A minivan provides the maximum versatility for traveling AND camping!
When we started evaluating the best options for camping AND travel, we soon settled on the Dodge Caravan. With every vehicle, and especially with campers or RV's, there are compromises. NO vehicle is perfect in all situations, and our list of requirements will be different than yours.
Our main requirement was maximum versatility. Because the vehicle is so compact we drive the Caravan to the store, drive to church, go out to eat, or go to a ball game in the same vehicle. The picture below was taken at a Milwaukee Brewers spring training game in Maryvale, Arizona. We drove to the Phoenix area with four people and then picked up two more.
We take the Caravan on day trips in addition to camping trips. In fact, we usually drive the Caravan for short trips and long trips because it is more comfortable and economical than our other vehicle, a 4X4 pickup. Using a mini-motor home or truck camper as a daily driver would not be feasible.
We can seat two or four people without removing the package because the second row of seats fold flat into the floor of the van. Yet in less than ten minutes we can remove the entire camping package and seat seven people by flipping up the third row of seats. If we need to carry more stuff, it is easy to add a car top carrier for bulky cargo or racks for mountain bikes, kayaks or a canoe.
The V6 engine can also tow a small trailer so we can take a motorcycle or all-terrain vehicle or boat with us on trips if we desire. The trailer hitch receiver is also adaptable for rear bike racks or cargo carriers.
Choosing to own, license, maintain, store and insure a camper is a big decision. The wrong decision is going to cost you lots of money. Like a sail boat, it has been said that the two happiest days of RV ownership were the day it was bought and the day it was sold! Why not invest in a camper that you can use EVERY day? The GoneCamper conversion turns a standard minivan into a camper, and you don't lose the comfort, versatility, or economy of the minivan!
"Camping in Comfort, Traveling Efficiently, Living Frugally"
