To all of you,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful advice and experience. Wow! I have a lot to digest. It will be fun sharing your comments with my wife and seeing where this all shakes out.
We are about five years from retirement. Each of us have been hikers and backpackers since our teens. Our favorite vacations have always been five- or six-day long backpacking trips. Unfortunately, the warranty is expiring on the shocks between my wife's hip bones and pelvis. A few of the springs between my vertebrae are starting to bottom out. Hence, the truck and camper. I also need to point out that our 40 lb. dog is getting a bit grey around the muzzle as well.
Given our preference for wild spaces and solitude, I would like to believe that most of our destinations will end on a dirt or gravel road. More wild camping than park camping. I would hope our use consists of something like one three-day trip a month with at least one four-week and one two week trip a year. Rounding down to account for life and family obligations, let's assume that we end up taking 8-10 trips a year and spend 30-40 nights in the camper. As examples, here are a few of the trips my wife and I dream about taking: (1) camping wild for five days camping off dirt roads at Hart Mt. National Wildlife Refuge and Steens Mountain in SE Oregon, (2) spending three to four weeks camping on BLM land in and around Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Arches N.P., (3) a bunch of three-day, two-night trips to any of the state parks on the Oregon Coast, (4) two weeks exploring the nooks and crannies of Vancouver Island, (5) touring New Mexico with a definite multi-day stay at Chaco Canyon National Park.
Based on what you have all shared, here is how my thinking is tilting at the moment:
1) Toyota and Fleet are likely not right for us.
2) F150 and Hawk are in, but explore 250-size truck.
3) Include some sort of payload package to strengthen the suspension.
4) Don't rule out other makes of 1500- and 2500-size trucks.
5) Most importantly, listen to my wife and her concerns and wishes and taken them seriously.
Good stuff. Thank you once again. All of us are so fortunate, aren't we, to have the resources and health and freedom to enjoy wandering the west.
I hope we stumble into each other on some lonely, quite dirt road or empty forest in the middle of nowhere.
Best regards to you all.