Mr. Leary
Glamping Excursionaire
Working on projects as grand in scope as the Overland Routes Project requires plenty of scouting trips, and sometimes lots of patience. Fortunately for us, this trip required very little patience, and was by far the most successful scouting trip (with the least number of setbacks) that I have been a part of...
As much as I am making this sound like work, it wasn't.
These trips, even when met with frustration from time to time, are usually just what I need to recharge my soul.
The group:
Mr. Leary, BattleWagon, Poot - 1999 Toyota 4Runner
Valkyrie - 1996 Toyota Tacoma Extra Cab
Coonass - 2006 Toyota Tacoma Regular Cab
MikeWhoTroung - 2004 Toyota 4Runner
Ash - 1997 Lexus LX470
Strizzo - 2010 Nissan Xterra
I'll start by telling this tale from my own perspective, and my companions can relay their experiences as well in the thread. Here we go...
The journey began on friday for me, as I finished hard mounting my GPS to my truck. I have also been plagued with electrical gremlins of late, and had attempted to resolve some of the issues, to no avail...
I headed down to Toyota of Dallas, and met up with the gang before leaving again to pick up two friends (BattleWagon and Poot on ExPo) and we rejoined the rest of the gang (Coonass and Valkyrie) outside Hico, TX.
We caravaned down to Inks Lake State Park where we camped the first night. Good friends and good times... perhaps a little too good. Epic conversations and plenty of adult beverages. We all agreed that we could not remember the last time we had laughed so hard for so long! :coffeedrink:
The following picture pretty well sums up the night...
The following morning.
After some aspirin and some water, we were all feeling like people again, and it was time to break camp and set off to meet up with MikeWhoTroung and Ash, who had caravaned in from Houston. While we were leaving the park, we noticed that Valkyrie's transfer case was leaking some fluid, and decided to investigate when we stopped for fuel. A transfer case flush and a new gasket later and the problem somewhat fixed, and we continued our journey to San Saba.
At San Saba city park we met up with the rest of the group, had a short meeting, and set off down 190 towards to the first dirt track. A typical Texas gravel and bladed road, it cut across the countryside with all the expected twists and bends that can be expected to access the hunting properties and ranches that dominate the landscape in the area. This area was relatively flat and the roads were well maintained, allowing us to travel quite quickly over the track. This road is where we encountered our only closed road section, which was immediately following a creek crossing, where the county road had apparently been closed and privatized, for about a 100 meter section (Insert choice words here).
Luckily it was not much of a setback, and we were able to find a very pretty little trail that looped us back to the north, where it rejoined the road, and we traveled back to the north for a few miles before catching a road to the east, which led us briefly to pavement.
This is where the trouble started. I missed the county road that we were supposed to take, and we ended up traveling through a very pretty section of wildlife managment property. Coonass had some trouble getting his 4wd to engage. Finally he got it to engage, and we were off up the steep climb to the top of the hill, where we meandered through a small valley, and encountered a gate... which was unlocked... lucky for us. After unwittingly entering a WMA that is county controlled and requires a permit, we exited as quickly as we were able. Sometimes this stuff happens. It was regrettable, but these unmarked trails can sometimes end up like that... and you don't realize that it is off limits until you come to the exit.
After we closed the gate, we got out for a short water break, and I needed a few minutes to figure out exactly where I had gone wrong. We heard some trouble over the CB... Coonass could not get his truck back into 2hi. He and Valkyrie tried every trick under the sun to try to get the case to switch back to 2hi. Nothing worked. At this point, we decided to remove the actuator on this 2006 Tacoma and see what we could accomplish. Getting the actuator off proved to be a task in itself, but we eventually got it off and inspect the workings. The transfer case shifting rod was not moving freely, most likely due to lack of use (the previous owner had not ever put it in 4wd, and Coonass has been the owner of the truck less than a week). Valkyrie pulled, pushed, and hammered the stubborn rod into submission, and after burning himself on the catalytic converter multiple times, :coffeedrink: was ready to re-assemble the actuator and return it to its place on the transfer case. We all agreed that Coonass should leave his truck in 2wd until after returning home, in case the fix was not performed correctly.
