I'll assume that you aren't flush enough for a "Verm"-mobile and have chosen the easy/"'cheap' way to fly". A pickup truck. Before tossing everything but the home entertainment center into the seemingly vast wasteland of your rig's bed give a thought to living in their with all your necessities.

The Deck:
Everyone has their own ideas for the truck bed. Some prefer not to have a deck but to sleep on the floor. A shortened sheet of 1/4 inch plywood for the floor with wheel-well cutouts is a must no matter what your plan unless you've sprung for the bed liner. For a single traveler a single bed, half deck is one option. The open half can be used for built-ins such as stove, sink, bookcases, storage cabinets, stereo system, etc. This setup allows for bike storage inside the truck if you can live with that nuisance. It also accommodates a propane tank more easily than a full deck. Whether half deck or full the deck should be no higher than the wheel wells unless your cap is unusually high. Donning multiple layers while inside your truck on a cold winter morning would be a challenge even to Houdini atop a high deck under a cab high cap. Every inch helps.

The Cap:
This part is simple. Search for the highest available at the front as well as the back. Avoid plastic bubble windows as these scour to opaqueness eventually. Most caps use sliding windows but I've liked the wind-out windows on my cap. They allow open windows even on rainy nights. The rear hatch with double locking latches is safer. You'll want a tailgate lip protector for where the hatch rubs against the tailgate. I'd recommend you install padlocks over the hatch and tailgate. It's really too easy to yank the hatch open even when it's locked with a slight back and forth rocking motion.

The wonderful Lowe Alpine Systems Wildernest is no longer available. This cap had a roof that hinged to the side providing a tented bed and stand up truck bed space. A new company called Flip Pac makes a similar (and less expensive) flip top for most trucks. The top flips over the truck cab via a crank/lever. For support, struts fit into brackets in the engine hood gutter. The manufacturer can be reached at Flip-Pac.com. One problem with this unique idea is that it may eliminate storage of gear on top of the cap. Perhaps the company has a solution.

Gear and Other Odds and Ends:
If your plan is to travel for a year or more you will undoubtedly require at least two sleeping bags. One light bag with full zip to use as a blanket in the summer and zipped up in the late spring and early fall. Then there's the winter. A zero degree bag will do for most areas of the country where you may venture to climb. If your passion includes ice climbing then you'll be happier if your light bag fits inside your heavy bag for those frostier nights. Dryloft fabric is a handy option even when car camping especially in the more humid environments. Count on cold nights wherever you go particularly in the west.

Tents:
Bring a compact tent. There are places (such as Camp 4, Yosemite or Foster Falls, Tennessee) where you are not allowed to sleep in your vehicle at the trail head parking lot. Over the years it's become increasingly difficult to camp and sleep in your rig in a parking spot. At Foster a tent pitched a half mile in along the trail saved an exhorbitant camping fee. You may also want a tent to store gear in at your campsite when your vehicle is going to be parked in a theft prone area. Whether to bring the high tech, lightweight backpacking tent or the old car camping beater is up to you. I've gone both routes and have decided to bring both. Ultra violet damage to the fly is costly on those pricy domes. A tent is handy for the friend who flies out to tour a bit with you. Saves them the weight and bulk.

Binoculars:
Bring whatever you have. They don't have to be official Audobon peepers just good enough to spot bolts, cracks, route lines, etc. They've been a lifesaver.

Maps:
If you're a AAA member you've no doubt stocked up. AAA never reveals what they have available. They're a lot more than just state road maps. They have national park maps, regional maps, maps for cities, towns and counties, maps for Mexico and Canada, and maps for most popular tourist regions and sights. They won't volunteer anything. You have to ask specifically. Be obnoxious. You paid enough.

Also as you travel never pass up a chance to check out the state visitor as you enter each state. Besides free state road maps there may be guides or maps to areas you're going to, as well as to fairs, festivals and other local events that you would otherwise miss out on. You never know what fascinating sight or even or museum you might be passing by. Don't fret. You'll get in your quota of rock, so much so that you'll be begging for a diversion. As you travel along if you happen to see a likely bevy spot or good rest area, mark it on your map for the next time around. You'd be surprised at how small this country becomes after a few times around the block.

Tim Toula's Rock & Road, I regret to say, has been of little help over the years and is way out of date. It HAS proved useful as an address book. As you hop from crag to crag you'll exchange countless addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. I found that writing all the names of my new acquaintances alphabetically in an address book was akin to dropping them all in a big box. Remembering who I could contact when in a particular state became a frustrating wade through the pile of slips. What I did as a quick solution and which has remained to this day was to file names by state inside the pages of Rock & Road. My copy is bursting with contacts. Time for an electronic address book I guess. If you have one of these little wonders, by all means, file by state not name. Other bits of info such as directions to shops, restaurants, homes, whatever, goes into the state's section as well. Tim Toula should allow several blank pages in his next (?) edition within every state and province in the book for this purpose.

Climbing Gear:
One rule of thumb on climbing equipment. Whatever you don't bring you'll wish you had. Most of what you do bring you'll wish you hadn't. For the latter there's always the camp bulletin board for selling off stuff (bring push pins). Give long, hard, serious thought to what you will REALLY be doing on this trip. Sure, a surfboard looks sporty on your rig when you're in the Mohave Desert but do you think you will actually GET to those Baja beaches you've dreamed about? Of course, I never thought I'd be as close as I am now to a world class ski area during a phenomenal ski season. But here I am 25 miles from Mammoth, with no boards. I could send home for the gear which is in storage but hate to put anyone through that hassle. Any volunteers? I could rent and have before. Ice axes, crampons, bikes, packs, tents camping gear and just about anything else can be rented. Surfboards too, probably. But if you're like me, paying for the use of gear you already own hurts. And it ain't cheap neither. Aw hell. Just do what Earl and Glenna Alderson do when they hit the road. Load it ALL on. Strap, pile, tie, lash, cram everything you can possibly ever require onto the top, front, back and sides of your ark and wade off into the sunset knowing you're ready for whatever sport challenge dragon that might be lurking along the road to adventure.

If you do plan on loading down the rig and there appears a visible sag in the hind quarters then you are a candidate for add-a-leafs in the rear spring packs. These are beefy leaf springs (Rancho) that are added to each rear wheel's leaf pack effectively raising your truck about a half inch. Longer U bolts will be needed. These extra leaves work better than air bags I've been told by those who have gone the air bag route and have experienced problems. Heavy duty shocks such as Bilsteins have turned the mushy stock suspension of my Toyota to one that is solid yet supple. Look into options such as Toyota's TRD suspension option if you're in the market for a truck.

One last item of necessity. You'll need at least ten gallons of water storage. A couple of good sized jugs of about 5 or 6 gallons each. Bigger and you'll have trouble moving the loaded jug off the top of your rack or into the back of the truck. A small section of garden hose makes the filling process convenient and less of a mess. Right now I have about twenty gallons of water storage for places far from town like Cochise Stronghold. More is better especially when the sun shower runs dry and you're feeling the hot stickies.

That's all for now.

Ciao