"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"-MARK TWAIN

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Casita Family


   One of the greatest benefits of owning a Casita is the Casita family network.  There are two websites, with forums, specifically for Casita owners, as well as another dedicated to all makes of molded fiberglass trailers.  The molded fiberglass community is made up of lots of great people.
   There are a number of rally's each year in different parts of the country.  The largest being the Bluebonnet Rally in Bandera, TX.  It is taking place this week.  More than 140 fiberglass trailers in one park.  It is a really fun event.
 
   Besides the Bluebonnet rally, there are numerous others throughout the year, Pine Knot, Hillapalooza, Madagorda Madness, Green Egg and Ham, just to mention a few.  There's also a number of tours and random get-to-gathers which pop up each year. The Glacier Gathering of 2010 came about from a random post on one of the forums.  Before we knew it, we had folks from Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Utah, Washington, and Louisiana headed for Montana for a week.  The Utah tour has been going on each May for the last 4 years.  There is also a fiberglass gathering at Quartzite each February.
  
We try to make 3 or 4 rally's each year.  It is a great time to visit with old friends as well as meet new ones.  Plans are made, problems discussed, good food and fellowship.  A real family experience.........jc

Monday, April 25, 2011

Our travels

   Since retiring in 2008 we have made four extended trips of a month to 6 weeks each, as well as numerous shorter journey's. We have traveled from Big Bend to Banff,  and as far West as  Zion and Glacier.  We have spent parts of September in Yellowstone in both 2008 and 2010.  We have traveled to and through the UP of Michigan, and toured Hwy 2 from Michigan to Montana.
   The majority of our travels have been in the Western part of the country.  I guess it comes from living in the deep South, but we love the mountains.  There is nothing we like more than the red rock of Utah, or the mountains of Yellowstone and the Teton's.  The Canadian rockies were fantastic but we still like Rocky Mountain NP the best.
   There is just so much to see and enjoy in this country of ours.  As a click on the map will show, we have spent the night in many places since we began.  Hopefully, we will continue to add stops to the Google Map as time goes by.  I would love to have it appear as just a big yellow blob one day.................jc 

Sunday, April 24, 2011

How we travel


   We travel by way of a 2006 Chevy 1500 Crewcab towing a 2002 Casita Spirit Deluxe travel trailer.  The trailer is 17' long from tip to tail, but is equiped with everything one needs.  It has a propane stove, 3-way fridge, microwave, AC, furnace, rear and side dinettes, fantastic fan, and a full bath with shower.  It is equipped with both grey and black tanks and a 25 gallon fresh water tank.  We have made some modifications such as installing shelves in the closet and converting the rear dinette to a permanent bed with the addition of a custom made memory foam mattress. 
   As I was nearing retirement we begin to look at different rv's.  We had always planned to travel after retirement, but we weren't sure what we wanted.  We looked at mostly class B motorhomes and 5th. wheels.  We had never seen a Casita until spotting one in a friends back yard after Hurricane Katrina.  Knowing they owned an almost new motor home, I called and asked her what it was.  She told me it belonged to her sister and it was a really neat trailer. After looking it over and doing a lot of internet research, we were hooked.  Solid fiberglass, 3500 lbs. loaded.  Being small  also has many advantages over the larger rigs.  We can get into most any spot, even in some "full' parks.  We can access some really fantastic out of the way locations for boondocking. Not too large for small ferry's. Think a sailboat on wheels.
     In the truck we carry an Army surplus tool locker loaded with all the misc. small tools and other items one might need while away from home.  We also have two plastic hampers which hold bottle jack, 1 lb. propane bottles, charcoal, levelers, hose's, etc.  We carry a Coleman roadtrip propane grill and also a very small charcoal grill.  A folding table, outdoor carpet, a couple or three folding chairs, ice chest and a Honda EU2000 round out the load.  We try to leave home with the rear cargo area half empty to accomadate anything we may pick up along the way.....................jc 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Who we are!



We are Wanda and Jerry.  The third member of our crew is Sally.  A part daschund, part blue heeler, part whatever. We live in Southwest Mississippi.  After reading many blogs of fellow travelers, I thought it would be neat to start our own.  We both retired a few years ago and after much research, we purchased a 17' Casita travel trailer.  Hence, the name, EggRollings.  We have since towed our egg over 20,000 miles around this great country of ours, as well as parts of Canada. 
We are also avid hot air balloon enthusuiasts.  We attend numerous festivals around the county each year where we crew and fly with a dear friend and family from Memphis, TN.  We were even priviliged to accompany them to Albuquerque a few years ago for the festival there.  It was awesome.

We are planning another journey in a few weeks.  We will be meeting other Casita friends in Capitol Reef NP for a 10 day tour through the national parks of Southern Utah.  From there it is on to places unknown.  Hopefully it will be a fun journey and we hope you enjoy the trip as much as we do............jc