Some of our pictures from our BAR 2005 Baja Run are being cycled on advrider.com's home page gallery. Well, the attached picture I took of gaspipe, copied off the website this morning, is really drawing me back to the incredible ride.- I just sipped my coffee, focused in recall, lost in the recent memories of that ride - the BAJA ASYLUM RUN. The picture has been in rotation for a month or so, and in only a few days, it has become a trigger for a conduit to a vast reservoir of memories - the incredible world of off-road Baja, fish camps, surf havens, fish tacos, cold cervesas and that unbelievable last night in Baja we spent at El Coyote. WE WERE THE MOST FORTUNATE RIDERS IN BAJA . Oh we have GOT to get back to Baja - over and over in my head, as I stared at this photo before logging in this morning. Well, I went into work mode, and headed to the garage - my daily gridlock 4w companion awaits, but an itch wants a scratch... - hell with it. I put some mesh gear on and rolled out the 1100gs, a right fine urban traffic flogger. We ripped it up a bit today and arrived home relaxed and stressless. This time, however, I found myself taking a long thoughtful look at my armored mutant 02 KLR650 as the garage door rose overhead; scared from 1,000s of hard earned miles off-road, yet mechanically perfect and rock-solid tuff . GOD, that armored- up uglyass KLR just flat sucks it up and pounds it out off-road, day after day after day. The moment passed and I turned to the GS and began to mount its new tail bag mount. Soon enough, Derrick came home from work on his bike and slipped over for a visit before putting his bike away. Derrick is a fellow rider who prefers high HP street bikes. He looked into my garage and asked "When ya going to ride that one again (the KLR)? Shit, since I got the GS a month ago, I haven't done ANYTHING with the KLR. I thought for a second and looked to the setting sun and the mountains that are only minutes away. Hell with it. The real itch was going to get a major scratch down. I stopped working the GS, and got busy getting geared up. A little while later the KLR is mounted, and boy was it a familiar place to be! The starter hits the ring gear and it starts with a brap ahhh - Yup, we are going to go get dirty. The KLR is barking like a hunt dog ready for the field. The temp gauge declares ready to go and we are gone! Like a wallflower at a dance, the KLR just kicked up it heals and got real busy and down to business, all the while closing the distanceto the western mountain approaches. We danced for a good long spell, in sync, and just plain slapping the trail and road-edge berms with her wagging tail. I just sat there in the saddle when I got back to my driveway - a wide-assed grin plastered on my side-shaking head. What a kick of a bike to have in the stable along with the GS. Funny, I never did think of selling it when the 1100gs was adopted - I just never thought about it at all. I kinda knew I'd want to bump the earth with her again, but just got wrapped up in the GS for a spell. But one thing is now crystal clear - Baja and this ugly dog KLR will play again. Looking at the pair of them, side-by-side in the garage, had me thinking I've got a decent set of tools to pick from. And now I know it. Oh we have GOT to get back to Baja.
With out question, BAR 2005 was a trip of a life time for me, Thanks to the two of you for letting me tag along!!!
Figures the KLR wasn't going anywhere. Yep, the GS is a mighty fine bike, but somedays a good mule is all you need. Coming out of Ft Bragg on te SheetIron last weekend I cam across what I thought was a helmet someone had dropped in a mudhole. I stopped to wade out and get it. Found a head under the helmet so I asked if he needed any help. he said no thank you, I still have a perfectly good KLR under me.
