets I need to look into that.

[moomtazz]

I love the pictures, sparkplug. Really tempting ideas. Did you drive your 60 from the states to Nicaragua, or from Costa Rica? I've driven to California from Louisiana, and, just from glancing at a map, I'd guess Nicaragua would be twice as far. It sure would be a trip of a lifetime though. Can you get around there without knowing Spanish?

[sparkplug]

Originally Posted by moomtazz

I love the pictures, sparkplug. Really tempting ideas. Did you drive your 60 from the states to Nicaragua, or from Costa Rica? I've driven to California from Louisiana, and, just from glancing at a map, I'd guess Nicaragua would be twice as far. It sure would be a trip of a lifetime though. Can you get around there without knowing Spanish?

I drove my 60 from the US to Costa Rica, from Costa Rica to Nicaragua and from Costa to the US.
I moved from the US to Costa Rica with a 5 word Spanish Vocabulary. I learned Spanish on the trail. It takes 8 or 9 days to drive from Louisiana to Costa Rica. I averaged about 45 miles to 50 miles an hour. I only drive during the day because of livestock. You can't really see them unless you are right up on them. Some people also are worried about bandidos at night. I don't think that is much of a factor. I think finding a gas station open at midnight would be more of a concern. I have an iron pig but a 600 pound cow is not something you want to hit. Also the border crossing timing is an art form. It is very important to arrive at every border around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. You have to get through all borders by 5:00 or you will have to wait for the next day. Sometimes the only hotels are like 5 hours from the border so you don't want to have to back track 5 hours. I do not camp out. I only sleep at hotels that have locked gates for my (baby) cruiser. So, you need to have ample time to go through customs and bribe the appropriate officials to speed you through. I think my last trip was like 4200 miles one way. Driving a old cruiser, you just kinda blend in with the locals. No one messes with you or thinks that you have lots of cash. The average income in central America is like 100 dollars a month so you don't want to go down there flashing fancy cars or large sums of money. I highly recommend this trip. It changed my life and the way that I think of the world. I hope in the near future to ship my 60 to Brazil and drive it down to the tip of Chile. After that Asia. I know of over 50 people personally that have made the central American tour without a problem. Keep your wits and drink lots ofto keep you from over heating.

[cajun65]

I have a vision of taking my boys and my dad up to Utah in my Cruiser. I want to fish the Green River up there, then go see all of the dinosaur museums and then hit Moab before returning home. That's a dream of mine.

[Volunteer]

Originally Posted by cajun65

I have a vision of taking my boys and my dad up to Utah in my Cruiser. I want to fish the Green River up there, then go see all of the dinosaur museums and then hit Moab before returning home. That's a dream of mine.

You should its awesome to out West. I worked from El Paso, Tx up to Salt Lake City, UT and all the cities up I80. On my weekends I hit the trails and rode all over including the Rubicon, Moab and all the unknowns in between. Colorado was great too. I'd post pics but I was in a rent heep not worth posting. Maybe I'll post the scenic pics at least.

[sparkplug]

I have been fighting with photo bucket for hours and hours and hours. I still have not got to the cruiser pics up yet. But, what I do have is some pics of my property and some plane photos of the area as well.

I arrived in Costa and rented a Prado Land Cruiser (if that is what you want to call it). It was pretty lame. Pics of it will come later.:shotts: It was very under powered for a 2006 Land Cruiser. I drove 10 hours across the Talasmaca Mountain range(the largest in Costa-15000 feet) finally I arrived in Golfito, my town. My mechanic was lined up to install a lift kit and a locker. He told me mañana(tomorrow). I was not able to stay and look over the work. So I went up the mountain in 4xhoofs (horse) instead. This was going to be the first night I slept on my property in over a year! I have heard from everyone on the planet that the southern pacific zone of Costa Rica is infested with poisonous snakes. The thought of riding down the mountain (bit by a snake) on horse was not my idea of a good time. The first night we set up camp under my tiki hut with tents to keep out the snakes. In the morning I hiked down some valleys on the property and found 1 waterfall, 6 different creeks, and two natural springs. It started to rain every day around 4 pm. So I wasn't able to explore the entire 475 acers. I did see 3 types of monkeys: White Faced, Squirrel, and spider monkeys. Also small ant-eaters and several different kinds of parrots (including scarlet macaws), I had never seen these before and 2 types of toucans. Lots of other stuff that I cant identify as well. I returned to Golfito and my Mechanic had put on the springs back wards. It was not worthy of trying to conquer the mountain in the state it was in. I bailed on wheeling to the top of the mountain and decided to try again early next year. I will post more pics tomorrow.

You can go to this link to see some pics. Sorry no cruiser pics yet.:shotts:

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/isaaccruisers/

[sparkplug]

Look at the leaf springs on the tow truck cruiser! like 1 inch leaves. All are diesels. I will send more tomorrow.

[cajun65]

So that's where they all are, huh? Good to know. They look good too.

[Doable]

WOW The pictures of the look good, sorry to hear the Land Cruiser was not ready for you to take out. Hummm ,poisonous snakes, mountains, yea it would be nice to have alittle sheetmetal between the two.

[Volunteer]

Thats awesome Isaac thanks for sharing your trip with us, great pics. wow the diesel 40's. I definitely will make that trip sooner or later. Seeing that tow rig is neat; was it a diesel as well. The thornbirds make me laugh. The crappiest swamper they made.

[PScottBx]

Ok, so I KNOW I want to make a trip. Thanks for sharing bud. Love the pics. Let me know if I can help you w/ the photobucket... I love it.

When can I buy a piece of property as well? That would be sweet! ..and how long is that flight?


Last, when you go back ...the red cruiser's bezel is upside down...

Thanks bud!



me

[sparkplug]

More cruisers. All are diesel.

[sparkplug]

More cruisers. The blue 45 was not broken. The owner told me he was taking it to San Jose for service work.