TexasTJ's 2017 T4R TRD Pro - Cement "Zoe"

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

Small falls along the way.

Lunch Tower Lookout

I woke up the next morning to a mama moose and her calf trotting down the road. My windshield was filthy, so this is the best picture I got of either of them.

Relaxing in the Iron Creek near the abandoned Horse Haven Airfield

Amazingly two weeks passed, and it was already time to head to Spokane. While I was there I got my tires rotated at a local Discount Tire. I grabbed my first hotel of the night, 14 days in, to make sure I wasn't too smelly for her. We left Spokane and made our way to Winthrop. We stopped somewhere along the way for a short hike.

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

We hit the road early the next morning for the North Cascades National Park to hike Maple Pass. 7.1 miles, and 2,200' of elevation gain.

We didn't have ferry reservations, but we decided last minute to try to take one from Coupeville to Port Townsend. We arrived with minutes to spare before boarding, and they placed us in the "if we have room" line.

After departing the ferry it was late, so we made our way to Heart o' Hills campground in Olympic National Park for the night. Up early the next morning for a quick walk on the Marymere Falls trail.

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

After the short hike, we continued on to Rialto Beach to start the descent of our trip along the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 101).

Bald Eagle surveying his land.

Hole in the Wall

Ruby Beach

We found a nice riverbed wash and set up camp. As we were sitting around talking, we heard some splashing in the water. We looked up to see two river otters playing around in front of our camp. We had so much fun watching them, we didn't get the camera out until they started swimming away.

We packed up camp and made our way to Mount Rainier National Park.

Bear down in the valley, taken through my Galaxy Note 9 and a pair of binoculars as my wife searched for the camera.

Small zoom lens camera photo.

Our Air BnB for the night, did I mention my wife likes me better when I'm not stinky?

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

The next morning we drove back to the coast to check out Cape Disappointment. I'll be honest, it lived up to it's name. The trail around it was kind of fun, with some old bunkers. But the actual trail to the cape was closed by the Coast Guard. We moved onto Astoria, OR (home of The Goonies) for lunch, and then Columbia Beach to see the Peter Iredale shipwreck.

Next up was Cannon Beach for Haystack Rock in Ecola State Park (4x4 beach race in The Goonies where the XJ dusts everyone).

Silly seal on a buoy.

COIVD caused some closures, and we ended up having to skip a day and a half of our plans. So we moved on to the Trail of Ten Falls, about 30 minutes west of Salem.

Walking around Thor's Well near Yachats, OR.

We went a fairly low tide.

On our way out my wife saw a sign for sea lion caves, so we stopped to check it out the next morning. While walking along the board walk, we saw a Gray Whale passing through.

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

The next day was Crater Lake National Park.

We hiked around Garfield Peak.

Then we continued moving onto Fern Canyon.

And further onto Lassen Volcanic National Park

We made our way down to Lake Tahoe, where we'd planned on kayaking. However, due to COVID, we weren't able to get any kayaks. We camped just south of LT (38.794566,-119.930950), in hopes to get a kayak early the next morning, but no luck. Our schedule was a day or so off at this point due to closures.

We decided to push on towards Yosemite, and camped near Lee Vinning. You can see Mono Lake in the background. IT doesn't have any outlets, so it has a very high salt content. We walked around the shore and checked out the tufas.

We woke to a chilly mid 40*s and drove over to Yosemite National Park, where we hiked the Sentinel Dome.

Half Dome in the background

Atop Taft Point and The Fissures.

Most of the water was dry in the area, including Yosemite Falls.

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

With just a few days remaining, we checked out the Redwoods National Park/State Forest, Kings Canyon National Park, and Sequoia National Park. My sister drove over from Los Angeles to hang out for a day/night with us.

The General Sherman tree is the world's largest tree, by volume (not height, or width). 275' tall, 36' base.

"The House"

Check those cool pants.

