Category: Opinion

2025 in Review: Miles, Memories, and Finding Our Rhythm

By The Buchanan’s Rolling Down The Road
December 2025

Every year seems to move faster than the last, but 2025 felt like it moved at highway speed. From desert mornings at Boyce Thompson Arboretum to lake days in Ontario, new states on the map, mechanical challenges, and finally settling into winter life on a quiet Mexican beach — this year reminded us why we chose this life.

Winter & Spring in the Arizona Desert

We started the year camped and volunteering once again at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. The desert welcomed us back with cactus blossoms, hummingbirds at the feeders, and the ever-present coati wandering through the grounds. Miss Laurie spent plenty of time rock hounding, while we both enjoyed the familiar rhythm of volunteer life.

January through March were filled with great company and simple adventures:

  • Kayaking the Lower Salt River with Ray & Karen, watching wild horses along the banks
  • Off-roading Box Canyon with Al & Carmen, followed by unforgettable Mexican food
  • Visits with friends in Show Low, Tucson, and Gilbert

Of course, no season is complete without a mechanical lesson. A leaking freshwater tank on Thunder turned into a full replacement, along with a new SeeLevel tank monitoring system.

Saying Goodbye & Heading East

April marked our final month at the Arboretum. A volunteer thank-you dinner, final walks among blooming cactus, and a special highlight — watching my grandson Andrew play baseball during a Phoenix tournament — made the goodbye meaningful and bittersweet.

On April 28, we turned Thunder east and began our spring migration back to Ontario.

The journey was a familiar patchwork of:

  • Walmart and Cracker Barrel overnights
  • Welcome centers and Harvest Hosts
  • Visits with friends and family along the way

We crossed back into Canada on May 8, settling into short stays until our summer site became available.

Summer at Sunni Bank RV Park

By mid-May, we arrived at Sunni Bank RV Park in Ontario, where summer truly began. Reconnecting with longtime friends Bob & Irena turned into a season full of laughter, food, and friendly competition.

Highlights included:

  • Kayaking the Grand River
  • Cornhole and washer board tournaments
  • Campfires and sunset conversations
  • An ongoing (very serious) search for the best Lake Erie perch

Spring rains left Thunder sunk deep enough to break patio stones, and our open site — great for solar and Starlink — came with the challenge of nearby roosters. Still, once settled, it felt like home.

Summer Curveballs & Small Victories

Summer also brought its share of challenges:

  • A leaking washer/dryer valve
  • A burned-out solar charge controller
  • Leveling system switch failures
  • Weak chassis batteries

Thanks to persistence, ingenuity, and Bob “knowing a guy,” everything was repaired. We also restored our Clam screen porch — a favorite spot for afternoon naps — and fully embraced cornhole as our new obsession.

Birthdays were celebrated, briskets were smoked, and long, slow summer days reminded us how important community is on the road.

Fall Travels & New States

October arrived quickly, and with it, packing up and climbing Thunder out of the spring ruts — literally. From there, we headed west on a new northern route, adding four new states to our travel map:

Nebraska • Wyoming • Colorado • Utah

Highlights included:

  • A charming $10/night city campground in Beaver Crossing, Nebraska
  • Climbing I-70 through the Rocky Mountains (with a bag of chips exploding from elevation)
  • Six nights boondocking near Goblin Valley State Park
  • Exploring Lake Powell and quiet desert mesas

Each mile reminded us why we still love long travel days.

Vegas, the Border & an Unexpected Breakdown

We paused in Las Vegas, splitting time between our time-share and keeping Thunder comfortable at the Elks Lodge — a perfect solution for us and Mister Sam.

Mid-November, we headed south toward Mexico. The border crossing at Mexicali was smooth… until one mile later, when a torque rod failed. With no good options, we strapped it up and carefully drove 185 kilometers south to San Felipe.

Sometimes the only option is forward.

Wintering in Mexico

We’re now settled at El Dorado Ranch Resort in San Felipe, Mexico, where life has slowed to a gentler pace.

Our days include:

  • Quiet mornings on an empty sand beach
  • Pool time, hot tubs, and water volleyball
  • Pickleball lessons for Miss Laurie
  • Cornhole games and fresh shrimp on the grill

While we’re still finding our social rhythm here, everyone has been welcoming and kind. Christmas was spent mostly on the beach — different, but just right for this season of life.

