Towing, Long trips, other questions

[EzDaveC]

I'm going to try and keep this as short as possible but I have multiple questions. We're a family of 4 (kids 21/16, so basically adults), live in Ohio and enjoy traveling/hiking/camping through the National Parks across the western US. We've always been tenters to make us agile enough to do these long trips in 2 week vacations but I'm pushing 60 and am thinking about a fiberglass trailer or possibly a pop-up, both to avoid the tenting hassles but also looking ahead towards longer trips in retirement (maybe 2-3 yrs down the road).

Question 1: What is it like to tow a Spirit Deluxe or Escape 19 4000 miles across the Rockies? Tow vehicle is 2017 Silverado 1500 5.3L 6-spd 4x4 crew cab. I've towed a little but never a travel trailer and never 4000 miles. In my mind, a pop-up should not be too much of a drag, a Spirit Deluxe is sleek and not much heavier than some pop-ups but the Escape 19 is pushing 4000 lbs mildly loaded. I'm leery of the mental fatigue and anxiety of towing - especially trying to cover 4000 miles in 16 days which is what we normally do. The Escape 19 is basically the high end of what I want to tow weight-wise and size-wise.

Question 2: I understand the Spirit Deluxe is basically a 2-3 person camper and we have 4 so what's your take on using one for 4 people? I don't know how long the 21 yr old will continue to go with us but I kind of like the size of the SD to ease my towing over the mountains anxiety. We've been tenting for years so even a small SD is a big step up for us is most ways. I know some have built bunks in these and others have used the floor (with a suitable pad) for a 4th person but it feels questionable to be thinking about buying a 2-3 person trailer. I think the SD would fit us decently for retirement trips a couple years down the road but we have 4 for now and basically do 2 week trips. (I've thought about just doing a pop-up now and upgrading to a SD when we're able to use it more).

Question 3: For this year and maybe next year, we're probably limited to doing these short trips so I'm not sure we want to jump into buying a trailer and dealing with the storage, logistics, and maintenance. Retirement is a different situation. We could still do our trip this year tenting or maybe using a pop-up or renting something out west using rvshare or outdoorsy. I realize this is something we have to sort through for ourselves but thought I would solicit opinions from folks who may have been through similar situations.

Thanks in advance...

[M_C]

We take a tent for our teenage granddaughter.

[jerrybob]

Your tow rig should handle the load just fine....especially if it has a tow package. As for the SD....great little trailers and fun. We tow with a Ram 1500 crew cab that is set up to tow 11,600lbs. The truck handles the trailer with ease. We have towed all over the Western US..the Rockies included. Never had a problem. I can't speak to your fatique issue.....I love pulling our trailer around. We are retired as well and usually keep our daily tow to 5 or 6 hrs. We are not usually in a hurry. We've towed longer in some situations....never a problem. As for sleeping arrangements....make the kids sleep outside....both will be gone soon I suspect. Good luck.....hope it works out for you.

[ShelbyM]

I'd continue as you have done for another year or two, then buy the "retirement" two person trailer.

[Jon in AZ]

I find towing, even on the best days with a well-matched tug and trailer, requires a slower pace than non-towing. Every stop takes more time to maneuver and park an oversized rig. You will be towing at a slower speed than auto traffic. Most towing authorities recommend a maximum speed of 65 mph on open interstates, and I'd concur. Some states have even lower speed limits for towed vehicles. Fuel stops will happen more often. Every 3-5 days you should really take a rest day, no driving.

It's not really about the size of the trailer as much as the simple fact of towing. We have a tiny 13' Scamp pulled with a Honda Pilot and four in our crew. Though it's an easy tow, I still find an average speed of 45 mph (including comfort, fuel, and meal stops) about right to estimate daily driving times and distances between campgrounds. That sounds low, but it's been very consistent over the years. It assumes mostly interstate and open highway driving; secondary roads will be even less.

So in your case, allowing 3 rest days, 4000/13=308 miles per towing day. 308/45=7 driving hours. That does not include sightseeing stops along the way, some of which could take place on rest days.

Bottom line, doable, but it's pushing things. Every day people drive to the Grand Canyon, walk up to a view point, take a few pictures, and leave. They checked it off a bucket list, but they sure missed a lot! In your case I guess you might consider it exposure for the kids and scouting future retirement visits for yourselves.

