I am the 2nd owner of this Tacoma. The previous owner did several upgrades to it and a couple of them I even like. One that was not to my liking was his change to 15×12 wheels with substantially larger than stock Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ 33×12.50R15LT (318/72/15). While certainly fun and cushy off-road they had their drawbacks. …
Author: E
Quick deflation is cool but the flip side of that is the re-inflation when you leave the off-road world and reenter paved roads. I have found that about 48 psi, cold, is my best option for comfort on paved surfaces. When I started airing down for off-road fun my target is ~25 psi and I was …
I usually like to drive fast enough to essentially skip across the tops of the washboard rolls which seems to be between 30-35mph. In sand or on rocks reducing your tire pressure gives you a larger tire tread contact patch and softer, more flexible and pliant face and sidewalls which help grab hold off, roll …
As well as the Tacoma is set-up for our needs and how comfortable we are on this nomadic adventure sometimes it’s nice to avail oneself to the simple luxuries in life. I’m talking about hot showers that didn’t come trickling out of a solar shower bag and potable water that didn’t need to be hand pumped …
This is one of those finds that come from following a brown sign with white lettering. Back on Hwy 17 heading north we see the sign and make the decision to check it out. Who hasn’t heard of Montezuma? And this is his well! Cool, let’s go see what we find. After a short drive on …
About an hour after driving away from Arcosanti we find our way up the narrow access road out of Clarkdale and arrive in downtown Jerome. We don’t specifically know where we are going to stay tonight so we can’t stay long but we have a couple of stops we always make when in town, Caduceus Cellars and The Spirit …
After we drive away from the Old Airstrip we get back on Hwy 17 heading north. We’re starting the day with the Chuck Berry classic “No Particular Place to Go” as our first road tune as usual. Keeping in mind our principle about brown signs I notice one that says Arcosanti which brings back memories …
After a lazy morning at the stabby/spiky things campsite we’ve arrived at the self-storage place in Glendale later than I would have liked. It takes a couple of hours to go through the stuff and decide what comes and what stays in storage and then offload into the storage unit and rearrange what remains. We’ve …
We’re continuing on our way to Glendale to drop a load of stuff off at the storage unit. Our next stop after Barstow is up in the hills off Hwy 72 and Vicksburg Pit Road in Vicksburg, AZ. The Free Campsites website has told us about dispersed camping options there on BLM land but we pushed further up …
About 17 miles out of downtown Barstow, CA, on the opposite side of Barstow Rd/Hwy 247 from the New Jack City rock climbing area is the BLM’s Sawtooth Canyon campground. It is reached by a lightly washboarded well maintained dirt road. A 4×4 or high-clearance vehicle is not needed. Once we arrive at the campground …