The Black & Tan Adventure! - 1300 miles of Land Cruiser Bliss!!
This venture was exciting in many ways! First off, the trip started out for the purchase of the 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser in Black with Tan interior that I have been searching for! I located the vehicle in the San Francisco area and after a week of negotiating with the dealer and having the vehicle checked out by Toyota there in CA, the decision was made to purchase.
After studying the McNally atlas, I came up with the great idea of visiting Yosemite National Park since the park was located not too far away. Of course this was appealing to the wife! Things bloomed from there, and many miles were in store for us for a rather short weekend!
Fast forward to Friday, 4:40AM. The alarm clock rings and Neiko & Flash stare in confusion as their parents get up so early and start to get ready. With a small backpack each, we were out of the door by 5:30AM and on the plane Oakland bound via Southwest at a 6:30AM lift off time.
A quick flight placed us in Oakland and my wife and I finagled our way to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station only to be two of hundreds of people delayed. Apparently some chap decided on committing suicide on the train, or the track rather, during rush hour. After an hour of waiting, we made it on the train and ended up at the Chevrolet dealership where Black & Tan awaited us.
After just a few minutes going over the vehicle, and being impressed with it, the papers were made in order and we were off!
(moments after the purchase)
A quick stop to the neighborhood Wally World (Wal-Mart) landed us some really sweet $9 sleeping bags, an air mattress, and foam cooler for a whopping $1.37!!! (Amongst some other items purchased).
So on the road we went. Our initial destination being Yosemite National Park. We were both excited, yet the fear of having just purchased a used vehicle was constantly in the back of our minds. What if something were to go horribly wrong? What would we do? Why we stressed so much about this was beyond us, after all, it was a Toyota we purchased!
After a three hour drive and a short visit to the Stanislaus National Forest, we arrived at Yosemite. We spent sometime driving around looking at the beautiful scenery before the sun went down. Not having any camping reservations, we frantically checked with all the camping grounds to discover they were all full! We got lucky and found one spot at another ground in the park, it was somewhat hidden and of course next to the area bathroom! Beggers cant be chosers right! We took it!
We shortly discovered being 6'05" doesn’t go well sleeping in the back of the newly acquired FZJ80! Angel laughed as I curled up like a dog in the back trying to get comfortable, it wasn’t at all, but I was freaked out on all the talk of bears in the area, no way was I about to sleep outside!
The sun came early and after some quick breakfast, we headed off to the Taft Point trail. After a brief hike, we headed out towards Sequoia National Park.
Some hours later on Saturday after traveling through Kings National Forest, we made it to Sequoia National Park. Though the scenery at Yosemite was far superior, the trees at Sequoia National Park were simply amazing! Some of the trees were stated as being 40 feet around!
"Sherman", the largest living thing in the world, a tree with a trunk 106' around, was quite the sight to see! Wow, this tree was big! A few photos here and there and we were on our way!
After looking at the map, we thought it may have been shorter to cut through Death Valley National Park and into Las Vegas rather than trying to get to Bakersfield. With the small winding roads to Death Valley, we think it may have been quicker (yet a longer distance) to go the Bakersfield/Barstow route. Oh well, we were being adventurous of course!
In the meantime, the Land Cruiser was simply amazing. Charging forward at full force without a stumble (well we did have a low tire at one point), it was a great feeling! I really really started to become more attached to the purchase we had just made and had been pondering for many years.
Traveling through desolate side roads (thinking this was faster) was a bit unnerving. At certain times, there was nobody around and the sun was setting fast! Folks, talk about being out in the boonies, we were there!
As we entered Death Valley, Angel took over the controls as I was getting darn tired rather quick. It was roughly about 11:00PM and we had been on the road a majority of the day.
I started to nod off when all of the sudden, "thump!", I woke up and Angel started to sob that she had just pummeled a bunny rabbit. After that one, there was at least three other suicidal rabbits that came close, but were not struck by the Black & Tan 80 barreling down the road. In the meantime, I started to heat up and asked Angel if she had cut the A/C. I rolled down the window and like a thick blanket, the blistering heat of Death Valley entered the cabin like no other! Wow, it was hot.
(a European traveler seeing the sights in their
Pugueot RV!)
We made it to Pahrump, Nevada right at about 2AM Sunday morning. I took over again and we flew through Las Vegas and I continued to Mesquite. This was after four Iced Cappuccino beverages with obviously plenty of caffeine.
At about 4:30AM, the caffeine fix was coming down and coming down fast. We pulled off into Mesquite and checked at three different hotels. No vacancies! I pulled into a RV Campground and found a welcoming note saying if nobody was there, simply find a vacant spot and take care of the bill in the morning. Sounded good to us! Three short sleeping hours later, the sun was up and Angel went to take care of the tab. Apparently unbennounced to us, we violated some type of RV park code and the rude bitty at the park yelled at Angel and told us we needed to leave at once! We offered to pay, but I guess we really screwed up here as she didn’t want our money (rolleyes). Oh well, this got our blood pumping a little and we were good to go after a few more iced cappuccino’s!
Three national parks, 1300 miles, and 48 hours later, we made it back home! The new Land Cruiser made it without a hitch and our first little jaunt in this amazing vehicle proved to be a great success! What an awesome vehicle. So next weekend is Labor Day, and we have decided on skipping a road trip for at least a little bit for now!
See you soon,
Johnny & Angel Lange