Tent trailers add to set-up and take-down time at every stop. With four people working together, you should be able to streamline the process. I think an inexpensive used one could be a temporary solution. Given their ages, it probably won't be too long. My family traveled cross-country in a tent trailer with six people when I was young. Great memories!

Another option you might consider to make the Casita SD work for 4 is to build a bunk over the side dinette. It'll be tight but workable. Make it so you can remove it later and restore the dinette once they are no longer traveling with you.

Best wishes, whatever you decide!

[ShelbyM]

I agree with the above comments about towing. It's tiresome even if you have a good set up. On interstates you are constantly being passed by the big trucks and on 2 lanes you often will be obstructing traffic and have to pull off as a courtesy. Stopping for gas, changing lanes, parking, all require extra attention. It will beat you down over the course of a day. The payoff is your own bathroom and no bedbugs.

[Mike Magee]

Other than the slower driving speed while trailering, which lengthens the drive time, towing seems no more fatiguing to me than driving without a trailer. My Escape 19 tows wonderfully with my mid-size SUV (Lexus GX470) and I feel no extra stress while towing. Your pickup has a much longer wheelbase and will handle either trailer with aplomb.

Be sure to check out the interiors (actually get inside) of both trailers before you choose. I've been inside a 17' Casita SD in the past month and it felt really tight compared to my E19; not just the length, but the narrower body & aisle width.

I towed a pop-up Starcraft one summer. I didn't like the setup: the end trays would jam if I didn't pull them out perfectly straight, the plywood bottoms gave me a splinter or two, the cranking up and down on a hot day. I greatly prefer being able to unlock & open the door on my E19 and walk right in to use the bathroom, or make a sandwich, or sleep. With a pop-up, one must unhook so there's room to pull out the front tray; with a trailer, unhooking for the night is optional.

Towing anything will cut into your fuel economy quite a bit. You might get 1 or 2 mpg less with a Casita than with a pop-up, and subtract maybe 1 more mpg (vs the Casita) if towing the E19. My GX470 engine was not built for fuel economy; I get only 17 highway, and 10 towing the trailer (whereas some other folks with a E19 get 13-14).

[oldwave]

We started with an escape 21 towing with an old f150 5.4. It was fine, a bit slow over Eisenhower pass, other wise fine. The escape 21 was roomy enough, but after three years we decided that more room and comfort was better for three and 4 month trips so we bought a Bigfoot 25 and a 3/4 ton ram. A great combination. After 7 years of camping towing we try to drive 4 to 5 hours a day . We are in our mid 70’s. You’re still young and have a bit more stamina. Frequent breaks, learning which gas stations are problematic for ingress and egress are skills you’ll quickly acquire. No iron butt towing for us. We looked at all the trailers you mentioned, the Casita was tiny even for two. For 4 people the escape 21 is adequate with the rear dinette converted to a bed. Your truck would tow it fine. Buy the trailer for retirement is my advice, you’ll use it less for a while but when you are retired you’ll be happier with mor e room

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

With a pop-up, one must unhook so there's room to pull out the front tray; with a trailer, unhooking for the night is optional.

Depends on the pop-up and the tow vehicle. We've had two and both could be set up while still hitched. The rig has to be parked straight and relatively flat. Models with a front queen pullout will need an extended tongue (with a cargo tray, perhaps) to work, a fairly common configuration. I agree it's something worth considering for the OP's planned long tours and one-night stands.

My parents traveled with a tent before they bought the tent trailer, and it was definitely a step up in comfort and convenience for a large family of 6, though not as nice as a hard-side travel trailer of course. At our midday stop, one of us kids would crawl in through the door to get lunch supplies out of the fridge. On longer cross-country trips, we did many single-night stopovers and often left the trailer hitched to facilitate an early start the next morning. It was a Skamper with a 14' box and 4' pull-out beds that just cleared the back of our station wagon.

