He absolutely loved that thing, it really is a great platform for camping and exploring. After he passed, I inherited his Honda and half considered keeping the truck stock and getting one of those pop-tops for the Element, but knew I wanted to go further off-grid than he ever wanted to.
Appreciate the kind words!
Have posted most of these in other threads but I want to keep track of stuff in this thread.
Added anchor points to the shock mounts on the panels. Only using them for a bungee cord across, so shouldn’t be much force on them
Added a few stickers to the ceiling. Trying to get one for every place I stay the night at.
Added an external ladder! A forum member hooked me up with the mantis claw kit, and I found a ladder from a notable e-commerce company.
Great story. Thank you for sharing. #letsgoplaces. You did a great job honoring him, in the right way.
Quick weekend getaway to the Ochoco National Forest. Once again, thankful I had my GFC because we ended up spending 8+ hours cooped up in the back due to thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. A lot easier to be stuck inside when you can stand up, cook, and move around a bit.
If you are in the area and have not visited Ochoco, I highly suggest it. Super cool place to explore.
JE Design 10Rack + bolt-on ratchet straps, this has made carrying my SUP a lot easier! Picked up a set of Dakine 34" aero pads at REI today and got the board up there, all good. Camper still opens no issue and the board feels nice and solid up there. A little nervous to get out on the freeway but I guess you gotta do it eventually
This is about to be a long post… We finished our last major roadtrip for the summer, heading down to the Sierra Nevadas to explore for a few days. My first two trips this summer were great, but both could use improvement. The first was too much major highway, and staying in big campgrounds. That was my first major trip in the GFC so I wasn’t sure what I could do yet. My second trip was the WABDR and honestly, I didn’t enjoy it a ton. It felt like a task. Doing it just to do it. Too much offroading for me truthfully. So this trip, I went at it with no end destination every day, just floating wherever I wanted. If I saw a dirt road, I took it. I did some OHV trails. I spent a lot of time on tiny 2 lane highways. It was incredible.
The first day we headed south-east from Vancouver, WA towards central Oregon. I grew up on the eastern side of Washington so the “dry sides” appeal to me. Hopped on the ORBDR for a couple dozen miles
The next day was pretty lackluster. We were really just trying to get some distance this day. Christmas Valley, OR to Adin, CA. I wasn’t stoked about the rain and clouds, but we got a really beautiful display as we passed by Summer Lake, OR. Across the lake you could see rain but the road we were on was dry. That area is somewhere I want to explore further.
The next day was one of my big ticket days. As I parsed through my maps, I found a neat looking lake near a hike I had planned. Then on google, there was a location called “Gold Lake 4x4 Campground”. I did a little research and made that my destination for the day.
So here’s where I made a mistake… OnX showed a trail running north out of the campsite, then west, then hopping on a FS road that ran south to a hike I had planned. I woke up early in the morning on Tuesday, loaded up, and hit the trail… It was a far tougher trail than imagined. We push our way up further and further, with it getting more and more difficult. We come out onto a ridge and in the far distance, I can see the mountain we plan on climbing (Sierra Buttes). I push further along the trail and come across a sign… “Beyond this point is Hiking, Horse, Motorcycle only”. F*ck. It had already taken longer than expected because of trail conditions, so at this point I decided “Shit, I don’t need to do the hike today”. Weather was clearing up, so we turned back to camp and decided to relax for a day. Great idea, something I don’t do often and made the best of it!
The next day, we tried again. We took the traditional trail out, hit the highway, and then ran up to the hike. We actually took another OHV trail up that made me a bit nervous. I’m not usually afraid of heights, but this was a goat trail on the side of a very, very large cliff. Once again, my own stupidity running that trail, trusting what I plotted in OnX.
This hike was another big ticket item on my list and I am super glad I did it. Tough, but very rewarding views. We met two guys up at the lookout, I heard them mention a small town in Washington I had lived in. Turns out they both went to school there. One of them gave me a suggestion for a dispersed spot down south so we got back to the truck and started that way
The next day was decision day. I wanted to make it down to Inyo NF but knew if I did that, I’d have at least one day where I had to do a real long jog to get home. I woke up early and decided fuck it, you gotta drive if you want to see cool stuff. We started heading south again.
We had some plans for campsites but Hurricane Hillary changed those. Most of the places I wanted to go were washed out. The rangers in Bishop gave me some pointers up in the mountains so we headed that way
The next day, we woke up and were very close to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Stopped by and did a little walk and called support back home (mom). I had noticed a trail that would allow me to loop back down to Bishop instead of backtracking, but due to weather I wasn’t sure if it was open. Mom did some research and gave me a green light. It was a super cool switchback trail that ran down a valley from roughly 11k feet to 4k feet. Crossed over streams multiple times. When we got down to Bishop, my Orca cooler had vacuum sealed itself shut. Had to get a crowbar out.
We decided we’d take Hwy 120 (Tioga Pass) through Yosemite, just cause. I’m gonna be 100% honest, it was a skip for me. I knew going in I couldn’t do much because I had my mutt with me, but man the views didn’t really even pay off. And it was a $35 toll. I saw as great of views on free highways! Maybe I’ll try again in the future when I can get out and hike.
And so we made it to Friday. I knew I needed to start heading north, so we loaded up and got to it. I like to cosplay as a cowboy and I wanted my own adventure hat, so I made it my goal to get one. I stopped in at Handleys Western Wear in Folsom, CA and they helped me pick out a sweet Stetson. Judge me, I don’t care. Yeehaw.
My goal was to make it to Oregon, but after being on the road for 6 hours I decided that a few extra hours up the road wouldn’t help my case. We found some dispersed camping at Lake Shasta and got the board out. I am so glad we stopped. The water was incredible, we talked with a really nice couple, and we were able to sit out and look at the stars.
