Our Travelogue...
- Thread starter hecrod
- Start date
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It sure is!
Are the Ga. Southern Collard seeds still in there? you need to take a few and plant them--
Okay, I can bring the Tan tool box up to Wyoming this week with work... unless there is another Colorado representative that wants a turn? I will be heading from Denver to Laramie via Cheyenne, WY on Wednesday so anything on I-25 or I-80 would be great.
4Cruisers
SILVER Star
I've got ~20 stickers for the tool box here in northern New Mexico. I'm willing to overnight them to you in an envelope first thing on Monday to help the cause. That way you'll have them before you head north. PM me with the best address to use.
4Cruisers
SILVER Star
Some photos to document the further travels of the briefcase:
Took an 800-mile round trip to Chinle, AZ for a couple of hand-offs, and hit some dirt after about an hour.
Then on to Cuba, NM for a meet-up with @mesa man and his son in his nice '83 FJ40.
After a long drive through northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona we stopped for a photo op at Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
The next morning we joined up with @Reznugget and his wife in preparation for a couple of hand-offs at Canyon de Chelly.
Notice the llama herding the sheep in the wash.
Took an 800-mile round trip to Chinle, AZ for a couple of hand-offs, and hit some dirt after about an hour.
Then on to Cuba, NM for a meet-up with @mesa man and his son in his nice '83 FJ40.
After a long drive through northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona we stopped for a photo op at Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
The next morning we joined up with @Reznugget and his wife in preparation for a couple of hand-offs at Canyon de Chelly.
Notice the llama herding the sheep in the wash.
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4Cruisers
SILVER Star
From @hecrod's original post in the FJ40 Cross Country Expedition thread:
"We would have the opportunity to actually "meet" many of those who we've "known" in this Forum for years."
This was one of my primary reasons for wanting to join the Expedition. The idea of meeting other FJ40 owners really took an unexpected but pleasant turn on our recent trip to Chinle, AZ for the briefcase handoff to @Reznugget. While out there, we got on the subject of Idaho, and @Reznugget mentioned his uncle in the southern part of the state, with the same last name as some family on my wife's side. A few days ago I did some research on my wife's family tree. Lo and behold, my wife's first cousin once removed (her mother's first cousin) is @Reznugget's uncle.
Pretty much as close of a family tie as you can have without being a blood relative. Sure is a small world, isn't it.
"We would have the opportunity to actually "meet" many of those who we've "known" in this Forum for years."
This was one of my primary reasons for wanting to join the Expedition. The idea of meeting other FJ40 owners really took an unexpected but pleasant turn on our recent trip to Chinle, AZ for the briefcase handoff to @Reznugget. While out there, we got on the subject of Idaho, and @Reznugget mentioned his uncle in the southern part of the state, with the same last name as some family on my wife's side. A few days ago I did some research on my wife's family tree. Lo and behold, my wife's first cousin once removed (her mother's first cousin) is @Reznugget's uncle.
Pretty much as close of a family tie as you can have without being a blood relative. Sure is a small world, isn't it.
This last batch of pics are fantastic, but finding and "uncle" is really cool!
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Oops posted this to the incorrect thread (the planning thread). Sorry for the duplicate post.
We had been planning this leg of the cross country adventure for quite some time. But with so many schedules to coordinate and work on our cruisers things kept getting pushed out. I wanted my hard top to be installed and if you follow my build, that took a bit longer than expected. But it was critical to have a "water tight" roof driving through high altitude in late October - I did not want to risk getting caught in a freezing downpour with a non-water tight soft top.
The original plan was was mid-October but then I got my dates mixed up. So then it was pushed out 10/28-29. But then the horrific fires in Sonoma and Napa counties set things back further (hardly an issue considering all that was lost there), since @CaliFJ grew up in that area and needed to help out friends and family. In the meantime, @John McVicker was patiently waiting for us to sort things out and was ready to meet us at Mono Lake at any time.
With the weather history of Tioga Pass, we knew getting into November was a dicey proposition. In some years, it closed in late October! It was looking like this trip was going to be pushed into mid-November which had a high probability of it not happening and having to wait until next year. The decals I made indicating 2016-2017 would've needed to have the 2017 struck out and 2018 written in its place (still likely to happen). Major dilemma here - we could always go around up to Sacramento/Reno and then down the 395 but that is a much less scenic drive and adds a ton of mileage. The whole point of this leg was to showcase the beauty of Yosemite (oh and our cruisers). What to do?
