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- Nov 21, 2025
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- Location
- Austin, TX
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- 2025 4Runner Trailhunter
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Leaving Sunday to head to a family reunion in upstate NY. Roughly 1900 miles one-way.
Current itinerary.
Day 1: Driving to Arkansas and staying at a interesting hotel spot. Figured my first day of driving I'll want a nice shower and some relaxation.
Day 2: Driving from Arkansas to West Virginia and staying at the North Bend State Park in a cabin. This will be a longer travel day.
Day 3: Leave North Bend State Park and head to Shenandoah, staying inside the national park in a cabin. Shorter travel day.
Day 4: Leave Shenandoah and head to NY, about an 8 hour travel day.
Bought some new gear and taking existing.
Fridge > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GHRH5541?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 (BougeRV 12 Volt 23qt) For drinks and some easy sandwich materials just to keep me from stopping at McDonald's along the way.
Power bank > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7PPG25F?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 (Jackery Explorer 1000) To plug into the 1200 watt outlet in the back while driving to charge the unit and run the fridge from. Then when parked, the battery alone disconnected from the car should keep the fridge going plenty long. If my thinking is correct that is.
Seat pad >amazon.com/dp/B01CKMP24E?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title (Purple). Killed the pad because it was too thick and made me sit too tall in the seat.
I'll update gas mileage and some pictures along the way. Not brave enough for tent or car camping yet as I've not camped since I was a yout. This is the start of that so I can build up some gear and practice and then that will be the plan on future trips.
No plans on the trip back yet. Figured I'll stay in NY through the 4th of July weekend and then see how quickly I'd like to get home. I have pushed it straight through before but it was not pleasant and I also wasn't alone. So will probably at least make it one overnight stay somewhere on the way back.
Edit: Made it to North Bend State Park despite Google trying to get me killed and having me take a rock and gravel road that has been washed out and had fallen trees to dodge at 10:30 at night. Luckily, I drive a 4Runner. Rigid lightbar came in clutch for sure.
Started with a full tank and these are all my fill ups so far. Pretty impressed, actually. Despite sitting on I-30 outside Texarcana for an hour and 15 minutes because an 18-wheeler carrying fruit caught on fire, and a few traffic slowdown. I've been crushing at 65 MPH with adaptive cruise set. I did try Eco mode on some back roads before leaving Texas and it only seemed to make MPG worse.
65 MPH seems to be the sweet spot so I didn't push it to a full 70 when that was the limit and I'm not in a hurry. Car computer says total trip is averaging 20.2 MPG for 1345.4 miles and 24:19 hours of driving, or of the car being on, not sure which that timer is and too tired to Google it.
Also, my straps on the fridge and battery kind of gave up hope when you start hitting bumps and they jump up. I had the side to side secured, forgot about getting hang time. Also, also, I-77 in West Virgina, who hurt you? 70 miles of patch work bumps in the road that don't play nice with a solid rear axle. I can't imagine people rolling Jeeps through there.
Edit 2 Edit: Made it back. 4272 miles in total, 81 hours of driving. Computer says I averaged 20.1 MPG but my full fill ups are listed below as well as a shot from Shenandoah. 4Runner did great and the E load Toyos did even better. Had them at 38 PSI cold so they stayed around 42 hot. Very comfortable and not too loud. Handled the terrible road like a champ.
Got home late Monday and took it in for a tire rotation yesterday and I changed the oil at home since it was 5k since my 10k service. Gave her a quick bath to get the bugs off but going to do a full hand wash here soon. Multiple compliments on my vehicle along the way and every single one of them was color and how rugged it looked.
The fridge and battery worked perfectly. The fan on the inverter is indeed quite loud but it only needed to run at the very beginning after sitting overnight to get the Jackery re-topped up and then it didn't need to run at all the rest of the day to keep it at 100%.
Current itinerary.
Day 1: Driving to Arkansas and staying at a interesting hotel spot. Figured my first day of driving I'll want a nice shower and some relaxation.
Day 2: Driving from Arkansas to West Virginia and staying at the North Bend State Park in a cabin. This will be a longer travel day.
Day 3: Leave North Bend State Park and head to Shenandoah, staying inside the national park in a cabin. Shorter travel day.
Day 4: Leave Shenandoah and head to NY, about an 8 hour travel day.
Bought some new gear and taking existing.
Fridge > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GHRH5541?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 (BougeRV 12 Volt 23qt) For drinks and some easy sandwich materials just to keep me from stopping at McDonald's along the way.
Power bank > https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7PPG25F?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 (Jackery Explorer 1000) To plug into the 1200 watt outlet in the back while driving to charge the unit and run the fridge from. Then when parked, the battery alone disconnected from the car should keep the fridge going plenty long. If my thinking is correct that is.
Seat pad >
I'll update gas mileage and some pictures along the way. Not brave enough for tent or car camping yet as I've not camped since I was a yout. This is the start of that so I can build up some gear and practice and then that will be the plan on future trips.
No plans on the trip back yet. Figured I'll stay in NY through the 4th of July weekend and then see how quickly I'd like to get home. I have pushed it straight through before but it was not pleasant and I also wasn't alone. So will probably at least make it one overnight stay somewhere on the way back.
Edit: Made it to North Bend State Park despite Google trying to get me killed and having me take a rock and gravel road that has been washed out and had fallen trees to dodge at 10:30 at night. Luckily, I drive a 4Runner. Rigid lightbar came in clutch for sure.
Started with a full tank and these are all my fill ups so far. Pretty impressed, actually. Despite sitting on I-30 outside Texarcana for an hour and 15 minutes because an 18-wheeler carrying fruit caught on fire, and a few traffic slowdown. I've been crushing at 65 MPH with adaptive cruise set. I did try Eco mode on some back roads before leaving Texas and it only seemed to make MPG worse.
65 MPH seems to be the sweet spot so I didn't push it to a full 70 when that was the limit and I'm not in a hurry. Car computer says total trip is averaging 20.2 MPG for 1345.4 miles and 24:19 hours of driving, or of the car being on, not sure which that timer is and too tired to Google it.
Also, my straps on the fridge and battery kind of gave up hope when you start hitting bumps and they jump up. I had the side to side secured, forgot about getting hang time. Also, also, I-77 in West Virgina, who hurt you? 70 miles of patch work bumps in the road that don't play nice with a solid rear axle. I can't imagine people rolling Jeeps through there.
Edit 2 Edit: Made it back. 4272 miles in total, 81 hours of driving. Computer says I averaged 20.1 MPG but my full fill ups are listed below as well as a shot from Shenandoah. 4Runner did great and the E load Toyos did even better. Had them at 38 PSI cold so they stayed around 42 hot. Very comfortable and not too loud. Handled the terrible road like a champ.
Got home late Monday and took it in for a tire rotation yesterday and I changed the oil at home since it was 5k since my 10k service. Gave her a quick bath to get the bugs off but going to do a full hand wash here soon. Multiple compliments on my vehicle along the way and every single one of them was color and how rugged it looked.
The fridge and battery worked perfectly. The fan on the inverter is indeed quite loud but it only needed to run at the very beginning after sitting overnight to get the Jackery re-topped up and then it didn't need to run at all the rest of the day to keep it at 100%.
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