Dos Amigos explore Baja

[eatpasta]

Originally Posted by irishdec

Thanks fr bringing us along with you .Love those pic's ,makes me wanna dig my bike outta the snow (Toronto ) and get moving !

90% of the people we met down there on the road were Hosers. I had never heard the phrase "Snow Bird" before, but now it makes so much sense.....

[mcnut]

More?

Bruce

[skibikemototour]

Enjoying this TR and your 'tude! WTF, some want to lecture you about how to write your own TR!!!???

Whether I agree or not, a guy can express himself on a TR- do ya think? Nice photos and prose. Thanks!

Yep, I live in a mountain tourist town. Tourists from west of the mountains invade for the sunshine and bring their city-ness and city culture....so yea, I get it about the touristas....Here one can walk into Starbucks and just pick out the city folks based on their behavior in the queue and dress! (so I avoid Starbucks and most of the tourist-clogged places in this tourist town, as well in the mountains).

[Bgunn]

Good stuff, heading that way next week. Great report & pics.

[eatpasta]

Originally Posted by skibikemototour

Enjoying this TR and your 'tude! WTF, some want to lecture you about how to write your own TR!!!???

Whether I agree or not, a guy can express himself on a TR- do ya think? Nice photos and prose. Thanks!

Yep, I live in a mountain tourist town. Tourists from west of the mountains invade for the sunshine and bring their city-ness and city culture....so yea, I get it about the touristas....Here one can walk into Starbucks and just pick out the city folks based on their behavior in the queue and dress! (so I avoid Starbucks and most of the tourist-clogged places in this tourist town, as well in the mountains).

I grew up in a tourist town, so maybe that irks me more than it should when people act like tourists.....because I know from experience that you can travel and not ACT like a tourist even if you are.

Sorry I dropped the ball here guys..... im super busy. Ill try to get another entry up today

[eatpasta]

What's the worst part of the trip?

The moment when you've turned your wheels toward home. That is, unless you've had the good fortune to be able to finish the whole dammed continent and moved onto the next one and kept going and just kept on going in that direction until you've been all the way around. In which case screw you because that would be awesome.



anyways. The experience we had in Cabo was being swamped by tourists who had no intention of leaving the resort property. Not only that, many of them were consistently rude to the staff. Disgusted by this, we packed up a day early and got back on the bike and turned out wheels toward home for the first time.

Bittersweet.

our first day heading back we really kind of just went for it. We got on the road early and made it to near La Paz before lunch so we just gassed up and headed toward Loreto.



for the return trip we took significantly less pics on the road.....because A) we were going back the same way and B) lets face it, most of it looks the same.

I probably already said this once, but it bears repeating. The road from Cuidad Insurgentes to Mulege is an astonishingly beautiful ride. I've already done it twice and its still on my bucket list.





we stayed in Loreto one more night.



we said goodbye to the friends we had met there, did one more round of Karaoke and took off.....



you get so close to the water sometimes that it seems as if you can drag your boot in the water









we really wanted to camp on the beach somewhere in here but it just wasnt in the cards. Next time for sure.





I really wanted to stop and get the obligatory photo, but I missed it



the ol' GS turned 80k right under my nose!



I cant think of a better place to turn 80k on a bike

[eatpasta]

we were goin along when I saw a bike on the side of the road. I slowed way down and he gave me the thumbs down, so of course we stopped.



it was a really nice couple from BC in the middle of their trip. They had pulled over for something and the guys 'Wing wouldnt start. He was kind of freaking out - on his phone trying to arrange a truck to come get the bike to take it back to the border and how was he going to load it etc etc
The Wing looked brand new - and those things are dammed near legendary for their reliability. Im no mechanic but it seemed strange.....

I asked him what the deal was and he said something about the transmission was locked up and the engine wouldnt turn over..... so i asked him to take me through his start up procedure.
He turned on the key and looked at the dash and started cursing a blue streak.

The bike was in reverse.



poor guy forgot to take it our of reverse, so it wouldnt start.



a super nice couple, happy to have their bike quietly idling on the side of the road in Baja.....pride slightly bruised....

[MrBob]

Thanks for sharing. I know how much work goes into posting these reports.
So, what was the deal with the Nuvi ( which I have)? Were you supposed to buy a Garmin CD of Mexico?
I couldn't tell if you had paved road options all the way down. I'm thinking of riding my Concours down that way and camping about half the time.
When I last toured in Mexico I was on my brand new 1975 Norton and spent some time bitching about the Americanization of Mexico.

[eatpasta]

Originally Posted by MrBob

Thanks for sharing. I know how much work goes into posting these reports.
So, what was the deal with the Nuvi ( which I have)? Were you supposed to buy a Garmin CD of Mexico?
I couldn't tell if you had paved road options all the way down. I'm thinking of riding my Concours down that way and camping about half the time.
When I last toured in Mexico I was on my brand new 1975 Norton and spent some time bitching about the Americanization of Mexico.