Below is the route we were planning on taking. As you can see it was a nice due east shot from my house. Lot of miles one way and this would be an out and back trip. So 400+ miles to get the baton, err, toolbox. I think some others have done longer legs so not looking for any sympathy here - particularly since I think that Arizona leg was a brutally hot leg.
We kept an eye on the weather and it wasn't looking good. This screen grab was taken on Halloween (10/31). Holy cow! 11 inches of snow in the Yosemite Valley (which is at around 4,000' elevation). What would that look like on Tioga Pass which is nearly 10,000'? If there is enough snow, they pretty much shut down the pass for the year. Man, the weekend of 11/4-5 was not looking good...
I was texting back and forth with CaliFJ that night - we really wanted to make this trip happen but it was looking bleak. So we decided at the 11th hour to go for it the next day and beat the storm! We were able to re-arrange our work schedules some to take the two days off and we got our cruisers ready that night. He even got his son out of school to join us (I'm sure he was disappointed missing some school). John McVicker was available for us to meet him at Mono Lake on 11/2 so we were a go! Kind of crazy and I felt like there was still work to do, but we needed to make this happen! Threw in a bunch of warm clothes and multiple sleeping bags, food, and water just in case we got caught in the storm.
Here we are at the start of the trip. It was beautiful out, looks like no weather concerns here...
The first part of the drive was freeway and then fast roads winding through unpopulated areas in the valley. Not exactly the best for our slow moving machines, but we left my house at about 1pm so we weren’t much of a nuisance as the traffic was pretty light and there were ample opportunities for people to pass us. We stopped just outside of Groveland (home of California’s oldest saloon est. 1852 150 Years of Slinging Drinks: A Visit to the Iron Door Saloon) as I needed to make a pit stop and figured I would fill up since we drove about 110 miles. I decided to calculate my MPG’s and to my shock I was at 15.2MPG! Holy cow! Granted the geography was pretty flat, other than the New Priest Grade right before Groveland which gained about 1,500’ of elevation at 4% over 5+ miles. Hardly a pass compared to what we faced ahead… Surely our gas mileage would suffer up those passes and while driving at elevation. Of note, CaliFJ decided not to fill up at this time as his Dakota Digital still showed a good amount of fuel. Hmm…
We made good time to the Yosemite park entrance and pulled over to discuss our plan – initially we were going to just drive through Yosemite straight to Mono Lake and then visit the scenic spots on the drive back the next day. But it was early enough we decided to drive to those scenic spots now instead of waiting. Glacier Point was the main goal – this route would have us drop into the Yosemite valley down to 4,000’ and then climb to over 8,000’ and add over 60 miles to our leg. First stop though was Tunnel View as it was en route. Reason it’s called Tunnel View? It is right at a pretty long Disneyland like tunnel. The view here is spectacular and I’m sure if you’ve seen any shots of Yosemite, you’ve seen this view. We decided to be scofflaws and parked in the “NO PARKING” spot. Mid-week, off season, no worries.
There’s Half Dome, I was just up there a couple of months ago! View never gets old, still took my breath away as we came around the corner and it appeared while dropping down into the valley.
To be continued...
We had been planning this leg of the cross country adventure for quite some time. But with so many schedules to coordinate and work on our cruisers things kept getting pushed out. I wanted my hard top to be installed and if you follow my build, that took a bit longer than expected. But it was critical to have a "water tight" roof driving through high altitude in late October - I did not want to risk getting caught in a freezing downpour with a non-water tight soft top.
The original plan was was mid-October but then I got my dates mixed up. So then it was pushed out 10/28-29. But then the horrific fires in Sonoma and Napa counties set things back further (hardly an issue considering all that was lost there), since @CaliFJ grew up in that area and needed to help out friends and family. In the meantime, @John McVicker was patiently waiting for us to sort things out and was ready to meet us at Mono Lake at any time.
With the weather history of Tioga Pass, we knew getting into November was a dicey proposition. In some years, it closed in late October! It was looking like this trip was going to be pushed into mid-November which had a high probability of it not happening and having to wait until next year. The decals I made indicating 2016-2017 would've needed to have the 2017 struck out and 2018 written in its place (still likely to happen). Major dilemma here - we could always go around up to Sacramento/Reno and then down the 395 but that is a much less scenic drive and adds a ton of mileage. The whole point of this leg was to showcase the beauty of Yosemite (oh and our cruisers). What to do?
Below is the route we were planning on taking. As you can see it was a nice due east shot from my house. Lot of miles one way and this would be an out and back trip. So 400+ miles to get the baton, err, toolbox. I think some others have done longer legs so not looking for any sympathy here - particularly since I think that Arizona leg was a brutally hot leg.
