Cubby Hole

In order to make sure we had access to items on the right side of the bed behind the passenger seat, we cut out a hole on the left side so we can fit our arms in and push things down towards the tailgate if we need to access them. When we actually pack the truck in the next few days I will post photos of what the bins look like and how we will access it all with ease :)

Mattress Topper

We chose this one from Bed Bath & Beyond. It takes about 48 hours to expand so make sure to give it some time before putting anything on top of it :)

Let there be Light

Push lights are a must for making it easy to see inside our storage boxes at night!

LED Strip Lighting

We bought this product from Amazon and attached velcro to the back--again for easy removal. Bonus is that the strips plug in via USB to our Makita batteries!

"Curtains" for the windows

Chris and I made these from a thick vinyl material we got on sale at Joann Fabrics. We used velcro to hang the shades from the carpeting to allow for easy application and removal. It's so dark that I bet we won't even remember where we are when we wake up from sleeping so well.

Stabilizing the Tailgate

When Chris bought the truck, the tailgate had been dented from the previous owner and after getting the camper shell installed, the dent was even worse.

Chris took it upon himself to install a support beam across the center with Gorilla Glue so that we wouldn't continue to put pressure on its weak spot.

The Roof Rack

At first, I did not see why we needed such a thing. I believed we could fit everything in our (2) 11 x 23 x 8 bins under our bed....

Chris assured me that it would be a good idea to have one so that we could store our water and gas up there along with camping supplies that we may not need right away.

I eventually gave in and we took a trip to Rack n Road to find out about pricing and installation. After much deliberation, we decided to go for it. We used an amazon gift card to purchase half of the items, bought 1 set of used parts, and then paid for the installation. Chris was going to do it himself but it was way too complicated for one person to accomplish in our opinion. Rack n Road installed it in a matter of hours and it was beautiful :)

We then purchased this basket from Amazon to mount on top. To be honest it was a bit of a nightmare purchase. The first one we received was damaged beyond belief with scrapes, dents, and missing parts. Luckily, we were able to return it and exchange it for another which ended up still being scratched but was in way better condition than before so we were happy.

Gas Tank

In case of emergency, it's always great to have extra fuel on hand. Chris also made a locking mechinism to deter theives which I thought was really clever and smart. Love that man of mine.

Water Container

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We are planning on camping alot outdoors and we wanted to make sure we had emergency water on hand for obvious reasons. We purchased this tank here.

The "Kitchen" Area

We mounted our two burner propane coleman grill on the tailgate so that when we get to rest stops to refuel, we have our "kitchen" set up and ready to go :)

Alarm System

The 2008 Toyota Tacoma does not come with an alarm system. Going on a journey like ours with this vehicle literally being our home there was no way we were going to leave getting broken into up to chance!

First we bought a blinking light to deter theives....then we decided that really wasn't going to cut it. So we bit the bullet and took it down to our local shop to have an alarm installed along with automatic locking doors :)

GPS Navigation & Back up Camera

Buying an external GPS that will help us in areas without wifi and internet access will assure us that we will always be able to find our way. I personally do not feel we need this when we have paper maps and two smartphones but the hubby insisted so here we are. The Garmin is able to pair with a back up camera which we had installed inside the door handle on the tailgate. Super inconspicuous!

Thank you guys for continuing to support us on our journey! We promise to keep you updated daily on all of our adventures. We are even considering VLOGGING so we may be sharing youtube links soon!

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Transforming the Tacoma: More Mod's