Our Travelogue...

[hecrod]

Travelogue - a speech, movie, or piece of writing about someone's experiences while traveling.
Merriam-Webster



@sggoat (Gary) suggested this... and off we went! What is it? In his words:

"What if---there was an FJ40 cross-country expedition--one that ran from North to South, East to West and diagonally across this great country--it may not need a constant bunch touring the whole Continent, but maybe a relay of sorts-a group of Oregon 40s meeting up with Idaho-Montana, and so on."

Post #333 in Across North America in Five Weeks!




And that is, in short, what this is about! 40 Owners will trek across this great country of ours... share stories... pictures... experiences... all while driving our beloved 40's!

Although there's been a bit of effort getting to this point... the teamwork shown here is making it work!




Our decal... courtesy of @ginmtb (Mike)...

Baton #1 courtesy of @brian (Brian!)

Baton #2 courtesy of @olive (Troy)

Dozens have signed up...

(@1911 @cbmontgo @mel lowe @ginmtb @jocww @CaliFJ @pngunme @allan man @jetranger @brian @JohnnyC @sggoat @Captn Conch @thorslc1977 @69 4 fun @Law Dog @POTATO LAUNCHER @Yellowknifer @GA Architect @Chris8760 @Rat Rod Rusty @Jpilot @PWCO70crusier @65swb45 @BTG88 @RolandFJ40 @vt0u812 @Splangy @trainrech @TXFJ40 @Bluegrass40 @RAYJON @Idaho yota @John McVicker @Walkerm916 @DPV7070 @tls3601 @Aaron225 @Cleg @brooklyn @woytovich @AZOKIE @graham5david @graham5david @ChristmasMud @Sig191144 @myquestoyota @Booch @iptman @shmukster @Awl_TEQ @bkdraft @ErikinSC @77wagon @Godzirra @olive @Shark56 @CharlestonG8R @wizjim25 @awynne56 @Living in the Past @Speeter @mtnbiker4evr13 @Cruiser_Nerd @DSRTRDR @SOAZtim @Tennessee80 @cruiseroutfit @lorax @kblomquist)

Hopefully dozens more will sign up over time.



The Goal? Whatever you want it to be. This may last a few weeks... maybe a few months... we'll see where it goes. I know we'll get to meet a lot of fellow owners, some in person, some through this thread. I know some of us will learn a bit about our trucks and their capabilities... I think this will "encourage" some of us to finish long standing projects, just so that we get to participate... some will take on that long-planned yet never completed "trek of a lifetime"... or maybe just a trip to visit an old friend.

Let's see where it goes. I for one know that I will be following this thread, wherever it goes, for as long as it goes.



The initial thread, and ongoing conversation regarding schedules, stops and other coordination challenges is here:

FJ40 Cross-Country Expedition: Will YOU join us???

Please post there if you are interested in participating... or to discuss schedule and the like. Let's try to leave this thread to the stories and pictures themselves... if at all possible.




The "Inaugural FJ40 Cross-Country Expedition" is on!

Hector

 

[hecrod]

Leg 1!

A little over 500 miles... from Massachusetts, into Maine, and then New Hampshire... what a beautiful drive!

My wife and I started in the Boston suburbs with the sunrise, and headed North... below 50 in the morning... stunning day for a long drive. Our first stop was Old Orchard Beach in Maine. And yes, that's me, my 40, with the baton in hand!!!

Old Orchard Beach in Maine is the quincentennial New England beach town... ice cream, kid rides, long (cold, even in summer! ) beaches. Definitely a place to visit if you ever find yourself around Portland Maine... and yes, we have blue skies here too!

Some rides on the left... fully built piers with shops and restaurants galore in the distance. Truly a neat place to visit!!! Summer is long gone here, but the feel is still here...

Even though the place was fairly desolate in this cool morning... I still came across an old friend!

To be continued...

 

[hecrod]

Stopped by the Portland Head Light... this lighthouse was built in 1791... the oldest lighthouse in Maine... one of 65 working lighthouses in the State!!!

And we drove and drove... through Fall sceneries like this...

And by Long Lake...

Boring right? Nahhhh... stunning that's what it was!

Foliage season in New Hampshire... one of the best there is...

To be continued...

 

[brian]

like i said, fall in the northeast is a beautiful time of the year.

 

[hecrod]

And then we drove through North Conway... through sceneries like the one above, into Mount Washington. Mount Washington is the tallest mountain East of the Rockies, and is part of the Presidential Range, a mountain range in the "White Mountain" Region in New Hampshire.

And yes, we drove up the Mount Washington Auto Road! Now, I drove through some difficult / high roads in the West (e.g. Teton Pass, BearTooth Highway)... this road (built in 1861) may be a bit more difficult than those, if you can believe that. It climbs at an average gradient of almost 12% for 8 miles! Now, the 40? No sweat... at least none going up. First or second gear all the way up... what a ride...

There's the 40... the view... and the baton!!!

I kept trying to take some pictures... but the paparazzi (my wife ) kept getting in the way...

