Road Trip

Repairs to the Motorhome, House, & Ourselves

September 11, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 17, 2026

Repairs have a way of accumulating when you live on the road. Emergencies get dealt with immediately — a blown tire, a generator failure, a slideout that won’t retract — but everything else gets quietly added to a list that only grows longer with each mile. By the time we returned to our San Diego home base in summer 2020, that list had become formidable: house plumbing, flooring, landscaping, an aging fountain, RV repairs still waiting from our time in Nappanee and Tucson, and a growing stack of overdue medical appointments for both of us. Three months of work, doctor visits, and Home Depot runs later, we were finally caught up. Mostly.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve beach viewed from the sandstone cliffs above as the marine layer clears, San Diego, California

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Life on the Road in Transition from Full to Part Time

August 26, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 17, 2026

Life on the road has been one of the most remarkable chapters of our lives. Over the past four years, we traveled across much of the United States and parts of Canada in our Newmar Dutch Star motorhome, immersing ourselves in each region in a way that no hotel stay or vacation schedule could replicate. We explored remote national parks, tiny historic towns, sweeping coastlines, and everything in between — unhurried, on our own terms, with Jake riding shotgun for every mile. Now, in the summer of 2020, we find ourselves at a turning point: transitioning from full-time life on the road to spending a few months each year back in San Diego, while keeping the adventures very much alive.

Newmar Dutch Star motorhome parked at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve RV campground, Santee, San Diego County, California

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Escondido, California, North County San Diego

July 25, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 17, 2026

Escondido is about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego and one of San Diego County’s oldest cities. Located roughly 15 miles inland from the Pacific coast, it enjoys a warmer, sunnier climate than coastal neighborhoods — far less of the May-gray and June-gloom marine layer that blankets the shoreline for much of late spring and early summer. Its rugged hillsides and Mediterranean climate support thriving avocado and citrus groves, and the area has long been a haven for those seeking more space and sunshine than the coast allows. During our RV travels in the summer of 2020, we spent time here getting repairs done on our Newmar motorhome and reconnecting with family — and in the process, rediscovered just how much this inland gem has to offer.

Vivid red hibiscus flower blooming in the warm summer sunshine at Escondido RV Resort, North County San Diego, California

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DeAnza Springs Resort, Jacumba California

June 27, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 13, 2026

DeAnza Springs Resort is in eastern San Diego County. At an elevation of 2,600 feet it’s considered high desert with warm days and cool nights. DeAnza is on 500 acres adjacent to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, offering endless miles of remote hiking trails. It was a perfect getaway from the COVID-19 madness after leaving Ajo and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Hiking trail through granite boulder formations at DeAnza Springs Resort, Jacumba, California — a 500-acre high desert property at 2,600 feet elevation

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Ajo & Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

June 7, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 13, 2026

Ajo sits at the western edge of the Tohono O’odham Nation, about 40 miles north of the Mexican border and roughly 2.5 hours from Tucson. It’s one of the closest towns to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and in late May 2020 it was one of the few places in southern Arizona with an available RV spot — most parks in the area were full, partly because of workers constructing the border wall nearby.

The name has two competing explanations. In Spanish, ajo means garlic — and some early Spanish explorers apparently found wild garlic growing in the area. But the Tohono O’odham people have a similar-sounding word, o’oho, meaning paint: they obtained red pigment from mineral deposits in this region for centuries before any Spanish explorer arrived. Take your pick.

Saguaro cactus and organ pipe cactus growing together in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona — the only place in the U.S. where organ pipe cactus grows wild

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Saguaro National Park, Tucson: Spring Bloom & Desert Wildlife in a Quiet May

May 24, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Tucson in late May 2020 was different. COVID-19 had shuttered the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, closed Western Way’s pool and clubhouse, and pushed most snowbirds north weeks earlier than usual. The campground was nearly empty. But the Sonoran Desert didn’t get the memo — it was putting on one of the most spectacular bloom seasons we’ve seen in years, and we had it almost entirely to ourselves.

The catch: it was running about 20 degrees hotter than normal. We’d timed the trip for the saguaro bloom, which typically peaks in late April to early May when highs hover in the low 80s. Instead, we got 100°F every afternoon. Early mornings cooled into the 60s, which made dawn walks and hikes genuinely pleasant — we just had to be done before 9 a.m.

Saguaro cactus silhouetted at sunset in Saguaro National Park's Tucson Mountain District, Arizona

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