AARP Gone Wild ~ Baja Style 2013

Sat. Nov 18. Through Sun. Nov. 24, 2013

It all began last spring when Kootenai Rider had the great idea of going to Baja……. His vision was to ride with a small group, camp, see the sites, explore the backroads, look for a few geocaches be tourists, ride slow and take the time to enjoy the flowers along the way. That sounded good to me as long as it wasn’t going to be a fast aggressive type of ride.

Over a couple Mexican dinners we kicked around ideas, brainstormed, plotted and came up with a plan. Bruce jumped at the chance to go eat some Mexican food and drink tequila and was IN for the fun.

As a bonus Bruce had just retired and said he could trailer the bikes down to San Diego for us so no one else would have to drive. Sweet……, a late fall Fly and ride. We fondly dubbed the ride "Leave ‘em for Dead Tour ~ Baja Style" which goes along with a joke from a few years ago but written it loses a lot. As you can see the name of this tour changed.

Just as I thought things were going smooth our leader received a job offer in China and bowed out. :eek1 Since I was working with Kootenai Rider on this from the start and agreed to figure out geocaches to look for I might as well do some research and figure out a route too. We left Kootenai Rider for dead and moved ahead without him.

With help from Baja experts Big Wan, Little Wan and Just Paul I prepared a killer route. Each color on the west side of the map represents about 100 miles or so. The east side of the map is more pavement and I figured we could make up time if needed. I had tracks and I thought I was set to go. Ah yes, the plans of the foolish.


Isn’'t my map pretty and doesn'’t that look like a fun route?


There were five riders that ended up committing to this little adventure.

The cast of characters in order of age:

Barry aka Oldtimer



Bruce aka AirheadBruce



Sherry aka Ladybug0048 or Bug Sister

　

Becky aka Rainbow007



Lee aka MTLee6


Saturday, the week before our planned ride, it was time to get the bikes and gear over to Bruce so he could take it all to San Diego. Barry didn’t participate in this activity as he was trailering his bike from TX to his Sister’s home in CA. Lee trailered her bike from Missoula, MT and picked up Becky’s bike in ID on the way through. Meanwhile I loaded up the Superbug and rode over to Bruce’s.

At 1:00 pm Bruce was ready and waiting for the loading party to arrive.


OK we need to fit 4 bikes on this trailer, keep the weight balanced and that was only three so we needed to try again. A few of the wheel chocks need to be moved a bit.



The back of this truck was filled with Lee and Becky’'s gear and it needed to go into Bruce’'s truck which is smaller plus his gear and my gear. Oh yeah, and half the bed of the truck needs to remain unfilled so Bruce can sleep in there on the way to San Diego. Can it be done?



Lucky for us Nancy came with Lee, even though she wasn’'t going to Baja with us, and she jumped in and got us organized. That'’s Nancy up there helping Bruce move the chocks. She even got all our gear packed in the back of the truck. The lady has some mad packing skills.


As the sun was setting we finally had all four bikes on the trailer and all our gear packed in the back of Bruce'’s trailer and we headed to dinner.


With that completed it was the long wait, while trying to keep our mind on work, until we could get on that flight for San Diego to join back up with our bikes.


Finally the day came and it was time to head out on our big adventure. Bruce was already in San Diego with the bikes, Barry was in California with his bike, Lee was boarding a flight for San Diego and Becky and I were soon to be.


Becky and I had a bit of time to kill so we went shopping. What Becky bought shows up later.



Becky doing some last minute geocache clue organizing while waiting for our flight to show up.



I was antsy and decided so see what I could find. It looks like a spaceship is coming in for a Starbucks fix. I wonder if the ship is powered by BMW engine.



Here'’s our ride. Hurry up people, get off that plane, we want to go to Baja.



We’re on our way



Like most people I don’t like being cramped in an airplane but I do enjoy seeing the terrain below.



Both Becky and I would see roads and get excited about how much fun they would be to ride. Of course most the time we had no idea where those roads were but we want to go ride them anyway.



After landing in San Diego we hopped on the shuttle to Yacht_Harbor_Best_Western where Bruce was staying and had made arrangements to leave the pickup and trailer for the week. Bruce and Lee were waiting for us with our bikes unloaded.



