tazkittiesadventures

[tazkittiesadventures]

Exploring Alabama EP 2 Desotos State Park

[tazkittiesadventures]

The first outing

Hello my peeps.

We had our first outing in the in the set up. It went rather smoothly. It was only a three day trip out but we both thought it was a good idea to do a small overland/buggy run. Here is the story of the trip. It might be a little long and my apologies ahead of time.

Captains log day before "flight"

Trying to get everything packed and ready to go. Taz and his buddy D was still working on the breaks for the buggy. What should have been a simple job, in fact, was not a simple one. I do believe they took two trips to the auto parts store. The guys worked on those breaks all day and they started at 9am and didn't get done till after 5. Unfortunately they could not get the breaks to bleed correctly, and the buggy still didn't have breaks at the end of the day. I do have to give the guys credit they worked their butts off trying to get them to work but at the end of the day, they were tired and hungry and the weather started getting bad and Taz didn't want to fool with them anymore.

After "D" left, Taz and myself started loading the 4Runner up. Got the iceco fridge/freezer plugged in and running and loaded up. I had made myself a list (I always make lists when going on a trip weeks in advance) and we were checking things off the list as we loaded. Taz played tetris in the back. As for now, we do not have the truck drawers. Which when we get them purchased and installed I do believe it will be easier because most things can and will be left in them. For now, we are totes and bags.

annex for tent - check, kitchen table - check, solar panel - check, bedding - check, clothes - check, food and water - check, camera - check, cables - check. Going of the list, marking as we go. yup got it all.

Got the buggy hooked up and everything packed and ready to go. We go back in the house to get settled in for the evening, Taz jumps in the shower, and I am washing up the dishes and finishing up the kitchen. All of sudden we lose power to the house; I go get the flashlights because it is really dark. Taz finishes his shower and I go to get mine only to realize that there is NO hot water. no power = no hot water. You talk about a quick shower. The time is about 9ish. We head off to bed and the storm is kicking up crazy outside. Needless to say, neither one of us slept well, on and off, we happen to both be awake around 3ish and decide to just get up and hit the road, put some miles behind us. We still have no power and so there is no coffee.

Captains log day one...The road trip

We get up and load the rest of the stuff and off we go. Stopped and fueled the 4Runner and the buggy, I ran in the store and grabbed us some coffee and "breakfast" because at this point nothing is open yet and most places were still without power. Fueled up and ready we head out down the road. pouring rain.

We are about 45 minutes into a trip when Taz asked me if I grabbed the tent cord and light cord off the kitchen table. I sat there and had to think about that and after several minutes of contemplating this my answer was yes, I had placed it in the empty liter bucket next to the buggy. Several more minutes go by and Taz said I didn't pack the bucket did you? Me -- umm, no I thought you did. At this time we are an hour away from the house. Me - you have to turn around and go back, that bucket has everything in it for the annex and awning. All the tie downs, the little lanterns, the stakes, everything. Taz - Are you sure we didn't pack it. Me - yes, there is no litter bucket in here. So, he turns around and we head back home. 50 minutes later we pull into the driveway and sure enough the bucket is still setting where I had placed it. I was so angry at myself for missing it. There is still NO power at the house. We find a spot for the bucket and off we go again.

After this everything went smoothly. We stopped and got more fuel and grabbed some breakfast. While on the way down there one of the sponsors reached out to Taz because he had made a post on the buggy sight about how we are heading down with the buggy but no breaks. He told Taz to come on over to their shop (Dune Brothers) and he will fix the breaks. We made pretty good time, only stopped for fuel, food (to go) and COFFEE. I have to have my COFFEE.

We get to our destination around 3ish. Taz contacts the guy and we meet him at his shop. They pull the buggy in and the guys takes about an hour to get the breaks bleed and working. YAY, we have breaks. Now we can go on the buggy ride with everyone else.

Off to the campsite and meet up place. We get checked in and go find our spot. Unhook the buggy from the 4runner, decide how we want to park the 4runner and set up the tent and awning and unpack the supplies and stuff. It is pretty neat how I was doing my thing in setting up and Taz was doing his thing. Everything was coming together very nicely. Camp is set up. Probably about two hours after set up the wind started picking up, so Taz decides to anchor down the awning. We set up for a little bit and a snack for dinner and we decided to turn in early.

Captains log day two

The wind is kicking up a storm out there. Again, I couldn't sleep. I listen to the howls of the wind and hear it attacking the awning. I start to have an anxiety attack. I try to get up quietly to go get me some water and to take some medicine for my anxiety. Now keep in mind we are in the roof top tent (RTT from here on out). I take my medicine and climb back into the tent. You might be asking why am I having an anxiety attack. Well, here is why. I am listening to this wind outside the tent, and if you have ever been around awning and wind you know those two don't play nice together. So, I was worried about the awning getting blown off and torn up.

