road trip notes

[Grizz]

Y'all know I went to TX end of june and into july. Been thinking how boring it could sound trying to make a useful narrative . . . I try to keep it short and interesting I hope.

In 2022 I made two trips to TX in my 99 4Runner for family times. This year I went in my Toyota 2Runner, an 07 Yaris 3 door hatch with brilliant 5 speed gear box. He got named T2R when he successfully took me up a spur off of NF23 that I couldn't make in the 05 Chevy Man Van due to wash outs. This spring I charged up the grade that stopped me two years earlier. The road was seriously eroded and wet and not graded, but the light and nimble Yar powered up past the rocks and got his self up onto a blade edge ridge with big drop offs on both sides, and million dollar views. Good going until Klunk, he stopped in his tracks. I jacked him up and drove off of the jack, he was stopped by a buried and camouflaged rock that lives in my yard now. I got to the end of the road, which the topo thought would loop down to 23, but nooo. I was sitting there drinking coffee and munching something when three brand bright new off road all terrain motocycles bounced past me toward the dead end. Funniest thing, they were too busy hanging on to wave back, or too embarrassed at seeing what had preceded them. LOL So Yar gets his own name badge.



All that to say the Yaris is a great road car. I put new rotors and pads in front, they don't fade, even in TX. Maybe I'll raise it about an inch and a half, which will make the trip up the limestone cliffs and canyons of the ranch road a bit less challenging. That road is an opportunity to rip out the entire engine/transmission. And maybe I'll downsize the wheel size to stock, which could give me a 40+ mpg average. Still thinking on it.
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24-07_gas log.jpg

The highlighted line are the trip totals for both legs, and the gas stops are on the return leg. After getting a burger at the Trailblazer Inn, and one to go for the night shift I cruised to visit my brother for a day in Las Vegas, cruised to see my sister and BIL near Lake Tahoe, cruised to visit a way-back boat harbor at Pt San Pablo, cruised to Berkeley to see the sunset on the Bay and visit a friend from way-back, and next day cruised home.
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the general idea.jpg

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Fuel consumption is less than half of T4R, average cost per mile is ten cents. Best leg was southbound when we got 39 mpg on one or two segments. It's the functional equivalent of cutting gas price in half, or getting twice as many road trips per budget line item. . . Got the little guy up to 89 mph in one passing situation, too busy to look at the tach, but I think he can break a hundred without hitting the rev limiter. The Chevy can cruise 85-90 without breaking a sweat, but only gets 20 mpg. He gets 20 mpg regardless of load or road, and hauls 6 fully loaded pax, but that's a different ride all together. And yeah, his transmission is his skid plate . . .

The only negative for the trip is that I am so intolerant of heat that I could not get down to the creek bottom to do the ballistic testing on the 45 Super project. I shot the wrangler at a bit of limestone, put a new thermostat and coolant into Yar, fixed a couple odd things, but had to shelter with the dogs in the AC for a long siesta during the hot spots.

When I came inside I put cold soda cans in my arm pits to keep the internal oven from running away. Heat stroke is a constant threat. The opposite of Dad, who could sit out in full sunlight any time and enjoy it. I didn't get that script in my programming.

I managed to shoot the wrangler a couple of times. It's the Joker in the lever gun photos. Got to looking at it today, and with a new cylinder it could shoot 22 mag. there is enough room at the front of the cylinder to fit a cylinder that would fit the 22 wmr. Has anyone ever done this, or heard of someone who done it? The major mod would be to shorten up the barrel where if protrudes thru the frame, and extend the front of the cylinder. There is room in the frame for it. Actually, 22 wmr snake shot would cycle ok if the 22 lr cylinder were bored for them. It would be a pretty neat snake gun, and prickly pear gun, and limestone plinker gun, and burn barrel ventilator gun, etc.

I know the super duper wrangler has a 22 mag cylinder, but I think I read that it doesn't fit wrangler. Who might be able to make a 22 mag cylinder to fit? Anybody know? Oh yeah, I prefer the lines and look of the Wrangler to the SD Wrangler. It's almost an exact profile of the Vaquero frame that I favor.

Thanks for looking,
grizz

Oh Yeah, I forgot to post this Terry County plaque... at a great wide-out for napping . . .
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Terry County plaque.jpg

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