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NicoleLawhonandherhusband,JustinChristofferson,
preparetobunkdownintheirRVattheendofa longdrive,
theyfollowa similarroutine.Whetherthey’reboondocking
in the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho, New Mexico’s Jemez
Mountains, or the Florida Everglades, they’ll pull a bottle of
Grande Cuvée from their wine rack, push a button to open
the awning for shade, fire up the outdoor grill, and prepare
dinner using knives from their custom-made drawer.
Home for them and their 9-year-old son is a gleaming white,
29-foot-long hell on wheels that rides 12 feet tall on 41-inch
tires on military-grade rims and
is emblazoned with skulls across
its side. Called an EarthRoamer,
it’s a sort of Winnebago-on-
steroids—something you’d expect
Thanos to emerge from before
the final battle of Avengers:
Family Vacation.
These extreme RVs have long
been popular in Europe as part
of “overlanding” vacations—off-
the-grid, pavement-agnostic
excursions that can last weeks
or months. Pass through the
Bavarian spa town of Bad
Kissingen when it’s hosting
Abenteuer & Allrad, an annual
confab for overlanding enthusi-
asts, and you’ll find everything
from kitted-out Land Rovers to
U-Haul-size Unicat expedition
vehicles with full laundry facili-
ties and bunk beds.
Adventures such as this are
a relatively new fad in the U.S.
But for those with the means to
afford a six-figure rig, getting as
far away from civilization as pos-
sible while still riding in the lap of luxuryis becominga more
enticing proposition. “Justin is 41, and I am 46,” says Lawhon,
“which is too old for sleeping on the ground in a tent.”
Lawhon, an artist and former librarian, and Christofferson,
a retired oil and gas geologist, chose the Colorado-based
EarthRoamer because of its hand-built, highly customized
interiors that take their cues from luxury yachts. Closets lined
in cedar, heated bathrooms, and a 20,000-Btu air conditioner
with thermostat are standard, as are biometric safes and an
app-controlled air-ride suspension for leveling out on uneven
campsites. The RVs can also come with granite countertops
and 4K entertainment systems with Bose surround sound.
This month, EarthRoamer starts deliveries of its newestdesign, the LTi. Built on a Ford F-550 platform and powered
by a 6.7-liter turbo diesel V-8 motor, it has 750 pound-feet of
torque and can hold 95 gallons of fuel and 100 gallons of fresh
water. On the roof are four 330-watt solar panels, feeding into
an 11,000-watt-hour lithium-ion battery bank.
The LTi starts at $590,000, though once you start piling
on such options as Llumar PPF paint protection ($15,000), a
FLIR infrared camera system ($6,869), and an extra winch
capable of towing 16,500 pounds ($4,000), it’s not difficult
to reach a maxed-out price topping $730,000.
The vehicle’s real innovation, however, is an industry-first
carbon-fiber cabin. The material gives the cabin better
rigidity, while also making it 1,500 pounds lighter than
the fiberglass-bodied LTS model that preceded it. Even
with the EarthRoamer’s but-
tery suspension, rigidity
matters because driving off-
road—whether bounding across
the Sonoran Desert or rumbling
up Alaska’s trans-Arctic Dalton
Highway—subjects the cabin to
“earthquake-type forces,” says
company founder Bill Swails.
Also, the lighter the cabin,
the lower its center of gravity,
which improves stability and
performance.
EarthRoamer’s 80-plus work-
force can build about one vehicle
every two weeks. Each is con-
structed to order, and the final
quality-control checklist runs to
more than 4,000 items. The com-
pany’s order book is full until late
summer, and repeat customers
are common: Of the 13 vehicles
it’s building, six are going to
existing EarthRoamer owners.
Although the overlanding
industry doesn’t have a ded-
icated consumer group like
camping or RV travel, anecdotal
evidencepointstorisinggrowth and a more mature audience
than for many other rugged pursuits. Scott Brady, publisher
of the magazine Overland Journal and chief executive officer
of the Expedition Portal website, says the site draws about
1.4 million visitors per month and has a median user age of 42.
Income tells a more interesting story, though. The median
for his subscribers is $158,000, but there’s a group making
above $1 million. “Typically a demographic for an industry
will follow a natural bell curve,” Brady says. “But we actually
have more people that are at a million-plus than we have at
$250,000 to $500,000,” he says.
The category’s biggest trade show in the U.S., Overland
Expo, is also welcoming new fans. The event’s organizers PHOTOGRAPH BY MATT NAGER FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEKGOIN’COUNTRY! BloombergPursuits March 23, 2020WHEN
Inside an EarthRoamer LTi with oak storage, a granite
countertop, and a wall-mounted Keurig coffee maker