Active RVer Judy Holmes goes for ease of towing, maintaining 17-foot Casita trailer

Judy Holmes (Julianne G. Crane)

Judy Holmes of Tyler, Texas, has always enjoyed an active outdoors life ... hiking, bicycling, canoeing, camping. After retiring in her mid-60s as a social worker from the Area Agency on Aging, this energetic woman continues to work as a substitute teacher in middle schools.

Two years ago, after 28 years as a tent camper, Judy purchased her first recreation vehicle, a used 38-foot Foretravel Class A motor home.

She remembers her scariest moment was when she accidentally killed the motor home's engine as she was going up an incline and it started rolling backwards down the hill. "It was my first outing in any type of unit," recalls Judy, "but I made it out alive with no damages. That very day I even took it to a state park and backed into a small, angled parking place. I felt like the Queen of Class A RVing."

While Judy soon found the motor home easy to drive, she also discovered it needed more complicated maintenance than she wanted to handle as a solo woman RVer.

John Gannon & Judy Holmes. (Julianne G. Crane)

Last year Holmes took a trip over to the Casita trailer plant in Rice, Texas, and left owning a 2012 17-foot Casita Deluxe, a molded fiberglass travel trailer.

In addition to being lightweight and easy on fuel, molded fiberglass rigs are designed to be durable, sturdy and simple to maintain. “It is much less complicated to operate and maintain than the motor home,” said the retired social worker. 

Judy says her Casita is easy to pull with her six-cylinder SUV. “I like being able to unhitch the trailer at the campsite and go off on excursions in my SUV. With the Class A, I couldn’t do that unless I towed a car behind the coach.”

"The only downsize to a molded fiberglass trailer is that it probably should not be stored out in the hot Texas sun. My current unit is stored under cover," she says. "Another problem that I found was that the single axle bumper pull is harder to back into campsites than the Class A unit. Most people would probably not agree but it is what I found to be true for me."

Judy & John love canoeing Texas lakes. (Julianne G. Crane)

While she has used the Casita to travel solo through the southwest, she says she hasn't gone to any "exotic places."

 However, she adds, now that "I have a great traveling companion, John Gannon, who is game for trying some longer trips, perhaps up to South Carolina this spring, I hope to even go on to the East Coast."

“With air conditioning and heating, I never hesitate to go places in any season of the year,” says Judy. “The Casita is a tight little pod.”

Photos by Julianne G. Crane.

To read more about molded fiberglass travel trailers from their owners, click here.

Read more about the RV lifestyle by Julianne G. Crane at RVWheelLife.com