[Radar1]

We went from a tent, to pop-ups, to a 16' Scamp, and now a 19' Escape.
Tents were fine at the time, but I don't miss sleeping on the ground anymore, although I did use mine for a quick trip last year.
Pop-ups were great for our family of 6, and easily stored in our garage, but it seemed any time we packed up in the morning for travel, it would be wet from rain or dew, which required setting it up again to dry, and for unloading gear packed inside when we got home.
Scamp 16' was great, we camped in every state except HI with it, although I wouldn't recommend it for 4 people.
We upsized to a 19' Escape since we were planning on moving from the state I retired in (GA) and were thinking of full timing for awhile. It would work for 4 people with the possibility of a bed at both ends with convertible dinettes or permanent mattress. We even considered the 17' Escape since they have floor plans that allow beds at both ends (without toilet) or a bed at one end and bunks at the other (with toilet). (Escape 19' also has a bunk option on the front dinette)
As for MPGs, tent did the best, followed by the pop-up (our pop-up was a small light one with a GVWR of 1700 lbs). We would get about 16.5 MPG using our V-6 Durango or turbo 4 Ranger towing the Scamp (highest loaded weight was about 3,000 lbs but normally less), and we average about 2-3 MPG less towing the Escape 19' compared to the Scamp, our Escape weighs in at 4,500 lbs loaded.
Compared to tents, I love the storage available in our Escape 19, love the room, the bath and shower, the ability to camp where tents are not allowed (We were able to extend our stay at Denali National Park because they kicked all the tenters out of Savage River campground due to bear activity when we were there.
The cons of having a trailer are less MPGs, having to look for parking spots that can include the trailer (our tow vehicle and 19' Escape fit nicely in 2 parking spots), and having an extra vehicle to maintain and store. The fiberglass campers hold their value well, so depreciation is not normally a big concern.
We traveled a lot more once I retired, and we loved taking our time on trips.
I commend you for thinking about retiring early. I retired at age 62 and am so glad that I didn't stick around longer like some of my coworkers, since working longer would have cut short the time my wife and I had to enjoy our travels before cancer took her away less than 10 years later.

[EzDaveC]

I appreciate everybody's thoughts...lots of very sensible input.

I'm an engineer and kind of high on the anxiety scale so my fatigue is on the mental side basically from worrying about things that can go wrong. I try to manage it but that's kind of how I'm wired. On our tent trips, we have done as much as 1000 miles/day to transit from the midwest to the west so that's the agility we have enjoyed. Once we're in the parks, things slow down so we can enjoy nature. We invested in cots and self-inflating sleeping pads so at least my wife and I are up off the ground and in reasonable comfort but we still have to deal with all the setup/teardown logistics and other tenting downsides (like doing all the setup/teardown in driving rain).

My family had two pop-ups when I was 10-15 years old and we did a couple of 30-day trips around the west so I have some experience with those and enjoyed them. The first time we went west, my parents were completely inexperienced so we overheated the car (many many many times) going up and down the mountains so that's where I started learning about transmission coolers and understanding tow ratings and conservatism. Those memories of sitting on the shoulder of a road waiting for the car (early 1970s 350 cu in V8 sedan so fairly powerful) to cool down are burned into my memory so I have a healthy respect for towing.

[Jon in AZ]

We had a ‘68 Dodge Coronet wagon with a 360 V8 and later a ‘76 Oldsmobile Cutlass wagon with a 350 V8. Neither had any cooling issues pulling the 14’ Skamper, which was one of their largest models at the time. Both had to be fitted with adjustable air shocks to manage the tongue weight. I don’t think people paid quite as much attention to weight limits back then!

On our last cross-country trip in 1977, wheel bearings on the trailer froze up and snapped the axle on the IN/OH border. The trailer sat all winter in a nearby repair lot waiting for the replacement axle. That was the terrible winter with 15’ of snow, and mice did a number on the trailer. We got it back in the spring, patched up a lot of holes, and used it for a few more shorter trips, but it was never quite the same. I’m now cautious about bearing maintenance.

We did have a transmission over-temp condition on our maiden Scamp voyage due to a combination of a steep grade, stiff headwind, and triple-digit temperatures. Sensors caught it before there was catastrophic damage,. We ended up trading the Sienna (2000#) for a Pilot (3500#).

