Nunyabiz
New member
Yep, in total shock still. We both have been hiding out in the house and sleeping most of the day.
Hope we can sell the house quickly and get ready for another trip cross country soon.
Back from 7,770 mile trip
- Thread starter Nunyabiz
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Yep, in total shock still. We both have been hiding out in the house and sleeping most of the day.
Hope we can sell the house quickly and get ready for another trip cross country soon.
Dous
New member
Haha, it's not THAT bad!
Nunyabiz
New member
Yep, that is what this whole trip was about.
I used to live in Bend for about 6 months back in the mid 90s and loved it, knew it is where I wanted to retire.
Had to come to NC to help my mother, but she has just passed away back in April so nothing holding me here now.
Wanted my wife to see Bend to make sure she would like it and wanted to check out the real estate market and get a feel for where to go, what to expect, etc. So we spent 5 days in Bend in a condo over looking the Deschutes River. Wife loved it of course which I had no doubts about.
Trip to the Arctic sounds incredible.
I have done a number of long road trips over the years, they are always good.
Nunyabiz
New member
Ummmm I dunno, compared to virtually anywhere on the west coast Raleigh just doesn't come close.
The weather really gets me down here, heat and humidity is for Orchids not humans.
I spent too much of my life in Southern California got spoiled.
Nunyabiz
New member
We were all over Yellowstone but when we left we went UP the northern route so not through Cody, although last time I went to Yellowstone I did go through Cody, that was about 25 years ago though.
Did not quite make it down to Teton NP, didn't go much south of Yellowstone lake.
We did go through Billings then went the Sheridan, Buffalo, Sundance, Sturgis route to Mount Rushmore.
Nunyabiz
New member
Not sure, but from the looks of it we will be looking mostly just a few minutes south of Bend, we can get a place right on the Deschutes river there.
IN Bend and ON the Deschutes is a bit over our pay grade, they start around $750,000 it seems.
chmura
New member
Looks like an awesome trip!
I would consider getting a basket type roof rack. Most of that stuff in there you could of probably put on the roof rack and free up space in the cabin.
How was bend Oregon, did your wife like it?
Whats the total mileage on your 4runner?
I would consider getting a basket type roof rack. Most of that stuff in there you could of probably put on the roof rack and free up space in the cabin.
How was bend Oregon, did your wife like it?
Whats the total mileage on your 4runner?
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You are one of the lucky few.
Did you notice any MPG improvement with the gas you pumped in West coast? The reason why I am asking is my truck if from CA-NV and it did 21 MPG easily in the West and after moving to LA-TX area, it is doing 17 MPG. Truck has same tires and same driving style, in fact better straight flat roads in south than in CA-NV.
Did you notice any MPG improvement with the gas you pumped in West coast? The reason why I am asking is my truck if from CA-NV and it did 21 MPG easily in the West and after moving to LA-TX area, it is doing 17 MPG. Truck has same tires and same driving style, in fact better straight flat roads in south than in CA-NV.
Nunyabiz
New member
Yeah I thought about a basket rack but did not want that extra height, in fact I would not have been able to park at 2 hotels and at my friends condo in Long Beach if I had a rack up there, not to mention the gas mileage drain and the noise for hours and hours per day.
Bend was fantastic, much larger than when I was last there but still really nice. Wife absolutely loved it which was the main reason for the trip, I know she didn't want to up and move 3000 miles to a place she has never seen.
So all was a success, now we just need to sell house in NC.
Cant wait to start looking for a place there, we found places with 1/2 to full acre of land, 2-3 Bedroom with 2-3 bath, 2+ car garage, large work shop heated with woodstove AND RV storage garages the size of a freaking blimp hanger, AND right ON the Deschutes River with a dock in my back yard.
All just in our price range.
Cant wait to be able to kick back on our own dock on the river and fish for Brown, Rainbow, Steelhead and Chinook Salmon while having the BBQ going waiting for fresh fish.
Total mileage now is a bit over 171,000
Nunyabiz
New member
Hmmm, I will have to check every gas receipt and see for sure but I do know without even looking that I got BOTH my worst AND best MPG on the West Coast on this trip.
I got 15.69mpg on one tank and don't think I got over 18mpg on any tank in Southern Cal BUT the problem with that is that in Southern California I was largely driving city, stop and go. I spent a couple of days there visiting an old friend and my old stomping grounds in Newport Beach.
