Repairs, Airbnb Blues, and a Badge!

Our motorhome spent 10 days in a Phoenix repair shop after damage from a Colorado windstorm. We lived out of an Airbnb guesthouse, counting down the days—where we distracted ourselves with a new Jeep Badge of Honor trail by conquering the trail to Crown King.

Motorhome Repairs, Finally!

Back in July 2024 at the Monarch Pass area of Colorado, we got slammed by a freak windstorm in Colorado that tore the slide topper off and part of the long driver-side slide with it—for our kitchen and living room. After more than six months of paperwork, insurance adjustments, phone calls, emails and more emails, and waiting, we finally lined up a repair in Phoenix. The job itself only required a few hours of actual labor, but the shop estimated at least 10 business days to get it done. And just to twist the knife to dig deeper, we couldn’t use the motorhome at all during that time. They also forbid us from accessing it for any reason during the repairs.

Our poor motorhome fearing her time in the repair shop at Phoenix in late January and early February 2025. After that freak July 2024 windstorm in Colorado tore off our long slide topper, it took months of paperwork and coordination calls before we could finally get this repair scheduled. Unlimited Collision in Phoenix handled the repairs and related repaint, as well as painting the our pure white water heater door to match, but despite the job taking only a few actual labor hours, the rig was out of commission for a 10 full business days.

Thankfully, our insurance covered the cost of a Airbnb guesthouse, which sounded fun at first… and got old pretty fast. To top it off, Phoenix decided to break its 400+ day dry streak with a rare spotty “wet” week—right when they had our rig and were working on it outside. Let’s just say the body shop wasn’t exactly equipped for any wet weather. After all that, we finally got the motorhome back on day nine, just in time to roll out on the 10th day, Friday, morning and hit the road again back to Benson, Arizona.

The Airbnb guesthouse was a converted garage, which had a green grass yard and enough space to spread out, but it wasn’t home. After so many years on the road in our RV, we have grown used to the comforts of our own rolling house. Nice to have the insurance footing the bill—but we won’t be rushing back to sticks and bricks fixed living any time soon.

Our guesthouse in central Phoenix was our “big home” away from home from January 26 to February 7 while the motorhome repairs dragged on. It had everything we needed…including laundry, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Even though it was a great space for us, by week two, the charm started to wear thin and we were itching to be back in our own smaller space. Ten days may not sound like much—until you’re living out of a boxes, bags and hoping every day “tomorrow” is the day we get the motorhome back.

Another Badge: Backway to Crown King

The Backway to Crown King trail is one of those drives that sticks with you—and not just because of the rock gardens. Starting just north of Phoenix, Arizona, at Lake Pleasant Regional Park, this Jeep Badge of Honor trail climbs from the Sonoran Desert into piney, rugged mountain terrain. We ran it south to north, and the variety of terrain was very diverse: dry and rocky washes, narrow shelf roads, snowy and wet climbs because of trickling snow melt, and just one or two fairly technical obstacles to make you work for the badge. The north side of the mountain is even more different than the south side, but it is the public access route to town of Crown King so it is nothing more than a poorly graded gravel road.

The southern end has access from the Castle Hot Springs area near Lake Pleasant, and you’ll find decent staging opportunities for groups before the real fun begins. Once you crest the final ridge, the historic mining town of Crown King feels like a little secret tucked in the pines. Founded in the late 1800s, it still has a working saloon (which we did not eat at, but saw many good reviews for it) and a general store.