about Brent Johnson
Adventure, Intrigue, Romance, and the Internal Combustion Engine
I was born in central Illinois (coal, corn, and pigs) where I began my long-term relationship with the internal combustion engine…initially in the form of an old go-cart, our neighbor’s three-wheeled honda death machines, and then, finally, my own Yamah 80 dirt bike.
I should be dead, considering the antics my brother, friends, and I got into on our motorcycles, not to mention the amount of gasoline I ingested while syphoning the elusive elixir from our parents’ cars. I was immediately thereafter at home on a powered machine, be it a quad bike, snowmobile, jet ski, motorboat, and any sort of motorcycle or car.
The question was, what sort of career could earn a living wage and still do crazy stuff in crazy places.
My long (and ongoing) career in geology has whisked me off to destinations typically reserved for fantasy or nightmare…or both. I am NEVER on the beaten track. I always needed solid, dependable, 4-wheel drive vehicles to get me to, and through, areas that don’t cooperate. And nine times out of ten, in these foreign lands, that vehicle was a Toyota. A Hilux usually. Or an old beater Landcruiser. But almost always a Toyota. They are dependable and go almost anywhere.
"Nine times out of ten, in these foreign lands, that vehicle was a Toyota."
My daily commute in the Madagascar rainforest was on an old, disused Chinese-built train grade with the tracks and ties still there…bump…bump…bump… bumping along in a long-bed Hilux which doubled as the kitchen for our team. In the Bolivian Altiplano, I carted around my team of 6 Bolivianos in an ancient red Landcruiser that was so creaky, that we could not even have a conversation while driving along. In Costa Rica, the relatively new Hilux climbed up such steep grades, I thought, more than once, that we had to be approaching its limit before tipping over backwards.
And at home for the last 35 years in Colorado, I also drive Toyotas. I’ve had 4-Runners and a Tacoma and currently drive a beautiful dark blue 2015 4-Runner, which also tows our various trailers and campers, takes us skiing and mountain biking and hiking and panning for gold, and camping, well…you get the picture. But it was during this time in Colorado, I began getting the bug for an FJ40 to add to my collection and when my project became a reality.
"Sadly, this means the FJ must also go to someone who can give it the love and driving it needs."
Now, with kids (Owen and Maia) out of the house, and a new chapter around the corner in the Pacific Northwest, my wife of 27 years and I have decided to lighten up. Not our bodies so much (although…) but rather our possessions. We have too much stuff and vehicles and so we are on a selling spree of sorts…and sadly this means the FJ must also go to someone who can give it the love and driving it needs.