Large Sequoia tree struck by lightening

We camped (36.069252, -118.534488), but I forgot to snap a picture. I'm sure I missed some pictures, and switched up my days, but after 28 days and 9,000 miles things started to get a bit mixed up. The next morning we pushed to Albuquerque, NM, and then back home to Fort Worth, TX. Although it wasn't the Alaska trip I'd planned (looking at you COVID), we had a blast.

cmilviper · Sep 15, 2020

DUDE!!! Epic trip man!

Great pictures & write-up!

fishman · Sep 15, 2020

What a trip! When did make the drive down from Tahoe to Lee Vining? I may have seen you along that stretch.

TexasTJ · Sep 15, 2020

fishman said:
What a trip! When did make the drive down from Tahoe to Lee Vining? I may have seen you along that stretch.

I think we were around Tahoe August 10th, and left Lee Vining around the 12th.

fishman · Sep 17, 2020

I believe I saw you heading through Lee Vining from Mono Lake. Was up there with the family camping in Lee Vining the 10th-13th.

If I would have known I could have taken you on a nice little excursion for trophy trout... If ya ever head back out to the Eastern Sierra and want an epic trout trip hit me up.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

nightflyer · Sep 17, 2020

Just read through the entire thread. Thanks for documenting your journey with the 4Runner. My wife and I are heading out for our first road trip in our 2020 4Runner to Colorado from Texas.

TexasTJ · Sep 18, 2020

fishman said:
I believe I saw you heading through Lee Vining from Mono Lake. Was up there with the family camping in Lee Vining the 10th-13th.

If I would have known I could have taken you on a nice little excursion for trophy trout... If ya ever head back out to the Eastern Sierra and want an epic trout trip hit me up.

Hey that would've been cool, I havent been fishing in a long time.

nightflyer said:
Just read through the entire thread. Thanks for documenting your journey with the 4Runner. My wife and I are heading out for our first road trip in our 2020 4Runner to Colorado from Texas.

Glad you enjoyed it. I've made the trip to CO from TX several times over the last few years, make sure you grab the Colorado backroads book by Charles Wells.

TexasTJ · Nov 23, 2020

Brakes and oil change done yesterday at 86,526 miles. Wife said the rear brakes were grinding, looking at them, I bet they were! Fronts were low, but ready. Rears were overdue.

Front rotor: 43512-60191
Front pads: 04465-60320
Rear rotor: 42431-60311
Rear pads: 04466-60140

6.6qts Mobil 1 0w20
Filter: 04152-YZZA5
Drain plug gasket: 90430-12031

Tires rotated at 86,600.

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Pedro367 · Nov 24, 2020

Just read through your trip and what an epic adventure. Vacation goals right there! Would love to retrace your steps one day.

TexasTJ · Nov 24, 2020

Pedro367 said:
Just read through your trip and what an epic adventure. Vacation goals right there! Would love to retrace your steps one day.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I like to browse various forums and pull ideas from other trips to make my own plans. Bummed I couldn't get to Alaska, but maybe some day.

TexasTJ · Jul 27, 2021

TexasTJ's 2017 T4R TRD Pro - Cement "Zoe"

Oil change done at 93,791.

Added a Fumoto drain valve and RCI aluminum 1/4” 5052. I'd recommend the regular F103 (not the short nipple) to easier get a drain hose on it.

TexasTJ · Oct 10, 2021

Installed a Viofo A119 V3 dash cam today, hardwired to run when parked. I used the passenger seat fuse for constant power, and the ACC fuse for ignition power. Ran the wiring along the headliner, down the a-pillar, and into the dash for a clean install.

TexasTJ · Dec 3, 2021

More maintenance @98,560 miles

Spark plugs: (6) Toyota/Denso (90919-01233)
Secondary Air Injection Pipe Gasket 17377-0S010
PCV Valve 1220431110

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TexasTJ · Dec 11, 2021

Last maintenance update for a while hopefully.

At 99,057 miles

Drain and fill engine coolant with 8.25qts of Toyota 50/50 SLLC (#00272-SLLC2)
Drain and fill brake fluid with 32oz O'reilly Dot 3 and 24oz of Toyota fluid (#00475-1BF03)

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tpete · Dec 14, 2021

Black out

TexasTJ's 2017 T4R TRD Pro - Cement "Zoe"

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