[AlekP]

1. I can't speak specifically to the escape 19 and the rockies, but I have a 2021 Silverado 5.3 8spd, pretty similar to yours in terms of tow ratings. We bought the truck in April of '21, then in August we bought a 2014 Shasta Oasis 25RS stick built and towed it from West Michigan to Northern Vermont and back 3500 miles in one week. I had never personally owned an RV that size though I grew up on a small hobby farm so was familiar with towing with trucks and tractors. That trailer weighs ~4600lbs with a ~550lbs hitch weight when dry. Loaded down it was probably more like 5200/750 so we also got a weight distribution hitch to smooth & level things out. It wasn't great, but half of my issues were the sheer LENGTH of the camper(29.5ft tongue to spare tire), that is probably just past the limit length-wise I feel comfortable towing with a half ton. It had a habit of pushing me around on the highways, I felt every large bounce, the WD hitch was working hard to keep everything level, it was a pain to get into parking spots, and in narrow mountain roads was a nightmare. The weight was pushing comfort levels, steep passes were not comfortable but I think that was in part both the weight and the length/tall profile.

All of this to say, an Escape 19 would feel like a dream compared to that. I tow a Casita Heritage (2 small kids, 7 & 11) now but looked at Escapes briefly before I got out-voted by my wife, the hitch weight and length are perfect for a half ton truck if you went that route. I'd expect probably about 15mpg on the flats, more like 11~12mpg on the hills. I got 9mpg in one area of upstate New York on the highway. Keep it in tow mode and keep an eye on the trans temp and you would be fine. The drag from the higher profile of these campers is a large part of the mileage/resistance you run into towing that slows you down and eats up gas. Also if you take it easy and try not to rush and keep up with traffic, it really helps with the stress. I like to find a slow moving semi truck to fall in behind because then I even look like I have a better excuse to go slow plus I draft off the truck and get better mileage.

If I remember correctly, there used to be a Thermal Bypass modification for the previous generation transmissions where you replaced the trans thermostat with a different one, a very common mod that drastically improved transmission temps with relative ease and low cost. Might be worth a consideration if you were interested.

2. I probably would not jam 4 people in a Spirit, it'd be a tight squeeze and the person on the floor gets all the camp dirt for a bed. Also if someone needs the bathroom in the night, floor-child also becomes the ninja obstacle course. It might be worth talking to the kids and asking them if they still want to keep going on these trips, which is totally fine but also their input effects what you guys looks for so it'd be worth knowing. As others suggested, you could always still bring the tent for them to sleep in at night as an option so you're buying one trailer for both now and retirement.

3. I will say, popups tow like a dream. Their low profile streamlines right with the truck, they're pretty light, they can have way more room than a fiberglass depending on which models your looking at of either. The big thing is just the setup and teardown in comparison to a hard-sided camper. You still have to raise and lower, set up fabric parts, make sure things dry out if you have to pack up in the rain or dew-ey mornings. But you get up off the ground on a mattress with a little kitchen and onboard storage. I would purchase a drill adapter for the lift mechanism if it's manual, cranking those things up and down gets old fast, you just have to go slow if you use a drill so you don't throw a cable off the track. We had a 1994 Coleman Destiny Cedar before the Shasta.

Plus you can usually get popups used on marketplace pretty easily. As long as they have it set up so you can go under and inside and poke flooring/sidewalls to make sure they're not spongey the risk is low. It would be an in-between step to towing, fit the family, and you can offload it in a few years and upgrade so long as you take care of it.

And one more in-between past that would be an A-frame or Trail Manor. You'd get hard sides and still folds up but slightly less hassle than a popup, though they tend to weight closer to the fiberglass weights with less wind resistance while towing.

Renting would be a small price to pay in comparison to buying so you could see whether or not you like something. Just buy the extra insurance if there is any in case there's an accident, and consider that money not wasted but invested on the experience you're gaining with testing out different campers.

[Markcl]

We have a f150 and have towed a 29 ft tt about 200 nights for seven years, the traffic and construction is getting to me so we got a casita this winter. The fact that it is same wheel tracks and width as pickup makes seeing traffic easy and gas stations and other parking much better.

