2008 Town N Country , has 105,000 miles , no major cost or issues , just brakes and tune up, best seats setup of any van, very comfortable, will hold everything, very useful and is a multi use vehicle .
wanna spend a bunch more money get a Honda Odyssey , or Toyota van, just as good excellent reputation and expensive.
I agree with most, the humble mini-van is the way to go, with much more practical storage arrangements for our purposes than any SUV. I have a 2003 Mazda MPV, which I think is as close to a perfect way to travel a long way to contests. Big enough for 4 stunt planes if you remove the middle seats, plenty to hold a weeks worth of supplies for 4 people. Small enough to get around 26 mpg at ~83 mph, and enough power to climb the two big hills in between here and Muncie (Salt Lake to Park City and just outside Laramie). Handles great in the mountains.
Just like most good stunt engines, they no longer make it...
If you are going to go cross-country you definitely want to consider power, too, because lots of power means a quiet day, and noise can really take the energy out of you on these trips. The Honda is a the king of power, and even though the van itself is huge, has plenty of power and is nice and quiet at speed. That's also why you don't want the big panel vans, they are usually very noisy and rattly, even though you can get a large amount of stuff in them.
The Chevy Safari is a special case. We drove to Eugene in David's mom's Safari once. All our stuff fit easily, but driving it was nerve-wracking and it took amazing concentration to keep it between the lines, it just wandered all over the place. I have an IMSA racing license*, and I was genuinely worried that I was going to crash into something at some point. I thought it was just that particular van, but I drove another example, same thing.
Brett
*that mine is still apparently valid is more an indictment of the licensing system and IMSA than it is any particular merit on my part. I got it to participate in an endurance race at Laguna Seca with some work buddies back in the 80's, and passed the minimum speed/max time for lap with no problem, but at this point, I restrict my racing ambitions to Gran Turismo 6. I did a ride-along in a GT3 car a few years ago and my neck still hasn't entirely recovered.