Saturday morning, up at 5:30am and on the road by 6. I had seen the GFC post about the open house in Scappoose and decided it would be fun to drop in. So we set that as the end destination for this little trip.
As we took the turn off of Hwy30 into Flatline Van Co, we rolled over 2000 miles on this trip. No better way to end a trip than a shrimp boil and some GFC swag! Good times.
Back to the grind at work tomorrow, planning my next trip. Dogs happy, I’m happy, once again my truck and GFC are making the dream work
Weekend trip with the girlfriend and dogs last weekend. Deschutes river the first night and up near Paulina Lake the second. Second night there were some nasty winds most of the night, got pretty noisy in the tent. Not much to do there other than pick a better spot.
Headed out again today towards the coast. My girlfriend really wanted to stay at this specific campground so we’re there tomorrow, dispersed camping somewhere in Tillamook State Forest tonight. Haven’t paid for a full campground in a long time now, forgot how much they were lol
Also, washed the old girl for the first time in a while. I’ve never hand washed my rigs so this was a fun learning experience. Got the grit guards for the buckets and a sponge, mitt, etc. Truck could use a full detail at some point, it’s got some gnarly pinstripes now
Nice! We were up at Paulina last weekend too. Great area.
Paulina was super cool! You’re over in Bend, right? Next spring I’m looking to explore more out in Central OR, reminds me of home but a little easier to access
Yeah in Bend @pat_man Hit me up for sure if you are ever coming through and want to meet up to camp or just talk campers. 
Would love to! I’ll keep that in mind next trip down
Im in shock you got the tent up with a surfboard still strapped to the roof, how much does the board weigh? I think my tent would def close on me if i tried that with mine. Rad, that makes camping even easier!
I have no clue how much it weighs, it’s a dinosaur of a SUP (probably 13+ years old) so no lightweight. But the GFC had no issue popping up with it, and survived a very windy night with the board up there
Looks like a solid adventure. 
Glad this trip worked out. Great seeing you at the Scapoose event!
Cool opportunity this fall to interview with GFC after one of my roadtrips. Definitely a longer video, but I ended up watching it all last night (hate listening to myself talk tbh) and still stand by everything I said lol
Great video! I love the story behind the truck and that you’re getting out there so much.
Yesterday was my one year anniversary with my GFC, and I still love it as much as the day I got it. I’m a fair weather camper, so I really haven’t done much with it this winter.
I have been having some major water intrusion issues via the OEM Toyota bed rail caps, something I was aware of and should have handled sooner rather than later. But life got in the way and halfway through the winter, my bed subfloor was mildewy and I was bummed out. I knew I needed to get this issue tackled before camping season.
I decided to head back to my hometown so my Grandpa could give a hand, he loves projects like this. First, we lifted the camper off. This should have been easier than it was but I was being cautious. We used the A-frame to lift the front and his tractor/forks to lift the rear.
I picked up a set of OEM Toyota bed rail caps to replace mine. Unfortunately, I had been lead to believe that the replacement caps did not have removable stakehole pockets. I am still not totally sure what the situation is, maybe its only Crewmax/shortbeds that dont have caps? Maybe its the 2.5gen Tundras? I couldn’t get a clear answer online so I made due. I used JB weld to glue the stakepocket caps in place. Next, I cut rubber weatherstrips and put them all along the bottom of the caps. I used foil tape on top of the bed, and used CR777 butyl rubber sealant on the plastic caps. God willing, no water will ever come through these again.
I did some testing with a hose yesterday and it seems like it is sealed. Its supposed to rain later this week, so we shall see if this all worked.
In other news, I picked up a daily so my GFC can rest at home. I’ve always wanted a hatchback WRX and this one checked all the boxes. Now that I have something to drive everyday, I plan on building the truck out further.
Otherwise, nothing much new. Starting to plan some tentative trips with the girlfriend. Gonna buy a Bedrug for the truck once I am sure it is no longer leaking. Need to do some maintenance here and there on the truck too, so should probably prioritize that first!
Girlfriend and I have our first camping trip of the year planned, down towards Ashland OR to some hippy hot spring resort, then out to the coast/northern California and back up 101. Quick 4-day trip, since gfs schedule is all over the place. Really looking forward to getting out again.
Made some upgrades to the “basement”. Installed a Bedrug kit. The kit calls for you to trim it to fit under the bed rails, wishing I had installed the rails over the kit to make it a little more solid but c’est la vie. Should have spent some more time trimming around the bed stiffeners too.
Then, subfloor V2. The original subfloor had gotten beat up from truck stuff and was overkill with 3/4" baltic birch. I wanted to rebuild this one with 1/2" and change up the design a bit.
Im planning an 80/20 slide out cabinet on the passenger side, so I decided I didn’t need the plywood to go all the way over to save some weight. Installed 8 M8 rivnuts in the bed to mount the subfloor to. Ended up having to scrap the first sheet of plywood because I measured once and cut once. Did a better job scribing the wheel wells on sheet #2 and am very happy how it fits
CAD (cardboard aided design)
Try #2 fits pretty nice. Built a tick stick to trace around the wheel well
Peel and stick “wood” flooring installed. Feels like a stance Mk4 GTI circa 2011
Need to install the aluminum trim along the front, tore my thumb up last night while trying to install it and called it a day
Overall I’m pretty happy with the outcome. One minor annoyance, I got impatient and tried to install the bolts through the subfloor with a torque gun and spun two of the rivnuts out. They should be covered by the cabinet so not a big deal, but annoying after all that work. Gotta take a breath sometimes and think before I do…
