Our Travelogue...

[mesa man]

Meeting up and getting to know @Honger and his cool tree climbing daughter was a real treat. The story behind his FJ40 he restored in Abu Dhabi while living there with his family and imported it personally while following this thread and daydreaming of participating in it is amazing! Pretty cool manifestation Joel!

 

[mesa man]

Great write-up and pictures. It’s amazing to me how these simple utilitarian FJ40’s can connect people from across the country/globe and their adventures to each other. We all get to experience these unique places, interesting people and make friends that some may otherwise never see or do.

Exactly! Very inspirational!

 

[Honger]

My turn to add to the Travelogue. @mesa man and @Mesa Woman have already done an amazing job. I'll give our perspective as those passing the baton on. I received the baton from Land Cruiser Phil here in Phoenix. While not a 40 owner he's an icon of the Cruiser scene here in AZ. He needed to pass it on so I offered to snag it. Three failed attempts to organize a handoff to California and here I am taking it to New Mexico.

This trip was a lot of firsts for me...
- First time camping with the 40 unsupported.
- First time daddy-daughter camping.
- First time I've spent longer than 2 hours driving the 40.

This was a fantastic mini-trip with outsized rewards.

I packed the 40 up and honestly had a bit more room than I expected once the seats were folded up. Everything fit easily and I had most of my rear view intact.

My daughter Cora and I posed with the briefcase before heading out. The 40 was sitting a bit lower in the back than usual. Probably hardest it's worked since I retired it from rural farm life in Saudi Arabia.

On the way out of Phoenix and up to Payson the Beeline Highway takes you through some amazing Sonoran Desert scenery. Huge saguaro cactus, plentiful cinder cones, and background mountains. The last saguaro the briefcase will likely see for some time.

More Sonoran Desert scenery over the FJ40 hood... scenery always looks good over this hood profile.

And here's the view once you round Sugarloaf Mountain... looking down on a valley with a Camp Creek Spring and several creeks.

After a pit stop in Payson for fuel and food we made our way toward Show Low. We decided to stop and snag a pic in the Ponderosa forrest on our climb up to the Mogollon Rim of the Colorado Plateau. The Mogollon Rim is a large geographic feature of Arizona that gives the state two very different climates. You can quite literally walk up to the edge of the rim in numerous places across the state and you can drive along a long distance of it. The edge of the rim can be seen in the upper left of this selfie.

We got up on the Rim and immediately hit the strong winds. Show Low was cold and super windy for another quick fuel stop and then we headed for Springerville. Really strong crosswinds forced me to slow down a bit... adding some time to our journey. But the views were breathtaking across the high prairie heading toward Springerville. You can see Escudilla Mountain on the horizon. And you can see some of the weather we'd be encountering in New Mexico.

 

[Honger]

We made it to the free camping area in Pie Town about an hour later than @mesa man and @Mesa Woman. I'd been shooting to beat them there but travel-by-40 isn't as quick as the GPS app thinks it is. We parked and I fired up the grill for dinner and pitched our tent and unfolded cots. Two 40's in camp... beautiful.

As @Mesa Woman said, it was a cold and windy evening. As the sun started setting, the wind didn't let up, and it grew quite a bit colder. No fire due to the winds meant that we packed up after dinner and all headed for our tents and sleeping bags. Crazy winds woke me up a few hours later and the tent was getting slammed. My daughter didn't even wake up. I made a panicked run out in the wind, dust, and light ran to get my chairs thrown into my 40... then scrambled back into my warm sleeping bag. Went to sleep to the sound of rain mixed with sleet. And woke up to a nice dusting of snow.

My daughter was born in Dubai... and we moved to Arizona when she was 4. She's a desert kid and snow is like a fairy tale event for her. In spite of the cold we had sunny skies and her spirit couldn't be dampened by the temps.

As we loaded up for photos at Pie-O-Neer I had a very happy passenger.