We kept an eye on the weather and it wasn't looking good. This screen grab was taken on Halloween (10/31). Holy cow! 11 inches of snow in the Yosemite Valley (which is at around 4,000' elevation). What would that look like on Tioga Pass which is nearly 10,000'? If there is enough snow, they pretty much shut down the pass for the year. Man, the weekend of 11/4-5 was not looking good...
I was texting back and forth with CaliFJ that night - we really wanted to make this trip happen but it was looking bleak. So we decided at the 11th hour to go for it the next day and beat the storm! We were able to re-arrange our work schedules some to take the two days off and we got our cruisers ready that night. He even got his son out of school to join us (I'm sure he was disappointed missing some school). John McVicker was available for us to meet him at Mono Lake on 11/2 so we were a go! Kind of crazy and I felt like there was still work to do, but we needed to make this happen! Threw in a bunch of warm clothes and multiple sleeping bags, food, and water just in case we got caught in the storm.
Here we are at the start of the trip. It was beautiful out, looks like no weather concerns here...
The first part of the drive was freeway and then fast roads winding through unpopulated areas in the valley. Not exactly the best for our slow moving machines, but we left my house at about 1pm so we weren’t much of a nuisance as the traffic was pretty light and there were ample opportunities for people to pass us. We stopped just outside of Groveland (home of California’s oldest saloon est. 1852 150 Years of Slinging Drinks: A Visit to the Iron Door Saloon) as I needed to make a pit stop and figured I would fill up since we drove about 110 miles. I decided to calculate my MPG’s and to my shock I was at 15.2MPG! Holy cow! Granted the geography was pretty flat, other than the New Priest Grade right before Groveland which gained about 1,500’ of elevation at 4% over 5+ miles. Hardly a pass compared to what we faced ahead… Surely our gas mileage would suffer up those passes and while driving at elevation. Of note, CaliFJ decided not to fill up at this time as his Dakota Digital still showed a good amount of fuel. Hmm…
We made good time to the Yosemite park entrance and pulled over to discuss our plan – initially we were going to just drive through Yosemite straight to Mono Lake and then visit the scenic spots on the drive back the next day. But it was early enough we decided to drive to those scenic spots now instead of waiting. Glacier Point was the main goal – this route would have us drop into the Yosemite valley down to 4,000’ and then climb to over 8,000’ and add over 60 miles to our leg. First stop though was Tunnel View as it was en route. Reason it’s called Tunnel View? It is right at a pretty long Disneyland like tunnel. The view here is spectacular and I’m sure if you’ve seen any shots of Yosemite, you’ve seen this view. We decided to be scofflaws and parked in the “NO PARKING” spot. Mid-week, off season, no worries.
There’s Half Dome, I was just up there a couple of months ago! View never gets old, still took my breath away as we came around the corner and it appeared while dropping down into the valley.
To be continued...
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
The road to Glacier Point was windy and hilly and there were definitely stretches where the ol’ cruiser bogged a bit – 3rd gear was definitely our friend. But overall they both performed quite well considering they’re both stock engines (74 and 76). We stopped short of Glacier Point to take in a spectacular view and @CaliFJ said he needed to fuel up as his fuel gauge gave him a low fuel warning. Luckily he had a 5 gallon jerry can. There was a gas station at the entrance to Tioga Pass, but would it be open by the time we got there? Another “hmm…” moment. 
We finally got to Glacier Point and the view did not disappoint! The sun was setting and with a little bit of smoke from the controlled burns, the conditions just spectacular. And a near full moon decided to join in on the fun too. I literally ran to the overlook point to capture the fast departing sunset.
Sadly there was no way to capture our Cruisers with this particular backdrop. But we got close here just back down the road.
We said farewell to the Glacier Point and the next stop was Tioga Pass! Woohoo! Well, the gas station was our next stop. Tioga Pass was 56 miles so it would’ve been pretty unlikely that @CaliFJ would’ve made it on 5 gallons (56 miles of Tioga Pass + the 30 miles or so getting down from Glacier and back up from the valley floor). We got there and the store was closed! Uh oh. But thankfully the gas pumps still worked and we both refueled and were off on the pass!
It was pitch black at this time so no views. I kept waiting for a bear to dart out in front of me but figured with our loud machines they had more than ample warning. Never did see one. But we did see a spun out sedan that was stuck in the ditch. A park ranger was there assisting but it didn’t dawn on us until the next day that we could’ve gotten him out of the ditch since we both had winches! Whoops. Long day, bodies and minds were tired.
