I'm about to be a member of this family

[Horst K.]

I'm a retired AARP and got into nature/landscape photography to try and keep my brain half active....and see some of this great country...my bones got tired of tent camping so I stated looking at TT options...got to the point that I really liked the fiberglass idea....small footprint and ability to go off road....looked at all the models avaiable and settled on the Casita...though all the fireglass models would have filled the bill...living in Texas, casita factory was just closer..

This is my first time in a Travel Trailer so I have no clue what I am getting into other than a great adventure...any help would be appreciated...especially what I should be looking for when I take delivery...also any advice what to insure I do and not do....I will be towing with a 2006 Nissan xterra, the casita folks will put on a sway bar...I am looking at getting a WDH(2 arm) based on the short wheel base(106)...read where I should not get one with overkill...try to keep tongue weight for it between 400-500lbs.....most I have seen are 600lbs..... I did get the high axle, 15 inch wheels...I got most of the options for the SD...will probably get a honda or Yamaha generator later...unless you folks think thats overkill..

I appreciate any and all advice...for those interested my photo website is www.texasreflectionsphotogaphy

Again thanks....Horst

[Doug Mager]

Well, to the site and has 'they' often add, Glad You Found Us.

We need pix, Horst!! Not the beautiful shots on your webpage (can only say they look FanTexastic!!) but of your new/to you Casita and related experiences with it

[Robin G]

Horst, I bet your excited for the due date! Welcome to the family. As far as the technical stuff, I will leave that to the experts! Just wanted to say Welcome!....................... Enjoy! Robin

[ronsmith100]

I'm a retired AARP and got into nature/landscape photography to try and keep my brain half active....and see some of this great country...my bones got tired of tent camping so I stated looking at TT options...got to the point that I really liked the fiberglass idea....small footprint and ability to go off road....looked at all the models avaiable and settled on the Casita...though all the fireglass models would have filled the bill...living in Texas, casita factory was just closer..

This is my first time in a Travel Trailer so I have no clue what I am getting into other than a great adventure...any help would be appreciated...especially what I should be looking for when I take delivery...also any advice what to insure I do and not do....I will be towing with a 2006 Nissan xterra, the casita folks will put on a sway bar...I am looking at getting a WDH(2 arm) based on the short wheel base(106)...read where I should not get one with overkill...try to keep tongue weight for it between 400-500lbs.....most I have seen are 600lbs..... I did get the high axle, 15 inch wheels...I got most of the options for the SD...will probably get a honda or Yamaha generator later...unless you folks think thats overkill..

I appreciate any and all advice...for those interested my photo website is www.texasreflectionsphotogaphy

Again thanks....Horst

Great shots, Horst! As an amateur photog myself I can tell you that a little fibeglassRV is the very best way to get out there and catch the light. In my egg I can just stop and sleep where it looks good and get up before dark and catch the light that I came to the dance with. No need to rush out in a car in the dark and set up... you are [b]always set up in an egg.
Again, great shots.

Ron

[Horst K.]

Great shots, Horst! As an amateur photog myself I can tell you that a little fibeglassRV is the very best way to get out there and catch the light. In my egg I can just stop and sleep where it looks good and get up before dark and catch the light that I came to the dance with. No need to rush out in a car in the dark and set up... you are [b]always set up in an egg.
Again, great shots.

Ron

Want to thank Doug, Robin and Ron for your great words of encouragement and nice words about my photography... .goes to show even an "A-type" personality can do something creative.....Ha... do enjoy it but got alot to learn....I will take a bunch of the "egg" after 9 June....Still trying to figure where to go on my first trip.....all suggestions are appreciated...and I have no time table...as someone said "the journey is the destination"...Ron your thoughts are the reason I got the Casita....you can take it off road and be where the action is....
Horst

[Doug Mager]

Well Horst, since you asked for ideas about somewhere to go/come, .....we up here in the sPacific North West (Canada, eh?) are having our semi-anual Glass Egg meet (in B.C. Canada) in about 2 weeks time. June brings an American Egg Gathering in mid Washington in June, then theres ALWAYS the events in Bamdon Or, and possibly others!
(You WOULDN'T be the only American at our Canadian event, BTW!!!)