[cactusone]

Thought I'd chime in with our experience owning a Casita Spirit Deluxe. We bought a nice one second hand, lightly used, and spent a couple of months installing solar and making a few other mods. Then we took it camping for a 3 day trip and much to our surprise found it very uncomfortable and tiny feeling for just the two of us and our little chihuahua.
Now over 50 years we've tent camped, backpacked, car camped sleeping in the back of a station wagon and a Toyota Forerunner, had and loved a 16 ft vintage travel trailer for several years (that we fully restored), owned two different truck bed campers (one of these a NorthStar pop-up), full timed in an old Holiday Rambler travel trailer, as well as a older Airstream, etc.
So it really shocked us that neither of us enjoyed camping in a Casita Spirit Deluxe, especially after we'd taken the time to make it 'ours'. As it happened, we couldn't get comfortable in the rear double bed (with a new mattress and foam topper!), and the dinette bed was very narrow and pretty short, so also uncomfortable for my wife when she tried that option. She's 5'8" and prefers side sleeping.
As life sometimes happens, right away after we decided to sell the Spirit, we found an almost new Casita Independence Deluxe 17'. The layout differences made it a huge "Yes!" for us. Rear twins, which we modified using a YouTube video as inspiration to make them a little wider, are wonderful and the inside layout feels plenty spacious and comfy for us and doggo. The galley config is much more user friendly, too.
We love this little egg and wouldn't go back to any other of our prior rigs now. We are able to easily tow with a '21 Nissan Frontier 4wd short bed crew cab with great visibility. Towed all over mountains with high passes in 6 different Western states. Love to boondock and drive down dirt roads to explore and camp in the wild, as well as campgrounds.
I'm chiming in here in agreement with others who said you should continue for now with some version of how you've been travelling for a couple more years, and then really find the perfect travel trailer for you once the kids are gone. Your needs are so different now compared to what they will be.
Towing definitely, even when hassle-free like towing a Casita, slows you down in how many miles you drive in a day. Even if only for safety checks and gas refills. Some states have slower speed limits for towing, too. Windy conditions need slower speeds than car travel, etc.
Neither of us feels stressed towing a Casita, and it's the best trailer we've ever owned for that. Like a little puppy, it just follows us everywhere.
Have great travels, no matter what you choose!

[Lynn S]

In the end you will have to find your comfort level. I also moved from tenting to fiberglass trailers. We loved tenting and my wife was hesitant to change, but by the end of the 1st year she was happy and wouldn't go back. I towed a 15 ft fiberglass trailer (about 2800 lbs loaded) with a 2010 Colorado with a 5.3l engine and 4 speed transmission. It handled it easily in the mountains. I now have an Escape 19 which I tow with a 2022 Colorado v6 with an 8 speed tranny and a tow package. It has about the same HP as the 5.3 and a little less torque. It handles the Escape well, even in the mountains. I really did not notice a big difference between towing the 15 foot and the Escape 19. I tend to be a bit on the cautious side when towing, so I do slow down a bit on the steepest grades even though the truck (in both cases) was capable of maintaining the speed limit. This was just my personal choice because I hate to listen to an engine turning over at high rpms for an extended time.
I would expect that your truck would handle the escape 19 with no issues, especially if it has a tow package. If it doesn't, I would add a transmission cooler. I suspect that the more time you spend living in the trailer, the more you will appreciate the extra room the E19 provides. That is what worked for us anyway. Keep your cooling system and brakes in top shape. On the 2010 Colorado, I replaced the worn factory rear shocks with gas filled ones that included a coil spring. It rode a bit rougher, but felt more stable when loaded and towing.
We also considered a popup but decided against it because we didn't want to deal with the extra set up, tear down when camping, and we suspected that it would require more maintenance. We were also concerned about the rapid depreciation. We also like having the ability to just pull over, jump in the trailer and make lunch or have a coffee.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

[BizCrate]

