Nori's and Flora's adventures
03-05-2012, 01:17 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nori's and Flora's adventures
Hi guys. I've been a lurker for several years and feel that's it's finally time to post about our adventures! 
This isn't a build thread, but more of a chronicle-type blog, which will definitely include some "building" later on
YotaTech and t4r.org are the sites I frequent most often pertaining to 4runners. I originally posted this on t4r.org, I apologize to those who stumble upon this twice.
DECEMBER 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011
Flora's adoption began with a Craig's List ad. This was during the Chicago 2010 Christmas Season. In fact, Flora was adopted by my fiancee, Jen, and I, on Christmas Eve 2010 from some shady Ukrainian used car dealer, named Pavlo. There was a moderate $6,300 adoption fee. She will be worth it, I knew it. The transaction took place in his home in a Chicago suburb, Arlington Heights. Sounds shady, doesn't it? I asked my 6'3" brother to come as a bodyguard. When we entered the house there was some cute child running around, so some tension was lifted. As I signed the bill of sale on a dining room table, I'm sure my brother must've groaned about my recruiting his assistance. The room was filled with the smell of fried fish. Pavlo's wife was frying fish in the kitchen and speaking to the child in Ukrainian. After all the documents have been signed and the cash has exchanged hands, we drove the 11 year old Flora home. She was reeking of smoke, and had some minor rust on her (she's lived in Chicago areas all her life). The body, paint, and interior were top notch. She was a 1999 SR5 4WD automatic. Her paint was black.
This photo was actually taken in Arizona, I can't seem to find photos of the truck in Illinois.
Jen and I had difficulties the next few days with Illinois vehicle registration. Apparently, Pavlo's used car company didn't properly fill out the back of the title transfer portion of the document of their own acqusition of the vehicle from an auction. The DMV raised some eyebrows and so did we. Frustrated, we went back to Pavlo to investigate. Pavlo willingly signed the name of some dude named Alexander something on the title of the previous auction sale. I didn't ask any questions, I just wanted Flora to be legally registered in our names. That did it, though, and we successfully finished the entire DMV registration process in Waukegan, IL, several days after Christmas 2010.
Flora drove great and it felt great driving her. The 4WD was heavenly for the dreadful Chicago winter of 2010-11, which included the now infamous, blizzard of 2011 that had 20+ inch snowfall in Chicago areas.The smoke drenched interior was giving me headaches. I originally told myself I would have to live with the smell, but that would end up not being necessary. After suffocating Flora with Febreeze the smoke smell slowly disappeared. Turned out the previous owner(s) did not smoke in the vehicle. It must've been Pavlo smoking inside the SUV after buying it from the auction.
February 2011 Blizzard!
Wont see my guys at the United Center for a long time
Let me pause here and clarify something regarding the truck's name: Flora. We have a tradition where my fiancee, Jen, names all our vehicles. When we lived in Hawaii we drove a four-door 1991 Civic, which was in Jen's family its entire life span, and which was shipped by a barge from Washington to Hawaii. The Civic was endearingly named "Little Beeper" by Jen. My car took even a longer voyage to rejoin me in Hawaii: it rode on a semi from Chicago to California. From California my 2005 Scion xA was also loaded up into a Matson barge and sailed off to Big Island, Hawaii. Jen named my four door hatchback "Brittney". As circumstances changed and we had to move from the Big Island to Oahu. The Civic was sold to a young couple with an infant who arrived to our Hilo apartment in a what seemed like a 1990-1994 Toyota pickup. The Scion once again sailed the Pacific Ocean and went from the Big Island to Oahu. Eventually it was time to leave the islands and move to the mainland. We sold Brittney in Aeia, Oahu, HI in 2010. (Prior to moving to Chicago where my parents live we traveled to Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, and lived there a little under two months. We did community health care volunteering as part of our professions. Saipan, is a poverty filled island, but with friendly, high-spirited locals. After living in Saipan Jen and I visited Japan for 2 weeks, before finally heading out to the mainland, US to visit Jen's mom in Seattle area). I miss Hawaii dearly, and in fact, that's where my love for off-roading and Toyota trucks began. Hawaii is FILLED with sweet Toyota trucks of all models and generations. Any Hawaiians on these forums know how many Tacomas roam the islands. Well, I lie, I've always loved 4runners, especially 3rd gens. Anyways, this is how the 4runner got its name, "Flora": Jen named it.
Lil Beeper
JUNE 2011
In June 2011 Jen and I both found jobs in the Phoenix area and we decided to plant our roots here. What better way to travel from Chicago to Phoenix than by road-triping it in a 4runner!? So we did; we loaded Flora up with essential possesions which filled up Flora's entire cargo area with the seats folded down. We planned the trip to last four days and stopped for some shut-eye in Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Albuqurque before arriving in Phoenix. You can see our route on this map. We stopped in all major cities on the route. Flora has made it cross country USA without any hiccups as expected! We didn't have our own place yet, and while we were looking for a place our friends who live in Phoenix helped us out big time by letting us stay with them in their two-bedroom apartment, with their newborn infant! It was immensely nice of them to offer, we are grateful, thank you!
Memphis
Heartbreak Hotel
Stay tuned for the next installment: we adopt brothers for Flora, they are "Steven" and "Nori"! We adopt a non-mechanical creature, "Sputnik". Nori goes for an adventure!
