Great post and story Seth. That's great that you were able to reconnect with previous memories. You and your dad should go out and reminisce together, I'm sure he'd love it.
I'm not sure where I fall in this category. Probably more on the overlanding side, but I like the 4x4 side too. For me it's a little difficult. Here in the south east we have a good bit of off road parks where you can get your 4x4 on, lots of rock crawling, ranging from stuff you can do in a stock runner, to where I've watched a buggy get winched straight up a cliff. We don't have the public land they have out west which is really a shame, and nothing that comes even close to the views out west. I've lived in Alabama for 10 years now and I've never seen anything as breath taking as the views I saw in the two weeks I spent in Utah and Colorado this year. I like 4x4 roads with great views essentially, getting off the beaten path, only seeing a few people through the course of the day is great. Not having a soul pass by at night at your campsite is wonderful. The feeling of remoteness is something that is both calming and exhilarating. We don't have that down here. Every time I've been camping down here I've had people come through late at night, or stayed near where other people are within sight.
Is my truck overbuilt for what I typically do? Yes. Is that a bad thing? No. Not in my opinion. I have used all of my armor at one point or another, but I don't beat on it every time I go on the trail and it is nice to know you have the capability to do something if it is needed.
Plus building a truck, learning more about parts and the truck itself, looking into different suspension set ups and what not gives me something to do when I can't be out doing what I want to be doing in the truck.
I remember when I was a little kid riding with my dad in his Tacoma, doing some off roading in the desert somewhere in New Mexico. He went to drive through shallow creek and the truck just sunk and burried it self in the silt. He had to get out and dig out around the tires and threw the floormats down for some traction. Just a few weeks ago on Medano Pass I sunk my 4Runner in some soft sand. Burried to the axles... It reminded me of that time back in his Tacoma. I didn't have to throw any floormats down, but I dug it out, took some more air out, and got out with a little left foot braking. It reminded me of that time back in his Tacoma.
