I went the portable route, very happy I did.

Gas Station/grocery store should be non issue. No one is going to scale the side, unstrap it and drag it off in the length of time you are out of sight. Especially if it's fully loaded. What size Yeti?

But I'm curious how useful will it be up on the roof? It will be a pain to get the beer out of it.

Fortunately this is my only car! Also, I need as much room as I can get. I am sleeping out of the back of my car otherwise I would have gone the portable route as well!

I have a YETI 45. Love it! Pshh, gotta get a workout getting on top of the vehicle for beer! Just kidding, no beer for me (for health reasons )! That's the plan after everyone's thoughts behind it!

I love my Yeti as well. I have a 45 also and after about 10 trips, I decided it was a bit to small, so I went up to a 65.

Still with a big and bulky as these are, It's going to be hard to get up and down off the roof. I'm not a small guy and I can't imagine loading that thing up and then putting it on the roof, or taking it down when loaded or even empty for that matter.

I would have to put it up on top empty and then have the wife and kids hand me all the cr@p that goes in it. Then reverse the process to get all the meals and snacks 3-5 times a day?

Not my idea of a good time.

I think you would be better off mounting on a hitch platform. Something like this. Save the roof rack for items you don't need access to until you arrive at the destination or items you might never need (recovery, spare fuel, high-lift, etc)