Ruins and Rust: Texas to Patagonia, AND BEYOND, in an older 4runner

Ruined Adventures

Brenton Cooper
It's finally our turn!, we are Brenton and Shannon, a young couple experiencing a quarter-life crisis (for lack of a better explanation). No longer satisfied with Texas-life, we set a deadline to leave this place come hell or high water. With our careers on pause, we've decided to seize the opportunity and travel until our heart's content...before kids and a mortgage get in the way.

6870757025_68b334ed6a.jpg
6870697071_c76742e8ca.jpg


The beginning of our journey will take us through Latin America...exploring exotic cultures, hunting for wild places, learning from our neighbors to the south, and discovering how we fit into this crazy world. We hope to sell our vehicle in South America, then fly over to South Africa where we will hunt for a kitted-out Hilux to continue our travels.

Our vehicle for the first leg is a 1987 Toyota 4runner, which we have appropriately dubbed "The Border Runner". Powered by four cylinders and happy-thoughts, slow and steady will hopefully win the race in this steed. Here's a short video, showing the last-minute preparations and our final departure from Texas...find out more about our trip at Ruined Adventures


[video=vimeo;36683105]http://vimeo.com/36683105[/video]
 
Last edited:

trailsurfer

Explorer
Looking forward to following your trip reports. Let me know if you need any advice/or info on Mexico to Panama. Just finished a moto trip that way.
 

Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
Congratulations on finally being on the road!!! The 4Runner is great choice, should be easy to sell - that's a great plan. Buy local, eat local...

:)
 

whistle pig

New member
Wonderfull! I've been following your build report and looking foreword to the trip. video show 258k on the Toyota. Is that actual miles on the motor also? Have a great trip and "keep the dirty side down".:coffeedrink:
 

Ruined Adventures

Brenton Cooper
Wonderfull! I've been following your build report and looking foreword to the trip. video show 258k on the Toyota. Is that actual miles on the motor also? Have a great trip and "keep the dirty side down".:coffeedrink:
The Toyota actually has a few thousand less than 258k. I swapped in a gauge cluster from an SR5 so I could have a tach and full gauges. I planned on waiting until the mileage matched exactly, but I got impatient with around 3k difference.

The engine was rebuilt at around 205k because it needed a new head gasket.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,534
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top