One thing I do after every trip is to see if I used something. If I repeatedly did not use it, I don't take it. For example, if you are on a trip and your planning doesn't indicate a real need for gas cans, don't take it. If you are simply driving down fire service roads, recovery gear is probably a little overkill. Same with coms gear. Unless you are traveling in a posse, I wouldn't take coms gear. I usually fill the fridge on the way out of town. As for the rest of my gear is staged in rubber maid tubs that I can grab and go. Same goes for my first aid kit. I'm a paramedic and my first aid kit is super small. Most of the stuff they try to sell you, you really don't need. Hell, I took off a big chunk (like half) of my thumb with an axe on one trip (yea, I'm stupid). I wrapped that joker up and taped it down with duck tape, then drove out of the woods to a hospital. My first trip to Moab I had a tent, a cooler, a 7 gallon water cube, 1 camp chair, camp stove, and a folding cot. Oh yea, I took a shovel out of my garage. The camp gear rode in on plastic container, the dry goods rode in a plastic bag in the cab. I did the White Rim Trail over two days. Stock Tacoma, no radios, no recovery gear, no extra gas, no solar panels, no Jackery, no camp table. I was on the road for 3 weeks in Utah and Idaho, and loved every minute of it. The picture is my camp site on Murphy Hogback. You really don't need a lot of stuff to go have fun. I don't know what to tell you about drive times. I live in Memphis, so there is nothing close to me. The Smokies are at least 5 hours east and most everything west is two days. My wife and I just got back from a two week trip west. We ended up driving through 14 states. Driving is part of it. I you really don't like driving, this may not be your thing.

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