Motoadventures2up: Another season in Baja

Another winter season and here we are in Baja, Mexico. We have missed 2 years down here and some things have changed.

The drive down through the States was good, three days to Yuma (where we stayed with Chris for three days, shopping for a few things we realized we were missing for the trip) then three days to Loreto. We took the Calexico crossing and went straight down the Mex 5 to San Felipe then through to Coco's Corner and Chapala. After 365 km the pavement stopped 5 km south of Ganzaga Bay, they are working hard to finish but the remaining 65 km was a little rough for our size rig. We had just a few casualties on board (one broken plate and a cook stove that fell from its' perch in the trailer) but the worst was the camper trying to slide off the back of the truck as we bumped and ground our way up a few hills where the roads were washed out a bit by the hurricane this spring. Thanks God for good tie-downs! Roads that were sand and washboard the last time were now stone and ruts made from dried mud. It took us 3 1/2 hours to travel the 65 km. Funny thing was, we saw six semis creeping along the same road undoubtedly trying to cut off kms but surely taking more time in the process. Maybe we will take the Mex 1 home in April...or maybe the road will be better by then after 5 months of work???

Glad to be in Loreto, we stayed at the Riviera RV Park for two days to do laundry and clean up our act before hitting the beach. As luck would have it, the Baja 1000 was running through Loreto on the second day and we dragged our butts out of bed early to check out some of the lead drivers. This year over 1200 km of nasty off-road track and by 6 am, when they reached Loreto, they had been on the road for 18 hours and still had about 5 hours to finish line in La Paz. Dirt bikes, trophy trucks, buggies and cars of all sizes and even quads, what fun and not to mention the crazy and talented drivers/riders!

Now we are settling into life on the beach. El Juncalito, where we have stayed many times is deserted and overgrown, so sad, so we have set up camp at Rattlesnake Beach or as the Mexicans call it El Quemado Beach (the burnt beach). It may take a little getting used to the change but the spots are little more private and the wind is not as bad as it blocked in the north by Port Escondito. Ken has already been out fishing and caught lots Sierra, a cabrilla and his pride and joy a 25 lb dorado, so we have been eating and giving away fish and making ceviche for happy hours. The kayak and the paddle board have both made a couple of showings when the winds were down, oh and we made the trip up to San Javier Mission with Carl on the bikes. The water is still quite warm, around 26 degrees C, so we have been swimming every day.

Come on! Who can say "What do you do on the beach for that long?"

We had some great scenery on the trip down, high in Nevada snow-capped mountians frame the horizon.

I just never get bored with the sunset fromour camp at Pete's Camp north of San Felipe.

Everything is green in the desert after the rains of Odie.

It was a bit of a lonely road south from San Felipe to Coco's Corner.

The welcoming sign to Baja South, our GPS agreed we were half way down the Baja.

People camped out along the aroyo waiting for the Baja 1000 racers. The first bikes started to arrive at 1:00 am...too early for us. We arrived at 6:00 am in time for the Trophy Trucks.