Hey Bruce--- Last night I was lost in a wilderness of commitments and scheduling conflicts. I had to find a solution to this impossible situation. Baja - WE MUST return to BAJA... I had only one hope, one chance... I had to seek assistance from the mystical, mysterious powers of Baja and its people. Yes Bruce, I went on a visionquest. I was seated next to the KLR in my riding gear, one hand on the KLR and the other on a half-emptied bottle of PATRON REPOSADO. A small stone plate held the burning sage while a ring of Pacifico beer labels surrounded the foot of the kickstand. The ground tarp used on the beaches of Baja during our recent trip shrouded all. I had closed my eyes and begun the long rythmatic chant; BAAAAAJAAAAAAA BAAAAAJAAAAAAA BAAAAAJAAAAAAA BAAAAAJAAAAAAA. A ghostly image, oh so faint, of a one-legged man, then two, appeared in my mind. BAAAAAJAAAABAAAAAJAAAA BAAAAAJAAAA...the images became clearer BAAAAAJAAAA BAAAAAJAAAA, they approached, the images of the two one-legged men, with objects in their right hands - closer, clearer, they looked like Coco! Two Smiling Cocos, ice encrusted Tecate six-packs in their right-hands! DAMN!! The KLR had shifted abruptly, its forks suddenly fully extended, the chassis lifted from its settled position. The fire expired quickly and produced one final mass of smoke which then lifted quickly away. I had to lean back, choking and startled, as the images of Coco and Tecate faded away. What was the message secreted into those images? Coco and Tecate beer?... ? Why the six-packs? Two images of Coco, holding two six-packs of beer.......... OF COURSE!!! 2 Cocos and 12 beers! The quest was answered - The 2nd month, 12th day. FEBRUARY 12, 2006. Can it be a date for the NEXT BAJA ASYLUM RUN has been provided in that bizarre vision quest? Well, will the baja desert be ready for us? (Boojumland" west of Cataviña) Feb 2003 - about halfway to Mulege (Feb 2004 near mision jesuita- the church we visited 15km from dried cow) (Feb 2004) The Whales are already down there.... So YES, the Baja Desert will be ready.... OK, but will the weather be great? Using Santa Rosalia historical data - <TABLE width="70%" valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Weather statistics based on searched dates from 1997 to present. Probabilities (chance of) statistics indicate the chance of an event or condition per day (ie. a 30 percent chance of a cloudy day indicates that each day has a 30 percent chance of being cloudy). </TD></TR><TR><TD width="100%"><TABLE class=smalltable width="100%" bgColor=#dddddd><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#000080>Temperature</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Average High Temperature is <NOBR>78 F</NOBR> historical range <NOBR>64 F</NOBR> to <NOBR>91 F</NOBR> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Average Low Temperature is <NOBR>53 F</NOBR> historical range <NOBR>41 F</NOBR> to <NOBR>66 F</NOBR> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff>There is a 3% chance of a Hot Day (temperature over 90°F) (2 days out of 72 in historical record). Most consecutive days found in historic record: 2 </TD></TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff>There is a 0% chance of a Freezing Day (temperature below 32°F) (0 days out of 72 in historical record). Most consecutive days found in historic record: 0 </TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TD vAlign=top align=left width=126></TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE width="70%" valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE class=smalltable width="100%" bgColor=#dddddd><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#000080>Cloud Cover</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#dddddd>Average Cloud Cover is mostly sunny <!-- historical range <b>cloudy tosunny --> <TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff>There is a 18% chance of a Cloudy Day (13 days out of 72 in historical record). Most consecutive days found in historic record: 2 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Excellent! Oh, Dare I consider putting the vision to the trifecta test? If the vision is true, it will proven here and now. Could there possibly be a full moon during the trip? MOON PHASE for Feb 12 2006 FULL MOON 20:44 PST 12/Feb/2006 !!!!! JACKPOT !!!!! ui!!!!! JACKPOT !!!!! Cocos medicine is strong :slurpCocos Tecate is Ice Cold :slurp ---The Vision is Valid --- BAJA ASYLUM RUNEpisode 2 "Cocos Tecate Quest " February 12, 2006 (+-) Another BAR BAJA ASYLUM RUN, February, well before we head up the Alaska in early May. PLENTY of time to heal up if needed and we won't be using the Beemers, so zero chance of mechanical hang ups. Lets do this Bruce - I think I hear your KTM snorting and bucking like a corraled mustang in the background--- Hummm... Baja fever babe....
Alllll righty then, February 2006 it is. BAJA ASYLUM RUN Episode 2 "Cocos Tecate Quest " It is officially on the Gaspipe list o' stuff to do for Feb 2006. Gotta build a motor this summer for the KTM.
Well, if you insist, I guess we'll go back to !! BAJA !! Feb 12, 2006 (+-) I'll "pencil" BAR episode 2 into my calendar...
For more of this: And this... WoooooooHoooooooo!!!!!!!!! I've been studying the Baja Almanac tonight. I have a plan unfolding.......
You know we should be committed... To an asylum! Ya, the Baja Asylum! Plan---unfolding - ..:grinner Hey Coco! Hey Guys! (Bruce, Kris, Coco, Paul and I - BAR 2005.) Oh, these fish tacos were so GOOOD. Oh Baja - just 8 months to go.... tick tick tick
That last pic is from the San Raymundo Wash as we got close to the Pac side, ain't it? Post ribbage dog biff? Never saw that one before. We still have to do the knarly way to Creel in Oct '05....... Or we can be boring and do this....to save time.... That's alotta riding comin' up!
Your squared away on the photo - it was a few hours after you and the Dog had your encounter - about 10-15 miles from the Pacific coast. As to Creel. One of two things will happen. My current commitments will require me to run the GS and slab most of it with a couple of butt burner days, or I'll get a break and have the time to enjoy going by dirt. I will not know until Early September.