30 days across the country...

[blind squirrel]

Really cool!

 

[erklep]

You drove right through my hometown of Huntington Beach. Sadly I'm in Denver now. HB and SoCal for that matter has become too expensive

It is quite expensive. HB was gorgeous! If I could afford it, Id move up in to Orange County next. Denver isn't so bad. We have friends about 2 hours from there in Breckenridge(also pricey).

What a remarkable trip. Thanks for taking the time to share your pics & observations.

My dream is to drive my 'Runner from home here in Atlanta out west through many of the places you visited & to continue on the Alaska Highway up through Canada. Hope to do that in the next few years.

That sounds like a wonderful journey as well. I hope that when you do make the trip that you document everything and share it with us

Great trip, I also left New Jersey on 11/10/16, but we did the cannon ball run to Colorado 27 hour straight thru drive time. It is so nice to be done with NJ!!!

Bill

Awesome! There was nothing left for me in NJ except my job. Most of my family has left the area and I have been talking about leaving there for 3-4 years now. Finally did it and I have no regrets! Good luck out in Colorado!

Awesome trip! Thanks for sharing. Thats one of the things I love about the US.. the diversity in the geography and terrain is mind blowing.

Thank you! That was my favorite part... seeing the terrain change over like someone painted a line right down the middle

Wow awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing! :rockon:

Of course! Now I get to explore more of the desert states and see whats around my area. Stay tuned for more photos!

Really cool!

:thumb:

 

[07V8]

Supremely jealous. I did something similar with my road trip when I graduated college. 8k miles in 4 weeks.

You'll miss NJ, trust me. Bagels, pizza, and delis are incomparable to the East coast.

 

[erklep]

Supremely jealous. I did something similar with my road trip when I graduated college. 8k miles in 4 weeks.

You'll miss NJ, trust me. Bagels, pizza, and delis are incomparable to the East coast.

8k miles is a ton in 4 weeks!

Sure, Ill miss certain things from back east but NJ itself had nothing for me. Cold and wet for more than half the year, hot and humid for the rest. Im not a huge winter sports guy so being trapped indoors(except for wheeling) would get to me. I ride motorcycles and mountain bikes so the Western climate suits me well at the moment. Amazon now ships Taylor pork roll btw :tongue:

 

[madeinhb]

It is quite expensive. HB was gorgeous! If I could afford it, Id move up in to Orange County next. Denver isn't so bad. We have friends about 2 hours from there in Breckenridge(also pricey).



:thumb:

If you need any advice on what to see, do or eat - let me know.

 

[Hyperion]

Beautiful photos! What a great trip. I grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Left there in 1976. I didn't realize how blessed I was growing up there until about ten years after I left.

 

[grave]

hell yeah. my wife and i plan on doing something similar next summer... socal up to OR, then tacoma/seattle, over to jellystone, down through grand teton, down into denver, over to dallas, new orleans, savannah... and that's as far as we've planned. not sure how far north we want to go along the east coast before heading west again.

are you tall? i notice you have a fold out/hinged piece on your platform. i am 6'5 and have been wanting to figure out a sleeping/ storage platform for the back and this is the only solution i've been able to come up with. take out rear seat bottoms, slide the front seats forward, unfold hinged piece.

how'd the V6 do? what was your overall MPG?

thanks for posting!

 

[Nervo19]

Thanks for this thread. Great pictures. I think you're now living in the city with the best climate in the U.S.

 

[amalik]

You drove right through my hometown of Huntington Beach. Sadly I'm in Denver now. HB and SoCal for that matter has become too expensive

That's funny. These days, you hear people moving out of Denver saying the same thing.

 

[madeinhb]

That's funny. These days, you hear people moving out of Denver saying the same thing.

Still nothing like CA

 

[Billynath1988]

Excellent thread man.. Very jelous, this is something Ive always wanted to do and have no idea how to find the time to make it happen. Ive driven cross country before from southern cali back to LI NY. one of the most memorable experiences I have and I did it in 7 days..
Unfortunately I was not in my 4runner to do off pavement adventures. .

 

[erklep]

If you need any advice on what to see, do or eat - let me know.

I appreciate that!

Beautiful photos! What a great trip. I grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Left there in 1976. I didn't realize how blessed I was growing up there until about ten years after I left.

If you had asked me if I wanted to travel to Idaho prior to this trip I would have looked at you like you were nuts. I had no idea it was as gorgeous as it is.

hell yeah. my wife and i plan on doing something similar next summer... socal up to OR, then tacoma/seattle, over to jellystone, down through grand teton, down into denver, over to dallas, new orleans, savannah... and that's as far as we've planned. not sure how far north we want to go along the east coast before heading west again.


are you tall? i notice you have a fold out/hinged piece on your platform. i am 6'5 and have been wanting to figure out a sleeping/ storage platform for the back and this is the only solution i've been able to come up with. take out rear seat bottoms, slide the front seats forward, unfold hinged piece.

how'd the V6 do? what was your overall MPG?

thanks for posting!

Awesome! It's quite the bonding experience! I still have yet to experience some of those Southern states. My folks moved down to Beaufort, SC just this year. I drove down and visited them right before I left on this trip. I have to say, it is gorgeous down there.

