Let’s talk about RV’s and Wildlife Photography

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I could get more for my '88 Land Cruiser than I initially paid for it, but not likely as much as I've put into it over the last 31 years. Unfortunately, with the inline-six and stock transmission, it won't pull anywhere close to what y'alls' will. One thing I can say is that my Land Cruser has really cruised this land of ours; from North Dakota to Florida to California, and all sorts of places in-between. My kids have arguments about which one of them gets it when I die. :unsure:

I've thrown a mattress, sleeping bag and cooler in the back and hit the road for a few days in the past. Alone. When I got back, my wife would send me straight to the shower and tell me to do my own laundry! :LOL: I don't think I could do that any more!

Okay, one more Land Cruiser post. I'm working on an editorial for an overlanding magazine celebrating 70 years for the model. This is my talent, a '21 HZJ78.

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You must not live in the states :) That's a good looking truck, wish we could get them here
The plates on it look like they're from Costa Rica. You'll have to wait a while to get one into the US, if ever.

When I bought my Land Cruiser, my wife wanted nothing to do with it. After a while, she needed to use it to haul some "stuff", and afterwards, she tried to keep both sets of keys in her purse to stop me from driving it. I didn't get it back from her for almost two weeks.

Well, this forum was already expensive enough with the level of SAS/CAS/NAS/GAS pertaining to camera gear. Now, it's just gone straight over a cliff! 😏
 
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I have never done RV ing so take my thoughts for what their worth.
One approach used by some of my friends who are retired and use their RV as a second home for a portion of the year. They use a pickup truck (many in Texas already own them) and a fifth wheel type RV. When stopped at a location or a RV park, they have the truck to use. When not using the RV they sometimes rent it out in a destination RV park, like during the winter.
Second approach: much smaller RV attached to the back of a SUV. Used for mobile part time travel and RV is very minimal. See attached link about its use on a trip to Alaska from Texas. Trip was over 100 days.
 
Thank you.

I split my time between Dallas and Playa Jaco, Costa Rica.
We go down to CR at least once a year at this point. Hopefully will find a property to buy sooner than later.
One of my favorite things about CR is all the FJ40s still plugging along :)
 
Giving your doggies vision I would look for a floorplan that does not have stairs. That would probably be terrifying for the poor puppy. 5th wheels have stairs, travel trailers are usually a flat floor with a few exceptions
She actually does pretty good with stairs as long as she knows about them. It’s pretty impressive once she knows where she’s at and where things are at she can navigate much better than I could with my eyes closed. I think a pic of my little one is worth a mention :) Shot with a D850 and Nikon 300f2.8

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Than there is my Lab Diesel.
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So these two very spoiled and loved dogs is why I’m looking at paying absurd money to travel easier lol.
 
We've never taken that big first step, but I've been very interested in this topic and have done quite a bit of looking into it.

In our case, we often traverse forest service roads that would be problematic with most trailers or anything large for that matter.

This has caused me to consider:

1) A "short" (140) 4x4 van, in particular the Mercedes Sprinter 4x4. You can get them in a lot of configurations and with some decent AT tires should be a reasonable option to be able to "fit" most places.

2) A truck (AWD or 4x4 in our case) with a topper or camper. The Super Pacific Switchback X1 and Four Wheel Camper Project M are interesting camper shells that are super low profile, light and in the case of the Switchback, super easy to get up and down. Some interesting off-road capable vehicles you can pair with: the Dodge Power Wagon (lockers all the way around plus detachable front sway bars), Ford Tremor (rear locker, front Torsen available) (or Raptor) and the Jeep Gladiator (smaller than the others). My criteria here is I want BOTH a rear locker and some sort of front differential, and that rules out almost all trucks and SUVs.

one nice thing is the new trucks and vans typically have options to have cameras all around which should be helpful when maneuvering in tight spaces. i sure appreciate my backup camera in my jeep when backing down a shelf road.

The permutations can drive you mad :-D The other problem is more or less everything is unobtainable these days.

When I was still looking at trailers, the following ones looked interesting the Oliver (super build quality), Black Series (off-road capable), and the Airstream Basecamp.

The downside is all the options are unobtainium and expensive.

Since you're going down a path I've been exploring for months I thought I'd throw something out. The Sprinter are nice but very expensive and not likely as good off road as a truck/Jeep.

For me it will be a Ford Tremor. The problem with a camper on the bed rails is the truck tailgate doesn't seal. You end up with dust and water inside. Also security isn't the best.