After getting thing repacked on the bikes Lee told me about a flowerbed full of Bird of Paradises that were blooming and very pretty. Since they don’t do well in our area we enjoyed their beauty.




The bikes are loaded, riding gear on and we are ready to head out.


Bruce took the lead out of San Diego to get us to Spring Valley where we would be meeting Barry. Before we left we agree that if we got separated we’d all keep going and meet up in Spring Valley.


We are on our way!

With our bikes not being speed demons we decided to stick with surface streets rather than getting on the freeway and we were following the waterfront for a bit.






Before we left the hotel I called Barry and told him we would be there in about 20 minutes. It's only about 10 miles so we should have been able to do that. The traffic was light and we were doing well.



We were getting a lot of looks from people in the cars. I guess four people on fully loaded dirty bikes isn't the norm for downtown San Diego. One guy stopped next to us, asked where we were headed and it was clear he would rather be on a bike than in that car.


Then we got to this intersection and the traffic couldn't get through. When the light changed to green the lane would be filled with cars that had entered it from the left. This happened three or four cycles and Bruce came up with an idea. We could turn left and follow the road that parallels the road we were on. OK that sounded like a good plan.



Becky entertained herself with playing tourist.


We got into the left turn lane, the turn light went green and we thought we were good to go. Wrong! Silly us. Just then the rail arms came down and we were stopped. This happened a few more times then the green turn arrow wasn't appearing, it must have been on a sensor and our bikes weren't tripping it.


It was pretty funny when those arms came down right after we changed lanes. OK that's one of those things were you had to be there and in the right mood to see the humor in it.

We managed to finally get through taking a green light rather than waiting for the green arrow and we were moving again.

Just as we thought things were on track again we were separated by a light but that was OK, Lee was with Bruce and Becky was with me so we would just connect in Spring Valley. While waiting at the light that separated us we got to watch a couple bad guys being arrested. They were having a bad day.



We were excited about our adventure ahead and none of this silly city stuff bothered us.

In Spring Valley we met with Barry and had pizza for a late lunch or early dinner. We weren't even close to making it there in the 20 minutes I told him. It had been a couple years since I had last seen Barry and it was good to see him and it was going to be fun to ride with him again.


And we were on our way to Tecate. Oh yes, this is more like it.


Just as we got to Tecate Bruce spotted a currency exchange and insurance and pulled up in front. There wasn't enough room for all our bikes so the rest of us went to the parking area on the side of the building. We all went in and took care of business. Barry, Lee, Becky and I were waiting for Bruce to finish up and watching for him to come out. When he did and started to get on his bike we all got on our bikes and went to join him but he was gone. Apparently he didn't realize we were over on the side and thought we had already gone through the border.

With Bruce now missing we headed through the border.


No problem going through until Barry, bells and whistles went off and he needed to pull over. Of course we all pulled over with him. The gal asked him a question or two and patted his bike. He was flirting with her and she was giggling. Meanwhile we were trying to ask the guards if Bruce had gone through. They didn't understand what we were asking and all we could do is hope to find him or at least meet up with him at camp. We had a plan of where we would be camping so we knew he would head there.

We made it, we're in Baja.


Very unusual for me I have a blank in my pictures. I was more concerned about what I was doing and where I was going so I wasn't taking pictures. It wasn't long and we found Bruce at a gas station and we were relieved to have us all together again.

I thought I knew how to get to camp, it was east of Tecate on Hwy 2, that should be no problem. I headed east and rode and rode and rode and realized I was on the wrong road and it wasn't getting us there. I figured going back to Tecate and finding the right road would be the thing to do. Actually I thought there might be a cut off to the right road before Tecate but I was wrong about that too. I was on 2D and needed to be on 2. When we were just about to Tecate we saw the road we thought we should be on but we couldn't get to it. In Tecate I rode around looking for something that would get me going to the correct road, like a sign, but I wasn't finding it and I was frustrating my riding partners.

Bruce was able to pull the road up on his GPS and finally get us going the right direction. Unfortunately it was now dark and none of us wanted to ride after dark.