We got to our motel in Lee Vining, the El Mono Motel. Had gotten good ratings and was clean. We checked in at 8:50pm and asked about food in town. Only one place still open, closed at 9pm. A quick call for a takeout order and we were good to go. No, we weren’t that customer that sits down 5 minutes before closing. Having grown up in a restaurant I remember those times when you just wanted to go home but someone decided they needed to sit for 30 minutes past closing. Ugh. This photo was the next morning. Probably can’t see it but there was a nice layer of frost on our roofs.
Unloaded the Cruisers, locked them up and went to bed. We probably accumulated at least 7 hours of seat time – as you all know that is a long time in these vehicles.
To be continued...
We finally got to Glacier Point and the view did not disappoint! The sun was setting and with a little bit of smoke from the controlled burns, the conditions just spectacular. And a near full moon decided to join in on the fun too. I literally ran to the overlook point to capture the fast departing sunset.
Sadly there was no way to capture our Cruisers with this particular backdrop. But we got close here just back down the road.
We said farewell to the Glacier Point and the next stop was Tioga Pass! Woohoo! Well, the gas station was our next stop. Tioga Pass was 56 miles so it would’ve been pretty unlikely that @CaliFJ would’ve made it on 5 gallons (56 miles of Tioga Pass + the 30 miles or so getting down from Glacier and back up from the valley floor). We got there and the store was closed! Uh oh. But thankfully the gas pumps still worked and we both refueled and were off on the pass!
It was pitch black at this time so no views. I kept waiting for a bear to dart out in front of me but figured with our loud machines they had more than ample warning. Never did see one. But we did see a spun out sedan that was stuck in the ditch. A park ranger was there assisting but it didn’t dawn on us until the next day that we could’ve gotten him out of the ditch since we both had winches! Whoops. Long day, bodies and minds were tired.
We got to our motel in Lee Vining, the El Mono Motel. Had gotten good ratings and was clean. We checked in at 8:50pm and asked about food in town. Only one place still open, closed at 9pm. A quick call for a takeout order and we were good to go. No, we weren’t that customer that sits down 5 minutes before closing. Having grown up in a restaurant I remember those times when you just wanted to go home but someone decided they needed to sit for 30 minutes past closing. Ugh. This photo was the next morning. Probably can’t see it but there was a nice layer of frost on our roofs.
Unloaded the Cruisers, locked them up and went to bed. We probably accumulated at least 7 hours of seat time – as you all know that is a long time in these vehicles.
To be continued...
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Next morning we woke up and grabbed breakfast at the same restaurant we got our takeout from. We were able to connect with @John McVicker and he was right on time at the Mono Lake visitor center. We finished up our breakfasts and made the short 3 minute drive over there to meet him.
It was very cool meeting John – he is the original owner of his Cruiser. You could tell he had some epic adventures in that well used and loved vehicle. He even showed us his recent accident where he tipped over his Cruiser just a few miles from his house. Amazing how unscathed it came out – new passenger side window, a couple of dings, but otherwise good to go. Added some additional character to it – how’s the saying go? Our wounds tell a story… I kind of felt like a poser having only owned mine for 3.5 years and having not really taken it on any adventures – until now.
We looked for a good spot for the group photo and toolbox handoff. Got to drive offroad just a little bit. You can see Mono Lake through my windshield and that is John and CaliFJ in the rear view mirror.
And here’s the handoff! I'm not smiling because I have one of the toolbox lollipops in my mouth lol.
It was cold but the weather was still holding for us. But we were told Tioga Pass was going to close down at 5pm today. So we hung out for a little bit with John (wish we could’ve spent more time, love hearing from the Land Cruiser OG). However, we needed to make sure we got back over the pass in time. We put our Cross Country Expedition decals on our windows and took off.
This part of the adventure was probably the most worrisome to me. I had only been on the Tioga Pass one time before and I remember it being a beast. How would our 40+ year old vehicles handle it? 10,000’ is up there and less oxygen doesn’t help anyone or anything. Yup that’s a long way up!
There were a couple of sections where we bogged down under 30 MPH but otherwise our oldies handled it quite well. I was paying close attention to the temperature gauge and it got to about 190 but really all things considered was really good. We made it to the top and then searched out a few more scenic vistas. With that part of the trip over with, essentially we were all downhill from there!
If you look carefully, there are climbers on the rock behind us.
To be continued...
