COVID-19

Willcox, Arizona: Wine Country, Fort Bowie & the Chiricahua Mountains

May 19, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Willcox sits in the Sulphur Springs Valley at 4,167 feet — cooler and wetter than the desert floor at Tucson or Phoenix, and surrounded by some of the most historically significant and visually dramatic country in southeastern Arizona. We’ve stopped here twice, drawn first by the wine country and again in spring 2020 when we needed a low-key base after a long drive from Elephant Butte, New Mexico. The wineries were closed on that 2020 visit — COVID stay-at-home orders were in effect — but the backcountry around Willcox was very much open, and we spent a week exploring Chiricahua National Monument’s back roads, the Fort Bowie National Historic Site, and the remote Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge. The area more than earned its place on our return list.

California Poppies, Sulphur Springs Valley and open desert landscape around Willcox, Arizona at 4,167 feet elevation in Cochise County

Santa Fe, Albuquerque & Elephant Butte, New Mexico During COVID

May 9, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico and one of the most extraordinary cities in America — the oldest state capital in the country, founded by Spanish colonists in 1610, sitting at 7,199 feet in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It has been an art hub for over a century; Georgia O’Keeffe, Willa Cather, and D.H. Lawrence all found their way here, and today Santa Fe’s art market is the second largest in the United States after New York City. The adobe architecture, the canyon light, the galleries along Canyon Road — we wanted to experience all of it. COVID-19 had other plans. Nearly everything was closed, and we moved through the city mostly from a distance, filing it away for a proper return visit. From Eagle Nest, it was a two-and-a-half hour drive through the mountains and then south along the Rio Grande.

Sandy Huntley and Jake the dog standing on a rocky overlook high above the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico

Eagle Nest, Taos & Red River, New Mexico: Wildlife on the Enchanted Circle

May 2, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

From Amarillo, Texas, we headed west and then north into the mountains of northern New Mexico — a five-hour drive that climbed steadily from the flat Texas Panhandle to the high alpine country around Eagle Nest at 8,300 feet. The drive itself provided an early complication: somewhere along the route, either diesel fuel contamination with water or the rapid change in altitude was causing the engine to run rough under load. Purging the fuel filter helped, but a visit to the Freightliner dealer in Albuquerque was clearly going to be necessary. We filed it away and pressed on. What was waiting at the end of the drive was worth every mile of it.

A young bighorn sheep ram perched confidently on a rocky cliff face near Questa, New Mexico along the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway

Amarillo, Texas: Cadillac Ranch and Palo Duro Canyon During COVID

April 25, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

After a week of repairs at Newmar’s service center in Nappanee, Indiana, we pointed the motorhome west toward Amarillo, Texas — a roughly 1,200-mile drive across the heartland of the country. We were chasing better weather and trying to stay ahead of the active spring storm system moving through the plains. The driving days were long, but the goal was clear: get to drier, calmer air in the Texas Panhandle. We had family in Amarillo we had hoped to visit, but the worsening COVID-19 situation made that impossible. With anywhere from 20 to 80 percent of those infected showing no symptoms or only mild ones, we had no way of knowing whether we carried the virus, and we were not willing to take the risk. We will try again on a future pass through.

Dramatic red and orange mesa formations rising from the canyon floor under a vivid blue sky at Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo, Texas

Newmar RV Service in Nappanee, Indiana: Maintenance During COVID

April 18, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Northern Indiana is the RV capital of the world. Elkhart County alone produces the majority of motorhomes, travel trailers, and fifth wheels sold in the United States, and many of them are built in whole or in part by Amish craftsmen — a workforce renowned for the quality and care of their woodworking. Newmar Corporation is headquartered in Nappanee, Indiana, and after several years on the road in our Dutch Star, it was time for annual maintenance and a list of repairs that had accumulated on the last leg of the trip. We made the four-and-a-half hour drive north from Shepherdsville, Kentucky, arriving in early April 2020 — right in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. The service center stayed open as an essential business, but Nappanee itself was largely shut down.

Our Newmar Dutch Star motorhome parked outside the Newmar Service Center in Nappanee, Indiana

Shepherdsville, Kentucky: Bernheim Forest and the Bourbon Trail During COVID

April 12, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Shepherdsville, Kentucky sits just south of Louisville and serves as an ideal base for exploring two of the state’s great attractions: the lush, sprawling Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest and the legendary Kentucky Bourbon Trail. We arrived in late March 2020 from Cave City, eager to explore both — and found the same story we had been hearing across the country. COVID-19 restrictions were in full effect. Distillery tasting rooms, restaurants, and all social gatherings were closed as the country braced for what was coming. Bernheim Forest, however, was still open, and it turned out to be one of the most beautiful places we visited on the entire journey. The early spring blooms were extraordinary.

Cherry tree in full bloom with clouds of white blossoms in early spring at Bernheim Forest, Clermont, Kentucky