Los Tres Pendejos en Baja: Tires and Tribulations

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Whoops....lost the first installment....back in a bit...

Its about this kind of stuff....

A cold start...




Getting that look in his eye.....Calafia Dreamin'....

"I wish they all could be Esmerelda girls ..."





Some good days....




Some remarkable routes...



Some days where you just get your ass chewed out...




And other days that make it all worth it...

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Well, it started out well enough. A riding pal, Darren, told me in the summer of 2008 that he wanted to go back again. He and I had done a great trip which covered the full range of the peninsula the previous year:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199166

That trip was the genesis of the Pendejo Legacy, a series of chronicles accounting for the adventures and misadventures of various motorcycle miscreants sampling sand, fish tacos, margaritas, and gasoline availability throughout Baja:













My love affair with Baja began in 1989 when I spent a month in the south cape region exploring, kayaking, and camping. About eight trips later by truck and/or motorcycle, I am used to hearing myself say at the end of each trip, "Well, that will do me for a few years....I need to plan a different riding trip next time.".

And sure as hell, within a week or two I am looking at my Baja Almanac considering the rides not yet done.



ADVrider certainly whets an appetite for riding in a variety of places on the Blue Planet and we are all indebted to it for our ride fantasies and planning.

The Baja reports just open up new perceptions of the myriad of vistas, tastes, people, and adventures there for the taking.

But enough of that .


Los Tres Pendejos coalesced from these humble origins. It started as my own "aventuras solitarias " on my 1981 R80 G/S:



...several overloaded solo and group rides on the '96 oilhead...







... and has developed into the sensible notion of applying the appropriate tool for the job at hand:





Uno, dos, tres....si, senor ...somos los tres pendejos

My riding partners drove down to Kamloops from their homes in Edmonton on December 4/08. We had not yet had any strong indications that winter was going to give us the cold shoulder....but the Friday morning we woke up to start to load the truck and trailer we were greeted with a dusting of the white stuff...



Mark was pumped as he had never been to Mexico before, never mind the luxury of a month riding Baja. He is relatively new to riding, but over the past few years he has developed strong riding skills...



He loves his Yamaha 450 and it treated him very well over the 5 weeks away..

Darren and I have been riding together since 2000 when I bought my first dirt bike, a sweet 350 Husqvarna...



But I digress...

Darren's mistress is his Husaberg 550, a most capable beast that has been to Baja three times now in it's youth...





The plan was to load the bike, edit our gear, and stuff the truck on Friday so we could get out of Kamloops by dark o'thirty Saturday morning. The snow was both an irritant of sorts but also a reminder of what we would be leaving behind.

We got right to the job of loading and packing:



The trailer had been prepped with new rims and tires, bearings and bearing greaser units....and while the trailer was a heavy one, Mark felt assured it was up to the task

My skepticism (a contaminant for group activities) was expressed mildly at that time, but I figured we would deal with tire issues as they developed



Darren and Mark got right at it while I documented the process...


We amazed ourselves with our brilliant loading suggestions, abilities to materialize tie-downs from the depths of the MATRIX, and the speed with which we did all of that...



Stuffing the boot, as it were, was a smooth move...



We each took an extra set of tires for the bikes as we needed to be over-prepared....although we were confident that our tire choices were the correct ones, based on previous rides: Maxxis Desert IT's for the rear on all bikes with Bridgestone Ultra Heavy duty tubes fore and aft (no slime as a slimed tube cannot be patched). Darren and Mark had Maxxis Desert IT's on the front, whereas I stuck with a Kenda Parker DT front (later a moderate regret only because the Maxxis wore better...I used the "same" Kenda two years earlier and had preferred it over the Pirelli MT18 HD I had used before that....the Parker DT this time appeared to have a slightly different tread pattern than the previous one....I like it still as it is rated 6-ply...but would use the Maxxis next time....and let the shop mount these stiff shoes).

Once the truck was loaded, the spare tires cabled under the bikes, and sundry items stowed here and there, we congratulated ourselves and retreated inside.

Early Saturday morning we departed Kamloops by 7:00 am....pretty good, we figured.

First stop was just south of the 49th parallel to pick up some pre-ordered bike stuff and then down the I-5 to Seattle...



