Translate

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The good, the bad and the gnarly!

With just a few hours of work left to do, we've come to the sad conclusion that we may have to sell the Tiny Casita.

Before I started this project I made sure I had a way to get the Tiny Casita from our house here in Colorado, to our land in Sayulita Mexico. I found a guy on U-Ship.com that agreed to tow the Tiny Casita down to our land for a reasonable fee ($2,000). Well, I found out a few weeks ago that he backed out of the deal. Over the last few weeks I wasn't able to find an economical solution. The next offer to ship was way out of a sensible range. For more than $5k we can make a solid dent in a real house made of block.

We considered towing it down with our Astro Van but, as the mighty Astro is fine for local trips, it's not powerful enough to tow for 2000 miles journey. Trip scheduled for Nov. 10th. Yikes! Running out of time.

If anyone has suggestions on how to get her down there, please let me know.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I may suggest: consider towing it with a UHaul. If you return to the point of origin, it should be no problem--your cost will be gasoline and Uhaul rental. You MAY (or may not) need to change providers near the border.

Greg said...

Good suggestion. I'll look into it. Thanks.

Mark E Tisdale said...

I don't have any better suggestion than U-Haul but border crossing with a rental could be an issue? I know when I went with friends in a regular car rental from Arizona we had to hunt for companies that allowed crossing into Mexico. Previous poster is right that you might have to switch at the border. Might try hunting for message boards to chat with people who have moved across the border - they've probably worked out the logistics of crossing with a moving van.

Good luck - would be a shame to do all that work and have to sell it instead of using it yourself.

Greg said...

The U-Haul thing isn't going to work. No way to cross the border, and it's unlikely that we'll be able to return to origin. Found a company that will take it from San Diego, which might work. Just a few hundred miles out of our way.

Anonymous said...

How much is the Tiny Casita?

Elizabeth Sauceda said...

Google how canadians and americans travel with rv's. What is needed? Keep it!

Greg said...

After consulting with one of the websites that specialize in Tiny houses I think around 16k is a fare price. Will be perfect before I let it go. Call me if you'd like to talk more, or make a plan to see in person. 303.601.0474

Greg said...

Hi Elizabeth. We drove an RV down to our place in Mexico before. However, having an RV towed is another story. I haven't given up quite yet tho. Working on getting a bigger truck :)

Elizabeth Sauceda said...

How about and import/export company? I also found a web page, http://.your-rv-lifestyle.com/mexico-rv.html . I am inspired be your family's philosophy and your Tiny house is just adorable. Keep it! It took a process of a year to built, now it is the process to travel to Mexico.

Greg said...

Thanks for the encouragement Elizabeth :)
We're def looking into it, and we haven't given up hope yet. I wrote a bunch of emails to RV company's that specialize in Mexican travel this morning. But, like most things, the problem comes with costs. At a certain point, costs of having it towed, out weigh the costs of building a Tiny House (out of block) on location. I think a bigger truck might be the best solution.

Elizabeth Sauceda said...

Hi Greg. I did alot of research. What I would do, is the old fashion way. First I would separate the shipping fees. One USA and one Mexico. I would Uship.com from Colorado to Hidalgo, TX (boarder city in USA land). Second I would email for a qoute from Mexico yellow pages (seccionamarillas.com.mx) local moving and freight companies (brief info: some mexico moving companies are a combination of both movers and freight transport for depending of your needs. The benefit of both is that they are familiar with import/export transportation laws...it reduces stress). Yellow pages doing research type (mudanza) and for location (reynosa)(is the city in Mexico land) suggestion: email perfer companies that are both movers and freight, get a quote either in pesos or dollars. I would google how much is the current exchange value. Good journey and hope it help or gave ideas! *p.s. if you do same money this way. www.mexpack.com

Greg said...

Thanks again Elizabeth. My wife speaks Spanish so she's making some calls today. Hopefully we can find a MX company. If not, I have a couple guys interested in trading their pick-ups for our Astro van. Fingers Crossed!

Tom said...

Come on Greg! You can build a house but can't fix this minor issue? :)
42 used trucks 500 miles from Denver capable of towing your casita $3000 and under. Sell it when you get there, I'm sure there's no demand for a cheap US pickup in Mexico. :)

http://goo.gl/BmhmZ