When I was young, I backpacked like a madman.
When I got to be old enough to have a driver's license, I went all over the place on motorcycles and/or in vans with basically the same gear I used for backpacking - plus a little extra. And still backpacked like a madman.
Later I went all over the place in smaller, highly modded 4x4s with basically the same gear I used for backpacking and motorcycling - plus a little extra. And still backpacked like a madman.
Ultimately, I ended up in a great big 4x4 dually extended cab with a utility bed for storage and a great big truck camper and I had sheets and blankets and a nice "house style" bed to sleep in.
But even in the big truck, I still carried the backpack, and the motorcycle, and the same gear - plus a LOT extra. And still backpacked like a madman.
These days, I'm older (and fatter). I no longer backpack like a madman and since my stint as a single father ended I've deliberately "simplified my life". I putter about in an old beat-up Class B camper van, but I still carry a motorcycle and a pack. I still wear boots.
The van will only go so far off the beaten path.
The motorcycle will go places the van won't go.
The boots and pack will go places the motorcycle won't go.
There is ALWAYS that trade-off; A more capable vehicle will take more gear farther (and usually, but not always, faster) before you have to leave it behind, but no vehicle can go where boots and a pack can take you.
Technically, the van I have now is a motorhome, though I tend to view it more like a tent than a motorhome - and a van is a truly excellent tent. Condensation is still an issue, as with any tent, but there is no setup/takedown to deal with.
I'm not by any means a "fair weather" camper; I'll head out whenever I get the chance, and the weather be damned. I actually enjoy being out in rough weather. Unlike a canvas or nylon tent, the van won't blow over in a high wind. or get flooded by heavy rains, or collapse under a heavy snowfall (been there, done that - all of the above). And I never trip over the tie-down lines. It does tend to rock on the springs in high winds, but it has scissors jacks welded to the frame that I can crank down to stabilize it (I rarely bother - it rocks a whole lot less than a boat).
It came with a couch that folds out into a bed. I folded it out and tried it, didn't much like it, and then after that didn't bother. I just roll up in a sleeping bag and use the couch as a cot.
The van does have a few things that are seriously handy. The stove for instance - with a 5 gallon propane tank it lasts for weeks of every day use; No filling, or pumping or priming...just turn it on and light it. After having spent a LOT of nights out of doors (I'd guess between 2500 and 3000 over the last 45 years) - most of those in tents carried either on my back, on my bike or in my truck; The ability to make coffee (or tea, depending on my mood) on even the coldest, wettest mornings - still wrapped up in my sleeping bag and without having to worry about knocking the bloody apparatus over and either getting everything soaked, or setting something on fire (been there, done that, all of the above) - is pure decadent luxury!
Every morning that I sit there, wrapped up and cozy, breath fogging, waiting for the water to boil; I stare at that stove with an idiot grin on my face and I fall in love all over again. Simple pleasures for simple minds, I suppose.
The fridge is also handy - fresh food for weeks and no hassling with bags of ice.
The toilet is handy, but the ability flip a switch and turn on the macerator to pump out the holding tank through a regular garden hose is priceless.
There is a water heater and a shower. The shower...I'm 6'4" and there is less than 6' from the shower pan to the ceiling, so I can't stand up in it - but I can open the back doors, string a tarp between them, pull the shower head out the back and take a stand-up shower outside. When you stay out for longer than a weekend, a shower is another awesome luxury.
The truck also has a powerful propane heater, which I never use.
I changed out the original "laundry sink" type faucet typically used in RVs, for a "bar type" which loops up and over rather than just sticking out into middle of the sink. Now I have room to wash a pot or fill up a gallon water jug. I also added one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Do-Thread-Adapter-THREADED-ADAPTER/dp/B000DZKX5Y/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_img_c
Which screws onto the faucet and then you can screw the aerator to it, or remove the aerator and screw on a garden hose. That way, I can use my white "potable water" garden hose, with a small adjustable brass nozzle, to hose things down. I can rinse the dirt off a bike before I wrench on it, or hose down a muddy pooch.
That 20 gallon fresh water tank and electric water pump is REALLY handy.
I can do without these sort of things (and usually have), but what the hey, it's a truck, so why not?
When I go, it's usually just me, and occasionally my grown son (and his shepherd/lab mix bi*ch). He can sleep on the overhead bunk, which is too short for me.
If I was bringing along a wife or girlfriend (or even better - wife and girlfriend
(or boyfriend if you swing that way) and/or children...what I have and the way I use it probably wouldn't work. In that case, I'd have to consider the oft repeated "Overlander's Question":
Do you want to live IN the vehicle, or AROUND the vehicle?
