Builds A girl named Paul (22 Viewers)

[RevISK]

Day 4:
From the lookout we decided head west to Bluewater Lake State Park kind of near Gallup. Sounded like a good name and we were trying to swim every day. We decided to hop back on the NMBDR and that took us around Bonito Lake and wouldn’t you know it, right past the spot I had been looking for that we (my family and another) boondocked at several years ago. The road was fun, easy and beautiful. Eventually we found ourselves on a dumb ‘ol interstate but made our way to another nice NM lake.

 

[RevISK]

Day 5:
Got up, ate, packed and swam then headed north.
The boy wanted to be in 4 states at once and I have a good cousin in Durango (bed, laundry, tequila) so we drove up to 4 corners, did touristy things, ate some fry bread and hunted down a rad little reservoir for a swim on our way into Durango.

Got one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken.
Guess which one?

 

[RevISK]

Day 6 and 7:

Found a nice secluded spot in the San Juan’s near Jersey Jim Lookout. First night it was the boy and I with my Niece (my cousin’s daughter) in tow in her 4Runner. Kept it mellow and spent most of the time trying to decide if a spot was cool enough. Found one, got mauled by mountain mosquitoes and slept well at 10,350’.

Went to Mancos State Park lake for a swim, picnic and meet up with my cousin in HIS gen 3 4Runner. Back to camp, food, drink, blah…

Pretty uneventful but fun as helk. But damn those skeeters!

 

[RevISK]

Good lord let’s wrap this up…
Days 8 and 9:
Staying two nights in one place really got us spread out and a lot unloaded. Had an ambitious goal to be packed and rolling by 10:30. To our credit, we rolled out at 10:50. By this point the boy has his duties mostly down and that’s a big help. It’s also Father’s Day which doesn’t really mean much unless you are camping with your first born at close to two miles high, 1,100 miles from home, in a LandCruiser you rescued a year ago.

Maps app says 14 hours to home. So… 17 minimum. Decide to aim for Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell. Even booked a site. Map says 7 hours.

Even with our almost on time departure, we stopped to air back up in Mancos, helped a motorcyclist with a leaky front tire, stopped at @pappy to buy a used alternator and drove straight into the sun for most of the day.

9 hours later we get to such a wonderful desert oasis. Swim, eat, I pound beer and we sleep hard. Wake, eat, pack, swim and Baja the last 550mi/8hours home.

Rolled into our driveway at 8p on the nose.

2171 miles on the trucks odo but add 3% for tire size. Truck did fantastic, my boy did even better. Such an awesome time made even cooler by a 37yo LandCruiser.

 

[RevISK]

So, my takeaways from this trip:

1) I simply couldn’t have done this trip without 3 things (LC related): BMW seat mod. This happened on a whim a couple weeks ago when I spied some seats pop up in CL. Dove in and oh boy, I am soooo glad I did. It made all the difference. Can’t imagine 2,500 miles on the stock seats.
Second: the OneStone arm rests… if you know, you know.
Third: you’d think this would be first but the H55f.
After close to 5k on this transmission I have a love hate relationship with this gearbox. When conditions are perfect, it’s pretty good. Otherwise, it is a funky transmission to say the least. Some big gaps between 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 5th. Honestly, it is gapped really strangely. HOWEVER, it really made this trip possible and I F’ing don’t care if 2nd is two weeks away from 3rd… it’s not the A440 and I can trust it and learn it. Done.

2) the FJ62 is an odd duck. Hear me out…
I got this truck as sort of a hand me down/hand off. It wasn’t free but it wasn’t not a bargain, dig?
If I didn’t get this truck the way I did I wouldn’t have searched it out.
Things I don’t love:
- auto transmission = gone!
- auto windows
- the stupid auto side view mirrors
- the windshield wipers

Things I love:
- the truck. I love it. She makes me warm inside when I see after 2 minutes of not seeing her.
All of the above I can change but at her core she is such a rad machine.

3) absolutely the most important part/thing/takeaway…
The slow and miserable aspect of using this vehicle on this trip with my son made everything better for our experience. Yes, we could have gotten there faster and in more comfort in my Tundra (and we have) but this was a trip we will both remember for ever and much of it has to do with this truck.

 

[clrussell]

What a rad Father’s Day. Love the trip, love the pictures, love the story.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

What a rad Father’s Day. Love the trip, love the pictures, love the story.

Slowing it down is what is missing in the world of instant gratification. The mind gets awareness to awe and appreciate when it is given space and time. I am sure your son will appreciate what you did and will remember this far longer than some dumb IG reel. Happy father’s day. Love that the focus was a swim each day! Gonna steal that! Great pics to frame and hand to your son one day. Or maybe not, it is likely singed in his mind.

 

[RevISK]

@ceylonfj40nut CD you nailed it. Slowing down, on purpose, was the point. Along the way, about a third in he asked, “next time can we do this in the green Land Cruiser?” (The 40). So that’s the goal for fall and a Big Bend trip.

 

[clrussell]

@ceylonfj40nut CD you nailed it. Slowing down, on purpose, was the point. Along the way, about a third in he asked, “next time can we do this in the green Land Cruiser?” (The 40). So that’s the goal for fall and a Big Bend trip.

My 40 might make it to big bend by fall..

 

[RevISK]

With all the extra junk we put on and were hauling, we averaged 13.1 mpg which is better than I expected. We used the GAIA app to track miles driven as opposed to the odometer. Didn’t get every mile or gallon driven, but that’s the average for what we tracked which is a pretty good representation.

 

[RevISK]

My 40 might make it to big bend by fall..

Yeah, but you’ll be twice as fast!
Let’s go!