After Bruce got us to the correct road I was out in front again and we were now riding the same distance as we did before but now it was dark and the temperature cooled down and I was starting to worry that I missed the campgound. I sure was happy when I saw the sign for the campground and the welcoming flags at Rancho Ojai (http://www.rancho-ojai.com/).


Lets go get checked in and find a campsite.


The campground was very nice with a western theme.


The gentleman that checked is in, maybe owner, was very nice led us to the tent sites and told us we could spread out. They charged per person rather than per site so we didn't have to try to get everyone into one site and we did spread out. It was luxury camping.

After we were all set up Barry and I walked up to the office to find out if a password was needed to connect to the internet. The gentleman that checked us in told us the connection was best near the office and we could go into the Saloon to access it. He then opened up the Saloon for us and it is a beautiful room.


It wasn't long before the rest of the group found us and we made ourselves at home.


I knew about this campground because of a fun ride report written by Little Wan. If you haven't read one of Little Wan's ride reports you are missing out, she writes one heck of a ride report. Check this one out about Baja: The Baja Wan-Thousand: A Quick Trip to the Tip

Thanks for joining in.

The top corner had been broken a while back so the plate was hanging by only one bolt and Becky fixed it by using the bottom holes. As of yet she hasn't had a problem.

Thanks Bob. Sorry, I didn't find any cool fire trucks for you, maybe the next ride I will.

Crazy ladies? Ah heck how often do you two old farts get to spend that much quality time riding motorcycles with three beautiful women.

We missed you, I especially missed you because you told me you would lead this little adventure. You sucked me in then flew off to China.

Hi Rocky, nice to see you chime in. Not bad, I got a instead of a :ddog

We had a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy some of the photos and silly stories.

It happens and having a plan if it does happen sure does relieve a lot of stress. I have been on both sides, seperated with no plan and seperated with a plan. The second is certainly better.

Hi Mike, Yep the smaller bikes sure are a lot of fun. It's amazing how often I prefer taking my 200 rather than my 650. Becky and Barry both have bigger bikes too and brought their smaller bikes on this trip.

Day 2 to Valle De La Trinidad - Sunday 11-17-2013

Before we get riding I have to tell you more about the campground because I liked it so much. This is the type of place I wouldn’t mind staying for a few days if there is riding options in the area.

Ranch Ojai has it all.
Roomy nice tent campsites.
That’s Bruce in brown and Barry in gray.


Becky fixing breakfast.


The campground has two playgrounds for the kids.
Becky


Lee


Playground equipment that reminds me of being a kid. It’s still the metal type rather than the overly safety designed plastic equipment with rounded corners that is now at playgrounds in the U.S. It’s amazing we ever made it to being adults playing on all that unsafe stuff.


The campground has critters to pet.


And take pictures of



There are flowers to make me smile.


If you don’t want to sleep in a tent they have cabins.


The restrooms/showers were nice, big, and very clean.




They even have a laundry room if you need to do your laundry and this could come in handy after a few days/weeks of riding.


Can’t forget the pool and hot tub.


Or the outside bar.


Things are quiet as we were getting ready to leave however the night before there was partying in the campground with music playing. Even though the party went late the sounds of the party wasn’t annoying and while we could hear the music fine it wasn’t excruciating loud and I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed hearing the laughter and the girls letting out a fun squeal or two as they were having fun.

The only thing the campground didn'’t have was a café and we were getting hungry.

This guy came and said hi to everyone. He would get a few pets then move on to the next person. A regular little welcoming committee he was.


It was time to say good bye to Ranch Ojai and start riding because we needed breakfast. Becky was the only one that ate in camp.


But first I wanted a group shot of all of us. My riding partners tolerated my request.


There was a café a couple miles from camp and is supposed to have very good food but not open on Sunday so we were off looking for food.




This is looks interesting but breakfast first.


In La Rumorosa we found breakfast and fuel.

Ahhhhhhhh breakfast.




We have food and are now happy campers. Finally, a picture where you can see all the faces so I can re-introduce you to everyone.

Bruce on the left in brown, Sherry (me) next to him in gray, Becky at the head of the table, Lee on the right in blue and Barry next to her in gray. What a good looking bunch of people I hang out with.


Yummy


I’m going to leave you having breakfast but will be back soon so we can get fuel and be on our way.