The trip south was a blur...



Our pace was good and we made a pit stop in Eugene Oregon by 7:00 pm...


We took turns driving along the way down. I took over the wheel after about 10:00 pm or thereabouts.

Everything was smooth as could be. Our plan was to drive straight through to San Diego...we had rooms reserved at Motel 6 in El Cajon for Sunday night....so we could make a quick getaway to Tecate Monday morning.

Somewhere south of Sacramento I fell asleep at the wheel at about 2:45 am.:eek1

The rumble strips didn't really wake me up....the sound of the gravel on the shoulder and in the ditch spitting off the wheel wells is what seemed to wake me up...:huh

Whipping the truck and trailer back onto the highway was a....might I say...."exhilirating" wake-up call....that also woke my passengers up from their slumber rather quickly.

I must thank them both for their subdued response to my negligence...:huh:eek1:dog:dog:ddog:ddog:ruskie:ruskie


No need to really describe how badly I felt for nearly killing us all ...I couldn't hide

I was feeling guilty and ashamed of my performance...



and all I could really do was to let Mark have his truck back...





I was wearing it...

I'm looking forward to this report, Ged.

We just got back from from El Delfin Blanco. I assume Osa treated you right Very nice lady. Can't wait to hear more about your trip

I'm ready for more! Now get back to your computer and start typing!

Looks like a good start. Keep it coming as it's 8 degrees here and I need all the inspiration i can get.

Having narrowly escaped our first brush with Death, we could now consider ourselves to be on an adventure.

Somewhere in southern California we stopped for lunch at a Subway...we could stretch our legs, fill our bellies, and empty our bladders...and check out the rig..


Before we knew it, we found our Motel 6 in El Cajon. That was the beginning of "trailer security" parking, a wonderful end-of-the-day ritual that invariably took up a parking stall or two. With a variety of security possibilities at hand, it usually ended up with the "let's park it over the tongue" option.



A buffet next door to the motel served its purpose that evening.

We discussed our trip options another time or six...

Darren was loaded up with Lizard Lady routes on his GPS and had his laptop along for the necessary up,sideways, and downloads. I think it was at this point he discovered that his laptop (part of the rear seat stack of stuff) had suffered a broken screen. ...a tribulation had surfaced...

We couldn't quite figure out who to blame ...

Up bright and early on Monday, we headed down the delightful Hwy #94 to Tecate. The border crossing and paperwork went smoothly until the police told Darren he needed to move the truck while Mark and I were shuffling back from the bank to the immigration office...I believe he had a chance to drive in circles long enough for Mark and me to think he may have been arrested, abducted, or just tired of our company.

We found our way south through Ensenada and stopped for a bite somewhere north of El Rosario...



Mark's first tacos were a memorable event....the fact that we were all still in one piece was another. The bikes were behaving well and were itching to go..



Our destination for that day was El Rosario and the deluxe Baja Cactus motel (just next door south of the Pemex)....About $40 for a primo room... Alphonse runs a great spot







Mama Espinoza's is next door. While it is famous for its off-road history, it is becoming less famous for its food. Our experience with finding the "right" place to eat in El Rosario left us all a bit frustrated.

The next morning we were on our way.

Now, to give you a trip context, I need to say that our plan was to travel the entire Baja peninsula with the truck and trailer, stopping in various places along the way to act as "basecamp" locations from which we would ride.

We had initially considered Bahia de los Angeles as our first destination for several days, but decided to bee-line it to the South Cape where it was warmer.

The stretch of desert from El Rosario through to Catavina is one of my favourites as the flora in that area is unique. Trying to get Mark to look out the window was challenging as he was glued to his GPS....for much of that section.

I reassured him that if he was uncertain as to his whereabouts, he could look out the window


If my memory serves me well, we made it to Mulege that night.

We stayed at a favourite....La Hacienda. As the only guests there that night, we knew it was all ours...just us and the hundreds of spirits of riders over the years...

Fantastic thread so far Ged. I hate winter!!

BTW.... Alphonse is the Hotel Mulege owner, not Baja Cactus....Its ok, I understand the memory lapse now.

Great stuff so far, can't wait to read the next installment. THANKS for taking the time.

