California

Escondido, San Diego & Leucadia, California

November 22, 2018 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

We still had a property in San Diego that we had rented the past couple of years. Our tenants moved out, giving us a great opportunity to make renovations and put it on the market. We changed our travel plans and based ourselves in Escondido — the closest RV park to the house in Rancho Santa Fe. Southern California is an amazing place and it was wonderful to be back after a two-year hiatus. Great year-round weather without mosquitoes, black flies, tornadoes, hail, or hurricanes — just fires and earthquakes. It’s easy to see why so many people live here and pay the insane cost of living.

Sandy Huntley and Jake the dog beside a waterfall in The Crosby community, Rancho Santa Fe, California

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Downtown San Diego: Gaslamp Quarter, USS Midway, Comic-Con & La Playa

July 22, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 2017

We interrupted our New England summer travels when Michael needed to fly back to San Diego for a week to manage his physician practice. It turned out to be a welcome reset — and a reminder of how much there is to do in a city we know well. Downtown San Diego has transformed steadily over the years, and with Comic-Con and Pride Week both kicking off during our visit, the streets had an unusually electric energy. San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United States, its economy anchored by military and defense as much as tourism, and its enduring appeal built on miles of sandy coastline and one of the most reliably mild climates in the country.

Leaving San Diego: 25 Years, 7 Homes & the Start of Our Full-Time RV Life

January 9, 2017 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 2026

Twenty-five years. Seven homes spread across San Diego County — downtown, the beach, a golf course community, and finally rural Rancho Santa Fe, where we grew Zinfandel grapes and made wine in the backyard for a decade. We loved all of it. And in January 2017, we sold or gave away almost everything we owned, staged the house, and drove east toward Florida to start a life we’d been thinking about for years. This is where the blog really begins.

Sandy Huntley, Rancho Santa Fe, California

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