[Stockwell45]

Many of you know I've been out on an awesome solo road trip for the past month, so I figured I'd start a thread of my travels.

The reason I'm out here roaming around is because I just graduated college in the spring, and I work summers. Now that school is over with I have all this free time this winter, and my plan is to attend the park ranger academy in the fall of 2013 and start my career as a park ranger soon after. This means that this may be my only free time to get out and explore this great country until I retire. I felt my 4runner was up to the task, and so far it's had a couple problems but nothing that will keep me off the road.

The start date was November 2, at my home near Sonora, CA. 236k miles on the clock. 5700 pounds when fully loaded.

I had just replaced my front passenger axle seal because it was leaking and draining my front diff. Locker was working great, good to go.



I had to test out how those 9 wraps flexed with 600 pounds of gear in the back. Did great!



The first night I stayed at our cabin on the Nevada border, then onto my parents house in St. George, UT.



Then the first night with my tent was in Grand Junction, CO. Here's my bed, sheets, two down comforters and a sleeping bag on top.



I immediately learned that my 185 pound body can't keep that big bed warm, so after that night I've been stuffing another sleeping bag between the sheets that I sleep in. Nice and toasty now...

Pretty much headed straight for Williston, ND and spent a few nights in between. That part of the trip was boring because I was on the freeway the whole time. Here's a few pics from my trip north.

Near Rangely, CO



Midwest, WY



Terry, MT





Here's where I camped in Williston for a week, an empty lot.



Dinner served every night on the back bumper



Had to bring my favorite local California beer with me!







Why Williston? I wanted to see what all the hype was about, supposedly you can get a job pretty easily that pays 60k a year in the oil fields up there. That's a bunch of 4runner mods!

In short, I was able to find work. A great paying job that would have given me a bunch of extra money until I started the academy. But I couldn't find housing to save my life, unless it was $3000/month. There was no way I was gonna live in my tent for an extended amount of time up there, plus my heart wasn't really into living up there. So I said goodbye to North Dakota...

[Stockwell45]

After Williston, I headed west into Billings, MT and dropped down into Lovell, WY. There I met up with farmerjon from the forums. He’s an awesome guy, and showed me around Bighorn Canyon Natl Rec Area. I definitely would not have known where to go without him, and it was nice to have someone to talk to after 3 weeks of no friends to hang out with. Thanks again bud!






That place was incredible, I hope to go back someday and hike around out there.
Sometime after I left home, my front driver side axle seal gave out, and my front diff is nearly drained of oil. I don’t want to use my 4wd if I can help it unless I really need to get over an obstacle, but I don’t plan on hitting hard trails when I’m this overloaded.
On top of that, my locker got stuck in the open position. I had to crawl under there, take off the actuator and free the gear inside. Seems to work now, hope it works fine the rest of the trip.

Oh yeah, I did all the work in a pasture with cattle watching me.

From there I pretty much headed straight south towards Utah. I heard weather was supposed to be getting bad up there, it was already dumping snow in Williston.

Here I am now, sitting in McDonalds parking lot in Moab, UT. It’s been a dream of mine to wheel here ever since I got my 4Runner 6 years ago. Tomorrow I’ll be exploring around Arches National Park and the next day go check out the Top of The World trail and others. I don’t have a fancy smart phone like most of you do, so my internet has been coming from McDonald’s wifi this entire trip. I’ll post up more pic’s when I get back to the McDonalds. Until then, I’m hitting the trail!

[OzSurf]

Looks like an awesome trip so far! Those pics from Bighorn Canyon are amazing. I'll be watching this thread closely.

[SantaCruzRunner]

awesome man, cant wait to see how it goes.
you've inspired me to go on a coast to coast journey here soon

[farmerjon]

thanks man! Was good to meet up with another serious T4R owner. I enjoyed showing you around the canyon, it was fun. Good luck with the academy and keep me posted how that goes! Best wishes!

[BeachWagon]

Subscribed just because I saw a case of PBR in one of the pics. Great looking trip and looking forward o seeing more of this!

[GSPRunner]

So jealous. Thanks for sharing.

[mizzle415]

Looks like an awesome trip. Traveling solo forces you to interact and be more social than you may be naturally. But at the same time, it's you're pace, you're route, and you're whims.

Hopefully the snow doesn't limit your exploration too much.

[rickashay]

Thanks for posting this thread... Im living vicariously through your adventure!

[woodro]

i wish i could do that

[ddking]

Looks like a great time!
I've always wanted to do something like that. You are right, once you start your career its hard to get away for an extended period of time. Have fun and keep it coming!

[BigFishAllDay]

I'm so happy you made this thread!!!!

It is inspiring, and I'll be looking forward to your updates.

[Dous]

Sounds like a really cool career choice!

Look forward to seeing updates

[JamesDean91]

I was just in williston for 3 days on the 14/15/16 I hated it haha worst trip ever and I'll second the 3k a month for housing. Freaking ridiculous the cost of living up there.

[Hepar]

Amazing pics. I know the ones from Moab are going to be killer too.