Yesterday, I spent about three hours with a friend climbing in and out of a staggering number of fifth wheels and… I fell in love.

I especially liked the bunk-model one that had two entrances, including one into the bunk area that had a door. Rip out the bunk, add a desk, and suddenly you have a separate office with an exterior access door… and there’s also a full bedroom. All within a foot print that is not much longer than Miranda.

Even the worst fiver designs were better than the best motorhome. And those kitchens… I’m still not a fan of slides, but they seem to be more useful in a fifth wheel than in a motorhome.

Suddenly, learning to hook up and back up a trailer made sense, especially when factoring in that a good used truck could come in at five to six thousand dollars and a recent-model high end 5er could be had for under forty grand. Compare that to the minimum $125,000 I’d have to spend to get a recent-model high end class C or B motorhome when it comes time to replace Miranda. And I’d only have one engine to maintain.

Is this what the “dark side” looks like?