Our Casita and our Honda Ridgeline at the storage facility.
This last weekend we decided to spend each day driving around town and taking turns backing up the Casita, hitching, and unhitching the trailer. Everything was easy—except for the backing up part!
We asked our friend Bud, who has towed trailers and boats for the past 30 years, to join us on the first day at a nearby park to practice backing up. He provided us some good tips and extra confidence, but we both realized quickly that backing up was not going to be trouble-free.
You know the advice people give to put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, and then slightly turn it each way you want the trailer to go? Well, that’s the tactic we took but it only worked a tiny bit. The other times, the Casita seemed to have a mind of its own!
The first day after Mike was struggling to back the trailer into a parking spot and could not get it in the lines
Our storage parking space. We paid $60.00 for this space since our HOA won’t allow RVs in the driveway. Tight squeeze!
after many tries, I started wondering if I would be better at it. I thought to myself, “Maybe I’ll be a natural at backing up; I’ll show Mike how it’s done.”
Then it was my turn. Fail! I was even worse! I somehow managed to get the Casita and truck into a corner in the wide-open parking lot and then couldn’t get out of the corner. Mike took over and was able to get it free again.
After the second day of practice, Mike was much better at backing up the trailer, so that gives us hope that practice is all we will need to get good at it.
In the meantime, where are those pull-through spots? We will keep an eye out for those. 😉
Highway to Hoeftland 
Boy, do I ever empathize. My first solo camping trip I turned left on a camping loop not realizing there was not enough room to make the turn. I ended up getting stuck between trees and the help of a young man to guide me out took over 30 minutes of backing up moving forward backing up. I bumped the tree stumps both with the bumper of my truck and my brand new Casita. I have been practicing diligently at home backing up my Casita. Two tips really work for me: Pull far far forward of your target site and put a marker back where you want your left rear trailer tire to go. I found the “swoop“ method did not work for me with my trailer. My last solo camping trip was in fact in a pull through site!
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Hi Caryn, very good advice! It sounds like many of us went through similar processes when learning how to tow and back up. Pull through sites are the best! Thanks very much for adding your experience and advice. Hope all is well. 👍🙂 -Kristin
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