Looking Back at 2025

As the year comes to a close, we’re reminded that this lifestyle isn’t about perfect plans. It’s about adaptability, community, and finding joy in the in-between moments — even when something breaks, a route changes, or time moves faster than expected.

2025 gave us new states, old friends, challenges overcome, and a deeper appreciation for the road ahead.

And somehow, it still feels like we’re just getting started.

Day 3009

August 2023 – review

This is the most edited blog that I have ever published, it has been reworked over a dozen times as I struggled with how to find a politically correct way to address a concern.

As August comes to a close we only have to lookback at the last couple of weeks to see a variety of different weather patterns that have been very unlike the normal “dog days” of August. In fact we started off with a torrential downpour, followed by blustery windy conditions, and cold enough temperature to cause this old man to find the electric space heater for some afternoon comfort in the coach as we can hear Lake Huron becoming angrier and angrier. I never made my way down to the beach today, but the word was that the waves were hitting high enough on the shore to wash some peoples items into the water, and that is why we warn everyone against leaving thing unsecured at the beach.

We have had an issue with the Clam roof collapsing when the wind blows from a particular direction, the wind seems to go over the coach and the downward force will collapse the Clam roof, so of course with necessity is the mother of invention I had to find a fix and the photo below shows my solution to the constant collapse with the wind. The collapse is not an issue unless it is raining, then the roof acts as a big bowl collecting water, this is not a good thing as it could get heavy enough to rip the roof material, so after this last big blow and rain storm the ladder with the broom seem to have resolved the issue. And as a side note my Velcro fix has held the fly in place perfectly during the wind storm, so score one for the old guy!

Saturday after the big storm and the park is almost back to normal, well as normal as it can be, with today being a very hectic day, as today is the “Amazing Race” at the park. If you don’t know what the amazing race is I don’t think I can explain it to you without getting into a very long rambling paragraph, and if you have seen the the Amazing Race on television it is just a knock off of that. Today we have thirty eight teams of two rushing around the park from location to location, performing what ever task is asked of them, most of the two person teams are in costume, and it all boils down to being able to perform the given tasks in a timely manner and then deciphering the clue they receive to know where to find the next station. Of course this is an adult version of the game so there are adult beverages involved at different stations as well. This whole event is the brainchild of Miss Shelly who works hundreds of hours putting this all together, and has done so for a number of years, congratulations on another excellent Amazing Race Miss Shelly.

It appears that I have offended someone, and I know that some of you may find that hard to believe, with me being such a soft spoken, compassionate, tolerant individual, but evidently it still happened.

So after a period of soul searching and reconsideration of my blogging technique and how I view the content of the blog regarding our life adventures I have decided that yes my humour certainly can be an acquired taste, and I can also come across a little snarky, and yes even somewhat short with people, then throw in a heavy overseeding of my sarcasm, and for that I really don’t see the need for me to change my direction. And if that is unacceptable to you as a reader, my recommendation would be to “Unsubscribe” and “Quit reading” my blog because just like with any television show that you don’t like, you should just turn it off, so please don’t hesitate to unsubscribe from my blog as I have no intention of apologizing to anyone for what actually happens in our real day to day life. The things that are written in my really sucks, and so be it, so until the purveyor’s of the abuse and aggravation in our life stop and/or apologize, I’m afraid that’s just how I’m going to tell our story – truthfully.

OK moving on to the rest of my life, we are looking forward to the start of the school year, which will reduce the weekly vehicle traffic in and out of the park as well as the noise factor in the park dramatically, in reality there is a number of people in the park looking forward to quieter days of fall that lay before us. Now as I’m going to close out this blog, I know it may have been a little light in content, but actually the end of August was a wee bit more civilized, with the introduction of video cameras, a harshly written email and now some of the problem areas seem to have been much better, oh some people still seem to be offended by having to obey the park rules but at least it seems that the verbal diarrhea has lessened toward us. So in closing we are looking forward to September as the camping season winds down and the park becomes calmer and quieter and all the parks wildlife starts to reappear.

Blog 486

Day 2158