I took Megaweapon in to The Truck Shop today to have the new RCI skid plates installed:




I got the set of front, tranny, transfer case and crossmember skids, plus the gas tank skid. Unfortunately
it looks like I still need something to fill the gap between the front skid and the bumper, but I didn't see
anything like that on RCI's website:




Here are some closer shots of the installed skid plates:










Afterwards I took Megaweapon to a local park to get some more pics:








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Would you please review your suspension setup? How happy are you with it? I have the same tires in 275 and they are amazing.
Really enjoy the photos from your travels. The Toyota is a travel machine!

Thanks! I haven't had a chance to take it off road yet since getting the new suspension, but so far I'm very happy with it. On the road the ride is still smooth and it handles well. I've gone through a lot of big potholes just to try to get an idea of how it will feel on the trail, and it felt fine.

I really like the couple of inches of lift too.

This grill and the Pelfrey are my favorites. I just wish there was some sort of finished grill cover for the exposed sections. Nothing blocking air flow mind you just something that finishes it off.

Nice seeing a KDSS Trail decked out.

Yeah, for me it was a toss up between the MetalTech bumper or the Pelfrey bumper. I ended up going with this one because it was a bit less expensive. Also, if I remember correctly, Pelfrey only had aluminum at the time.

Today we took a drive out to the Anza-Borrego desert, hoping to see some wildflowers. I was also looking forward to the opportunity to hit some trails now that I have the new bumper, skids, and lift.

We went east out of town on I-8 to Ocotillo, then took S-2 north with a couple side trips off the pavement.
Didn't get to do as much off-roading as I had hoped, but I'll take what I can get.

As it turns out, we were too early. Lots of green but almost no blooms yet. With warmer weather expected this
weekend, the blooms should be taking off by the beginning of next week.

We still had a good time. It was great to finally get out to the desert again, and I also got a lot of nice pics of
Megaweapon.












We finally saw a few small patches of sand verbenas in bloom, just a couple miles north of Agua Caliente Springs:






Went as far north as Scissors Crossing, then headed up to Julian for pie and dinner before going home.




Along the way home we stopped near the top of Mt. Laguna to get the last photos of the day:





While there, I saw the "ice/snow" warning on the display for the first time:




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Monday night I drove out to Anza-Borrego for a quick overnight trip. I spent the night up on Pinyon
Mountain. Didn't get much sleep because it was so cold. My sleeping bag has kept me warm even in
snow on a couple occasions so I was surprised that it wasn't sufficient this time. I had an old blanket in
the truck and put that over the sleeping bag, which helped somewhat. Anyway, here are some night
photos:


Setting up camp:




The view towards Julian in the west:




Northeast view towards Salton Sea:




In the morning I explored a bit of the trail on Pinyon Mountain:









Snow-capped Mt. San Jacinto in the distance:




Continued in next post....

After leaving Pinyon Mountains, I headed south. The spring wildflowers are finally starting to bloom but mainly
in the southern half of the park and at lower elevations. The peak of the bloom is still at least a week away, I'd
guess. The first significant blooms I saw were in the Carrizo Badlands:




Desert Lilies:




Sand verbenas and other flowers:








Desert primrose (I think):





Even here, the bloom was still far from peak. Lots of green plants that haven't blossomed yet:








The creosote bushes are just barely starting to bloom:




A tiny wasp visits a poppy:




I used a suction cup camera mount on the driver's side, just below the mirror, to shoot some video on the trails.
Unfortunately the camera setting was accidentally changed while mounting the camera, so the video was no good:



Continued in next post...



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As I left the Carrizo Badlands, I took the route up through Canyon Sin Nombre. The colorful cliffs there made
a great background for some pics of Megaweapon:














So far only a few lupins were in bloom. Here's one of them:




Megaweapon strikes a heroic pose:










I saw a nice patch of bright yellow poppies along the road at the southern end of the park:








The last shots of Megaweapon before leaving for home:






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This happened Monday night. I took a drive out to the desert for another little overnight trip, and shortly
after I got out there I noticed my mileage:




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As I mentioned in the previous post, I went out for another overnight desert trip Monday night.
This time I stayed down at the southern end of Anza-Borrego. Also, there were a LOT more flowers now
than there was the last time! Especially the brittlebushes, which are everywhere and were all in full bloom.
The ocotillos had buds and are very close to blooming but most hadn't quite opened yet. There were all kinds
of wildflowers, and also blooming shrubs such as indigo bush.

The wind on Monday night was fierce! I camped among some boulders, down in a box canyon where there was
at least some shelter from the wind, and it still almost rolled me over in my sleeping bag a couple times. The
wind literally roared all night. I had to use a lot of rocks to hold things down, and even then was only able to
set up camp during a slight lull before the winds really got bad.

Here's a shot of my campsite at night:




Here's what I saw when I first looked out of my sleeping bag in the morning. What glorious scenery to wake up to!









Some of the wildflowers are very tiny and right at ground level. These little purple ones are only about 1/4" wide:






These yellow ones are less than a half inch across:




A view of my campsite:






I was thrilled to find this horned lizard (aka "horny toad") while hiking around the area. I gently picked him up and then released him after shooting a few quick photos:








That's all I have time to post tonight. I'll continue this later...

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Here are some more photos from my recent overnight trip to Anza-Borrego...











Indigo bush and brittle bush:






There were a lot of cactus in bloom this time. Here's a hedgehog cactus:










Barrel cactus:












Beavertail cactus:










Continued in next post...


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More photos from my latest desert trip...






Can you spot my 4Runner in this photo?












Still more brittlebushes:














Giant windmills mar the desert scenery:




Indigo bush:







Boulders:










A freeway bridge cuts through the desert:





That's all for now, more later in next post...

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megaweapon=mega-awesome

A few more pics from my latest adventure in Anza-Borrego...




I found a large cross made of piled rocks on a remote hillside:




Some fluffy, purplish flowers on a large shrub:




Most of the ocotillos had red buds showing but were not yet in full bloom:















Some more tiny ground-level flowers:






Desert dandelions:








The intrepid explorer:




Megaweapon:






On the way home I stopped to check out the ruins at Buckman Springs. This is the remains of a bottling plant built in the 1880s. They bottled and sold bubbling mineral water from a spring next to the building:









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