This isn't a build thread, but more of a chronicle-type blog, which will definitely include some "building" later on
YotaTech and t4r.org are the sites I frequent most often pertaining to 4runners. I originally posted this on t4r.org, I apologize to those who stumble upon this twice.
DECEMBER 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011
Flora's adoption began with a Craig's List ad. This was during the Chicago 2010 Christmas Season. In fact, Flora was adopted by my fiancee, Jen, and I, on Christmas Eve 2010 from some shady Ukrainian used car dealer, named Pavlo. There was a moderate $6,300 adoption fee. She will be worth it, I knew it. The transaction took place in his home in a Chicago suburb, Arlington Heights. Sounds shady, doesn't it? I asked my 6'3" brother to come as a bodyguard. When we entered the house there was some cute child running around, so some tension was lifted. As I signed the bill of sale on a dining room table, I'm sure my brother must've groaned about my recruiting his assistance. The room was filled with the smell of fried fish. Pavlo's wife was frying fish in the kitchen and speaking to the child in Ukrainian. After all the documents have been signed and the cash has exchanged hands, we drove the 11 year old Flora home. She was reeking of smoke, and had some minor rust on her (she's lived in Chicago areas all her life). The body, paint, and interior were top notch. She was a 1999 SR5 4WD automatic. Her paint was black.
This photo was actually taken in Arizona, I can't seem to find photos of the truck in Illinois.
Jen and I had difficulties the next few days with Illinois vehicle registration. Apparently, Pavlo's used car company didn't properly fill out the back of the title transfer portion of the document of their own acqusition of the vehicle from an auction. The DMV raised some eyebrows and so did we. Frustrated, we went back to Pavlo to investigate. Pavlo willingly signed the name of some dude named Alexander something on the title of the previous auction sale. I didn't ask any questions, I just wanted Flora to be legally registered in our names. That did it, though, and we successfully finished the entire DMV registration process in Waukegan, IL, several days after Christmas 2010.
Flora drove great and it felt great driving her. The 4WD was heavenly for the dreadful Chicago winter of 2010-11, which included the now infamous, blizzard of 2011 that had 20+ inch snowfall in Chicago areas.The smoke drenched interior was giving me headaches. I originally told myself I would have to live with the smell, but that would end up not being necessary. After suffocating Flora with Febreeze the smoke smell slowly disappeared. Turned out the previous owner(s) did not smoke in the vehicle. It must've been Pavlo smoking inside the SUV after buying it from the auction.
February 2011 Blizzard!
Wont see my guys at the United Center for a long time
Let me pause here and clarify something regarding the truck's name: Flora. We have a tradition where my fiancee, Jen, names all our vehicles. When we lived in Hawaii we drove a four-door 1991 Civic, which was in Jen's family its entire life span, and which was shipped by a barge from Washington to Hawaii. The Civic was endearingly named "Little Beeper" by Jen. My car took even a longer voyage to rejoin me in Hawaii: it rode on a semi from Chicago to California. From California my 2005 Scion xA was also loaded up into a Matson barge and sailed off to Big Island, Hawaii. Jen named my four door hatchback "Brittney". As circumstances changed and we had to move from the Big Island to Oahu. The Civic was sold to a young couple with an infant who arrived to our Hilo apartment in a what seemed like a 1990-1994 Toyota pickup. The Scion once again sailed the Pacific Ocean and went from the Big Island to Oahu. Eventually it was time to leave the islands and move to the mainland. We sold Brittney in Aeia, Oahu, HI in 2010. (Prior to moving to Chicago where my parents live we traveled to Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, and lived there a little under two months. We did community health care volunteering as part of our professions. Saipan, is a poverty filled island, but with friendly, high-spirited locals. After living in Saipan Jen and I visited Japan for 2 weeks, before finally heading out to the mainland, US to visit Jen's mom in Seattle area). I miss Hawaii dearly, and in fact, that's where my love for off-roading and Toyota trucks began. Hawaii is FILLED with sweet Toyota trucks of all models and generations. Any Hawaiians on these forums know how many Tacomas roam the islands. Well, I lie, I've always loved 4runners, especially 3rd gens. Anyways, this is how the 4runner got its name, "Flora": Jen named it.
Lil Beeper
JUNE 2011
In June 2011 Jen and I both found jobs in the Phoenix area and we decided to plant our roots here. What better way to travel from Chicago to Phoenix than by road-triping it in a 4runner!? So we did; we loaded Flora up with essential possesions which filled up Flora's entire cargo area with the seats folded down. We planned the trip to last four days and stopped for some shut-eye in Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Albuqurque before arriving in Phoenix. You can see our route on this map. We stopped in all major cities on the route. Flora has made it cross country USA without any hiccups as expected! We didn't have our own place yet, and while we were looking for a place our friends who live in Phoenix helped us out big time by letting us stay with them in their two-bedroom apartment, with their newborn infant! It was immensely nice of them to offer, we are grateful, thank you!
Memphis
Heartbreak Hotel
Stay tuned for the next installment: we adopt brothers for Flora, they are "Steven" and "Nori"! We adopt a non-mechanical creature, "Sputnik". Nori goes for an adventure!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
matmattmatthew
86-95 Trucks & 4Runners (Build-Up Section)
10
02-09-2021 04:15 PM
highonpottery
86-95 Trucks & 4Runners
6
08-25-2015 03:45 PM
defrag4
Vehicles - Trailers (Complete)
0
07-31-2015 10:50 AM
