Apr 13, 2025 – Meet our new Casita Trailer

Paralysis by analysis – that describes mine and Vivian’s experience for the past 18 months. We compounded our inability to make a decision by information accumulation and meticulous weighing of pros and cons. We crunched and recrunched numbers until they were dust.

Every new piece of knowledge pivoted our decisions in every direction until at last, one stuck. And that is because every detail we added to our database boiled down to two simple facts – we aren’t getting any younger, and we want to travel with greater ease and freedom.

That goal to travel lighter was lost in a mountain of information on various types of RVs, but it ultimately led us to purchase a 17’ Casita Trailer. The pros of pulling a small trailer outweighed the cons of giving up sweet comforts and space. To travel more easily with more choices of overnight locations and park destinations, to have lower costs, maintenance and repairs, and to casually make travel decisions on the fly are so appealing to us that we are willing to give up the comforts of our 300-sq-ft home on the road.

On March 15, we made the 1300-mile drive to Rice, Texas to pick up our new 17’ fiberglass “egg”, the Casita Independence Deluxe (deluxe = wet bath included). The trailer is exceptionally made because it is fiberglass and simplistic in every way. The resale value is quite high on these little buggers which clinched the deal for us. We figured we could try it and if we hated it (or hated each other!), we could sell it.

But that’s not going to happen any time soon because after 1300 miles of towing, 27 nights and 11 campgrounds, we fell in LOVE with the Casita! Yes, there are adjustments to be made like getting use to not having certain things and there are storage issues to solve. And we are on a learning curve with the bumper hitch, so different from the fifth wheel.

We have also eased into our new cooking, dining and lounging styles that are nothing more than a hybrid of the fifth wheel and tent-camping. And especially for me who is in charge of all matters relating to water usage, learning to maximize our small gray, black and fresh tank capacities comes with trepidation, but it will be done.

It’s all good, we survived a month on the road with our new travel rig, and similar to how we felt every time we came off a 10-day canoe camping trip in the Everglades, we are so ready to get back out there.

Can we survive 5 months traveling in the Casita? We’re excited to find out! Stay tuned as we prepare for our epic adventure that begins May 21. Where to next? Stay tuned!