UT to Baja maybe

I like this R&R. I am still planning my 1st visit to Baja and this inspires me. Can't wait to get some good food!

Day 7- Loreto





I started with a good breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel, but today feels different, I know I'm not heading south anymore, but I'm determined to make the best out of the rest of the trip without worrying with direction am I heading to.

Last night the Loreto mission was closed, so after my breakfast I walked over to check it out. It is a nice mission with great original woodwork, it is not the most impreasive building, it is actually pretty simple inside, but nice still. It didn't take much to check it out, so I snapped a few pictures and went back to the hotel to check myself out and get on with my riding.









The first stop for today is San Javier mission, about 20 miles Southwest to Loreto, you start climbing into the mountains and I cant help to wonder who in hell they got there in first place to set up the mission. It is a beautiful ride, with up and downs, nice turns and a little of gravel result of a hurricane going thru.

xxx gravel

There is something worth mentioning, I'm sure every season is different, but I encounter a few creeks going over the road, the first one for me was about 5 inches deep, a nice splash to clean up the bike, but as you get out of it I was very close to lay down my bike, there is a green super slippery slime that no matter at what speed I go thru the bike will act up on me, I crossed about four of them, with a depths of no more that an inch or two at the most, please be very careful, ANY throttle on the slime and you are going down. Luckily I managed to keep the rubber on the road and there were no problems.



As you get to the mission there is an outstanding pebble street heading to the church, garden keepers working on the side and a blooming orange tree right at the entrance. Going thru the side and walking towards the back about 1000 feel, there is an olive tree that dates 300+ years.
This is the mission I liked the most, the ride, the setting and the interior make the side trip to the one a great experience.
Dont get me wrong, I'm not a religious guy at all, but I do appreciate early architecture and some history, besides, blessings of any kind are welcome when you are on the road.
About the history of the mission, I don't know much, they probably killed thousands of natives or some like that. Nowadays seems like you cant keep a straight face without offending somebody, please don't hit me with comments on that.
Moving on now, lets see some pictures.
























It was about noon when I got back to Loreto, I didn't get in town, just put some gas and started going up.
Fist sight are the amazing series of beaches starting at the Bahia Concepcion, Here is here I took a nap a couple of days go, so I decided to ride the nice turns and take on the view.

Check this out
https://youtu.be/gjQG0fVBphI


The town of Mulege comes right after, this time I was getting ready for a lunch snack so I pulled in, checked out the Mission and have some quesadillas at a restaurant on the main street.



Again, Mulege, the town, the mission are just ok. The lunch was good, my quesadillas came with the soup of the day, some kind of lentil and beens combination that were pretty decent.



x




It dint take me much to get out of Mulege heading to San Ignacio on my next stop.
I got a change to stop by San Ignacio coming in, but there if was a Rice and Beans Hotel I wanted to check out for a future trip.
Once in San Ignacio, fill up my tank I took a break at the Rice and Bens where I met Ricardo, He owns and runs the hotel, He's been into off-road all his life and told me all a bout the best bikes to do Baja and the different ways too enjoy it, really proud show me pictures of the different tours that stop at his place and even some big shot guys who fly they personal helicopter whit Parameds waiting at the hotel in case something goes wrong while they have fun.

Definitely a great place to spend a night if you get there at the end of the day. In my case it was early afternoon so I kept going towards Gerrero Negro to spend the nigh.




Again at Malarrimo Hotel they gave me the same room I had two nights ago, took a shower and headed to the restaurant where I started with some guacamole, a couple of beers and had and amazing octopus a la Española.



At the restaurant I see this guy pulling in on a bicycle with a lot of luggage and a Venezuelan flag in the back, I got really intrigue, there is no way he came all the way from Venezuela in a bicycle.
I got him a beer and started shooting all kind of questions, for my surprise Romulo, is not just coming from Venezuela, he is actually on his las leg of a trip coming from Ushuaia averaging 60 miles a day, heading to Alaska to close his 8 years trip around the world on a freaking bicycle!!


