The Magic Trick

The Magic Trick
Saturday afternoon at 3, Katie pulled the Casita next to the front of my Park Model home. She had to ring the doorbell because I was inside. 

You would think I would be hanging out on the front porch, anxiously waiting for her van and my Casita to appear.

Normally, I would have, but it was 115 degrees and much too hot for me and any sane person to be outside. 

These are the days when towels are draped over hot steering wheels and spread on both driver and passenger car seats. 

You can burn your hands touching a steering wheel, or blister your bare legs sitting in the car.

My next-door neighbor put a cookie sheet on the pavement. Then she cracked an egg on it. The egg was almost done when Chris ‘s nose alerted him. He rushed over, grabbed it and ate it.

Hot temperature aside, I rushed to the door, opened it and met a smiling Katie for my first time. She stuck out her hand, and our eyes met. We were in for quite an adventure.

After a few moments, I got my first look at my Casita.

Casita makes four basic models, Spirit….  

Freedom …  
Liberty…    Independence … 

When the Casita company created their fiberglass model back in 1983, they knew they had a good thing. They kept the basic shape. They just modified the interior. The average person spotting these white modified egg-shaped units can’t tell the difference between the Freedom from the Liberty.

When I did my research, my primary interest was enough room for Bernie and Chris. All four Casita models are only 17 feet in length. After a careful examination of the floor models, I selected the Freedom. Even so, I knew I would have to modify it to allow the dogs enough floor space to be comfortable.

Katie advertised her Freedom for sale and sight unseen, I bought it. Today it was delivered.

Katie also brought her dog, a purebred Heinz that weighs fifteen pounds. This cute male wasted no time in accepting his new temporary lodging. He scrambled into my home with Bernie and Chris chasing him. 

Now I had three adult male dogs sniffing and investigating each other. This is Bernie and Chris’s home territory, and the new guy hadn’t been formally invited.

I held my breath. I wasn’t too worried about Bernie. He accepts just about everyone. He’s not a guard dog, and in the five years we have been together, I have only heard him bark once… and that sound carried with it an apology.

Chris is my guard dog. However, Chris and the short, stubby ball of long hair were going to get along. Chris is curious but also independent. After some sort of male dog peaceful handshake, Chris turned his back and lay down… showing his rear end to the newcomer.

Katie thrust out her arm and handed me the keys to my Casita. I took the bundle of keys, there were more than a half-dozen, isolated the door key and we went outside to the tethered Casita.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon of July 15, 2017. That date will never be forgotten.

I opened the door, and that is when the magic trick happened.

I was expecting to find this Casita Freedom layout: 

      instead… I saw this …

  What a wonderful, and totally unexpected surprise. The dog floor space was significantly larger in the Liberty. 

All the paperwork listed the Casita as a Freedom model. It was clearly a Liberty model. 

My previous ideas of having to remove a chair to make room for Bernie’s bulk were swept aside. I had considered replacing the queen bed with a twin or something less wide. That modification wasn’t necessary.

Other than that, it looked like the dogs and I could move right in.

There are a couple things most non-Casita folks don’t know about the Casita. In a way, It’s a double whammy. 

First, Casita owners fall in love with their Casita. They keep their Casita for a long time. Katie is reluctant to part with her treasure.

Second, and this has to be taken on faith, sometimes the Casita doesn’t want to leave its owner. This Casita would make its desire known.

A little background is necessary to make the point.

Katie pulled up to my home on Saturday at 3 in the afternoon. The plan was to unhook, and I would take her to the nearby hotel. Then we would go to dinner. 

Sunday would find us going over the Casita. Monday, we had plans to go to Camp Verde. Katie would renew her lifetime pass, and I would buy one. The current price is $10, but the price will be $80 starting in August.

This is where the Casita’s personality enters the picture.

Despite a lot of physical effort and a lot of monkeying around, the hitch refused to separate from the ball.

To further complicate matters, when Katie pulled in front of my home, her van totally blocked my car in the carport. This meant we couldn’t take my car to go to dinner.

We ended up ordering pizza and drank my last two beers.

Even after being fortified with pizza and beer, we were unable to unhitch the Casita.

Around nine, long after the sun set, Katie decided to sleep in the van Saturday night.

Sunday morning at 7:30 we will have coffee. Katie vowed she will privately talk to the Casita and persuade it to release its possessive will.

Then we will do whatever it takes to separate the Casita from the van.

I take it as a sign… after all, Sunday is a day of worship.