It was hot. We were quickly coming to appreciate the finer points of air conditioning. A quick junction route on pavement through the small town of (forgot the name fill in later), we encountered an old homestead that had been burned out years ago... we stopped to take some pictures.
As much as I am making this sound like work, it wasn't.
These trips, even when met with frustration from time to time, are usually just what I need to recharge my soul.The group:
Mr. Leary, BattleWagon, Poot - 1999 Toyota 4Runner
Valkyrie - 1996 Toyota Tacoma Extra Cab
Coonass - 2006 Toyota Tacoma Regular Cab
MikeWhoTroung - 2004 Toyota 4Runner
Ash - 1997 Lexus LX470
Strizzo - 2010 Nissan Xterra
I'll start by telling this tale from my own perspective, and my companions can relay their experiences as well in the thread. Here we go...
The journey began on friday for me, as I finished hard mounting my GPS to my truck. I have also been plagued with electrical gremlins of late, and had attempted to resolve some of the issues, to no avail...
I headed down to Toyota of Dallas, and met up with the gang before leaving again to pick up two friends (BattleWagon and Poot on ExPo) and we rejoined the rest of the gang (Coonass and Valkyrie) outside Hico, TX.
We caravaned down to Inks Lake State Park where we camped the first night. Good friends and good times... perhaps a little too good. Epic conversations and plenty of adult beverages. We all agreed that we could not remember the last time we had laughed so hard for so long! :coffeedrink:
The following picture pretty well sums up the night...
The following morning.
After some aspirin and some water, we were all feeling like people again, and it was time to break camp and set off to meet up with MikeWhoTroung and Ash, who had caravaned in from Houston. While we were leaving the park, we noticed that Valkyrie's transfer case was leaking some fluid, and decided to investigate when we stopped for fuel. A transfer case flush and a new gasket later and the problem somewhat fixed, and we continued our journey to San Saba.
At San Saba city park we met up with the rest of the group, had a short meeting, and set off down 190 towards to the first dirt track. A typical Texas gravel and bladed road, it cut across the countryside with all the expected twists and bends that can be expected to access the hunting properties and ranches that dominate the landscape in the area. This area was relatively flat and the roads were well maintained, allowing us to travel quite quickly over the track. This road is where we encountered our only closed road section, which was immediately following a creek crossing, where the county road had apparently been closed and privatized, for about a 100 meter section (Insert choice words here).
Luckily it was not much of a setback, and we were able to find a very pretty little trail that looped us back to the north, where it rejoined the road, and we traveled back to the north for a few miles before catching a road to the east, which led us briefly to pavement.
This is where the trouble started. I missed the county road that we were supposed to take, and we ended up traveling through a very pretty section of wildlife managment property. Coonass had some trouble getting his 4wd to engage. Finally he got it to engage, and we were off up the steep climb to the top of the hill, where we meandered through a small valley, and encountered a gate... which was unlocked... lucky for us. After unwittingly entering a WMA that is county controlled and requires a permit, we exited as quickly as we were able. Sometimes this stuff happens. It was regrettable, but these unmarked trails can sometimes end up like that... and you don't realize that it is off limits until you come to the exit.
After we closed the gate, we got out for a short water break, and I needed a few minutes to figure out exactly where I had gone wrong. We heard some trouble over the CB... Coonass could not get his truck back into 2hi. He and Valkyrie tried every trick under the sun to try to get the case to switch back to 2hi. Nothing worked. At this point, we decided to remove the actuator on this 2006 Tacoma and see what we could accomplish. Getting the actuator off proved to be a task in itself, but we eventually got it off and inspect the workings. The transfer case shifting rod was not moving freely, most likely due to lack of use (the previous owner had not ever put it in 4wd, and Coonass has been the owner of the truck less than a week). Valkyrie pulled, pushed, and hammered the stubborn rod into submission, and after burning himself on the catalytic converter multiple times, :coffeedrink: was ready to re-assemble the actuator and return it to its place on the transfer case. We all agreed that Coonass should leave his truck in 2wd until after returning home, in case the fix was not performed correctly.
It was hot. We were quickly coming to appreciate the finer points of air conditioning. A quick junction route on pavement through the small town of (forgot the name fill in later), we encountered an old homestead that had been burned out years ago... we stopped to take some pictures.
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