Van supported vs Self contained

[rmball28]

I have been on a Van supported tour (Southern tier) and am signed up for a self contained (Pacific Coast).  I am soliciting comments from those who have been on both types of tour about the differences between the two.  Yeah, the obvious hauling your gear but what are some non obvious things?  Do the same types of people go on both tours?  Is the pacing wildly different?  Do the campgrounds tend to be the same? Is the food different? Etc.

[BikeliciousBabe]

For one, not only will you have to carry your own gear but you will also have to carry group gear like cooking gear.  You will also have to schlep groceries on days when you camp in places that are not near grocery sources.  When that happened during my self contained group Northern Tier tour, we would generally all meet up at a determined grocery source.  The two people responsible for that night's dinner and breakfast and lunch the next day would shop.  When they were finished, everyone would slit up and carry the supplies to camp.  Sometimes we would tell the slower riders to simply proceed directly to camp so we did not have to wait for them to shop.  In at least one instance, the grocery source was 8 miles beyond camp.  In that case, we wall went to camp first and then a few of us rode to town and back for supplies.  Best case scenario was when there was a grocery source a short ride or walk from camp.  One afternoon in ND we rode a couple of miles from camp to the store and a nice employee offered to deliver our supplies to the campground. 

[rmball28]

Thanks for the input.