So, I have accepted my days of driving a sporty car/sedan have ended.

Maybe a personal toy or two, but my primary vehicle now should be a Prevost bus, based on the ladies and their accoutrements, but I think will have to stay a full size SUV to have any chance of parking.

I do have a practical enough wife to go along with Pelican cases, though.

I THINK what makes sense would be something we could stack the cases on, which would protect them from dirt/weather, then break down and either go on the roof/fold up so it wouldn’t be in the way when we get there - or, some kind of easy rental program with small U-Haul
Trailers….

(Grumble about a 5 day trip deleted.)

Perhaps men need to strike on being porters for their lady loves. If the fairer sex has to start loading their own baggage, maybe they could ween themselves down to one steamer trunk per week…

(Baby, Wife, and quite possibly the nicest sister-in-law in history going on a 5 day trip in an Escalade is a bit cramped…)

EMERGENCY REVISION: DO NOT mention bus/RV/Sprinter van/etc to a wife who packs thoroughly…

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
EMERGENCY REVISION: DO NOT mention bus/RV/Sprinter van/etc to a wife who packs thoroughly…

I’m not sure how many people or ladies you’re talking about here, or how long of a trip. But I think that if you can’t fit the luggage in a full size SUV, then you really do need an RV.

I’ve made two week cross country trips in a Tahoe, with wife and me and my two boys. I’ve also gone 1800 miles each way with 5 men, guns, and ammo for 7, in the same Tahoe. Didn’t need any additional storage either time.

But my experiences were not with a vehicle full of women who pack.

"Maybe a personal toy or two,"

Are we talking something like a Sig P226, a Gold Wing, or something 'bigger'?

I have used Yakima roof top boxes with good results. In my case I bought into Yakima rack systems over 40 years ago (when cars had rain gutters). Thule is another good brand.

The boxes are secure and reasonable rainproof. They allow carriage of longer items thereby making it the in car luggage packing a bit more efficient. One downside, it can be a PITA to load and unload on taller vehicles.

I have a Honda Pilot and the internal storage along with the rooftop box was good for 4 adults including two women on a two week roadtrip staying in VRBO thus I was carrying luggage and gear (important stuff like hair dryers, french press, MANY pairs of footwear, etc).

Smaller U-Haul?

Crap expands to fit the space allotted to it. Thus... If it doesn't fit comfortably in an Escalade, you hare heading for Mini-Van territory.

Honestly, a Mini-Van will carry vastly more stuff than a Suburban/Escalade ever will.

I hate to say it; I can feel testicles all over the world packing their sack and running away, but unless you are willing to deal with the heavy mother of all roof racks (handling IS IMPACTED!) you will need to consider a flat floored van style vehicle, rather than a body of frame truck based vehicle.

Or you can rent a YouHaul trailer.

Or you can buy this.

My DIL’s Dad is 6’-7” and his wife packs ALOT of chit when they drive from VA to FL which is at least 6 times a year.

Thy got a Toyota Sienna mini van and they love it. She drives and he sits in the back all stretched out amongst their crap…

I suggest buying a fractional share of an Antonov 225

A folding hitch haul might be of help. I’ve found that a large tote or cooler does the a pretty good job of keeping the weather out. Coolers will withstand ratchet straps without crushing. Totes are best with both ratchets and bungee cords in my experience.

Roof top boxes are very nice, but pretty expensive for a one with time use scenario. They do not lend themselves to heavy objects or hard luggage. My favorite use was sleeping bags pillows book bags etc.

My mother in law is notorious for packing too much crap. Everywhere she goes it's like that. We went an hour away to put a roof on a house one time and she made the van cramped because she had a bunch of board games and a watermelon rolling around in there. We're re-roofing a house in one day, woman, when do you think we're going to have time to use any of that crap?!?! Another time we drove all the way from Ohio to Florida sitting on our luggage because she packed the back of the van full of firewood, because apparently they don't have that in Alabama or Florida where we were camping .

When we went to the Everglades we put one of those rear hitch shelf things on their Astro van, and put a lot of our camping gear in tubs and strapped them to it. I had to help my FIL put helper springs on the rear axle before we left because the poor thing was too overloaded. I would not recommend that approach. I was worried the whole time that something was going to fall off, you couldn't open the trunk without unstrapping and taking everything off the shelf, and it bottomed out a lot going in and out of gas stations and rough roads. Stopping was also super sketchy with that much weight and I had a near miss on I75 at one point where I had to drive into the median when traffic decided to slam on the brakes for no reason.

I eventually solved this problem by having four kids and a dog, so we no longer all fit in the same vehicle and they have to drive themselves, along with all their own stuff. I've never had a problem fitting everything we need for the six of us into our Suburban.

Image aside, you can't beat a Honda or Toyota minivan for capacity, comfort and fuel economy. I've had two Hondas, but would likely go Toyota next time.