I moved up from a 13ft Scamp Deluxe no bath w/front couch-bunk set up. The bunk wt capacity was far too low for adult use and and overall too cramped even for just me and a little dog. Also, I got pretty tired of putting the dinette table up and down for me to go to bed at night. A fixed bed option became important for me. I considered going to the Casita 16 but tossed that idea out when I compared it to the Escape 19.
Number 1 for me was the dual axel set up on the Escape.
I had had it trying to back the Scamp into a camp site - no matter the size or angle of the site it was always a challenge to just back in. The problem, as my CDL trucker friend explained, was the very short wheel base that made backing anything that size touchy when making adjustments and squirrelly even when backing a straight line.
My E19 layout 1 has a back queen bed, the front dinette that collapses in to an oversized twin and I got the cot option. The cot fits over the twin and supports over 200lbs (250 maybe, IDK). Granted, the twin with the bunk over makes the bed space feel a bit like you are bunking on a submarine so maybe the 21 y/o will opt for pitching a tent anyway.
Bottom line, I love my Escape and so, so glad I did not get the Casita.
Towing - before the Scamp I had never towed anything ever. Eventually, I got the backing thing down but going to dual axel combined with the extra length makes slipping into a spot very easy. Have I mentioned that I'm pushing 70 and travel solo? Yes, well - back to towing.
As others mentioned, towing the camper is not like driving the truck alone cross country. You do travel a bit more slowly than the speed limit, especially out west where the speed limits are often 75. You'll be going 65, since that's what your trailer and trailer tires are rated for. I love driving but I plan my trips in 6hr hour segments, max. It's just somehow more tiring. Besides, pulling into a campground tired and in the dark is a recipe for disaster. Coming into a close area like a gas station is different because you'll need to watch for clearance when turning. Just don't pull in too tight to the pump and you'll be fine.
I originally lived in the flat Midwest where roads are laid out in a grid pattern. I retired to the northern mountains of New Mexico where hardy anything is paved much less flat and straight. I bought the E2 weight distribution hitch that Escape offers. My trailer tows like it is on rails. Seriously.
Recently the Southwest experienced some very serious wind storms with some areas gusting up to 70 mph. Not knowing what I was getting into as I traveled home from AZ and I drove right through a storm from Holbrook AZ to Albuquerque and then north toward home. Winds did not let up until Santa Fe. My trailer was rock steady. I tow with a 21 Jeep Grand Cherokee. With the tow package I'm rated to pull 6200lbs.
If your truck has the proper tow capacity and a brake controller (I had to install one on the GC) then mountain driving is not very difficult - just thought provoking if you haven't done it before. Your truck gears down automatically going up hill so you go slower. No big deal since you are now driving a workhorse not a racehorse. Stay in the right lane. Going downhill you have brakes on the trailer to act like an anchor or at least in tandem to slow you rather than just push you down the hill. Steep grades might require you to downshift to a lower gear so you don't compulsively ride your brakes. If this old flatlander can learn to do this, anybody can.
There are not lots of Escapes in the US but enough that you can probably find one to tour. Contact Escape and they'll hook you up with an owner Ambassador who will be happy to show off their rig. Shoot, if your travels bring you to New Mexico or southern Colorado, I'd be happy to show you mine.

[barrry smithe]

SCAMP 19 TV GMC CANYON V6. Mileage 18+ avg; problems none. 250/300 miles per day. Speed 50/60. NO SPECIAL EQUIPMENT! Extremely satisfied!

[brroberts]

2021 E19 and 2021 Ford Ranger.

Have towed all over for months at a time. No problem. With the 6’8” or 7’ width of the trailers you are considering and a full size truck, there really shouldn’t be a lot of added stress or fatigue. These lighter and narrow trailers make for stress free easy towing. It’s still towing, but nothing like a heavy 8’6” wide trailer.

[steelypip]

Originally Posted by EzDaveC

We've always been tenters to make us agile enough to do these long trips in 2 week vacations but I'm pushing 60 and am thinking about a fiberglass trailer or possibly a pop-up, both to avoid the tenting hassles but also looking ahead towards longer trips in retirement (maybe 2-3 yrs down the road).

There have been lots of responses to this, but I'll add my $0.02. I started off tent camping as well, and we ended up with a trailer as the family grew because I was tired of carrying ever bigger and heavier tent parts around and spending ever longer assembling and disassembling tents and the camp kitchen before we could either go do something fun or get on the road.


Back in the '90s I rented a popup for a week-long stay in the mountains of Georgia. I'm really glad I did, because, while the popup was really easy to tow, I hated the set up and takedown procedure, which is nearly as labor intensive as a tent. Popups have improved a little since then, but they still have certain downsides, like tiny wheels that spin really fast at highway speeds.


I wanted a tent that I could tow behind a car and needed minimal setup. I discovered Scamps first, had a look at Trilliums, and ended up with a 16 foot Casita, which I still have. Why not a Scamp? They're rarer on the east coast.