The medicine did its job and I started dozing off. Taz wakes me up and said that the rain tarp is flapping in the wind and that we need to tighten them down better. I opened the window closest to me because that was the side that was flapping, and I was going to try and tighten it down. Well, apparently, I didn't put the T toggle through the hole correctly when setting it up and the wind pulled it out. After I fixed the T toggle I asked Taz if we could just go close the awning, He did a little mumble and agreed. We got out of the tent and went outside about 3 in the morning and closed the awning. crawled back in the tent and was out like a light. We got up about 7 cooked breakfast and got ready to go on the beach buggy ride. I will try to attach a link if you want to see the pictures of the buggy ride. Had a great time on the ride, the breaks worked and I took lots of pictures. After the ride we went back to the camp site and chilled out.

It was an amazing experience and day.

Captains log day three

Show N Shine Day

Nothing really happened on this day. We hung out with friends and I took lots of pictures of all the buggies and hung out around the campsite. It was a really relaxing day. I will attempt to add a link to all the photos.

Captains log day four. Packing up and heading back home.

Cooked us breakfast and cleaned up and started packing everything away. It was so much easier than the first time we did a mock set up and break down. Got on the road within two hours from breakfast. It was a nice trip home with no issues.

We have another trip coming up in a few days from this post. I will be taking more pictures and actually going to start filming the excursions we will be going on. I have created a youtube page Taz & Kitties Adventures. I will post videos after we get back from the trip.

[tazkittiesadventures]

Afternoon.

We FINALLY got the awning up on the 4Runner. Taz had to have some special brackets made for it and the tent. There wasn’t;t much space between the bracket and the roof of the 4Runner. I mean your talking less then a 1/2 inch to a 1inch. Got the brackets made, then the weather wasn’t our friend. But last Sunday (2/18) we got it up. Had to play with it a little bit to get it adjusted where we could open the back hatch WITHOUT it hitting the awning pole.

Now let me tell you the worst part.

We had to open the awning up to make the adjustments. No big deal on that. Putting it away …. Well that is this story. The sucker did not want to go back in. Yes, we watched probably ALL the videos out there on this awning and how easy it is to put away, how you are to do this and that. When I tell you it took us over 2 hours to get it put away and the bag zipped up. I was done! Done I tell you. I was ready for him to take that shit of and me turn around and sell it. To heck with losing money on it. My frustration level with it was off the charts and into next year. When we finally got it in and able to zip it up, Taz looks at me and said “Do you remember how you did it?” Me staring at him like I did not understand the words that was coming out of his mouth, was like … um, no. We tried so many different ways to get that awning folded and tucked in that bag and then able to zip it. At this point in my life with that awning, it isn’t worth it. Don’t do it. I really feel like this is/was a big mistake.

You see, even though Taz will be with me most of the time when we are off exploring and adventuring there will be times when I will go off by myself. It may be just an overnight or two. But I have always liked doing things by myself.

But that awning had me so aggravated and frustrated that I wanted to burn it. How am I suppose to be able to do it by myself if I can’t even get it tucked away and zipped. With the frustration I completely forgot to take picture of it open and on the 4Runner. (Sorry)

We are suppose to be going to a overlanding event in May. I am hoping someone there will be able to give us advice on putting it away.

The awning we got was the Ironman 4x4 DeltaWing XTR-143 Awning and Wall Kit Package / 270 degree freestanding Awning and wall kit.

Would I recommend that awning to someone. To be honest and at this point…..NO, No i would not.

I am hoping within the next two weeks we will get the tent up.

With all of this, I am really second guessing this decision to get the awning/tent. Maybe we should have just stuck with the portable awning and pop up tents. We will see and continue on this rabbit hole journey that we started. But if you see a big ole fire and an awning in it, just keep a walking, nothing to see here. Lol

Until we meet again.

Love, Kittie

[tazkittiesadventures]

Rabbit Hole Part 2

Hello my friends.

How was everyone’s thanksgiving? Did everyone get lots of their favorite food to eat. Taz and I did. We had some turkey and dressing but it was ordered in from a local restaurant near our house.

We had plans for that day and cooking wasn’t one of them, we worked on the 4Runner all day.

Taz and I have this saying…Nothing ever is easy or simple when we do things. It’s the ting yang theory in effect here. Ying = If things goes easy simple and for one person, Yang = things will not go smoothly or easily for another. We were the Yang.

Prinsu roof rack went up pretty smoothly. The light bar was a different story. It was assembled but there are NO instructions with any of this. It was a guessing game about which direction it should go in, which bracket to use, which bolt..etc. Now, you might say, oh go watch YouTube videos…well Taz watched tons of videos prior to us starting and everyone done it different. We did get it figured out.

Then came the wiring. Taz ordered a special bracket and a auxbox and there was issues with how to install the bracket to get it to fix with the auxbox we ordered. It was getting late so we decided to call it a night and eat our dinner.

The next day he ran to Lowe’s and harbor freight to pickup some things he needed to use to install the bracket and auxbox and to do the wiring. He got started on it and got most of it installed.