Im pretty disappointed with the Nuvi. Even in the US you can be on a two lane road that doesnt even show up on the map. Yeah it does some topographical stuff but thats pretty cool but what good is it if it cant help you navigate?
I updated the maps just before we left so I was really hoping this wouldnt be an issue. My old GPS (2720 I think?) you could be in the middle of freaking NOWHERE and there would be a deer track off into the woods and it would show up on the GPS. This one.....hell half the time we were in Mexico we weren't on any "road", but usually which was more maddening, the "road" was a half mile to the left or right and it was telling us we were either in the water or in the mountain.
This is why I never put too much trust into these

Tooling aroung Baja in the 70's on a Norton must have been a blast!!!



I wasnt even an idea in '75...... do you have any pics from that trip? You should do a retro-ride-report

[MrBob]

Originally Posted by eatpasta

Im pretty disappointed with the Nuvi. Even in the US you can be on a two lane road that doesnt even show up on the map. Yeah it does some topographical stuff but thats pretty cool but what good is it if it cant help you navigate?
I updated the maps just before we left so I was really hoping this wouldnt be an issue. My old GPS (2720 I think?) you could be in the middle of freaking NOWHERE and there would be a deer track off into the woods and it would show up on the GPS.
Tooling aroung Baja in the 70's on a Norton must have been a blast!!!

The Nuvi 50 did okay on a recent ride from Colorado to the Oregon coast and then down to SF before returning across Nevada and Arizona. The thing is, I can read the screen without needing to put on my reading glasses. The first one I bought froze the second time I used it.
I had a 2720 and I remember it leading me to a remote two-track in the middle of the prairie in SE Colorado but it got me to my destination. It was a great unit.
I did post kind a report of one of my adventures on the Norton.
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=710255

[eatpasta]

Originally Posted by MrBob

The Nuvi 50 did okay on a recent ride from Colorado to the Oregon coast and then down to SF before returning across Nevada and Arizona. The thing is, I can read the screen without needing to put on my reading glasses. The first one I bought froze the second time I used it.
I had a 2720 and I remember it leading me to a remote two-track in the middle of the prairie in SE Colorado but it got me to my destination. It was a great unit.
I did post kind a report of one of my adventures on the Norton.
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=710255

LOVE this story..... its amazing how much things have changed in such a short time

[eatpasta]

ok back to the trip.....

We kind of wanted to stay in Mulege again but then again we wanted to see a new town. When we had passed through Santa Rosalia on the way down it seemed interesting so we decided to stay there on the way back up.

the view from the hotel was ok





we unpacked the bike and headed into town for dinner.

we ran into these girls who were from EASTERN Canada. 20k into their Bicycle trip!! How incredible is that?



we got to talking and they told that they had been riding with a German couple for quite some time. They had left from ALASKA on their bicycles with a ONE YEAR OLD



They had a bicycle with a sidecar and a little seat on the front of the bike as well



I did not get a pic of them and I regret it! It was quite the operation.

Have you ever been to Monterey, California? Santa Rosalia is like Monterey but set in the old west...... and in Mexico.



there is this abandoned factory and train right in the middle of town

























sunset from el hotelo

[eatpasta]

OKAY. Back to Guerrero Negro.

On the way in and the way out of Guerrero Negro there are dirt roads that stretch off of the highway and out toward the coast all over the place. There is something about lonely dirt roads on the coast the fascinate me in a way that almost nothing else does.
Almost like it's a post apocalyptic wasteland or something.

For those of you that have played Half Life 2, you'll totally understand this. The game centers around a post apocalyptic wasteland that you're trying to save. Much of the game is spent scavenging around the coast through villages that are totally deserted. This of course is punctuated by brief moments of terror when you're attacked by some alien something - or - another

anyways..... worth playing. Half Life 2






so Im seeing all these roads peel off toward the coast and I DESPERATELY want to take them all.... but this is the wrong trip for all that.

Back at the Cowboy hotel



while hanging out in the hotel I was studying the map and I noticed an abandoned lighthouse.....I turned to wife and said we HAVE TO GO OUT THERE.

we decided to head out there early in the morning.

Ironically there is an abandoned lighthouse scene in Half Life 2....so I was very excited.

early morning!



The salt company is Guerrero Negro has the largest salt gathering operation in the world. They go so far as to supply their workers with housing and even take care of some of their bills. Pretty cool.
Anyways they have built their huge roads for their semi trucks to drive on



and there is just salt.... everywhere



the light house was pretty cool and very creepy so early in the morning





















it was obvious that some people lived there. there was no way to tell how many, but it looked as if at least a few families had lived out there at some point. We tried to be quiet and respectful of whomever lived there.



there were shells the size of your head piled up 5 feet high all over the place. The entire abandoned factory was creepy and interesting as well.....





the whole scene was quiet, beautiful and creepy. it was something to behold in the cool morning air.



with very little warning the sun popped out and changed the whole feel of the place













We headed back into town and packed up for the last few stints on Baja

all through Mexico we saw stray dogs but Guerrero Negro was different. There were puppies everywhere.

We found 5 living in a tumble weed just sitting there and wimpering.

My heart broke - but what was I going to do?

[The Toecutter]

The animals in MX will always hit you in the gut, we always befriend one and have to leave.

[eatpasta]

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

The animals in MX will always hit you in the gut, we always befriend one and have to leave.

we were trying to figure out how to get 5 puppies in a Zega and across the border....