Baja/Death Valley

Wheatwacker and I (with MOTOSOTO to meet us at the border) set off again for another KTM Adventure dualsport experience in Baja. We head out from San Francisco on the evening of Wed. Dec. 23rd with bikes in tow on a trailer and head down to/around L.A. where fellow inmate Razor sets us up with a place to get a little sleep. From there we make our way to another inmates home (can't remember his ADV name, just his first name Brian) sets us up with a safe place in his neighborhood to leave the truck and trailer... we make our way to the border crossing in Tijuana and wait for MOTOSOTO to arrive, which he does not long after.

Although, it seems his cooling system fan is not working:eek1, I guess this is the start of Baja...he calls the tech who just recently worked on his bike and it seems he may have mistakenly left the fan unconnected...so we go at getting that all figured out right there on the sidewalk, only to have a fuel line puncture/repair in the process...then it is away we go to Encenada!

getting at tearing off the tank to get to the wiring of the fan buried deep within....

stripped down, and yes the fan was disconnected....

but in an attempt to do all this without taking the tank off (a FULL tank), we managed to puncture the fuel line, but were able to just cut off the damaged section and zip tie it all back to where it was supposed to be...

now it is just on with the tank guard, which if you own a KTM Adventure know installing this can be a pain in the arse...

Onward to Ensenada, where MOTOSOTO already has a hotel in mind to stay for Christmas eve...we settle in and then hit the town later that evening....

...then it is off in the morning, Christmas day, to head further south to some dirt access to the web of roads that wind along the western coast...

everyone getting loaded and bikes warmed up for the departure...

riding towards the coast....

...and we arrive...

some coastal farming....

MOTOSOTO off in the distance pluggin' away...

just a small taste of what's out there...

Looking good. Baja is an off road paradise. More please.

...then lady Baja reached out and graced our trip, again...and it wouldn't be the last time MOTOSOTO, unfortunately had to pull his tool kit out again for a flat front tyre...

MOTOSOTO hard at work...

I'm in!

a catus spine had done the tube in, a new tube installed, wheel on the bike, and MOTOSOTO just wrapping things up...

as the bikes shadows show, we were back moving again just before dark and ended up breaking camp in the dark...

a not so little driftwood fire, some dinner, some beer, some wine, some smokes and then to bed...it rained a little that nite but the next morning....