It was very cool meeting John – he is the original owner of his Cruiser. You could tell he had some epic adventures in that well used and loved vehicle. He even showed us his recent accident where he tipped over his Cruiser just a few miles from his house. Amazing how unscathed it came out – new passenger side window, a couple of dings, but otherwise good to go. Added some additional character to it – how’s the saying go? Our wounds tell a story… I kind of felt like a poser having only owned mine for 3.5 years and having not really taken it on any adventures – until now.
We looked for a good spot for the group photo and toolbox handoff. Got to drive offroad just a little bit. You can see Mono Lake through my windshield and that is John and CaliFJ in the rear view mirror.
And here’s the handoff! I'm not smiling because I have one of the toolbox lollipops in my mouth lol.
It was cold but the weather was still holding for us. But we were told Tioga Pass was going to close down at 5pm today. So we hung out for a little bit with John (wish we could’ve spent more time, love hearing from the Land Cruiser OG). However, we needed to make sure we got back over the pass in time. We put our Cross Country Expedition decals on our windows and took off.
This part of the adventure was probably the most worrisome to me. I had only been on the Tioga Pass one time before and I remember it being a beast. How would our 40+ year old vehicles handle it? 10,000’ is up there and less oxygen doesn’t help anyone or anything. Yup that’s a long way up!
There were a couple of sections where we bogged down under 30 MPH but otherwise our oldies handled it quite well. I was paying close attention to the temperature gauge and it got to about 190 but really all things considered was really good. We made it to the top and then searched out a few more scenic vistas. With that part of the trip over with, essentially we were all downhill from there!
If you look carefully, there are climbers on the rock behind us.
To be continued...
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
This would’ve been an even more beautiful shot had said moron not pulled in behind us - and he was in no hurry to leave. Wasn’t even a Toyota.
One last stop at the same gas station at the start/end of the Tioga Pass and we were ready to leave Yosemite. It is there where you could see the weather start changing and the storm rolling in. Luckily we got out in time and only had to deal with the crappy windshield wipers that basically smears water around on the windshield.
Overall quite the epic adventure. This trip gave me new confidence in my Cruiser – I had not driven farther than from Georg’s (@orangefj45) shop in Stockton to my house – about 60 miles. It performed very well and in the end I calculated just a fraction under 15MPG (probably would’ve gotten 15 as there were some sections where there was no signal and my GPS couldn’t track the distance). Nearly 500 miles! Pretty impressive really. Only concern I had was coming down Old Priest Grade (2 miles at 15% with sections as steep as 20% - Closures planned for notoriously steep Old Priest Grade). I drove in 2nd gear the entire way down and noticed white smoke blowing from the exhaust. Once I hit the flat it was fine. I’ll have to run some tests to make sure. But again, really enjoyed the trip and looking forward to the next one!
Speaking of next one, now the toolbox is in the Bay Area, CA. Who is going to take it north so it can make its journey to the Pacific Northwest?
One last stop at the same gas station at the start/end of the Tioga Pass and we were ready to leave Yosemite. It is there where you could see the weather start changing and the storm rolling in. Luckily we got out in time and only had to deal with the crappy windshield wipers that basically smears water around on the windshield.
Overall quite the epic adventure. This trip gave me new confidence in my Cruiser – I had not driven farther than from Georg’s (@orangefj45) shop in Stockton to my house – about 60 miles. It performed very well and in the end I calculated just a fraction under 15MPG (probably would’ve gotten 15 as there were some sections where there was no signal and my GPS couldn’t track the distance). Nearly 500 miles! Pretty impressive really. Only concern I had was coming down Old Priest Grade (2 miles at 15% with sections as steep as 20% - Closures planned for notoriously steep Old Priest Grade). I drove in 2nd gear the entire way down and noticed white smoke blowing from the exhaust. Once I hit the flat it was fine. I’ll have to run some tests to make sure. But again, really enjoyed the trip and looking forward to the next one!
Speaking of next one, now the toolbox is in the Bay Area, CA. Who is going to take it north so it can make its journey to the Pacific Northwest?
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Georg @orangefj45 sorry we didn’t get a chance to stop by. We ended up splitting up on the drive home near Chinese Camp and we were tired and got home later. But I did add your sticker to the toolbox!
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Now that I had the toolbox in my possession we needed to figure out how to get it up to the Pacific Northwest. This was always the leg that had very little coverage, even during the initial excitement when @hecrod got this thing in gear. But fortunately @69 4 fun is a crazy man and was willing to drive down from Butte City, CA (about a 300 mile round trip) to meet us in San Francisco and then he’s taking it north to where I don’t know – possibly the CA-OR border. How many more miles? There is a LOT of space between Butte City and Oregon. Lots of driving whatever he ends up doing. Will be excited to hear about his adventures.
