What I miss about my former lifestyle is taking a mountain bike, dog, and camera out onto a new trail everyday. And sleeping away from city noise. And walking up arroyos with a dog in the winter. I was never much interested in what I saw through the windshield.
There's still a couple years until I can start withdrawing my IRA penalty-free, but it's fun to fantasize about the next boonie-mobile. I no longer want to tow, and be 40 feet long in total. Short trips around the Southwest are all I want; no more full-timing. I want something that gets 20 mpg or more. Inside there needs to be a 3" Thermarest air mattress, water jugs, a solar shower bag, a cookstove, and porta-potty.
I would not try to make a pickup cap look like a finished RV, with all the useless overhead of middle-class respectability or feminine decorativeness. It isn't supposed to be a cute witto house; it's supposed to be a sleepable vehicle.
As much as I dislike pickups, I don't think that a Ford Transit Connect van would suffice, with its car-like clearance. They'll probably be too hard to find anyway. My best option would probably be a low-end Toyota Tacoma pickup with a four cylinder engine and a tall cap, shown in the photo. (It's 56 inches tall, on the inside.) It is white and windowless, with cargo doors at the back. It's funny how spartan functionality appeals to no-nonsense guys. One of the real positives about this cap is the interior frame made of square aluminum tubing: that makes it so easy to attach flat wood, and once you do that, you can mount storage shelves, Sterilite boxes, etc., wherever you want.
I'm not sure how I would bring a propane tank and a generator along, in what is my sleeping area.
Comments
I too considered pick-up campers prior to my recent upgrade to a Chinook, but ultimately decided I like having everything in one piece, with quick access to the driver's seat at all times. Maybe it's just me being paranoid, but being in unfamiliar places most of the time is made more comfortable by knowing I can hop behind the wheel and get out in a heartbeat if necessary.
I still prefer the van geometry to the pickup, but they stopped making non-gas-hog vans when they abandoned the Chevy Astro a few years ago. There are mini-vans, but they are just suburban baby-haulers with car-like clearance, and lots of useless and expensive creature comforts and windows.
"hop behind the wheel and get out in a heartbeat." I left ONCE -- unhurriedly -- in the middle of the night, out of the thousands of times that I boondocked.