Here is his blog if you want to check him out.

http://www.nomadaenbici.wordpress.com


The return is proven to be different and exiting even when I'm staying in the very same place I was two days ago, this experience keeps bringing new thing and I look forward to tomorrow.

up next Ensenada

Day 8 - Ensenada



Waking up at Guerrero Negro was a familiar scene, I felt really comfortable there, got all my stuff ready and headed to the restaurant for breakfast before getting on with my riding.
Today bring a couple uncertainties, gas is the first, I'm heading to Ensenada and the fist gas station is at El Rosario, some 200 miles away, my bake has a 4 gallons tank, and I was averaging about 45 mpg, 45x4 = 180, I filled up at Villa Jesus Maria, about 20 miles north of El Rosario, that is the las chance for a gas station, in my map I can see two was stations but everybody is telling me those are closed, I also carry a rotopax with an extra gallon, that should give me a range of about 225 so I figured I'd be ok.

Leaving Guerrero Negro it got really windy and I kept worrying about my gas, for some reason I didn't feel good about buying gas at the side of the road,



At the 192km mark, there is an RV Park/ restaurant where I stopped there for some coffee, pour the rotopax and kept going, decided to pour the good gas from the rotopax in, and probably refill it with the "side of the road" gas, further down the road.
Riding was easy and the wind calmed down, I was eating miles at a good rate, feeling better about Baja roads I opened up a bit, and that is what it takes, as I'm going up and down the deeps on the road I came up to one really high, as you ride up, you cant really see the other side till you are at the very top, well there is where I see 3 cows that just cleared the road, I'm doing about 80mph with no chance to avoid them if they were in front of me some 5 seconds ago. Well, you can imagine I slowed down a bit and got to enjoy the views some more.


Made to El Rosario with exactly 4 gallons, there was one full gallon left in the tank, that was the gallon form the Rotopax.
As I'm pulling into town I see two GSA1200 coming from the north, we flag down eachother, they were also looking for a place to have lunch so we went to "Mama Espinoza", where the attendant from Pemex told me they have the best food in town.
The two guys were Canadian coming from Vancouver to La paz fishing along the way, we ask what was good today and the lady at the restaurant told us" Everything is good, but the best and freshest today would be Crabs Taco" we didn't argue with her and ordered 3 tacos each.
We chat for a while and exchanged information about hotels, they stayed at Best Western El Cid at Ensenada and I fold them about Malarrino in Guerrero.
We parted ways and I forgot to ask about some kind of farmers incidents in San Quintin I heard about a few days back, but I figured if they for to El Rosario, everything should be fine going up that way.



Riding thru San Quintin is painful, traffic is terrible and for about 20 very long miles you are not in an open road again, but from there on, the fields are greener and closer to Ensenada there are some Vineyards that make the view much nicer, this section is called la view "La Vieja Ruta del Vino".

I got to Ensenada not really expecting a huge city, since I don't have a GPS or map it was easy to get lost, I didn't have the location of the hotel I was looking for, but I could fix all my problems with some wifi. I pulled into a Pemex and ask directions, the guys didn't know where the hotel was but they direct me to the touristic area, where I found a Starbucks, I was trying to connect from the parking lot but they actually are really smart about it, you have to buy something at the store and the internet password is printed on the receipt. fkrs!
Luckily I was only 2 brock from the hotel, and with Booking I was able to get a discount on my room. El Cid is a really nice hotel, the night was about $70 but is worth it. The theme is Spanish colonial, and the room decor with dark wood accents is is really nice too.



After a decent shower I went out to walk around, didn't get too far from the hotel, but I got a good idea of what Ensenada is about, there was a huge cruise ship at port and seemed like there is a small area really dedicated to tourism, out of those boundaries the story changes quick.
Coming back to the room I stopped at a cantina advertising good margaritas and food where I had some tacos with cheese, I don't really know how many I had, kinda lost count, some Banda of musicians walked in and started playing traditional Mexican songs to one of the tables, all together it made for a great atmosphere.



http://youtu.be/BynMvVc0Ny0

Made it back to the hotel and call it the day,


up next more Ensenada

Nice trip and nice RR. JaJaJa, That was a dead give away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Day 9 - Ensenada

Today I decided to take it easy and plan which way to come back to UT, I don't want to take the same route I did when I left so I started looking at some national parks in California, sequoia always got my attention and since the last apple update I'm steering at Yosemite on my screen everyday, that could be a good option too.

