Zach Bagley
Words by Zach Bagley, Photos by Mike and Zach Bagley
This Canadian adventure started as a simple conversation with one of my friends from high school when I showed him a radio controlled truck I was working on. He asked me “when are you going to buy a real truck?” The question kind of stuck with me but it never carried any weight, as I was busy with school. Then one day I thought man, ‘I have always wanted to road trip across Canada’. I found 1992 Toyota Tacoma DLX with 332,000 km for sale not far from my grandparent’s house on Vancouver Island. What a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. The trip was set the end of April 2017. In four short days, my Dad Mike and I traveled 4300 kilometres from BC to Ontario, and I had my ‘new to me’ Taco.
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Zach Bagley
Sunlight lit the snow-capped mountains as we crossed the Coast Mountains on the Coquihalla Hwy in BC.
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Zach Bagley
We made it to Alberta on the first day, although it was slow going, as we had to get over the Rocky Mountains in a 25 year old truck not known for its power when it was new.
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Zach Bagley
We had to stop for a quick picture in Banff National Park at Lake Louise, then on to Strathmore, AB for the night.
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Zach Bagley
Collected our prairie provincial signs on day 2.
The 25-year-old truck just needed a few things fixed before the trip including replacing a dash that had a broken speedometer and re-adjusting the parking brake to ensure it would hold on a hill. After those small items were taken care of we started prepping by getting extra fluids, some safety supplies and some junk food for the trip. With all this complete we had an extra day to relax and sight see before heading out.
Since I got home, I have added a new ARB front bumper and an 8000lbs Warn winch. I’ve also switched the headlights from solid housing bulbs to Hella casings that take swappable halogen bulbs.
This trip was a great experience in general and I hope to do it again one day going west, but on a much more relaxed time timetable.
Read more about Zach’s trip at https://thatlittlebluetruck.wordpress.com/
Instagram @z_bagley
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Zach Bagley
Collected our prairie provincial signs on day 2.
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Zach Bagley
No drive through Sudbury is complete without a photo of the big nickel.