Ged,

Great so far...keep it coming.

Sevoman

Mark,
While my advancing years renders some of my functions a bit less operational, I must clarify:

Alphonse is the name of the elderly gentleman who owns La Hacienda in Mulege and is also the name of the owner of Baja Cactus motel in El Rosario....two distinctly separate individuals, but both with a gracious spirit.

I think that the place we stayed at the northern entrance to Mulege was "Hotel Mulege"....and we never met the owner.

For riders ever headed that way, the range of good places to stay in Mulege is more than adequate.....more on that later



La Hacienda is the very "rider-friendly" hotel near the zocolo...while Mulege was quieter than I have ever seen it over the years, it is still my favourite town in Baja...

Some improvements happening at La Hacienda... just don't take a running dive quite yet:




Before the improvements:



As I indicated earlier....we had the place to ourselves that one night...some rum and coke assisted in our segue into the MATRIXof Baja ...

It was all ours for the taking



Darren offers a salute with his "salud"...



Mark....just that relaxed look...





The next morning we headed for San Jose where we could finally unleash the beasts and do what we came for...

Darren indicated his position for the first shift...




Once on the road, Mark was astounded with the jaw-dropping scenery of Bahia Concepcion...





A race to the South Cape landed us in La Playa (a few kms east of San Jose del Cabo) where Mark and Darren stayed at La Playita Hotel....now called La Marina Hotel...





While I stayed up the hill a few blocks at El Delfin Blanco....a lovely quiet spot run by the most delightful Swedish woman, Osa...











Now, You FF's are probably wondering if we rode motorcycles on this trip


After five days as truck prisoners, we were fully stoked for a ride ...

Mark couldn't get saddled up soon enough...


A ride east along the East Cape road was in order for the introduction...








The short ride landed us back at Buzzards for some refreshments...

great pics. love these baja reports

Man, with the snow on the ground here and the ruts frozen solid, your sunny photos are . . . dang

So, this is when and where the riding started. Our plan was to be located in La Playa for a week or so before we started to partition our way north.
Mark and Darren had some Xmas gift-buying to do, we all had some riding to do, and we even got some of that in.

The exact chronology of our rides in that area may be a bit scrambled, but I will tell it like I remember it.


My interests were to ride the East Cape road up to Los Barriles and back, ride the Las Naranjas Ranch road over to Todos Santos, and to explore a bit north of the highway between San Jose and Cabo San Lucas as there are a myriad of roads there through beautiful countryside.


Planning back home tends to be more grandiose than the actual rides done

One of the first rides was just west of San Jose. Heading west to Cabo San Lucas takes one along the crazy freeway, but just on the western outskirts of San Jose is a canyon running north. You see it when crossing one of the first bridges on the highway...the canyon runs off to the right. This canyon hosts a zip-line outfit for those so inclined (at least $90 for a few hours of wishing the line was longer)...



The canyon is mostly hard-packed coarse sand that has a bit of water here and there, the usual compliment of basura, and some folks dumping stuff or taking sand....so there is a clear double-track to follow.



We did this for a half-dozen kilometers before we came to the part of the trail that would make a trials rider drool...but ended our exploring further into the canyon...






We didn't do the zip-line thing as we were having too much fun zipping around on our own...



After some backtracking to the zip-line area's rappelling wall, we found our way north to a series of roads that were delightful....hard-packed sand that encouraged steering with the back wheel along roller coaster roads.



No technical stuff, but a fun day of exploring...







Back to San Jose and home to La Playa...

La Playa used to be a sleepy little fishing village until the scourge of development thought it would be a good idea to build a huge marina which destroyed the ecology of the estuary that separates San Jose from La Playa.

The La Playita Hotel has been renamed La Marina and has seen a slight improvement as it now has a small restaurant in the courtyard.

Some of the local sights...










One of the concessions made when building the marina was to establish several fish-cleaning stations which were rather impressive..








Each of these buildings had marble tables that served as cleaning stations. Commercial plastic cutting boards, spray hoses, and drains made for efficiency....and the fishermen maintained the areas well...








These buildings were well made and attractive...








A small bit of beach had been retained and was being enjoyed by some locals...








The area was kept fairly clean by these hungry Basuraderos...