Thank you! It really is.

I’ve been wanting to take a trip like this since I can remember. Yeah it’s a lot of time on the road depending on where you are coming from, but it’s absolutely worth every minute of it! Highly recommend!


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Day 9 - After getting off the trail at Black Bear Pass, we hiked the Bridal Veil Falls trail. While a short hike, steep elevation makes this one pretty tough at points. The trail’s three waterfalls make for some great scenery.


Making it to the second set of falls

Finally, making it to Bridal Veil. A great sight indeed!

After finishing up on the trail, we jumped in the 4Runner and headed northeast to our final destination of the trip, Ouray, CO!
Arriving at the cabin!


Ouray is a very cool small town with a population of a little over 1000 residents. It’s known as the Switzerland of America.




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DAY 10 - Day 10 was spent exploring the sights and areas around Ouray. We visited in Box Canon Falls and saw some of the nearby scenery!






Day 11 - Day 11 was our final day before starting the long trip home, and we saved the best for last. Today we did the Blue lakes hiking trail. This is a difficult trail that takes you up the side of Mt. Sneffles to almost 11,000ft. When you make the 3.5 mile trek to the first lake, you are rewarded with a gorgeous blue lake.








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Day 11 continued - When we arrived at the trailhead, it was well before sunrise and so I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the 4Runner. After coming off the trail though, I couldn’t resist!

Mt. Sneffles in the background

The road to the trailhead is an absolutely doozy. 9.5 miles of rocks, ruts, bumps and water. I was for sure my suspension would be shot after this, but it lived to fight another day!


Even though the road is terrible, the views are incredible!

DAY 12/13 - Days 12/13 were road days making the 17 hour drive back home to Texas but the 4Runner did great and make it all the way back to our driveway!

All in all we did 2997 miles in 13 days across four states. The 4Runner did great and had no issues whatsoever! This puts my silver fox at 199,253 miles. So close to 200k!


The next day it was time for a much needed detail



Thanks for following along on our ultimate October adventure!


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Pulled the running boards today for a more aggressive look!

Gave me a chance to get under and inspect my frame. I’m no frame expert and have never owned a car older than 10 years, so I’ll ask you guys - how does my frame look? I see a few spots of surface rust it looks like here and there, but no holes or anything. I plan to get under it with some sand paper and some rust oleum eventually.




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Yep looks like my frame I would be hesitant to sand and spray paint over rusty areas. In my experience spray paint won't last and sanding rust off will usually take more paint with it or at least hurt the paint where more rust will form. What you need is a rust inhibitor. At work we use Loctite rust inhibitor and it has to be applied directly to rusty areas. A couple coats later it turns black and should blend in with the rest of the frame and stops rust from spreading.

I agree don't sand anything, just a rust converter/inhibitor!!

But just an FYI, there are members here that would KILL to have a frame that looked like yours!!

Gotcha, thanks for the tip! But I guess this wouldn’t be considered too bad for a 15 year old frame? I didn’t really look at it before I bought it, rookie mistake.


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Awesome! Thanks for the tip and the insight. I never really got under there and looked before I bought it, so I wasn’t sure if this was bad or okay for a 15 year old vehicle.

Appreciate the tip though, I’ll add this to the project list when I change the oil here in the next few weeks! Thanks!


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I made the same rookie mistake, and was likewise blessed to get a frame that’s still clean and solid. There are people on this board who are poking holes through their frames with their fingers. It’s pretty shocking for a manufacturer with Toyota’s reputation for quality and an unfortunate stain on their image.

As others described, I also check for rust every time I’m under the truck and hit it with rust reformer and use Fluid Film on stuff like the spare tire wire and spool.

Another wise move is adding tubing to your a/c drain so it doesn’t drip directly on the frame. That design is pretty stupid given the rust problems.

Thanks BlueSky! I will look into doing that!!!


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Our garage got just a little bit cooler over this past weekend!

The Wifey’s new(to us) 2017 Limited! Traded in her 2012 Venza with 185k on it for this 2017, one owner. Clean as a whistle, owned locally, couldn’t ask for a cleaner example. It’s amazing though that even with higher mileage, these 5th gen runners are still expensive!



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Thanks for sharing your adventures. Nothing like it in a great 4Runner.

Thank you! The 4Runner is a great adventure vehicle!!


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In the shop today for some routine maintenance!

Small orders for the day, but an oil change and some new headlight bulbs are the plans. The ole girl has been a cyclops for a week or so now after the passenger side headlight going out.



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