[Horst K.]

Well Horst, since you asked for ideas about somewhere to go/come, .....we up here in the sPacific North West (Canada, eh?) are having our semi-anual Glass Egg meet (in B.C. Canada) in about 2 weeks time. June brings an American Egg Gathering in mid Washington in June, then theres ALWAYS the events in Bamdon Or, and possibly others!
(You WOULDN'T be the only American at our Canadian event, BTW!!!)

Doug...would love to make the trip...don't pick up my "egg" until 9-10 June timeframe....but will definitley make a Canada trip.......I have some fond memories of Canada...started the first grade at Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in 1948-49..which is/was in Stephenville, Newfoundland..Base closed in 1966..Great place for a kid that age, that time...Also in the mid/late '60s while in the Air Force at Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane Washington, my wife and I went across the border numerous times...our favorite was Baniff, Radium Hot Springes and Lake Louise...the people and hostiptality was second to know....and the Vistas...wow!!!...so yes I waill get up there, probably next spring...so hopefully there will be a get together next year that we can meet....Horst

[Harry Young]

Horst


Come up thru New Mexico and Arizona sometime...Cheap spots and the photos are great, free camping all over, Arizona has many forests mostly.

Since you are getting your trailer in the monsoon season remember rain...Yours may have an awning, but a solar silver tarp will help a lot on the heat issue in some spots saving the finish on the trailer over time. I kept the gear for from my tent kit for really out of the way places and the stove for outdoor cooking...

Storage storage storage... Its Dr Who's box you know, larger on the inside than the outside sort of sci fi thing going on here, the spacial conundrum of being prepared for every possible need while finding a place for it all...There are threads covering "favorite things" to bring and the "you cannot do without item"...read there too, I have stolen many ideas.

I use a very small honda generator presently, but will switch for solar this year, I do not like the constant attention to the beastie when I could be doing something else with my life...

Northern Tool has a folding solar charger pre-built, I would use two of them...

The advantage is you can open them up moving them around keeping them in the sun...I do not like trailer mounted solar units, its counter intuitive, the trailer is in the shade at my camp so solar would be a struggle mounted there anyway...The Harbor Freight company has a sale on 3 ea. 15 watt units for 179.00, I think I will build my own folding panels for less using the solar controller from Northern Tool to run the charge.

I like the wheel chocks you can use to level the trailer too, a hitch lock!!! The master lock type (its a monster lock) that fits into the ball socket locking it.

A lock for the receiver pin!!! I came out of a Walmart to meet up with these blokes who had removed the lock pin on my male receiver ball...They were struggling to get my male receiver which had the caravan locked onto it, into their female hitch receiver on their truck, they were going to scoot off with my caravan!!! I went bloody Scots on them I did.

So lock the receiver to the tug, and the tow to the hitch.

Add extra exterior lights (yellow lens, no bug magnets needed) they come in handy in night time set ups. I like one in front for the propane, battery and rear of the truck area.

A fan 12v of some type.

Make sure all your stowage is lockable and rain proof, so they can be set out side or under the carriage and is worry free, I use a bicycle cable lock to secure to the bumper...I like the Rubbermaid Tuff large tool totes from Walmart. Err even if allegedly water proof a small hole drilled in the bottom is insurance. I use a plastic grate materiel in the bottom of the tote.

Mat outside the door, (dry fast type) I like shower mats or the recycled tire ones.

12v exterior plug in...Comes in handy, if mosquitoes are an issue I run a zapper way off in left field to pull the little darlings to their doom...

Pepper spray...For critters if needed...In Az. its a good idea.

I love my 12v hitch jack! Then I do have a prosthesis in my shoulder...push a button up it goes.

I like the magnetic hitch alignment tool at Harbor Freight, do not need the wifey to help back up, she has stopped calling me a nit or a slog backing up.

