If I was going to take up the traveling climber life (and had the means) these days I’d go for an extended length max height Ford transit with AWD and high clearance. I’ve seen build-outs of these and they’re fantastic. I wouldn’t want anything I couldn’t stand up in (6’ tall). With 4WD or now AWD and high clearance you’ll be able to access pretty much any vehicle accessible trailhead.
I recommend reading William Least Heat-Moon, both “Blue Highways” (your map made me think of it) and “PrairyErth: A Deep Map”.
Having just done about 850 miles on Monday, I concur.
So driving it in and out of that tight-fitting container, would the driver have to open that little hatch at the back and crawl out or back inside?
The driver lives in there (it’s self-sufficient) until they reach the destination - it saves on air fares.
Great, my secret is out.
If I ever see an armored diaper delivery van running on railroad tracks, I’m going to be suspicious.
Mount it on the top and charge while you drive!
Alternatively, you could… no, wait…
Alternately… no, sorry…
Alternatorely … yeah, that’s it.
Watch out, it might be carrying nuclear diapers.
…downwind, faster than the wind.
A Unimog or some variant is my dream rig! Some of them have <2000 mile range. You see them occasionally in summer in the Yukon and the Rocky Mountain parks, usually driven by Swiss or German couples that shipped their rig over the Atlantic for the epic road trip. My kids and I call them ‘Eurodogs’; on long road trips we play a game called ‘RV/camper/boat’ where you have to spot different styles of recreation rig correctly in order to attain points, on a sliding scale according to size and rarity. A ‘Eurodog’ is an instant win.
Many trailhead sites ban RVs. Our Sprinter RV is 26 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, under 12 feet high, and its 3.0L mill gets 17-20 MPG but we can’t take it to many tempting spots. We manage to stand each other in it for months at a time but we always have a home and doctors to return to.
Good off-roading 4WD Sprinter vans are now available but I’m not sure if larger rigs are built on that platform. And I sure wouldn’t want to take anything like that through Fat Man’s Misery or the Turkey Track in Anza-Borrego Park.
I think that you are allowed to get out and stretch your legs occasionally
@anon27007144 … and then tow a quad behind the jeeps, and a dirtbike behind the quad…
@Grey_Devil Well, that truck has got a gingerbread house exterior, so I imagine the interior features a large oven and some sacks of children’s bones.
@"… a car-carrier train…" Blimey, that’s a blast from the past. I almost imagined that they were just a fantasy dreamt up by Hornby.
I took one from Calais to the south of France 30 years ago. Brilliant way to start a touring holiday. Overnight in sleeper car, wake up in the sunshine, drive away.
…and some trek poles behind the dirtbike, and some paleo sandals behind the trek poles…
“Where’s the baby?”
“In the car seat.”
“Where’s the car seat…?”
“Bollocks. Back home we go.”
Yikes! I didn’t have claustrophobia, but now I do!!