I found a drop-in box solution. It's an Iconic X and is really made for utility type use . It's 1/8" welded aluminum with auto type door sealing. It sits just behind the tailgate making the back pretty secure. The roof rack is rated to 750 pounds.

I plan on dropping an Alu-cab rooftop tent on top. Fyi, Alu-cab is in the process of releasing at Alu-Cabin for full size trucks that's looks cool but too expensive for me.

For me it looks like a good combo to get to a place where there's very few people, I'm just waiting to sell my spare kidney!
 
A quick datapoint for those considering offroading. Earthroamer is arguably the best and largest builder of 'overlanding' vehicles and they use strictly Fords. F550 and F750. That's also been my experience for heavy-duty power and reliability (F250).
 
My trailer setup is more to the modest side but works well for my situation.

21ft lightweight travel trailer. I have a Forest River GeoPro 19qb. Dry weight is 3100lbs. I tow with a V8 Toyota Tundra which is pretty optimal around here to get over the higher mountain passes. The length gets us into just about any forest service campground. I can be fully setup in about 15 minutes. Small bathroom with shower. Dual batteries with a built in solar panel so we can easily boondock if we want to.

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My trailer setup is more to the modest side but works well for my situation.

21ft lightweight travel trailer. I have a Forest River GeoPro 19qb. Dry weight is 3100lbs. I tow with a V8 Toyota Tundra which is pretty optimal around here to get over the higher mountain passes. The length gets us into just about any forest service campground. I can be fully setup in about 15 minutes. Small bathroom with shower. Dual batteries with a built in solar panel so we can easily boondock if we want to.

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This is a model I have also looked at. How has the quality been? Any concerning problems?
 
This is a model I have also looked at. How has the quality been? Any concerning problems?
We bought it in the spring of 2019 so 3 summers of use and haven't had any issues with it. My only wish on it is that it was a double axle instead of single. Getting the balance right for towing is a compromise due to the fresh water tank is in front of the axle and the black/gray tanks are behind the axle. It still tows great once I figured out how to set the stabilizer bars for full vs empty.

Might be tight with 2 dogs. We have just one (a lab) but we tend to spend most of our time outdoors anyways.

No regrets about it.
 
I have used a camper shell on a small Toyota pickup, a slide in camper on a 1-ton diesel pickup, and a Class C motorhome. All have compromises of one sort or another. The slide-in camper provided the most mobility and we could pull off anywhere and be fixing a meal in a matter of minutes. But climbing up into the sleeping area over the cab got to be too difficult for my wife. The plus side of a crew cab truck and the sleeping area in the cabover camper was that it provided places during the day to have clothing or photo gear that was immediately available.

With two dogs your best bet is a crew cab pickup pulling a hard sides popup travel trailer. The advantage of this setup is that the bed of the truck is available for the dogs while traveling. I put a heavy duty rubber bed mat in my truck which kept the dogs from sliding around. I put a fiberglass cap on the truck and then put black curtains on the windows so it would be shaded inside for the dogs and no worries about cooking them in back when parked in the sun. Travel trailers provide by far the most bang for the buck in terms of floor space and having a dry bath and plenty of holding tank capacity. Drop off the trailer on BLM dispersed camping areas or at state or federal parks and forests and then you have the pickup for transporting photo gear in the back of the crew cab and your dogs in the bed of the truck.

The problem with motorhomes is that they limit where you can go except for the small Class B type and these are fine for a place to eat and sleep but not for working or much else.
One can tow a vehicle behind a Class A or Class C motorhome but it means detaching the toad from the motorhome when making fuel stops and where you can park for groceries or to go inside a restaurant is quite limiting.
 
I have used a camper shell on a small Toyota pickup, a slide in camper on a 1-ton diesel pickup, and a Class C motorhome. All have compromises of one sort or another. The slide-in camper provided the most mobility and we could pull off anywhere and be fixing a meal in a matter of minutes. But climbing up into the sleeping area over the cab got to be too difficult for my wife. The plus side of a crew cab truck and the sleeping area in the cabover camper was that it provided places during the day to have clothing or photo gear that was immediately available.

With two dogs your best bet is a crew cab pickup pulling a hard sides popup travel trailer. The advantage of this setup is that the bed of the truck is available for the dogs while traveling. I put a heavy duty rubber bed mat in my truck which kept the dogs from sliding around. I put a fiberglass cap on the truck and then put black curtains on the windows so it would be shaded inside for the dogs and no worries about cooking them in back when parked in the sun. Travel trailers provide by far the most bang for the buck in terms of floor space and having a dry bath and plenty of holding tank capacity. Drop off the trailer on BLM dispersed camping areas or at state or federal parks and forests and then you have the pickup for transporting photo gear in the back of the crew cab and your dogs in the bed of the truck.