So we got in contact here on MUD and we were sorting out a date and fortunately he was traveling down here for work and was able to make it happen a little earlier (on the weekend) so more cruiserheads could participate which was cool. We were checking the weather (this sounds familiar) and it was looking like there was a good chance of rain. While not the end of the world, as we all know, driving our beloved cruisers in the rain kind of shows off their “warts” – leaks, terrible windshield wipers, and of course contribute to the evil of all evils, RUST. But if the toolbox was going to head north and possibly to Seattle before the end of the year, we needed to make this happen.
Was able to round up a couple of other MUD members @CaliFJ (again!) and @jocww, as well as another guy who I met at the Cars and Coffee event near my house. Unfortunately we didn’t connect with @Vintij74 since we ran into some technical difficulties (keep reading) and were late. Sorry about that – wish we could’ve connected. Earlier in the week I had planned a route that hit up a lot of the classic tourist spots in San Francisco. You should recognize a few, even if you’ve never been here…
Fortunately for us the rain never materialized. As a matter of fact, it was a glorious day in San Francisco. This was the weather I was hoping for so we could showcase the beauty of the area. The four of us met in Walnut Creek to caravan over and we planned on meeting @69 4 fun at Fort Point at 10am. With an initial starting time of 8am, we had plenty of time to meet our goal. I should’ve known otherwise…
I left on time, stopped and got a coffee and then I realized I didn’t have my wallet. Crap. Drive home, actually find wallet on the passenger side floor of the cruiser. WTF?! Added about 15 minutes of time. Now I’m late to the start. Topped off the tank and let them know I’d be a couple minutes late. No big deal.
At the meeting spot, we of course take the obligatory cruiser lined up shot.
We were still fine on time, planned on leaving at 8:15. Then @jocww tells us he needs gas – unplanned stop. And then the yellow cruiser (Scott) doesn’t start. Double crap. He push started it and we were off. Stop at gas station in Orinda. Jocww fills up but Scott forgot and turned his car off. Dead again. Jump start it this time (no room for push starting). Good to go. Remind him to not shut if off again!
We make good time into the City and snake our way through the route I had painstakingly planned. First stop, Chinatown. Wasn’t sure how this was going to work but I knew Grant Street was always a cool visual area with stringers with lanterns crossing above the street and of course, all the crazy signs and general chaos of Chinatown. Well, I over shot where I was thinking but with limited parking and things already hopping we weren’t going to backtrack. If you look closely, you’ll see the lanterns in the background.
Okay next was to get a shot of the iconic Transamerica Pyramid. This was going to be a bit dicey as there was going to be no parking on Columbus Street (the street that runs into the building). I kept thinking we’ll just stop in the middle of the road and I’ll run out and grab the shot. There was another lane and people double park in SF all the time. Well, we did just that. Fortunately traffic was pretty light at the time and we didn’t cause too much of a ruckus. Well, strike that, I forgot I was trying to make a left turn onto Columbus and the bus driver behind me kept honking the horn like crazy. Clearly I was waiting for oncoming traffic. After about 30 seconds of honking I realized that left hand turns weren’t permitted. Oops! Went through and tried finding an alternate route. Scott’s cruiser died again and we all got separated. Stop two and we’re already a clusterf_ck. Not exactly how I planned it. Thankfully we were able to re-group and get the shot. Next time we need to bring the walkie-talkies! (didn’t we say that about the Yosemite leg?)
@jocww asked if we were going to Coit Tower and of course I had forgotten about that. Triple crap. But as luck would have it, a sign pointing the direction to Coit Tower was just down the street. So we followed the signs to it and we lucked out with parking. We were still a little early, ahead of the majority of the tourists. The view from Coit Tower is amazing, 360 degree views. It is a tribute to the volunteer firefighters way back in the day, before SF had a fire department. Unfortunately the space is limited up there so I couldn’t get a good shot of all the cruisers – sorry @CaliFJ I cut you off some.
So we got in contact here on MUD and we were sorting out a date and fortunately he was traveling down here for work and was able to make it happen a little earlier (on the weekend) so more cruiserheads could participate which was cool. We were checking the weather (this sounds familiar) and it was looking like there was a good chance of rain. While not the end of the world, as we all know, driving our beloved cruisers in the rain kind of shows off their “warts” – leaks, terrible windshield wipers, and of course contribute to the evil of all evils, RUST. But if the toolbox was going to head north and possibly to Seattle before the end of the year, we needed to make this happen.
