Baja 2012, my first moto tour

I was there about a month later... what a great place and good folks running it. Overall, I loved Baja and found it to be a magical place... if you take the proper precautions and plan the right places, it's heaven... the people are warm, welcoming, and curious.

We even went whale watching... well, actually it turned out to be whale petting!

That was the highlight for us too. Getting my son down there to experience it is high on my priority list.

I'm enjoying all of this news about Baja and I think it's one more thing to add to my list of future rides. I'm not a sand fan though so I might try to avoid that stuff! Thanks for your RR......It takes time to put these together so it's appreciated.

Gary "Oldone"

Grampa’s Lake Superior Ride
Grampa’s National Monument Ride

Oldone, That sand is really not that bad. Again, I had NO experience on sand, heavy bike on fully inflated street tires, scared of crashing a bike that wasn't mine, in retrospect I could have managed much better. I'll do much better next time. In reality the dirt roads were my favorites. Just do it!

In summary:
Like I mentioned before I had never taken an extended tour on a motorcycle. 90% of my rides over 30+ years were bar to bar. I had rarely even done an overnight trip in the last 15 yrs. Did Daytona for 17 years straight but quit that cold turkey after '97. My riding had been limited lately to a few hundred miles/ year on my '77 HD XLCR

I wasn't sure I could do the trip. Thought my battered 53 year old body might not take it especially since I had never tried it before.

Here's what I learned: I can do it!
I took the 800XC with only the two stock hard bags and it was plenty.

Tom told me to pack light. I already knew how to do that. I scuba dive and take all my own gear. My duffle and scuba gear weigh 37#. With a kid's bookbag as a carryon and a 50# limit on the checked duffle that didn't leave much room for anything else.

I learned that the dual sport bike can do amazing things.

When we got back I bought the Triumph from Tom and started riding it over 6 days a week. Mostly commuting to work. Clocked over 10,000 mi this past year. Only got close to that score way back in the early days. Back when it was all new. It's new again.

Had no qualms about doin' another trip. I did. Three weeks to Huatulco and back. That RR is coming up soon. And I took most of the pictures this time.