A residue free fire extinguisher.

Remember to pack humor, its going to be needed...camping is camping and type A personalities have yet to get all its murphyisims into the day planner...Lol

Harry

Happy Camping
Safe trails

Doug...would love to make the trip...don't pick up my "egg" until 9-10 June timeframe....but will definitley make a Canada trip.......I have some fond memories of Canada...started the first grade at Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in 1948-49..which is/was in Stephenville, Newfoundland..Base closed in 1966..Great place for a kid that age, that time...Also in the mid/late '60s while in the Air Force at Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane Washington, my wife and I went across the border numerous times...our favorite was Baniff, Radium Hot Springes and Lake Louise...the people and hostiptality was second to know....and the Vistas...wow!!!...so yes I waill get up there, probably next spring...so hopefully there will be a get together next year that we can meet....Horst

[David & Leslie]

Congratulations Horst - for a short, shake-down outing when your Egg is hatched, you might try Balmoreah SP (glorious hot spring pool) near Ft. Davis and the McDonald Observatory. We have learned to LOVE Texas State Parks! AND ... remember every day is Saturday now so give yourself permission to SLOW DOWN - the photography will help with that, eh?

We wish you safe journeys and many, many happy memories. Take care, L 'n D

[Pete Dumbleton]

The best place to go for your first camp-out is somewhere right close to Casita so you can easily drag it back there for adjustments or to ask more questions about something you missed.

The second place to camp is your driveway, with a clipboard handy so you can write down everything you went back into the house to get! It usually works best to have two of everything so you can leave the egg packed and are less likely to forget something.

Sadly, Texas DOT doesn't publish it anymore, but they used to have a small public parks book that listed all the federal, state, county, city and what-have-you campgrounds, including the prices (Many are free). When you turn 62, get your Senior Pass card for entry to the Federal Parks system, like Natl Parks, and it's also good for a 50% discount on camping fees.

[Al and Cindy K]

Hi Horst and welcome to the family - great bunch of folks here with lots of expericence they're willing to share.

As long time tent campers, a lot of our gear (stoves, lanterns, cookware etc.) carried over and continues to be useful. We still day hike extensively and even make an occassional overnight backpack so we really haven't 'retired' anything from that camping style. We camp pretty much year round on public lands in rustic or dispersed sites. Some of the things we've added that make our Scamp more enjoyable include: custom mattress, travasak bedding, comfortable chairs, screen room and generator (not overkill for camping here in the southeast). We use a friction type anti-sway bar and tow with a Tacoma double cab. Our EU3000i is more or less permanently mounted on the tongue but the weight is still probably a bit less than what you'll have with the Casita so I can't offer any advice on the WDH.

Really enjoyed your website and especially the photos of Big Bend. We just got back from a two week trip out your way - Palo Duro SP, Carlsbad NP, Lincoln NF, Guadalupe Mountain NP and Big Bend NP (our favorite).

Al & Cindy

[Horst K.]

I want to thank Harry, H.David, Pete and Al/Cindy for all the GREAT advice and comments...as Al and Cindy said...this is a family and a close knit family.....Al/Cindy thank you for your kind words on my photography..I still have alot to learn but sure do enjoy it and Big Bend is a favorite place...I think I could spend 1 week a month for the rest of my life and still not see it all....though this summer I did a trip to Utah, Arizona, and new Mexico and really enjoyed not only the vistas but also the history, especially the American Indian history....Pete and H. David..I plan on spending 2/3 days in Casita country to do a Shake Down Cruise of the Casita....then kinda take my time to get home...I like the idea of parking it in my driveway and going over it with a check list......and then my first trip will be off to the Davis Mountains....will roam around Texas until I get a comfort level with towing and setting it up....then off to the Arizona/Utah area thus fall...I think I could spend a life time there....also thank you for the info on all the things to take...ie, pepper spray etc.... and to watch out for...again thank you all and hope to meet all af one of these days...Horst