Our Alaska winter plans might not be going the way we want them to at the moment. But what did go according to plan was the Project M installation.

Last week we embarked on a long-haul sprint to get ‘er done. We removed our fifth wheel hitch from the Dodge, and packed up some old camping gear. I forgot to pack many things in the process, it’s been so long since we camped without our fifth wheel.

Then we B-lined back from Laporte, Colorado to the Four Wheel Campers headquarters in Davis, California.

Visiting an RV showroom or touring a factory like Northwood Manufacturing always makes us feel like kids in a candy store. It’s so fun to gawk at the production scene, the shiny new amenities, and RV technology making its way into trailers and motorhomes. RV lust takes over and makes me want to head to a dealer and buy a new rig!

Whenever I’ve felt an urge to upgrade our fifth wheel to something bigger, shinier, and newer, I reeled myself in.

It’s easy to forget that the towing capacity of Dodge 2500 is not cut out for the ginormous towables now on the road. We’ve babied that truck from day one, always trying not to overload it. And that’s probably why we got 240k miles out of the transmission.

But even if we thought our truck could tackle a supersized towable, what good would it be if the height and length prevented us from journeying off-the-beaten-path? No thanks!

Watching the crew embark on our Project M installation and transform our Dodge into an entirely new nomadic vehicle capable of going practically anywhere reminded me that bigger is not always better. Small is the new big!

The Project M Hub-and-Spoke Combo: A Perfect Balance

One of many reasons that I’m so excited about having a Project M is that eventually we will attach a smaller travel trailer to the Dodge. The “hub-and-spoke” combo will be:

• light enough to keep our new truck transmission happy
• flexible enough to keep us comfy while hooked up to utilities at RV resorts
• And rugged enough to experience days and days of backcountry camping.

Hub And Spoke (colloquialism); Mode of travel where nomads leave larger RV at “Home Base” with full hookups and venture out in smaller rig to reach more remote destinations in relative comfort.

What a treat to check the Project M installation off our list.

Together with our trusty truck, it’s a marriage made in heaven and built to last.

We spent our first night at a campground in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was the most worry-free off-grid camping we’ve experienced in many years. No worries about trees hitting the rig, unhitching, leveling out, and all the other campsite set-up steps required of towable RV owners.

There’s so much I want to say about this new Project M experience. Things are unfolding by the day, and getting more exciting by the minute (read: stressful!). What we planned on doing this winter may or may not happen. But whatever form this journey takes, I know that it will be monumental, and very different from our previous, comfort crisis lifestyle.

Soon Jim will share videos of the Project M installation at Four Wheel Camper. What a fascinating production! Stay tuned!