Stockwell45's Adventure Thread

Stockwell45 said:
You guys are all gonna hate this...but I gotta head straight back home to Sonora tomorrow, no coast trip for me :(

I applied for California Highway Patrol over a year ago. I've been jumping through the hoops of the application this whole time, and today I've officially been accepted into the academy, which starts in a month. I need to go home and buy my uniforms, do paperwork, and all the other junk associated with it.

I'm just so happy I've had the chance to explore around and take road trips like this before being tied down by a career. It's been absolutely amazing!
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that's awesome! good luck and stay safe

let me know where in CA you end up getting assigned, as I know LE throughout the state...
 
Stockwell45 said:
You guys are all gonna hate this...but I gotta head straight back home to Sonora tomorrow, no coast trip for me :(

I applied for California Highway Patrol over a year ago. I've been jumping through the hoops of the application this whole time, and today I've officially been accepted into the academy, which starts in a month. I need to go home and buy my uniforms, do paperwork, and all the other junk associated with it.

I'm just so happy I've had the chance to explore around and take road trips like this before being tied down by a career. It's been absolutely amazing!
Click to expand...

Awesome!! I'm headed off to the Police Academy for the next class!!

Wish you the best of luck!
 
smallfry said:
Hows the handling and gas mileage with the brick on top of your 4runner.
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I don't even notice much of a difference in handling. I don't have any swaybars, so I doubt the handling could get much worse anyway...

Gas mileage I've been getting about 13-14 mpg if I'm lucky
 
[MENTION=47153]Stockwell45[/MENTION]
I cant believe i haven't seen this thread before! is exactly what i would like to do with my wife once i graduate from school. My parents have a condo that ive been going to since i was 5 in brianhead. I got all excited when i saw your parents are in st george, I would love to check everything out maybe wheel with you one day.
What bike are you using? I take my Dr350 out quite a bit here in idaho and explore just like you do. its great stuff!

How does that tent do with wind? shouldn't you put a faring in front so it not such a sail slowing you down?
 
shootmymime said:
[MENTION=47153]Stockwell45[/MENTION]
I cant believe i haven't seen this thread before! is exactly what i would like to do with my wife once i graduate from school. My parents have a condo that ive been going to since i was 5 in brianhead. I got all excited when i saw your parents are in st george, I would love to check everything out maybe wheel with you one day.
What bike are you using? I take my Dr350 out quite a bit here in idaho and explore just like you do. its great stuff!

How does that tent do with wind? shouldn't you put a faring in front so it not such a sail slowing you down?
Click to expand...

Heck yeah man, that would be sweet! I don't think I'll be heading back out to Utah until at least October, but when I do I'll let you know.

I've got a Yamaha XT225. It's tiny, but can't be beat for tiny trails. I can practically pick the thing up if I have to. It's nice that it's plated too. Those DR's are great, I was looking for one of those before I got my bike.

Wind isn't too bad actually. I hear a bit of noise when going down the highway, but the worst thing is when there is a strong wind blowing on the side of the rig. Sometimes it almost feels like it could send me into the other lane or off the road. I thought about a fairing, but it would have to be a pretty big fairing to make a difference. And mounting one without a rack might be kinda tricky too.

Oh, and super jealous you guys have a condo in Brianhead. That's such a great area, never get rid of it!
 
I'd love to do it eventually, when I have the time and money to throw into a trailer. But for now I gotta live life with the tent on the roof.
 
Congrats on getting accepted to the academy! Seems like there's a good amount of LE on here. I'm not LE myself, but my best friend was. Unfortunately, I say "was" because I lost him a little over a year ago. It's a dangerous job and I respect you for wanting to do it. Just be careful out there!
 
ROAD TRIP 2015

I haven't been to the forum in a while, been so busy with work and other things that it's hard to find time for this. Anyways, I took a week off work for a 9 day road trip. 1700 miles round trip, I headed to the Grand Canyon and Zion national parks. We never took any freeways on this trip, and visited the most isolated part of the Grand canyon, 70 miles from the nearest paved road. Not quite as crazy as my last trip, but still extremely eventful. Hopefully these pics will help motivate others to just get out there and see this beautiful country of ours in your rigs, you wont regret making the time do it!

Also, as you can see in the pics I experienced a ball joint failure on the far reaches of the Arizona strip. Well, not the ball joint itself, but 3 of the 4 bolts managed to shear as I flew down the washboard road. With no cell service and nobody out there in the winter months, I was so glad I had the proper equipment with me to temporarily fix it and limp back to the nearest city for more repairs. Amazingly, I managed to find one bolt that didn't shear 1/4 mile up the road, and that one bolt held the front end together for 60 miles and I continued down the nasty rutted road.

Enjoy!


































Here's how the single bolt I had left looked after I put the weight of the 4Runner back on it. Sketchy! But made it out of there like that. (By the way, I couldn't steal a bolt from the other side, because all the other holes had the sheared bolts still in them, and I didn't have a tap set with me)

 
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One day, one tap set and 4 bolts later:













My family has a cabin on Mono lake, it's the obvious stopping point on a trip like this between Sonora and Utah. We stayed there for a night, here's some cool pics of the nearby ghost town of Bodie and surrounding area.






 
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This is a really amazing thread. I really want to do something like this one day. I've been thinking about it for a few months now just trying to figure out what all needs to be considered and done before leaving. That side of the country is just beautiful to me and I would love to make it back out there. I saw the grand canyon, pikes peak, the painted forest, the meteor crater, and alot of the scenery in west texas, new mexico, arizona, and colorado many years ago as a child, but I would love to make it out there again.
 
Thats one of the best outcomes possible for your LBJ situation.
No one was hurt.
Truck was still good.
Nothing else broke.
One bolt got you out.

One day later, all good.

NICE!
 
Wow, that LBJ situation is scary. Did you replace the bolts and use blue loctite last time the LBJ were replaced? Just wondering because I'm replacing my bolts now after pulling them to do my CVs. Thanks
 
I hate the ball joints on these trucks when I see things like this.

That's crazy that one bolt got you out of there, thanks for sharing the photos!
 
Holy crap man, so thankful you two weren't near any cliffs when that ball joint went!! Great pictures, looked like an awesome trip!

BTW, looks like it's time for a hi-lift jack lol..
 
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Glad to hear the LBJ failure wasnt any more serious

Ive got a set of lbjs ready to be installed.. in addition ive got coil sag; hope the old lbjs hold up until I can get new coils and shocks/struts

anyway, cheers
 
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