Love it, can’t wait to mount it in the garage!

My wife absolutely won Christmas and possibly wife of the year by creating me a custom LEGO 4Runner set.

I’m obsessed with my 4Runner. A couple of years ago, I bought another car intending to sell the 4Runner, but I just couldn’t bring myself to part with it.

For years, I’ve told my wife that LEGO should make a 4Runner set. I even showed her some AI-generated concepts (probably from this subreddit). Back in April, she decided to take matters into her own hands and spent the next eight months making one for me.

She found software that lets you design and create LEGO plans, and she discovered someone online who had done a similar project, which gave her a starting point. From there, she customized the design to better match my 4Runner. The software generated a 200+ page manual, which she edited to make sure every step was clear and easy to follow.

Once she had the parts list, the hunt began. We both grew up with LEGO, so she started by digging through our childhood collections, spending hours sorting through bins to find as many pieces as possible. She ended up finding about 40-50% of the parts that way, and for the rest, she tracked down resellers online.

I’m blown away by the amount of effort and thought she poured into this and that she was able to keep this a secret from me. I can’t wait to sit down and build it!

Sad my 2019 4Runner SR5 Premium didn’t survive but sure glad I did! She also kept my 3 young kids safe and without injury in the back seat! Safe to say I’m in search of another.
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Head-on collision with a *correction* 1 ton diesel truck. I was going the speed limit - 35mph. Unsure about the other driver.
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Stay safe my friends.

So I am an accountant for the federal government, during the shutdown I had to work for the first 2 weeks on essential things, but after that I was officially furloughed and instructed to (basically) not even think about work until the shutdown was over. Ok... I can do that...

I spent 4 weeks on the road total, 24 of those nights were spent camping (the rest were at hotels or staying with friends/family across the country). I drove just over 10,000 miles and pumped over 600 gallons of gas.

I visited 23 states (MD, PA, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA, KS, MO, IL, IN, KY, WV) and slept in 15 of them.

The entire trip was amazing and I'm obviously a lucky guy to get an extra 4 week "vacation" with backpay (and if that makes anyone angry, remember that federal emoloyees are basically held hostage by congress during government shutdowns - most of us would rather be at work and getting paid like normal than using credit cards to pay our rent and living expenses while we wait for the legally required backpay while the person who signed that requirement into law says he doesn't want to give us backpay! /endrant), but I think the highlights for me was Big Bend National and State Parks down in TX, and everything I did around Moab.

Enjoy the photos (most feature my 4Runner!) And let me know if you have any questions! Picking just 20 photos to share was hard!

Spotted this vintage beauty while walking to my 5th gen. Well done!

Dealer stacked $11k in extras on me… but I pushed back and got her at MSRP

Pulled up to the dealer in a Lexus coupe and left hugging my dream 4Runner 😂 Always wanted one, and the timing finally lined up. Bow on the hood, keys in hand, and a big grin all the way home. Excited to finally join the 4Runner family can’t wait for the adventures ahead

What do you have???

Oncoming driver fell asleep and crossed center line less than a mile from my house this morning. Hit me head-on at about 45, I decelerated and swerved to shoulder to try to avoid him but he kept coming. The first thought I had when I stopped moving was “holy shit, I can’t believe how okay I am.” Still waiting for xrays to be sure but there’s definitely nothing seriously wrong with me, and I am so grateful to this truck! RIP Runner 🥲