Builds Mike's 1978 FJ40 Turbo Diesel Refit Project and Cross Country Road Trip!

[Godfather90]

Next stop was Guadalupe Mountain NP:

 

[Godfather90]

We unloaded the Toyota and headed to Carlsbad Caverns NP for the day:

We stayed for the bats flight when they leave the cavern. It was unbelievable!

I had an one of the engine batteries go bad on the Volvo when we got back to camp. Look at my poor mom shoved in there with all the crap!

 

[Godfather90]

Next we went to Pecos TX and ran into some pretty heavy weahter:

Finally we had to hole up in a Walmart parking lot in FT Stockton. the wind got crazy enough to blow a few trailers over in the lot!

We watched them right the trailer as we waited for the weather to move east.

Soon we hit the road again:

Finally we arrived at the highlight of the trip, Big Bend NP!

 

[Godfather90]

Big Bend was amazing! We had the whole park to ourselves. There are many trails and scenic vistas. It seems endless!

Our campground was full of these horses:

We put so many miles on the Cruiser that I had to do an oil change. Good thing I brought the garage!

I finally got to take a break from driving. My dad drove a lot of the trails;

The famous Bend:

 

[Godfather90]

Both rigs were rock solid on the trip:

Luna's Jacal where a farmer lived with his huge family over 100 years ago:

My dad turned 70 while we were at Big Bend. I took him to Terlingua, TX for dinner

 

[Godfather90]

While we were there we saw an original Hemi Cuda:

Not something you would expect to see there!

Next we went and had awesome BBQ at a place in Marathon, TX.

We worked our way to Midland TX:

Dallas. The infamous grassy knoll. RIP

Hot springs NP;

 

[Godfather90]

Memphis:

Wild night there...

Next we blasted off to Nashville:

Partied pretty hard there a few days. So many ladies ...

 

[Godfather90]

My family flew home from Nashville and I blasted back solo.

First Buc-ees of the trip:

Stayed a night in a truck stop in KY:

Covington:

Columbus..

Finally broke through:

 

[Godfather90]

I built this shade structure with my buddy to pull the roof off the RV and do the solar install:

Busted his 40 out of storage:

All the roof sheets we brought from California (850 pounds worth):

And the 300 pounds of Aluminum extrusions I strapped to the frame of the RV back in CA as well: New video · Sunday, May 18 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/R5wXziyVBdjf4H9S6

Enjoying the east coast:

New glow whip:

That's about all of it.

In the end it was just under 5000 miles on the RV, and a little over 3000 on the Cruiser. 27.8 MPG on the cruiser and 12.1 on the RV.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

 

[rlong]

That’s a freakin cool story! What a great trip, and good photo skills!

 

[Godfather90]

That’s a freakin cool story! What a great trip, and good photo skills!

Thank you for the kind words.

I see many typographical errors now! Haha oh well, that’s what I get from being in a rush.

Mike