Hi, and Welcome!
While the hard-sides generally do have more interior storage with the overhead cabinets, I'm glad I have a pop-up. I gladly take all the center-of-gravity and wind-profile lowering I can get. Also if you camp on forest service roads, many of the tree limbs crossing the trail are too low for a hard-sided camper.
I much prefer the cab-over bed of the pop-up camper to the one in hard-sides. In a pop-up, you have the max roof height all the way to the front corner and a completely vertical front wall. The hard-sides often have roof lines that taper down toward the front and slanted front panels for aerodynamics. They make sleeping on the inside spot of a cab-over bed downright claustrophobic for me.
I wouldn't drive 2 hours let alone 9 for a camper but I don't like to drive. A lot of people do drive long distances and make a trip out of it though. If you're not in a hurry, you might wait until camping and hunting seasons come to a close, around September or October. That usually results in better selection and pricing of used campers.
I think medium-duty ratchet straps to the bed tie-downs is acceptable but I'm not positive about that. I would also keep the highway speed down--you don't want wind gusts to get under the cab-over, lift up on the camper and break a strap or rip out a bed hook.
I stretched a bunch of lighter ratchet straps over and around mine to get it home, but it was about 45 minutes at no faster than 40 mph.
Eric
