The origins of EarthRoamer probably began back in 1972 or so when one of the founders, Bill Swails, first started dreaming of traveling around the world. Fueled by reading about the adventures of the likes of Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Robinson Crusoe, Bill began dreaming about the adventures he would take one day. Serious planning didn't begin until some twenty years later. Employed as an industrial engineer with McDonnell Douglas in the very controlled aerospace industry, Bill realized he needed more out of life. Not sure if what was lacking was due to the industry and company at which he was employed, Bill decided to pursue his MBA at UCLA to open up some new employment opportunities.

At UCLA he met EarthRoamer co-founder Michele Connolly who was also pursuing her MBA degree. Work teams were divided based upon living location, as commuting in Los Angeles takes on its own life. Michele and Bill both lived in the same area of L.A. so they were assigned to the same team, and so began a lifelong working relationship and friendship. It was in UCLA that Bill first mentioned his desire to drive around the world to Michele. She of course thought he was nuts as they were right in the middle of a very intense MBA program. His plans for adventure secretly took more form over time, and after graduating and relocating to Denver to work in the telecommunication industry, Bill found he still wasn't able to shake his undying quest for adventure. He spent his evenings planning for the weekend trips he would take and climbing Colorado peaks over 14,000 feet tall became his passion. Bill eventually climbed thirty-nine of Colorado's fifty-four, 14,000 foot peaks. He started devising his plan to travel around the world and began research on vehicles and accessories. In 1998 he bought his first diesel truck, a Dodge Ram 2500 and began designing the living systems he would need for his adventures. Reliable, functional and comfortable expedition campers are not designed overnight. The EarthRoamer Xpedition Vehicles we build today are a direct result of the lessons learned through thousands of miles of testing with the proof of concept vehicle dubbed ER2K. This vehicle was built and rebuilt several times and is still being used by the company. It has attended all of our Owners Rallies as a reminder of our roots.

The original EarthRoamer™ ER2K is an expedition equipped truck that started life as a Cummins powered, Dodge Ram 2500, quad cab, short bed, four wheel drive truck. The original ER2K was purchased new in 1998 and the next several years were spent equipping it for expedition travel. The ER2K became a quest to build the ultimate expedition vehicle and was an ongoing labor of love. The links below give a detailed account of the modifications made to the ER2K, why the modifications were made, and the lessons learned. Every modification made to the ER2K was focused on improving reliability, durability, rough-road capabilities, or comfort.

Extensive travel with the ER2K throughout North America illuminated not only the areas for improvement of the design, but that a market existed of other like-minded travelers looking for a more robust, four-wheel drive camper. In 1998, Michele had also relocated with her family to Colorado and in late 2001, the two began discussing how to shape a new segment in the RV industry. They formed an LLC and by mid 2002 they had finished preliminary design of the first product offering, the XV-LT. Mold development began and by June, 2003 the first XV-LT was on the road and featured at Ford's 100 year celebration in Detroit.

The XV-LT has continued to evolve over time, though the improvements today are primarily refinements as the basic system design has proven strong. EarthRoamer is expanding it product line with the launch of the EarthRoamer XV-JP in early 2007. EarthRoamer has outgrown it's current facilities and is planning to relocate near the end of 2007 to a new 56,000 square foot facility in Lafayette, Colorado which will house the corporate headquarters, manufacturing and R&D.