Now, there we go... Yes... it was that beautiful. We do have some mountains in the East boys and girls!

A picture of the Mount Washington Cog Railway the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway... and still in operation... a stunning piece of hardware.

Take a look on the lower left... the changing colors... and the ski resort!

My addition to the briefcase (baton)???

This! A sticker given to those cars that climb the mountain!

Now, going down? A bit more exciting... as you can imagine, it's easy to ride on the brakes going down for 8 miles non-stop at a 12% grade. I could smell the brakes of the cars going down as we climbed. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we started going down, we were stopped with the news that the road was closed a mile down as a car had caught on fire... the brakes I suspect. Got stuck there for about two hours, but with the above as a view, we were not about to complain...

We did get to drive down eventually, on first most of the time, using the brakes from time to time... but it was all good... what a day!


Tomorrow? On to the Yankee Toys Fall Gathering... and the Baton transfer to @woytovich and some of the other boys...

Stay tuned!

Hector

 

[woytovich]

See you tomorrow!

 

[handcannon]

Thank you Hector!! What a way to start the baton on it's journey. As always, great pictures of a part of the country I've never before seen. I will definitely be following this thread.

Don

 

[woytovich]

Hector's 40 is one beautiful rig... Here is the hand off at the Yankee Toys Fall Gathering on Saturday Oct 8 from Hector to Rich (@ordoman) and Chris. Rich will be touring a little in Vermont then bringing the baton back to Long Island. The Gotham City Land Cruisers' Long Island leg is scheduled for Saturday the 15th.

And here is the morning view from the GCLC campsite at the Fall Gathering:

 

[woytovich]

Rich & Chris' 40s in good Gotham company...

 

[woytovich]

Rich hittin' the rocks at the FG...

 

[JohnnyC]

Just missed you guys ... coming back from Maine via back roads rt101 ... was in Keen NH around 7:30/8 pm think I saw one of your guys

Congrats on the start of the journey !!!

 

[hecrod]

Some of the other colorful 40's at the Gathering this past weekend...

 

[AlaskanWheeler]

Some great pictures, stories, and a great idea uniting the LandCruiser community...almost could be organized into an Travelogue sub-forum...just a thought

 

[ordoman]

Just got back from my first part of my leg last night.

Great meeting you Hector. Your 40 is in great shape. I hope to get mine to that condition some day (money and time). But in the meantime, she's running great.

Drove up to the Yankee Toys Fall Gathering in NH, about 170 miles on the road.

First long trip since I got the truck last summer. Had a great time and hit some really tough trails. Field and Forest Recreation Area, where the FG was held, is an off-road park with some of the hardest trails I've been on. I don't think the pictures do it justice. Mark posted a couple of pictures, here's a couple more.



This was an uphill climb over a 3 foot ledge.

This is Chris on a downhill descent. His 40 is well built and can do almost anything.

I could post more, but this tread isn't about that. Suffice it to say that we were challenged almost every minute of the day for 2.5 days. Weather was perfect, great company, great food.

Speaking of great food, Friday night surf and turf, lobster and marinated steak...

Topped off with a Saturday night BBQ and campfire

Fall Gathering is a great event. Check out the Yankee Toys clubhouse for more pics.

 

[ordoman]

From the FG I headed up not to VT to visit with my elderly (86 yrs old) aunt. Didn't take many pics because it was more about the visit, but I did get this one of MT. Ascutney

And a couple more of a great cider mill we visited to pick up maple syrup and boiled cider

Doesn't look like much, but it's been a family business for like a hundred years or so, and the stuff is awesome.

Spent 3 days with Auntie, and headed back home. Another 170 miles from Perkinsville to Bridgeport where I caught the ferry to Long Island

On board, not real crowded. Very peaceful 1.5 hr. ride

Goodbye Bridgeport

Hello Port Jefferson

Home again after 8 days on the road. Maybe with a co-pilot I would have had more good pics.

The 40 did great, put about 450 miles on it with 3 days of rock crawling in the middle. No major damage to speak of. My fuel pump is now leaking a bit, and the linkage separated on my 2/4 wheel shift lever. I'll fix that up this weekend, as well as getting the hard top on for the winter. It's my daily driver and it's getting a bit chilly.

Anyway, to be continued this weekend. Going to meet up with 4 or 5 other 40s and tour Long Island.

 

[JohnnyC]

If you haven't ever meet him... I highly recommend hooking up with Jim aka @stainless 40/45

A long time cruiser head... he in a sense got me into cruisers

He is out in Mastic area ... great guy and friend

 

[ordoman]

Yep, I know Jim. He's a good guy and always has interesting trucks.

 

[Jpilot]

Great start guys. I look forward to seeing a baton (or 2) in Colorado.

 

[woytovich]

Looks like we might have 8 or 9 FJ40s for the Long Island leg tomorrow!

 

[kruisinkid]

mark please let me know if you are passing/stopping through times square. im here all day and night tomorrow 8a-12a