izzardking's top gear special: trying to kill a 4runner
 

i'll just put these here:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...5.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...2.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...1.jpg~original




well guys it was a heck of a weekend, kind of a long story, so, I'll just jump right into it, otherwise you can just look at the pics and skip my babbling.

We were up in the N.cascades doing a bit of camping this weekend, barlow pass for the locals...

Earlier in the day we had gone on a hike to find a bit of sun that was shining on a near by ridge, We were lazing around enjoying ourselves, when we noticed an approaching storm, so we decided to pack up and head back down to campsite and get things buttoned down before the storm hit ,we were fully expecting foul weather this weekend...we just had no idea how bad it would be come.

well we got down into camp with the storm coming up just on our heels, so we got to work quickly setting up shelter and getting some wood stacked,
i was on shelter duty and the wife was lugging the wood from the back of the 4runner down to the site..
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...9.jpg~original

the wind started to howl and we started to howl back, much like capt. dan in forest gump , we were taunting the weather and possibly even mother nature herself, i personally advise against this now in retrospect, with our voices raised, nature raised her's back with a strong gust and a loud crack something had changed, we were all suddenly aware of how small we were when we started to see this 100 ft hickory tree begin to moan and lean, i grabbed my wife and stepped back as i watched my friend run in circles and this tree come toppling down right towards my truck...landed right on it, up hill ,good 60-80 feet away, and just crunched it in half......


http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...4.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...5.jpg~original
tree smashes my truck and 10 seconds later my dog runs up there to 'play' ....jerk...
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...0.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...1.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...7.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...6.jpg~original
car alarm still going off.....
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...3.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...5.jpg~original

after that happened , i decided we needed to get out of there and get to help asap as i wasn't going to be able to handle this with my hatchet.... as we were a number of miles from the main dirt road and about 20 miles from town, the dark was coming, so we geared up and headed out in search of rescue, on our walk out of the area we came across a couple of more trees down on the road we took to come out to out camping spot and saw that was going to be an issue...lol.....after about an hour walk we got up to the main road and saw that 4 other very big trees had come down on the mountain loop hiway and was blocking the entire road from being passable and just as we got there so did a another couple of people who happened to be driving down theway at that same time, apparently tress had come down on the other-side of the loop as well and was forcing everyone back out our direction , this was lucky for us as we didn't have to wait long for a bunch of people to start pooling where all of these trees had come down on the hiway, we meet a very nice older couple who had just come from town and were on their way up when they had saw the commotion, i sent my wife and he friend back into town to get help and make phone calls while i stayed to keep an eye on the dog and help with the clearing effort on the hiway.

at one point we about 10-12 guys out there with hatchets,saws and axes chopping up these 4 trees on the hiway to get the main flow of traffic up and running ....eventually we completed that task and i was stuck just sitting in a torrential downpour watching my breath hang in the air, until some nice guys came along and gave me a granola bar and a arrogant bas**** (beer), so i sat there drinking my beer waving at cars as they drove by me in my sorry state.

meanwhile my wife had made it into town and was sitting in the bar having a few waiting for one of our friends to get out there to help us, this is after she had called 9-1-1 who then refereed her to the park department, (9-1-1) then said "you are to far out, it's your problem" "no one is injured or stranded..." since we hiked out... when asked what they thought if we just left the car there indefinitely they they said basically "whatever, not our problem" , so in comes my buddy dave and my other buddy chris, they both show up in their trucks and have a couple of proper logging saws and got straight to work.

it took us about 1-2 hours just to get back to the truck trying to clear all of the trees on the way down the side road...

we started cutting the log of the truck
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...6.jpg~original

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...7.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...3.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...4.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...4.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...5.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...4.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...7.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...9.jpg~original



so now we got it all cut off strapped down
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...4.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...3.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...2.jpg~original


now here's the part that's hard to believe.... the tuck fired up and drove...yes it did!....drove it the 20 miles into town to wait at the bar for AAA to tow me on home video's below......
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...6.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...0.jpg~original
video above
at the bar
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...8.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...6.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...5.jpg~original
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...4.jpg~original


the poor girl leaving me
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...9.jpg~original





so all things considered it has been a pretty crazy weekend, my wife missed dying by about a minute and a half, we could have possibly been sleeping in there as i sleep in the 4runner all the time camping and i don't know what else, we're just all very lucky and i am grateful!!!!

so i'm heading off today to look at a replacement, sad to see her go but she served me well and never let me down, even to the very end, this is proof what a 4runner can do for you, if you take care of it, have 3 more lined up and hopefully i can come out ahead here

THE ARB IS NOT FOR SALE:hunter:

lol...really? it looks fine ,why would i sell?



:hatsoff::hatsoff:

looks like all of the pics have been flooded to many view here's a link to another album i made
http://s1244.photobucket.com/profile/theizzardking2

LOVE IT!!!!

I mean, so sorry dude. Thanks for sharing though, this is both a sad and amazing tale...

Wait, you mean you aren't going to bob it now?

Holy crap! I am glad you guys are OK. Thats an amazing trophy you drove out with.

Glad you guys are ok. I'm curious, though, why did you leave that log hanging on the back? A trophy?

haha right, thought about it, thought about dropping the pics last night in the bob thread as a joke, but was still wiped out from the "adventure" this weekend.

i'm hoping to still be with you guys after this is all over, i'm looking at another 4runner or a LC from the 90's.....i need a car by the end of the week at least..... =-( ....total bummer!

That has got to be one of, if not THE, craziest recovery stories involving a 4Runner that I have ever heard or seen.

WOW.

You nailed it at the end, though. As I was reading near the beginning I was thinking to myself how lucky you guys were to NOT be sleeping in the back of the 4Runner that night.

And then you drove it out! Awesome. Best of luck on finding a new rig, and glad to hear you and your lady are OK.

'cause F--- that tree. That's why.

Wow, glad you and yours are okay

That is a hell of a way to go! So glad you guys are alright, that could have ended much worse, as you pointed out. Believe me, I feel for you.

When I was looking to replace my 3rd gen, another 3rd gen or an 80 series LC topped my list as well. Let me know if you have any questions about the LC, I've done a lot of reading on them over the last couple months.

Dibs on the fire wood. :hiding:

As much as that sucks... thats pretty legendary! I sure hope you get another runner or at least stay in the toyota family.

I love what your wife said... " It was a pretty good weekend... thats why you buy a f***ing toyota"

If that was IRS it would have been toast, but I'm surprised the axle housing didn't go, they arent extremely strong.

Get a manual this time you lazy ass!

Simply amazing! Glad you're OK.