We went through some BLM land behind our camping area. It ended up being a very short 5-minute ride on a dirt track. But pretty scenery.

Which brings us to Pie-O-Neer... a perfect little snapshot of Americana. This little restaurant in Pie Town, New Mexico serves pie of course. But it's legit, fantastic pie. There were two ladies taking orders and serving... and a whole host of ladies in the back clearly busy at slicing fruits and cutting crusts and pulling pies out of the ovens.

I had Honey Pecan pie and washed it down with coffee. Cora had a Pecan Pie Muffin with Ice Cream. It was amazing!

Photos of the handoff were taken by @Mesa Woman, so I won't repost the same ones. The handoff was done, we enjoyed pie.

The photos below aren't particularly noteworthy I suppose. But I love them. After living overseas for 11 years I've come to truly treasure little gems like this that you can only find in America. On a lonely state highway, hours away from any major metro area, there's a small town of 111 people, with a kitschy little diner that serves amazing pie. I'm sure there's a 5-star rated pie shop somewhere in one of the big cities that's world renowned. But in Pie Town the atmosphere, the people, and the legit good pie all combine to make for an unparalleled experience. I'm going back with the family at some point.

 

[Honger]

The time spent with @mesa man and @Mesa Woman (way over-tagging them at this point!) was fantastic. Cora and Gabe climbed a tree. Catherine loaned Cora gloves to play in the snow. We discussed the joys of homeschooling our kids. I'd briefly met them both around the campfire at SAS #7 last summer but had no idea they were such kindred spirits. Truly inspiring folks to hang out with. THIS is what @hecrod started when he put this idea together and it's pretty remarkable.

I'll post up in my FJ40 thread some glamour shots of the truck and thoughts on my truck's performance and next steps for the build. I'll also ruminate on traveling with my little girl.

Which brings us to the return journey. A nice long drive on a cold day through beautiful scenery. We stopped at a gem/rock shop in Red Hill, NM and bought birthday gifts for my wife. We stopped at a gas station and my daughter bought a little stuffed doggy to join her gang of critters. Truly a wonderful journey. So I'll leave off with a string of photos taken on the way back... rain, snow flurries, fog, and a return to the valley here in Phoenix.

 

[mesa man]

Calling all cars, calling all cars! Be on the lookout for a rare black briefcase filled with memories of adventures!
@LAZ @IconTacoma @Slow Baja

 

[Honger]

Calling all cars, calling all cars! Be on the lookout for a rare black briefcase filled with memories of adventures!
@LAZ @IconTacoma @Slow Baja

Hey @mesa man and @Mesa Woman, any update on the briefcase? Did a handoff occur during SAS?

 

[mesa man]

Hey @mesa man and @Mesa Woman, any update on the briefcase? Did a handoff occur during SAS?

Yessir! We had a great SAS8 and a classic handoff to the Legend himself ……

@John McVicker
The briefcase is in California and eagerly awaiting a worthy ride up the coast to the PNW! If there’s someone in NoCal who could get up to Oregon, then up to
@myquestoyota maybe!!!

Let’s get this original briefcase baton back on an organized schedule to circumnavigate this beautiful country of ours !

 

[John McVicker]

I’m ready, live in Big Pine, Ca. Which is 45 minutes south of Mammoth Lakes, Ca. Someone in No. Cal contact me & we will try to restart this.

 

[mesa man]

It’s always a pleasure hanging with you John!
No s***! I looked up the definition of a real man in the dictionary and there was a picture of you!
John, you have an original fj40 bought new from the dealership back in the 70’s correct!
A few more pics of SAS!

The Ladies CruiseHer run up Governor basin.

“Pals” @John McVicker Mesa man @POTATO LAUNCHER

 

[myquestoyota]

Well, horrible timing. My 40 did a crazy thing and rolled down my driveway and crashed into some trees and rolled over, unoccupied, in the middle of the night. That's a story for another day which I will be sharing soon,