Here's our "camper van" entry, as you might guess there's some history....
G'pa first bought the 1976 F250 from a Forest Service auction in Hailey, ID in the early 1980's and added the 1969 Great Divide of Denver camper from a Boulder junkyard. It's been to Alaska, to Nova Scotia, to the Oregon coast and everywhere in between. But since we inherited it 11 years ago, have kept it local to Western CO and SE Utah, we are less tolerant of the lack of AC and terrible mileage of the 460 cu.in. V-8. The Ford commercial says "Built Ford tough for 43 years" What about the year before that?
For us it's a 3-season rig, the only ski-camping outing I know of is a trip from Summit County CO down to Taos Ski Valley, sometime in the mid-80's. It's not winterized, no water or toilet in the winter. not too keen on steering the loosey-goosey Ford Twin-I-beam front end on snowy curves, either.
Someday we'll upgrade-- to what, though? Likely not a rig for winter ski-camping, more likely a SUV/travel-trailer combo, That's likely to mean also upgrading the 4Runner daily driver to something V8 (Sequoia or maybe Ford Eco-boost V6). One of our favorite campsites is only 40 miles away but 6,000 feet higher elevation. Our ski destinations are either day-trips or with a place to stay already, or too far to lug an RV to. Driving an RV or trailer in the snow doesn't sound like a great idea, especially not over Red Mountain Pass--
There are so many enormous and pricey rigs out there -- I sure like the looks of the Earthroamer, holy crap, I could buy up my whole street for the price of one of those! Maybe I'll get a 30-year-old one 29 yars from now. Sprinter vans are pushing six figures, too. A newer truck for the old camper sounds like a nice idea......but for $20k that'd buy a nice trailer.....
Plus's:
Don't need to deconstruct the table to set up the bed
Lots of storage for tools, toys, gear. (bikes go inside)
Low initial cost (free)
G'ma's curtains and cushions
Ice cold beer, ice for G & T's
In-house toilet
Playing cards at the table while listening to rain pelt the windows
Low overhead
Minus's
Gasoline cost and qty
New NH3 (ammonia coolant) fridge for that ice cold beer
Loud and slow and no A/C
Repairing the in-house toilet
I learned not to put teflon tape on the fuel filter threads, the friction is too low, and the carburetor casting gets destroyed by over-tightening. (Learning that could be marked down as a plus, plus $350 to the cost of the camper, the jury is out until after next time I replace the fuel filter)
Wondering if the road got too muddy to make it home.
Really Low overhead (over the bed)