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Cruise Ship Docked in Vancouver Harbour

Our journey began at Todd and Nicole's house in Vancouver. Aren, Marieke, and AC arrived from Holland a week before we were scheduled to depart for Alaska. The extra time in Vancouver gave the Dutch a chance to adjust to the time difference and get over their jetlag before heading north. For AC, being only eight months old, it was his first trip abroad. Brian and Lisa, unable to join us for the trip north, spent the weekend with us in Vancouver.


	Todd and Nicole's House, Vancouver

With seven of us crammed into the top floor apartment, we were forced to erect two tents out back to accommodate the visitors. The space was tight but cozy, and we had a wonderful week preparing for the trip. AC adjusted to the new time zone brilliantly, and quickly learned to love the tent. With the weekend upon us, Todd and Aren began the process of readying the truck for the trip north.

The Old Shocks From the 4Runner

While the 4Runner was in remarkably good shape when bought it a few months earlier, it was in desperate need of some work. First, we swapped out the brake calipers on the front disk brakes. The old calipers had seized and disintegrated into giant balls of rust. We replaced the calipers, the brake lines to the calipers, and the brake pads. When the work on the calipers was completed we replaced the front shocks. More difficult than we first imagined, the entire job took us two days to complete, the second in a torrential downpour. Two days later we began work on the rear suspension. We replaced old, rusted out rear shocks and replaced them with heavy duty off road shocks. The old coil springs were swapped out for a pair of heavy-duty progressive coil springs that raised the truck about 4cm or 1.5 inches. After struggling all day with the job, we finally finished at 10pm using flashlight to see as we screwed in the last bolt. The change in both ride and handling was monumental and the truck was finally ready for the trip north.