Lost my wife of 46 years to Cancer and covid in January (not trolling for sympathy--it was a long fight, we had a good life together and she's at rest now) and I'm looking at getting a truck and slide-in camper and hitting the road for a while. We wanted to see the National Parks in the West so I may do it now.
Problem is I want a Chev/GMC (too old to change preferred brand now) and even if the camper I like is rated for a half-ton I would prefer the extra heft of a 3/4T and 4WD for the place I may go.

But what year? I don't like the new "Big Truck" look (and my old knees don't like the climb into them) they've adopted in the recent models but want a bigger engine than the 350 and like the idea of a 6-speed transmission. (I've driven diesels and wouldn't mind one but the fuel cost in the foreseeable future is bad news.)

But I don't like added complexity of the "Displacement on demand" or "Variable valve timing" engines.

So what would be a good year/engine combination to look at? Are there versions of the 6.0L that are better than others?

Anyone got any experience with campers?
Thanks for any help.