Why a Casita or Scamp? The narrowness makes it an easy tow for nearly anything. It's much less stressful to tow a 6' wide trailer than a 7' wide trailer - it fits in the track of the tow vehicle, so you'll never put a wheel out of the lane or off the road without knowing. The downside is that it is cozy inside - if you want that 'living room feeling' you're not going to like it. Also, if you're tall you'll want a floor plan that has you sleeping lengthwise in the trailer, versus across it. I'm 5' 8", so I fit across just fine across with my 5' 1" wife in the rear bed.


Why a 16 footer? Because I wanted to (and did for a decade) tow it with a smaller vehicle. I also liked that the air conditioner was in the bottom of the closet instead of on the roof making the trailer a foot taller. Tall people hate them, though, because the ceiling is lower in the 13 and 16' Casita than in the 17' and the new 15' Patriot (which also looks like it has a high tongue weight, but I haven't seen a number).


The 17' Casita has a 350+ lb tongue weight. That makes it very stable, but takes a lot of potential tow vehicles out of the pool. Your pickup would tow a 17 foot Casita very easily anywhere. As long as you change tires every other year and repack the wheel bearings on a schedule, they're nearly painless to tow behind a full size pickup. Your 5.3/6spd truck will pull 4000 lbs, and any Casita comes in under 3000 as long as you don't put your rock collection in the trailer.

Question 1: What is it like to tow a Spirit Deluxe or Escape 19 4000 miles across the Rockies? Tow vehicle is 2017 Silverado 1500 5.3L 6-spd 4x4 crew cab. I've towed a little but never a travel trailer and never 4000 miles. In my mind, a pop-up should not be too much of a drag, a Spirit Deluxe is sleek and not much heavier than some pop-ups but the Escape 19 is pushing 4000 lbs mildly loaded. I'm leery of the mental fatigue and anxiety of towing - especially trying to cover 4000 miles in 16 days which is what we normally do. The Escape 19 is basically the high end of what I want to tow weight-wise and size-wise.

I agree. The weight, length, two axles, and 7 foot width of the Escape 19 are definitely going to be more work to tow for both you and that truck. A Casita is a much easier tow in every respect. Given that your kids are both basically adults and won't both be travelling with you very long, I'd get a smaller trailer and then bed one or both of them down in a tent or put a camp topper on the pickup and have somebody sleep in there. The camp topper would also help with non-pop-up towing fuel economy, btw. The Escape is also less aerodynamic than the Casita (larger and squarer), which means it'll be a bigger drag on the truck than that two foot difference suggests.

Another advantage of a smaller trailer is that shorter trailers are easier tows just like narrower ones are, and are easier to tuck into smaller places - you have less worry about backing into or side swiping with the back of the trailer.

I think the SD would fit us decently for retirement trips a couple years down the road but we have 4 for now and basically do 2 week trips. (I've thought about just doing a pop-up now and upgrading to a SD when we're able to use it more).

That's a viable option if you don't hate popups. Rent one for a long weekend before you decide it's an option - they're not for everybody.

Question 3: For this year and maybe next year, we're probably limited to doing these short trips so I'm not sure we want to jump into buying a trailer and dealing with the storage, logistics, and maintenance.

Again, rental popups are quite cheap and can give you a taste of what one is like. Consider doing that for a couple of years. Any time you have the opportunity, go to a FG trailer meet, ask around, and get shown around peoples' trailers.

We're just barely empty nesters here but I'm still working (remotely). We want to hit the road, so I bought a Transit van for a tow vehicle/office/sitting room to replace the old TV. The Transit averages 17 MPG empty. It gets 16 MPG towing the Casita - the trailer sits in the wake of the van and is nearly free to tow. My old TV was a full-size sedan and went from 28 MPG to 14 MPG when I hooked up the Casita, even when I was towing 5-10 mph slower than our normal highway speed, so I'm actually getting much better towing fuel economy because of the better aerodynamics. That's why I think a pickup topper would help you. It also give more covered storage in the back of the pickup, which can make for a lighter (and thus easier towing) trailer.

Also, I have to say that the biggest surprise to the Casita was how much we like being able to take care of midnight bathroom needs without having to put on shoes and go find a bath house or tree. It's also nice to be able to make the morning cuppa without putting on shoes. I still do all the serious cooking outside on a camp stove, though - keeps the trailer neater and better smelling.