Starting Over... Taco Style!

[viatierra]

After the chill of Wyoming and the sweat of Utah... we found perfection in Colorado! San Juan must have been quite a dude:

Mobil snowball fight! If you quit looking at my kid's butt, you'll notice the cool flower clip courtesy of Mrs. Willman. That was her favorite prize of the trip.

Sam lost her first tooth while camped outside of Durango. Funny life milestones:

If you want to see more...

 

[viatierra]

We wrapped it up with stops at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. An outstanding Epic Stephens Aventure!

The last batch!

 

[HMR]

Great pics!

Could your truck be any cooler?
Probably not.

Could your kid be any cuter?
Definitely not.

:sombrero:

 

[keezer36]

So much for pedaling amongst the Buffalo!

Yellowstone, where the buffalo roam, down the road for as long as they please.

Best post I've seen in awhile. Great pictures. Thank you.

 

[Jacket]

Diggin the pictures! That's really what its all about.

 

[viatierra]

Diggin the pictures! That's really what its all about.

Well Matt (all hail the reigning King...)

The last event of the year worth posting here was Expedition Trophy 2008

In '07 Mark and I took 3rd overall, this year Christine and I took 2nd! She did fantastic and had a great time. Will 2009 finally be my year? Perhaps I should step down and let someone else have a chance… Nah, the Trophy is WAY too much friggin' fun. Don't worry, I'll post pictures if I make the cut again.

 

[kcowyo]

Awesome Tacoma, a choice itinerary and a fun family to hang with. :clapsmile


Great photo set, worth the wait (ahem...). I shudder to think how many Princess DVD's you endured on the road, but pleasing that shy little heartbreaker of yours is worth enduring every sugary sweet lyric. So did the Tooth Fairy make a visit to the Maggiolina? Sorry about the snow in YNP, but Alaska would have been worse.


I'm so glad I got to join up with the Traveling Stephens Family Circus Tour for a few nights. Let's do it again soon.


:beer:
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[viatierra]

Rack Failure!

A couple of more recent improvements to the truck:

Once again, I can't say enough about what an upstanding guy John Hunter is and his work on my tent rack. When I picked it up a year ago, John was apprehensive and wanted to add a support along the rear window. I said No and that I'd keep an eye on it. Well, I didn't and it failed. I called John about bringing it in to be fixed, which he did right away at no charge. Amazing and ridiculous.

(Looking for busted pictures to be posted here)

The fix is solid and slick. I really appreciate John's top notch service and support with his work… It's a matter of pride to him, although I see the failure as more my fault. I won't hesitate recommending his work or using him again in the future.

Since the rack had to be taken apart & rewired after John's welding, I took the opportunity to upgrade a few things that weren't quite done right the first time.

Powder coat
Can't believe the difference compared to the rattle can job that was done the first time. No more rust spots, touch ups and the textured finish is an improvement too. Check out the fixed rack: Layered tubing & new gussets at the break points PLUS a new cross member above the rear window.

Penne vs. Spaghetti
I have been keeping my eye open for a good solution for cleaning up the wiring around my auxiliary fuse block. I never found what I was looking for, so I invented my own budget solution. I got the largest wiring loom I could find and screwed it in place making a loop around the compartment behind the rear seat. Man, I HATE wiring so it was huge to get this done.

From THIS:

To THIS:

 

[viatierra]

RAM GPS mount

Okay, since we're here. I relocated my GPS awhile back. Since there are very few flat surfaces to be found, perhaps this might be helpful to someone else.

I squeezed it in next to the CD player on the factory radio cover. It is flimsy plastic so I cleared out an area and backed it up with a piece of aluminum to screw to.

Voilà!

I'm toying with the idea of removing the radio and permenantly mounting a tablet PC in the dash here. I could do everything that I use my GPS, laptop, radio, cd player & mp3 player for and much more. Any experiece or thoughts on the concept? It's money I don't have at this moment, but I'm still rolling the details around in my brain for now.

 

[Ryanmb21]

awesome! looks very similar to what I did here.

 

[viatierra]

Maggiolina Ladder Mod

During the 2008 Expedition Trophy, I had the brilliant idea to use my Maggiolina ladder as a piece of recovery gear. Since the Maggiolina ladder is extendable, I figured that the two pieces could be seperated. I thought I could use the two halves as sand ladders... one in front each rear tire. Unfortunately, the the ladder hardware comes riveted together! What sense does that make??

I used it anyway with great effect. Since I had my rear locker on, I only needed one side to gain traction. Plus, leaving the two pieces together provided additional strength so they didn't get totally mangled during the process. Still, I couldn't help thinking that the rivets were a stupid way to make a piece of gear less usefull.

When I finally got home I drilled out the rivets and inspected the damage:

Not too bad! I tweaked the ladder back into shape and reassembled the pieces using normal Ace Hardware nuts & bolts. Having made this simple mod, my ladder is able to be quickly seperated with just a screw driver. Who knows what other used I might find for it now?

• tent ladder
• self recovery - pair of sand ladders
• ???

 

[kcowyo]

I used mine for a drying rack to dry towels and such in Saline Valley. I'm sure they'd work for that on the sea shores of old Mexico too...

That's a great idea in an emergency.



.

 

[ChuckB]

I just read through this whole thread. Awesome build!

 

[Jerseytaco]

Great build! Love the rack design. About how much did it cost?:victory:

 

[RHINO]

i'm diggin that cast iron wash basin.