The problem with motorhomes is that they limit where you can go except for the small Class B type and these are fine for a place to eat and sleep but not for working or much else.
One can tow a vehicle behind a Class A or Class C motorhome but it means detaching the toad from the motorhome when making fuel stops and where you can park for groceries or to go inside a restaurant is quite limiting.
My dogs are princesses lol. They would be riding in the back seat lol but good tips and I like the idea of the smaller travel trailer.
 
I've been on several RV photo trips, and it was a mixed bag. If you can get a campsite in a National Park it can be great. For example I stayed in Moraine Park Campground in RMNP in early October. Herds of rutting elk within a short walk from the campsite was great. But in some parks you are limited where you can go in an RV. On my next trip to RMNP we stayed in a campground outside the park and rented a car to drive around the park. That worked really well and allowed us to get to places you can't go in an RV. I got some good moose and elk pics because of that. For me a mix of RV and renting a car works best. But that gets expensive real fast. That said when we went to Glacier NP in late September we didn't RV. You can't go to most of the best places in an RV there. I got some great grizzly and black bear pics that I wouldn't have gotten in an RV because you can't go to Logan Pass in one.
 
My dogs have all loved to be in the rear of the pickup where they had views in all directions. I would have difficult getting them out of the bed when at a rest stop as they viewed the truck as their traveling dog house.

Inside a vehicle there are what are termed "pet bridges" that attach to the front and rear head rests and provide a flat surface for dogs in a crew cab or SUV. Good for smaller dogs that would not be tall enough to see over the bed rails of a pickup.

The fiberglass cap with sliding windows is key to protecting the dogs while in transit. They get a breeze without sticking their heads out the window and damaging their eyes and they are protected from the sun baking them. A SUV is like a greenhouse and can bake anything inside in a short amount of time. Open truck beds, even with a leash tie down are not safe places for dogs but most dog owners really don't care about their animals.
 
This may go against the grain but my wife and I have considered this for some time. Here is where we netted out. A travel trailer and truck to haul it would end up being north of 100,000 USD by the time all was said and done. A Motorhome would be that much or more and we would need to haul an automobile to drive around in once we reached the destination. Saying an average night in a motel is $150, that would be over 650 hotel nights before we broke even without even considering the cost for campgrounds, hookups, maintenance on the trailer or motorhome etc.

We could spend a whole lot of time in motels before ever breaking even. Yes, with motorhomes we may be able to get closer to where we wanted to photograph but in reality, one still has to drive to a trail head and then hike.

Another drawback to the "van life" or "camper life" is how much togetherness can a happily married couple endure and remain happily married?

Leslie and I have been married for 40 years this year. She has her things to do, I have my things to do, and we have our things to do. One of the "our" things is nature and wildlife photography. She is my partner and I cherish every minute on the trail with her. As much as I love her (and I do with all my heart and mind) I'm not sure I would want to spend every waking and sleeping minute with her in a camper or motorhome. I would be afraid she would strangle me in my sleep after a couple months. At the risk of being overly crude, between flatus attacks, bowel movements, snoring (even with CPAP) and various other bodily sounds, I am not the most easy person to live with. I won't talk about her various sounds and smells because we all know wives have none of those issues (or so the ladies will try to convince us).

For these reasons we've decided to drive to our photo destinations, sleep on soft beds, eat in restaurants, and pack picnic lunches and breakfasts for the days afield. We spend 3-5 days per week year around in the field with our cameras. Many of those are within an hour drive from home but several times a year we go on a trip to photograph wildlife and nature. Nature photography is our passion and I'm a fortunate man to have a life partner who shares the same passion as I do.

Hope this helps. I don't want to be "Debbie downer" on this and if it's something you want to do, great, go for it and don't look back. I'm just trying to add a little different perspective.

Jeff (and Leslie).
Agree. We've tried it all kinds of ways. Nice thing about a hotel is: when you're done, it's housekeeping's problem. If you're gonna RV, rent. When you're done, it's also not your problem. Owning anything that you're not gonna use all the time is more costly than most folks realize. And don't ask me about my boat.
 
I own a class B RV -- Mercedes chassis 4x4. There are a lot of trade offs between travel trailers and the different classes of RV.
Mine is too small to full time in (although plenty of people do) but is is great for getting to spots.
 
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