Was able to round up a couple of other MUD members @CaliFJ (again!) and @jocww, as well as another guy who I met at the Cars and Coffee event near my house. Unfortunately we didn’t connect with @Vintij74 since we ran into some technical difficulties (keep reading) and were late. Sorry about that – wish we could’ve connected. Earlier in the week I had planned a route that hit up a lot of the classic tourist spots in San Francisco. You should recognize a few, even if you’ve never been here…
Fortunately for us the rain never materialized. As a matter of fact, it was a glorious day in San Francisco. This was the weather I was hoping for so we could showcase the beauty of the area. The four of us met in Walnut Creek to caravan over and we planned on meeting @69 4 fun at Fort Point at 10am. With an initial starting time of 8am, we had plenty of time to meet our goal. I should’ve known otherwise…
I left on time, stopped and got a coffee and then I realized I didn’t have my wallet. Crap. Drive home, actually find wallet on the passenger side floor of the cruiser. WTF?! Added about 15 minutes of time. Now I’m late to the start. Topped off the tank and let them know I’d be a couple minutes late. No big deal.
At the meeting spot, we of course take the obligatory cruiser lined up shot.
We were still fine on time, planned on leaving at 8:15. Then @jocww tells us he needs gas – unplanned stop. And then the yellow cruiser (Scott) doesn’t start. Double crap. He push started it and we were off. Stop at gas station in Orinda. Jocww fills up but Scott forgot and turned his car off. Dead again. Jump start it this time (no room for push starting). Good to go. Remind him to not shut if off again!
We make good time into the City and snake our way through the route I had painstakingly planned. First stop, Chinatown. Wasn’t sure how this was going to work but I knew Grant Street was always a cool visual area with stringers with lanterns crossing above the street and of course, all the crazy signs and general chaos of Chinatown. Well, I over shot where I was thinking but with limited parking and things already hopping we weren’t going to backtrack. If you look closely, you’ll see the lanterns in the background.
Okay next was to get a shot of the iconic Transamerica Pyramid. This was going to be a bit dicey as there was going to be no parking on Columbus Street (the street that runs into the building). I kept thinking we’ll just stop in the middle of the road and I’ll run out and grab the shot. There was another lane and people double park in SF all the time. Well, we did just that. Fortunately traffic was pretty light at the time and we didn’t cause too much of a ruckus. Well, strike that, I forgot I was trying to make a left turn onto Columbus and the bus driver behind me kept honking the horn like crazy. Clearly I was waiting for oncoming traffic. After about 30 seconds of honking I realized that left hand turns weren’t permitted. Oops! Went through and tried finding an alternate route. Scott’s cruiser died again and we all got separated. Stop two and we’re already a clusterf_ck. Not exactly how I planned it. Thankfully we were able to re-group and get the shot. Next time we need to bring the walkie-talkies! (didn’t we say that about the Yosemite leg?)
@jocww asked if we were going to Coit Tower and of course I had forgotten about that. Triple crap. But as luck would have it, a sign pointing the direction to Coit Tower was just down the street. So we followed the signs to it and we lucked out with parking. We were still a little early, ahead of the majority of the tourists. The view from Coit Tower is amazing, 360 degree views. It is a tribute to the volunteer firefighters way back in the day, before SF had a fire department. Unfortunately the space is limited up there so I couldn’t get a good shot of all the cruisers – sorry @CaliFJ I cut you off some.
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ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Some of the 360 degree view from Coit Tower:
Golden Gate Bridge
Alcatraz
Bay Bridge and Treasure Island (which we crossed to get into SF)
At this point @69 4 fun had texted me and wanted to meet with us. I told him to meet us at Fisherman’s Wharf, look for the big sign in the parking lot. We made our way there and connected with him. He had his wife, daughter, and two dogs with him. That was a full cruiser! We were all in the paid parking lot and the parking attendant was starting to twitch seeing how we were parked all over the place, not within the lines. We told him it was just a photo op and we would be gone quickly. He then inquired about our vehicles and he was shocked to learn they were Toyotas. His words? “I gotta get a shot of this!” I said how about we trade the photo for free parking (normally $3 for every 15 minutes what a rip off!). He agreed. I got out no problem but then the machine broke down. He had to call a supervisor to help get it fixed. Not sure how long the rest of the crew got stuck there, but it was probably a good 10-15 minutes. I’ve lost count of crap moments.
