Hello all Expoers,
I'm not 100% new to Expo but I'm definitely evolving. I currently own a 2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a great AEV lift and Gobi rack, which is great for a weekend of camping with my wife and 2 kids (8 & 10). I plan to hold onto this Jeep until I die (another 35 years?).
However, it does NOT meet the needs of what I would like to do, which is tour North America for weeks/months at a time, primarily focused on National Parks and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) open land, such as in the UT, CO, WY, AK areas as well as parts of Canada. We also love the NPs in California and Oregon. I'm thinking of doing this over the next 8-10 years with my kids and after that with my wife.
I generally prefer to camp at a remote lake that you can only reach by 4x4, but realize that there will be many times when we don't yet have 'that' site identified and have to sleep in the parking lot of the main park HQ. we did just that last summer at Zion, and the rented Ticonderoga RV was awesome for just pulling over and going to sleep (despite the fact that I thought it would fall apart on the highway). To add to the complexity, I am 6'5", my wife is 5'9" and my 2 kids aren't getting smaller, so we need pretty serious acccomodations. AND I'd like to figure out how to explore this amazing country without dropping $200 or more every night for a motel and restaurant.
What I'm trying to figure out is NOT what the best vehicle would be for this - I know that will just invite flame wars. What I'm looking for are the hard lessons people have learned expeditioning in these areas:
* when exploring the US and Canada, how much does size come into play? I'm currently spoiled with my Jeep, so I'd like something compact that can reach remote locations, but does that really end up mattering much? i.e. would a full-size pickup with pop top get too big? How about a crew cab Fuso with fiberglass camper?
* how much weather protection do I need if I will mostly expo during the summer months? I don't necessarily want to HAVE to park it all winter, but I probably will...
* what is the reality of in-vehicle sleeping? By that, I mean, if you have a campsite or are on open land, you can pitch a tent. The appeal of in-vehicle sleeping (everything from Unicat to XP to Sportsmobile to ATW or EarthCruiser) is that you can sleep wherever you stop. But can you? Can you just pull over on the side of the road and sleep? How hard is it to find a place to stop for the night?
I am currently in the stage of falling in love with all of the different vehicle vendors (Tiger, XP, Sportsmobile, EarthCruiser, EarthRoamer, Unicat, ActionMobil, AEV. DAMN I REALLY want a Unicat), but I don't really know what is going to end up being important.
What are the REAL road lessons out there that people have learned?
Thank you in advance!
Jason
I'm not 100% new to Expo but I'm definitely evolving. I currently own a 2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a great AEV lift and Gobi rack, which is great for a weekend of camping with my wife and 2 kids (8 & 10). I plan to hold onto this Jeep until I die (another 35 years?).
However, it does NOT meet the needs of what I would like to do, which is tour North America for weeks/months at a time, primarily focused on National Parks and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) open land, such as in the UT, CO, WY, AK areas as well as parts of Canada. We also love the NPs in California and Oregon. I'm thinking of doing this over the next 8-10 years with my kids and after that with my wife.
I generally prefer to camp at a remote lake that you can only reach by 4x4, but realize that there will be many times when we don't yet have 'that' site identified and have to sleep in the parking lot of the main park HQ. we did just that last summer at Zion, and the rented Ticonderoga RV was awesome for just pulling over and going to sleep (despite the fact that I thought it would fall apart on the highway). To add to the complexity, I am 6'5", my wife is 5'9" and my 2 kids aren't getting smaller, so we need pretty serious acccomodations. AND I'd like to figure out how to explore this amazing country without dropping $200 or more every night for a motel and restaurant.
What I'm trying to figure out is NOT what the best vehicle would be for this - I know that will just invite flame wars. What I'm looking for are the hard lessons people have learned expeditioning in these areas:
* when exploring the US and Canada, how much does size come into play? I'm currently spoiled with my Jeep, so I'd like something compact that can reach remote locations, but does that really end up mattering much? i.e. would a full-size pickup with pop top get too big? How about a crew cab Fuso with fiberglass camper?
* how much weather protection do I need if I will mostly expo during the summer months? I don't necessarily want to HAVE to park it all winter, but I probably will...
* what is the reality of in-vehicle sleeping? By that, I mean, if you have a campsite or are on open land, you can pitch a tent. The appeal of in-vehicle sleeping (everything from Unicat to XP to Sportsmobile to ATW or EarthCruiser) is that you can sleep wherever you stop. But can you? Can you just pull over on the side of the road and sleep? How hard is it to find a place to stop for the night?
I am currently in the stage of falling in love with all of the different vehicle vendors (Tiger, XP, Sportsmobile, EarthCruiser, EarthRoamer, Unicat, ActionMobil, AEV. DAMN I REALLY want a Unicat), but I don't really know what is going to end up being important.
What are the REAL road lessons out there that people have learned?
Thank you in advance!
Jason
