Texas Bound
In early January of 2017 I left the relative warmth of the west coast and headed east to Rice, Texas. There are no retail dealers for Casita travel trailers so if you want one you have to drive to their factory in Texas.
After three days of cross country driving I pulled into the town of Ennis, Texas and checked into a hotel. The next morning I got up early and headed down the road to Rice, Texas, home of Casita. I was a little apprehensive since I had never towed a trailer before before and it was a long haul from Texas to California.
We barreled through all the paperwork since I was in a rush to get back on the road. I was scheduled to be at Little House Customs, an aftermarket Casita vendor, to have some shocks and a three inch lift installed that afternoon so time was in short supply. I backed the FJ Cruiser into the large garage where Casita delivers their trailers and watched as they tested my 7 pin plug then lowered the trailer down onto my hitch.
The 7 pin plug lit up all the correct lights mounted to a nearby wall but my heart sank as I watched the trailer lowered onto the FJ Cruiser and the hitch appeared to bend. I got down on my knees and eye balled the hitch then eye balled the Casita tech. It was clear that the hitch shank had been deformed by the weight. I jacked the trailer up so I could drive my truck out. I left Casita without much settled and hit the road. Was the FJ Cruiser enough truck to handle the Casita? Would I be driving back to California empty handed, a victim of over cautiousness?
As I drove off down the road my confidence slowly caught up to me and I realized I needed to find a fabricator. Somebody that could manipulate heat and metal to create things. But first I had to get some lunch and find a place to stay for the night.
I headed back to Ennis to get a room since there is not much in the town of Rice. Back at the hotel I got on the Google and found a fabricator down in Corsicana. I set up an appointment for the following morning to have the hitch looked at. I had no idea what needed to happen to make me road worthy but the guy at the shop was confident he could do something. Having my hitch shank get bent on the very day I was going to tow for the first time left me stressed out. I doubt I slept much that night.
I called Casita and told them what I had planned. They were not too happy since they had other customers scheduled for the time slot when I wanted to stop by. I didn’t have any other options. It was going to have to be a quick in and out and hope that all went well.
I rolled into the fabricators shop the next morning with my Mojo covered in clouds. I couldn’t shake the feeling of yesterday’s failure. Towing for the first time was stressful enough and having the hitch go south put me out of sorts but as soon as I met Darrel he put me at ease. He gave me the impression of someone that could have built me a spaceship if I had the time and money.
Forty five minutes later Darrel was cooling off the new shank and mounting it to the back of the FJ. Ten minutes later I was back on the road to Casita.
I pulled into the gravel parking lot at Casita and dropped my check off at the sales managers desk. My orientation had been scheduled for the day before when I had the hitch fiasco so today was going to be just a quick hitch up and get on the road. We lowered the trailer down onto the hitch and Darrel’s weld job appeared to do the trick. I slowly pulled the Casita out of the service bay and across the gravel parking lot. The sight of a huge white fiberglass egg blocking my rear view mirror was disconcerting but I kept my foot on the gas and slowly crept forward.
The exit was over a drainage ditch next to the highway. I crossed over onto the pavement and made a wide turn to get the Casita out of the parking lot and out onto the highway. I held my breath, hoping that I wouldn’t drop one of the Casita’s wheels into the ditch, then gripped the steering wheel and prayed that Darrel’s hitch modification wouldn’t dump my new trailer in the middle of the road. After around ten miles I calmed down a bit and only stressed on the fact that I had never towed before and that there was a small white fiberglass trailer bouncing down the road behind me.
After a bit I came to a series of bridges that crossed over some small lakes. I had entered the hill country of eastern Texas. I had only seen abandoned oil derricks and bad roads up till this point so it was refreshing to see that Texas had a good side. Soon I pulled into the driveway at Little House Customs. I was hoping to pass myself off as an old pro at towing but the back and forth for ten minutes to get the trailer lined up with the shop doors likely gave my experience level away. I would guess the guys at the shop were doing everything they could to keep from offering to help or laugh.
The techs went to work on the trailer while I grabbed some lunch.They finished a few hours later. I was anxious to get on the road because I wanted to make it to the campground before dark. I walked outside to get something out of the truck. Swell, it was snowing. Big flakes coming down pretty good. The streets were already covered. Looked like I was not only going to learn how to tow but tow in the snow as well.
I pulled into Governor Jim Hogg City Park a short time later. I pried my fingers off the the steering wheel and walked over to the self registration area located on the front porch of a nearby house. We don’t have city operated RV parks in the middle of town where I am from. I wish we did.
After paying for my spot I wheeled the trailer down a narrow road looking for my site number. There were only two other trailers at the park. It was the dead of winter so that wasn’t surprising.
I found my spot and unfortunately I was going to have to back in. After my dismal performance at Little House Customs it was apparent that my two hour ‘How To Back Up a Trailer’ on YouTube training was just not going to be enough. Around 30 minutes later I got the Casita in her spot and managed to keep the tires on the pavement.
It was below freezing out so I quickly unlocked the door and fired up the propane heater. The hot air blasting out of the vent put a smile of my face. For the first time in two days I felt like I was actually going to pull this off. I sat there at the dinette for some time just staring out the window and enjoying that new trailer smell.
