We've gone across the country three times in the last few years and I love to camp in both good weather and bad. I don't plan my nightly stops along the way, but prefer to go until I see something interesting, or get tired. There is zero setup with these kinds of trailers and I can spend a week or more very comfortably way out off the beaten path. That is where great hikes start and end. Good examples are being in the center of the total eclipse, in Idaho, in the National Forest far away from city lights, or camping on the Tennessee River in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Or Camping up off the Colorado mining roads, way up at 10,000 ft, or at Smoky Mountain, Utah on the top of a butte. Or on the coast at Usal Beach in CA with five miles of one lane dirt to get there. Or my favorite, Saline Valley Hot Springs with a 50 mile plus rough dirt road to a beautiful oasis. Once in those places, I don't care what the weather does. A Jeep with a small pop-up can get farther in, but the experience offered once there, with no setup, or the long highway sections with overnight stays at rest areas or truck stops is much more suited to a little larger trailer that can stealth camp un-noticed. Each of us must do it in our own way. I camped on the ground, next to my dirt bike for a long time. Then a shell on the truck, then a van, and finally a good trailer of reasonable size of about 20-25 ft., which is the size where tandem axles make sense. But these are not cheap stickies with no winter protection or hanging down underneath plumbing, these are capable off-road units designed for this use. And going farther back in does not mean breaking stuff. I'm not there to prove I can weld my rig back together, but instead to see Country I would not otherwise see and get away from the crowds, or weekend warriors. Pop-ups are great for more extreme duty, but I do not want to set one up in a parking lot, or rest area, especially in the rain at midnight, or as a stop for lunch on the way to my destination. My friends have them, and in the snow or blowing wind, they are not that great. While traveling across the Country, it is surprising where good places to stop can be found, and with a good trailer that requires no setup, nobody is likely to notice you are there. Texas, for instance, has some very nice picnic areas that are not designed for camping, but are perfect for trailers. Arkansas has the most beautiful rest areas that are more like parks, but not to be used with tents. I've ducked in under an overpass during a Texas raging hail and rain storm, in the middle of the night, anticipating a tornado. When we parked later, rain was pouring off the trailer like we were parked under a waterfall. It was so much fun looking out the window at continuous lightning. Then there are lazy days in the hot desert, where a stop for lunch can include running the AC from the batteries in a highly insulated trailer. Phoenix and Las Vegas are good examples of this. 110 degrees outside, 70 degrees inside. And again, zero setup. My Rubicon stays at home during these trips.