We also decided to try and put the Ironman 4x4 awning up. Pulled it out of the box, found all the gizmos to put it up. Again, no instructions…what is up with companies not giving instructions. But anyway. We put the brackets that hold the awning up and could not figure out which way the “finger” of the bracket needs to go. Either way it was not a good fit for my 4Runner. There was not enough clearance between the bracket and the car itself, I’m talking like maybe an inch, inch and half. Not enough for our comfort.

We called it a night, put everything away and went inside. We ordered more rapture lights and different brackets for the awning.

As of now, the roof rack is up and the ditch lights, and rapture lights are on and installed.

Waiting on the brackets to get in to finish the install.

[tazkittiesadventures]

Story Time

Hello my friend,

This is not about the Rabbit Hole that Taz and I are going down. This is about marshmallows.

Marshmallows you say...there isn't a picture of marshmallows just hay bales.

You are right and wrong....let your imagination be free for a minute and you will never look at them the same.

My bonus daughter has 5 kids (1 boy and quad girls). I don't remember the whole story that she told her son about them and it isn't word for her word. If I remember correctly she told him something like the white ones were on a marshmallow farm and that they were marshmallows.

Now look at that picture. Don't those hay bales look like giant marshmallows? One day me and Taz are driving down the interstate and I yelled out.....MARSHMALLOWS. Taz was like what??? I said look, marshmallows. He said to me that those aren't marshmallows, they aren't white (2nd picture) me being who I am said....Well duh, those are toasted.

Every time we go somewhere and I see the brown hay bales, I yell MARSHMALLOWS --- TOASTED!!!!

The next time you drive down the road and see those white hay bales, they are marshmallows and the brown ones are --- TOASTED!

[tazkittiesadventures]

The beginning of the Rabbit Hole

Hello everyone.

Come follow along the rabbit 🐇 hole and the adventure begin.

This is baby girl (I have not officially named her yet); she is about to get outfitted for her Overlanding expeditions. We finally got the last piece we needed to begin the buildup. It's funny how the first piece of equipment we ordered was the last to arrive. There were some issues with the shipping on the company's side. In the end, they got it to us.

In the pictures, you see her just stock. No added extras, just straight off the showroom floor (well three years ago when we bought her). She is a beautiful ride. I just fell in love with that army green color. She is my third one. I did have a black one, swapped it in for a gray one and the dealership wanted to do a buy back again on that one, I was like no, no no....that is how we ended up with the gray one. You know, things just happen and me a Taz went to see what they had to offer....three hours later Taz and I and baby girl drove off the lot. It was that army green. It just stole my heart.

For three years I didn't know what to do with her. I kept saying that the only dirt she is going to see is off the roadway. Then in October (the day was the 21st 2023) we took Taz's and Dwights car to Mopar's on the Beach event. They went walking around and I stayed at the car when Taz came back and said there was something I needed to see.

Well, let's just say that what I needed to see was a rabbit 🐇 hole opening up. There was this jeep there that had a built-on awning, she had it opened up and it was so cool. I was like, I want that on my runner, Taz told me they do make them, and the rabbit 🐇 hole opened up and swallowed us both up.

So, to do the awning for my 4Runner you have to replace the roof rack. The search began. looking at any and all available roof racks for the awning that we both agreed to.

Oh yes that one right there, I really like that awning, it goes all the way around the vehicle. it will go good with the new tent you won at an auction for the car show you went to (on October 28, 2023). Did we need the new tent. NO, no we did not. We have a perfectly good 5th wheel camper, and we also have an (old, old) tent. We take it with us in the camper just in case. Now we have this new 6-person tent that we can put in the 4Runner to use with the awning.

Just a little FYI about Taz and me. We are campers. We can go tent camping to 5th wheel camper camping. Either way is good for us. The rv is stocked and ready (other than food and clothes) and the old tent, well that is ready also. We keep everything in totes. Grab the tent tote and the tote that goes with the tent that holds the Coleman stove and pots and pans, etc. and off we go. The only thing about tent camping that I don't really like is when it rains, water usually seeps up from the ground. I grew up camping and fishing and the outdoors. So many memories come rushing back, wait...now I am rambling and getting off topic. OOOPs 🤣🤣🤣😁

Back to the rabbi🐇t hole. Out of nowhere Taz sends me a link to a roof top tent. I was like what is that? and he was like a roof top ten, check it out. Ok little rabbits, keep digging in that hole. We set together over several days and look at all the different website, watch many different YouTube videos of the tents and came across the one we both really like. Dang nab it black Friday sales.

🐰Roof rack ordered Nov 3rd 2023 ---- check ---- level one of the rabbit hole.

🐰Awning ordered Nov 4th 2023 --- check --- Level two of the rabbit hole.

🐰Roof top tent ordered (surprise from Taz) Nov 6th --- check -- Level three of the rabbit hole.

The installation will begin over Thanksgiving. I will post more pictures and show you how she is coming along.

Stay tuned as the 🐰rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper. We have many other plans for her. BTW -- I called my daughter "Little Pooh" and told her I am spending her inheritance. 😂😂 She said ok mom....have fun. ❤️😘

Kittie & Taz

#rabbit hole#overlanding#4runner

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