So it is not really a fair comparison as on virtually every other tank except ones while in Bend for 5 days and while in Yellowstone for 2 days most everything else was 100% highway miles.
I did notice good improvements in MPG in long flat areas with few elevation changes and got my best (21.47mpg) tank leaving Bend and headed East which is surprisingly flat.
As far as quality of fuel I dunno, wouldn't surprise me through.
However I am thinking that possibly your mileage may be suffering from other factors also, like harsher roads, much hotter with humidity thus more use of AC. There appears to be numerous factors that affect MPG.
I know IN Raleigh NC that I get pretty sad MPG, like just over 13mpg 100% city driving. Heat humidity and lots of stop and go plus lots of up and down hills.
blue dog
New member
I called my long road trip my walk about. did not do it in a 4runner though, did it in a 2nd gen dodge diesel. I would like to do it again sometime soon.
Lately my road trips are all in Baja, just love it down there. Here is my last adventure rig
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farmerjon
Senior Member
Same here, I love road trips. At this point, especially solo road trips, you can do whatever you want, and not worry about whether or not the other person is having fun or such. You can make your own plans, change them, do whatever you want! Haven't had much chances to do this yet though.
Nunyabiz
New member
I have made several Newport to Cabo San Lucas trips towing my 19' Boston Whaler Outrage, pretty scary trip back in the 80s. You literally pass I bet at least 1000+ white crosses on the roadside which is rather unnerving at night because they didn't have any reflectors or anything for turns, just White Crosses of people that died there. It is pretty effective to get you to slow down and watch the road.
Few Pemex stations but I carried 36 gallons of extra fuel in my portable bladder tanks I used for my boat.
That was done in a 1985 Ford Bronco II of all things.
Never let me down though, even surf launching in the sand.
I think it was pretty well spent when I sold it with just over 100,000 miles though, I took good care of it, regular oil changes etc but I put a lot of really hard miles on it and it wasn't a Toyota.
My favorite Newport to Cabo then to Mazatlan trip was actually in a converted TransPac sailboat that some rich doctor friend wanted sailed down to Mazatlan so he could fly down and use it there. Was about 1000 miles of sailing, fantastic fishing along the way.
We also stopped at a little fishing village off of Cedros Island, we just anchored the boat far offshore because it drew over 16 feet at the keel so couldn't get very close hardly anywhere that didn't have a deep bay.
Then about 20 minutes later this guy comes buzzing out to us in his panga boat with 2 milk crates full of nice lobsters.
We bought them all for a $20 bill a Playboy Mag and 2 packs of cigarettes which we brought with us just for this occasion.
So for a few nights we had fresh lobster and fresh yellowtail and mahi-mahi that we had caught daily.
We also stopped at Magdalena Bay got into the skiff and headed into the bay as the California Gray Whales were stopping there migrating, there were lots of them in this shallow bay which they use as a nursery.
They will actually come right up the skiff so that you can touch them.
I heard now that about 10 years ago they actually started making whale trips to Magdalena bay just for this, glad we got to do it decades before it became commercialized.
I have some old pictures of that trip somewhere I might pull them out and just take digital pictures of them and see if I can post them.
That was my favorite trip.
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blue dog
New member
There are a lot more Pemex stations then there were 10 years ago, and it is much easier to find diesel now days.
go from San Felipe to Gonzaga bay, they are now paving most of the road, but it was the most fun dirt road in Baja until the paving. It was like a 70 mile roller coaster. Then from Gonzaga to the Bay of Los Angeles. always a great trip. In the summer we stay on the pacific side, too hot on the Cortez side in the summer.
Cheers.
go from San Felipe to Gonzaga bay, they are now paving most of the road, but it was the most fun dirt road in Baja until the paving. It was like a 70 mile roller coaster. Then from Gonzaga to the Bay of Los Angeles. always a great trip. In the summer we stay on the pacific side, too hot on the Cortez side in the summer.
Cheers.
Recently I did a 5500 mile trip (Louisiana - Los Angeles,CA-Sacramento,CA-Reno,NV and back... Also did some wheeling in death Valley) and I pumped about 330 gallons (16.66 MPG). I am planning to do an injector cleaning/calibration from Witchhunter in WA. This is my last try to improve the mileage
Nunyabiz
New member
Absolutely, just need to sell our current house first.
We plan on doing that around the end of March.
Could take a few days to sell it or many months, so with any luck we will be near Bend at least by this time next year I am sure.
