I don’t know about you, but I have some serious camping van envy every time I see a Sportsmobile drive by. Oh, how I would love to have a Sportsmobile or a camper truck sitting in my driveway waiting for me when I need one.
Filled with everything I need to take off and go explore the back roads of Colorado, to get into the high country and have some wilderness adventure. I wouldn’t need to shove the tent and camping gear into my tiny Subaru every time I need a break from urban life. But the truth is, I only get to escape like that for a couple of weeks every year, so the Sportsmobile doesn’t fit in my budget. Until now.
The good news? You can actually rent a Sportsmobile, with all the gear on board.
Tonto Trails rents completely outfitted expedition rigs like Sportsmobiles and four-wheel drive camper trucks. All you need to do is show up with a duffel bag full of clothes, stop at the grocery store for food, and take off. Every vehicle is completely equipped with everything else you could possibly imagine, 
from barbecues to bedding, cooking utensils, safety gear, refrigeration, heat. It’s like having your own personal camper, without the car payment. They even come with DeLorme spot locators so you won’t get lost. Unless you want to.
Tonto is just one of the outfitters capitalizing on the latest trend in the travel industry: overlanding.
Overlanding has been around for a long time, but is becoming popular in the U.S. now. It is self-reliant travel by vehicle in the backcountry, like the cattle-driving expeditions in the Australian outback, or the early European exploration of the African continent. Now Americans are catching on, and instead of traversing the well beaten paths of KOA campgrounds and tourist stops, they are creating their
own adventures. More than 35% of Colorado (Tonto is based in Durango, Colo.) is public land. Between all those tiny Western mining and skiing towns are vast expanses of wilderness, and there are endless rugged backcountry roads to explore. The West is the perfect place for overlanding, especially the Four Corners area near Durango. You can go from desert and canyonlands to alpine terrain in the same trip, from red rock and rivers to mountain peaks, and your Sportsmobile makes the perfect base camp.
So, thank you Tonto and all the outfitters who are catching on and putting together the ultimate camping rigs. Hi ho Silver, away we go!
Pull into a motel (motel 6?park sort of out of the way fill cooler from ice machine, use their pool, nicer motels have bathrooms by the registration counter. In the morning you can use their free breakfast if you are cool it has worked for me especially if you show up after dark and leave early
I have worked for an RV rental business for over a year now. I have used my bosses RVs to go on many last minute adventures and I got the bug BIG TIME. My boyfriend and I recently purchased our very own RV. We are leaving it in the fleet to rent to others but it is so liberating and rewarding to have your very own get up and go vehicle. Gone are the days of any of us, my kids included, moping around on the weekend exclaiming we are bored. It would be excellent to also have something like you mentioned; a smaller RV type vehicle for quick weekend trips.
Overloading seems like a good way to enjoy camping. My brother has a truck that we use for camping. We tried to add some truck parts and accessories that can be great to use for our trips.
Good read. Overlanding sounds fun! I have my own truck and I’m planning to make it as a camper truck too. I’m still putting up the truck parts I’ll be needing little by little. By the way, is it better to put on a pickup bed cover or just attach a towing trailer to the rig for more storage?