A travel capsule built for exploration, Big Red is a rolling fortress, a storage shed, a dog bed, and granny cottage. Under the hood, this twenty-six year old redhead sports a foxy 5.9 liter V8, plenty of power to pull our house along America’s highways. Inside, there is plenty of room for travel essentials, while still being comfortable and spacious. The massive windshield makes sightseeing a pleasure, like a 3D IMAX screen, only real, and revealing the beauty of the open road.
We bought Big Red because we realized that my small Nissan truck would not be strong enough to pull a Casita. We needed something bigger. Deciding that a van would be the ideal vehicle, we started looking, particularly on Craigslist. We figured that a cargo van would be a good blank template for incorporating a bunch of storage. After test driving a number of over-used and abused clunkers, we expanded our search to include conversion vans. Turns out, conversion vans had important features that cargo vans mostly lacked: they were much more comfortable, quiet, and designed for passengers. Then, this firecracker of a conversion van popped up in the Denver area. We liked the look of it, so we set up a meeting. The van looked sweet, had fairly low miles, ran well, and, honestly, we were a little desperate. Money changed hands and we drove home with this hulk.
Next, we needed to find our Casita. I’ll save that story for another post, but at least now we had a vehicle with the power to pull a trailer with some authority. Luckily, we did not have to wait long to find a trailer: a Casita popped up in the Denver area just two days after we got Big Red. We were the first people to check her out, and the Dove came home with us that day!
Next, we needed to find our Casita. I’ll save that story for another post, but at least now we had a vehicle with the power to pull a trailer with some authority. Luckily, we did not have to wait long to find a trailer: a Casita popped up in the Denver area just two days after we got Big Red. We were the first people to check her out, and the Dove came home with us that day!