Darn You Kendra and Rich!

It is all Kendra and Rich’s fault. Gotta point fingers at somebody right? Because of these two super rad people getting married back in 2016, is what lead me down the path to purchasing Polū my 3rd gen Toyota Tacoma and getting outside for all these fun off-road adventures. Let me explain.

Kendra and Rich reside in Fort Collins, Colorado. Rich and I go way back as friends (like high school days) going surfing all the time and both being Band Geeks. Kendra is a multi-faceted native Coloradoan badass (a fellow CrossFitter and one who climbs trees for work as an Arborist). For their wedding reception, they decided to have the whole shin-ding at a Kendra’s sister’s farm about 10 miles outside of Fort Collins. The location was ideal as the farm had a spacious barn to hold everyone for dinner, and there was plenty of open space for camping. Since all of their friends are outdoorsy and like to camp, plus to avoid any “unsafe” driving back to town, everyone was going to post up for the night on the farm!

When Rich told me of the camping plans far in advance of the June 2016 wedding, the gears in my noggin were turning furiously. At the time I was driving a 12 year old, two wheel drive Mazda B3000 truck (a Ford Ranger copy). It was running well, but showing the age. In addition as I was getting back into hiking and camping, realized that a real 4x4 vehicle was needed to start exploring the places I wanted to really see. But could I afford a truck like that…? Well I began doing research and looking at options:

1. Drive the Mazda out to CO with all my camping gear and hope that nothing major breaks during the long road trip

2. Fly to Denver with as much camping gear in my luggage as possible and rent a car to drive up to Fort Collins

3. Take the plunge and purchase a used 4x4 and start this off roading path I was strongly thinking about

Decisions… decisions