But still in Ensenada I started looking for a place to do some laundry, at this point every piece of clothing stinks but luckily Lavanderia Michoacana was only 4 blocks from the hotel and save the day doing all of my laundry for only 5 bucks, I just needed to pick it up by noon.



Close to the Lavanderia I found Bodegas Santo Tomas where I asked about wine testing, they are one of the oldest wineries in Ensenada.
They presented three options, do a testing in the city at the location I was at or go to any of the two locations they have in the valley, the biggest and where most of the production comes from is about a 20 miles drive south of the city, and the smaller but closer was probably only 5 miles north.
At the hotel they could arrange for someone to drive me there, reserve a spot for me and do the testing for about $100, but if I get there myself it's $14 and no reservation required. Of course I went for the second.

I walked back to the hotel to kill some time while my laundry was done, then got on the bike, only with an empty backpack to fit the clean cloths and headed to the winery.

At Santo Tomas I choose the options of testing four wines, pairing with chocolate and olive oil they produce, do a tour of the facilities with an interactive activity and paid only $20 including tip!!
They also have a food truck from a trending new restaurant called UVE where after the tour I got some amazing fried calamari with chipotle souce I still dream about.













What a great afternoon, I gent back to the hotel for a well deserved siesta.

Once I woke up I was hungry again, one thing I realized was that I did have a single steak while in Mexico, I'm a huge meat eater and I needed my fix.
Looking for some Argentinian Parrilla and I found one with good reviews on TripAdvisor, call them up to make sure they were open and ride to the place.
Once there I found a pretty cool set up, there were 5 small food stands and a food truck sharing a common space, they were fix there, not a moving or improvised location, the patio had some nice wood tables and the place had some kind of hip vice, seemed like it was thew place to go, have some good food and hang out.






I got myself a nice rare NY steak with fries and chimichurri sauce, like if I was back home, I got transported for a minute before they close the main gate and couldn't see the bike. The place is cool but they dont have great parking, I had park the bike on the sidewalk, but the street is really dark, so I finish my steak in a hurry and went back to the bike to ride back to the hotel.
I didnt really do much in Ensenada, but it was a good slowing down from 2 days with a lot of riding,

I also kind of made my mind about where to cross the border back, a few days ago I was set on Tecate, but it didn't leave me many options to head north, In the other hand Tijuana's crossing on a Friday could take 3 hours from what I heard everywhere, but I was easier to go to Sequoia National Park from San Diego. I called a friend who is from Tijuana and told me that on the bike you just cut in front of the line at the border, to just go between the cars, make sure I don't run over the street vendors but I should be able to cross in 15 min, so Tijuana it is.


next - Back in the US.

Day 10 - Back to the USA,






This morning I'm getting ready to leave and is raining crazy, leaving the hotel I was really positive, expecting to ride a few miles into the blue skies ahead. At this point I didn't know I was going to be riding under rain non stop until I got home. Sometimes Ignorance is happiness.




Well, I already told you how I was going to be, leaving Ensenada the rain was even harder and some winds started to come from the pacific, not the most pleasant riding, at every toll they looked at me like if I was form another planet, once I got to Tijuana the line of cars was huge, about 2 miles from the border the traffic was really heavy and the rain didn't helped at all. So I did as my friend told me and riding between the cars, where I managed to hit only one mirror and got to the from of the line with with only 4 cars in front of me, not too bad.


Tijuana mirror

https://youtu.be/36feaEfNMGg

Crossed the border and kept riding all the way to Barstow still under the rain. I pulled up at a Dennys after checking the line at Chipottle,by the way I dont know what kind of fascination people in CA has with chipottle, there must to be a line of about 50 to get a freakign burrito, I know they arte good but there is no way I'm waiting in line, so Dannys across the street looked like a great option.

By now Im tired of the rain , I checked the weather at Sequoias and it shows low 30s, too cool for camping, checked Yosemite and the road across the park is closed for snow, well the only opening was on I-15 heading to vegas and then Salt Lake city.
Im not happy about taking the same freeway I take every day to go to work, but for some reason looks like the only chance of seeing some clear skies is heading straignht home. I bealive you have to listen to those signs, I dont know, I just felt like I needed to head straight back home so I answer my call and rode all the way to Mesquite, Nevada , some 500 miles away from Ensenada where I left this morning.
Clear skies, not a chance, only right before Vegas stopped raining and hold it until I got to my next hotel.