You’re probably wondering – we were all together, what was the urgency all about? Well, I have a friend who lives one block away from our next destination – Lombard Street. She had agreed to take photos of us coming down. But she had to leave at a certain time. So I let her know we were headed that way and to expect us shortly. So every delay kept piling up…
Golden Gate Bridge
Alcatraz
Bay Bridge and Treasure Island (which we crossed to get into SF)
At this point @69 4 fun had texted me and wanted to meet with us. I told him to meet us at Fisherman’s Wharf, look for the big sign in the parking lot. We made our way there and connected with him. He had his wife, daughter, and two dogs with him. That was a full cruiser! We were all in the paid parking lot and the parking attendant was starting to twitch seeing how we were parked all over the place, not within the lines. We told him it was just a photo op and we would be gone quickly. He then inquired about our vehicles and he was shocked to learn they were Toyotas. His words? “I gotta get a shot of this!” I said how about we trade the photo for free parking (normally $3 for every 15 minutes what a rip off!). He agreed. I got out no problem but then the machine broke down. He had to call a supervisor to help get it fixed. Not sure how long the rest of the crew got stuck there, but it was probably a good 10-15 minutes. I’ve lost count of crap moments.
You’re probably wondering – we were all together, what was the urgency all about? Well, I have a friend who lives one block away from our next destination – Lombard Street. She had agreed to take photos of us coming down. But she had to leave at a certain time. So I let her know we were headed that way and to expect us shortly. So every delay kept piling up…
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ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
We got to Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world) and there was not a huge line like sometimes there is during peak times/season. So we all made our way down it only to be told by my friend that we were going to need to go down again – not sure what happened, but I wasn’t going to question someone who was helping me out. So we looped around again but somehow we got separated into two groups. A small clusterf_ck this time but again, took more time tracking everyone down to head to our next destination. Here are some shots of us on the Lombard Street (shot with her iphone):
I even captured a video going down it – I had my daughter’s GoPro mounted to my windshield but when I hit the record button it fell off the mount – crappity crap. I ended up using my iphone which was mounted to the dash and it worked pretty well.
Next stop, the Palace of Fine Arts. This is another iconic structure in SF and was en route to our final destination. Only issue here was wait for it – parking. Parking in SF is generally a disaster. But during my route preparation, I saw a red zone on street view right near it. So that was the spot. And here we are wedged in it (the photo doesn’t do the grounds justice, I have others which you’ll be able to see in the link I’ll share at the end).
With the Palace of Fine Arts checked off, we were headed off to our final destination, the money shot, Fort Point. As we drove there, I saw a bunch of tents up and there clearly was an event going on. Crapola. Was that area going to be closed? It was a running race but thankfully we could still access the spot at Fort Point. But as we rolled up, it looked like all the parking was taken (shocker). However, as we got closer an entire bank of spots was open – hallelujah! If you didn’t recognize any of the shots I previously posted, you will have to have lived in a cave to not recognize the next shots.
I even captured a video going down it – I had my daughter’s GoPro mounted to my windshield but when I hit the record button it fell off the mount – crappity crap. I ended up using my iphone which was mounted to the dash and it worked pretty well.
Next stop, the Palace of Fine Arts. This is another iconic structure in SF and was en route to our final destination. Only issue here was wait for it – parking. Parking in SF is generally a disaster. But during my route preparation, I saw a red zone on street view right near it. So that was the spot. And here we are wedged in it (the photo doesn’t do the grounds justice, I have others which you’ll be able to see in the link I’ll share at the end).
With the Palace of Fine Arts checked off, we were headed off to our final destination, the money shot, Fort Point. As we drove there, I saw a bunch of tents up and there clearly was an event going on. Crapola. Was that area going to be closed? It was a running race but thankfully we could still access the spot at Fort Point. But as we rolled up, it looked like all the parking was taken (shocker). However, as we got closer an entire bank of spots was open – hallelujah! If you didn’t recognize any of the shots I previously posted, you will have to have lived in a cave to not recognize the next shots.
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ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Just fabulous conditions – couldn’t be happier. Made for a great handoff of the toolbox!
Tons of people stopped to check out our cruisers. But I think most wanted to check out the dogs!
This ended up being the final destination. I had originally planned on us crossing the Golden Gate to go to another vantage point (looking southeast, view of the GGB from up high with the City in the background), but we all decided to nix that. We all enjoyed a sucker from the toolbox and then bid @69 4 fun adieu and safe travels (great to meet you and your family!). We then went to lunch at Pier 23 Café and promptly paid tons of money for you guessed it, parking. Great dungeoness crab and shrimp sandwich. And a table right on the pier overlooking the water. A great way to finish off another really fun adventure in our beloved Land Cruisers.
For more photos (and in full resolution), you can click here:
2017 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 Cross Country Expedition - SF - Michael Gin