I am 6'1 so the cabin would have been cramped had I not had the hinged piece. Seats went all the way forward on the tracks and then I would angle them to the front as far as possible, fold down the hinged part and I had about 5-6 inches below my feet. Very comfortable. The only thing I would change is the height of the bed. It was a little tight for my slightly claustrophobic girlfriend. Next time we wont have so many possessions to stuff under us either, just camp gear. The bed is on 12" legs so I think dropping it down to 8-10 would be good.

The v6 did surprisingly well. I was a bit worried before we left because I knew the mountains and higher elevation was going to really slug her up but she did great. I didn't ever have a situation where I had to stomp on the pedal to get going or keep moving. Cruised at about 80ish on the highways and managed to get over 18mpg a few times. Not bad for a few inches of lift, all that gear, the elevation, and my tires(265/70/17). Average was 17.8-17.9 according to the dash calculator which has to be off a bit considering the tires.

Thanks for this thread. Great pictures. I think you're now living in the city with the best climate in the U.S.

That really was the main draw to San Diego. It's damn-near perfect here everyday

Excellent thread man.. Very jelous, this is something Ive always wanted to do and have no idea how to find the time to make it happen. Ive driven cross country before from southern cali back to LI NY. one of the most memorable experiences I have and I did it in 7 days..
Unfortunately I was not in my 4runner to do off pavement adventures. .

Thanks Billy! No need to be jealous. You will do it one day. We had discussed this moved for about 2 years and finally started planning it about a year ago. The time was the hardest part for us as well. I left my job back East but she transferred with her's and they were only going to give her 2 weeks. We managed to squeeze the extra time out of them in the end. We would likely never get this opportunity again so we had to seize it

 

[Nervo19]

If cars get much bigger they're not going to be able to drive through the tree!

 

[grave]

Awesome! It's quite the bonding experience! I still have yet to experience some of those Southern states. My folks moved down to Beaufort, SC just this year. I drove down and visited them right before I left on this trip. I have to say, it is gorgeous down there.

I am 6'1 so the cabin would have been cramped had I not had the hinged piece. Seats went all the way forward on the tracks and then I would angle them to the front as far as possible, fold down the hinged part and I had about 5-6 inches below my feet. Very comfortable. The only thing I would change is the height of the bed. It was a little tight for my slightly claustrophobic girlfriend. Next time we wont have so many possessions to stuff under us either, just camp gear. The bed is on 12" legs so I think dropping it down to 8-10 would be good.

The v6 did surprisingly well. I was a bit worried before we left because I knew the mountains and higher elevation was going to really slug her up but she did great. I didn't ever have a situation where I had to stomp on the pedal to get going or keep moving. Cruised at about 80ish on the highways and managed to get over 18mpg a few times. Not bad for a few inches of lift, all that gear, the elevation, and my tires(265/70/17). Average was 17.8-17.9 according to the dash calculator which has to be off a bit considering the tires.

good to know about the leg length. i probably wouldn't have thought of that. i was planning on building the platform pretty much on top of the wheel wells.

i have the same size tires on my 06 V6 sport and 17.6 really means 15.6. i track every tank on fuelly app, reset the dash mode and trip my A trip meter and it's always ~2MPG less, no matter what the dash reads.

 

[sprocketus]

Great story and loved your journal. We did it with 4 kids (3 of them mine) in an old Chevy van, camping from Illinois out to LA and back. Took the whole month of June '87 to do it, and it was the best vacation ever. Thanks for sharing!

 

[erklep]

If cars get much bigger they're not going to be able to drive through the tree!

Wow that sure is something!

good to know about the leg length. i probably wouldn't have thought of that. i was planning on building the platform pretty much on top of the wheel wells.

i have the same size tires on my 06 V6 sport and 17.6 really means 15.6. i track every tank on fuelly app, reset the dash mode and trip my A trip meter and it's always ~2MPG less, no matter what the dash reads.

To the top of the wheel well should be perfect IMO.

Oh I know. I do the same every time I fill up. The issue with using the odometer/trip for your mileage is that its still off because of the increase in tire size. I believe our trucks clock the mileage via a sensor in the transmission and not the actual wheel revolutions. The only true way to calculate mpg would be to use a scangauge or one of those OBDII trackers, I believe. Fuelly is GPS calculated, yeah? What is the percentage difference between fuelly's odometer vs what your trucks odometer show?

Great story and loved your journal. We did it with 4 kids (3 of them mine) in an old Chevy van, camping from Illinois out to LA and back. Took the whole month of June '87 to do it, and it was the best vacation ever. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! Wow, I couldnt imagine doing that with all those children! I know it was difficult enough just with the gf :bounce:

 

[grave]

To the top of the wheel well should be perfect IMO.

Oh I know. I do the same every time I fill up. The issue with using the odometer/trip for your mileage is that its still off because of the increase in tire size. I believe our trucks clock the mileage via a sensor in the transmission and not the actual wheel revolutions. The only true way to calculate mpg would be to use a scangauge or one of those OBDII trackers, I believe. Fuelly is GPS calculated, yeah? What is the percentage difference between fuelly's odometer vs what your trucks odometer show?

i think fuelly just does the math for you. miles driven/gallons dispensed. my dash has been at a steady 17.6 for the last few tanks and my last three fuelly averages have been 15.4, 15, and 16.7.