Once at mesquite I booked the cheapest room I found, so I'm staying at the Virgin River Hotel and Casino where after a hot shower I went to get some Liver with onions for dinner,



, made 60 bucks at the blackjack table to loose 40 at the slots and went to bed with 20 in my pocket, not much but, better than many others.

good night


next- Wonderfull UT

Youre not hardly BSing about Fina's. Best tacos I've ever had in Baja. Great ride report!!!

I sure could use a Baja trip!!

Great RR!!

Hey BRUTSQD, diggin' that website


Tahoe

Day 11 - Wonderfull UT



I woke up in Mesquite to some light rain again, I feel like i'm coursed or something, anyhow I got ready soon and with no breakfast I started my riding early heading to St George, I know there were a good couple of options there to take a small break and has a cup of joe.
St George is only about 40 miles form Mesquite, it didn't matter it is all that it takes to be soaking wet.
I'm not really wet myself, but all the gear feels heavy, the jacket does really well, no filtrations at all, but I'm a little disappointed with my Rev'IT pants, the soft inner leg fabric lets water in really easy, inside I'm wearing the gortex inner piece, it does a good job but still fell, not really wet but somewhat humid, not to bad, but not perfect either.
I pulled over at Cracker Barrel, the eggs bacon hash and grits made for a hearty all american breakfast.
At this point I don't even care about the rain, I still determined to make the most of of every mile of my trip and I left the warm coffee and country decor for a visit thru Zions National Park.





Zions Video
http://youtu.be/vNz9eXybi9E

I can't really complain I'm blessed with amazing places right in my backyard, UT is truly beautiful.





Once out of the park I go to US 89 north enjoying the scenery and looking at the all familiar Utah mountains to my right, some snow in the peeks are complementing the view and I keep pushing north looking forward to see my kids and wifie.


3000 miles and 11 days after I left, I'm finally back to Sandy, I made it safe back home where they greet me with a huge hug squeezing water out of my cloth and laughing together , this is the most amazing feeling, having them to get back to.



I hope everybody enjoyed my ride, If you made it this far it means you were able to overlook my terrible grammar and enjoy with me this amazing experience.

Thank you for the encouraging comments, ride safe.

Yup and yup.

I know the feeling and I was thinking the same thing, respectively.

Well done, chavo.

I know, let's scratch one more off. Jaja

I don't know how much planning you can do, whatever plan you made for the next day changes before you even realize. Just get on your bike and head south!!!
You won't be disappointed with the food. Thank you for following along

Enjoying the RR, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the good read. You have me motivated.

Thanks for the culinary tour of Baja- I'll be there in a month or so, and you have my mouth watering in advance. Fish tacos and a cold beer looking out over the Sea of Cortes- it just doesn't get any better.

It's funny how many people are so fearful about baja travel. Like anywhere, you could get hurt on the road, could crash or break down. Ah, but once you realize that that's the case everywhere, you find yourself feeling pretty comfortable on the road there, and the people are great. Just use a bit of good travelers street smarts, get a bit of intel, and point you wheels south : )

I know, some people are really scared about going to Baja, I felt safe all the time I was there, and I'm not just saying that, actually last month I did a road trip with my wife and boys to show them some of the wonderful places I got to visit I my trip.
We drove form UT to San Diego, legoland, USS Midway then to Ensenada, visit the same winery I did back in May and then we crossed the peninsula to San Felipe to spend a couple of days at the Sandollar hotel building great memories. PRICELESS

Boys in San Felipe



Happy wife in San Felipe

Great RR! I had my first attempt at a Baja ride a few years ago.. It didn't end well but I'm healed and ready to go back and finish. I am hoping to go back in April but will likely be solo this time. It was nice to see some familiar places and for your reminder of the delicious food!!

Nice RR, I'm in Draper we will have to try and ride together lots to explore in Utah!

I know we are really lucky, there is so much in UT to see.