Traveling Tico: How do I Get Ready!

Getting ready for 1300 Miles Road Trip

I promised myself to go on a road trip this summer between Arizona and Utah after the Overland Expo West. After all, I need to put to the test the new improvements done to my 4Runner. Most of the route will be highway roads with occasional detours; a few reasons force my trip to be that way. The first one and main one: I have a tight schedule, I'm leaving Wednesday, July 3rd after my regular job at 5pm and I have to be back in Tucson on Sunday, July 7th to be at my desk on Monday at 8am. The second one: I have never done a road trip alone in The States since I moved in. Therefore, I choose to be conservative. The third one: The loop route is a bit aggressive but in my mind, it doesn't make sense to do a back and forth plan. The last one: I know this will be my last trip with the current set of tires. In fact, part of me feels that I'm pushing it. Fingers crossed!

This will be a quick blog as my intention is to share what I did and how I did it. I don't pretend to school you, I simply want to share with you the way I do things. I guess we will all learn from them.

Back in April while I was in Costa Rica, Mark Tetreau with Kalaber Creations, Inc took my 4Runner (Tico) to work on some modifications. The biggest and main one was the OEM back bumper replacement with a RPMFAB one (not longer in business). Mark was told that no winch was compatible with the bumper, and he with the classic move said "Hold my Beer". He customized the bumper to fit a Warn 9.5 XP-S Winch and a Hi-Lift.

Mark was able to modify the bumper, install the 2 arms, the winch, and hi-lift and painted during my 2 weeks absent. However, he ran out of time and did not feed the winch rope. Below is a video of the way I did it I learned a lot, by doing it alone and I'm proud of myself for completing the task.

What's in the box?

Warn Industries, one of my main sponsors sent me a box with stuff before my trip. Let's unbox it in this video.

Another box to open! This tool have safe me in the past 2 years during the Overland Expo West. My brother in law owns one and every year at the expo, I have to borrow his. So I decided to buy one before my trip. This is just in case, I hope I don't have to use it.

A couple of days after I bought the XP-3 Micro Start and unbox it, my destiny had a nice surprise for me and Tico. On a Friday after work (a week before my trip) Tico wouldn't start. I had my new XP-3 at home charging and I had to kick myself for that one. Anyway, a co-worker jumped me and I made it home. On Saturday when I was ready to leave my place Tico wouldn't start again. At this point, I checked the battery's purchase receipt and guess what?; It was still under warranty. All I needed to do was to survive until Monday to go where I bought it to have them replace it. Meanwhile, I had to have the XP-3 with me at all times and charged. See the below video of a real life test. Needless to say, it was worth every single penny I paid for it.