Hello friends, The ride report to follow details my poorly planned yet excellently executed adventure to the tip of Baja and back. As I just recently arrived home safe and sound last week, I'm still currently preparing for the full effort of beginning the ride report by uploading photos, going over notes and trying to stream together some kind of storyline continuity. I figured I should at least make an attempt at getting the ball rolling with this post as these ride reports tend to be a serious pain in the asshole when it's actually time to type. That being the case, in the meantime, enjoy a few pictures to whet your appetite as a full RR is soon to follow. Until then, I look forward to telling you a tale of a 20 day motorcycle round-trip beginning in Sacramento and meandering to Cabo San Lucas after meeting up with a lady-rider in Mojave with my girlfriend's blessings only to randomly pick up another fellow rider in Mulege to join us as we camp on beaches in between staying in small towns and occasionally riding with hangovers and taking tons of career-best pictures all the while miraculously consuming my body weight in questionable food cart tacos without so much as a case of the trots to show for it. Thanks for reading along and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely -T P.S. A teaser for your pleasure. Cheers!!
Looking forward to your RR. My buddy and I make an annual pilgrimage to Baja and we're looking forward to this year, which will be our 5th. Maybe we'll see you on the road as he's from Marysville and I'm from Sonoma.
Hey Brutsqd, We met you at Alfonsina's... we were headed north on two Tiger 800's. Looks like you had an awesome trip and I look forward to the report. Was the guy you met up with the guy with the orange Tiger? We met him at Coco's. I need to get my shit together and post a report of our trip... I'm already planning the next one!
Ben! Great to hear from you. Yeah the guy on the orange tiger was Mike, he wound up traveling with us for a bit. We saw him in San Ignacio and then ran into him in Mulege. Cracks me up how tiny a world Baja is, keep running into the same people. You've definitely got to get off your ass and write up your trip. Between your ridiculous stickers and doing the trip on street tires, it's too good a story not to tell.
Introduction: So.. A month and a half ago I found myself sweating it out in front of a rapid fire panel interview and the hospital I already work at. For the past 5 years I've been working as a critical care floatpool nurse with a per diem schedule, which translates to I work as much or as little as I feel like. The big drawback being per diem doesn't give you retirement or health benefits... Finally the dream job came along and I finally heard the call to leave my irresponsible lifestyle of constant travel and motorcycle riding to try to grow up a little. I threw my name in the hat and 2 weeks later I got a call from my manager that I got the promotion and that I start on May 25th on the Action Team/Rapid Response Team. That gives me just a little over a month to work with. Time to go on one last ride before I have to get responsible, at least for a little while. Down to business.. After spending countless hours drooling over the never ending ride report, I had two destinations in mind to choose from that I could do on short order. Alaska or Baja. Considering it's a month too early for Alaska, Baja it is. I read these ride reports and took notes.. Hardworkingdog's - Baja, The Long Way and especially, Da Foole's - Da Foole and Jake's Fake Baja Adventure Entirely sold on Baja, I read the For Baja Travelers Guide and bought both Baja Bound insurance as well as medical evac flight insurance in case things got weird. Pack up.. The last bit of business to attend to was to find some other inmates to ride with on short notice. I don't speak a lick of Spanish and I didn't want to get ass-raped or have my kidneys stolen to I figured safety in numbers was a prudent idear. After posting and responding to a few posts, I found Phoenix aka Rocketgrrl whom met both my strict standards in that she A) wanted to go and B) spoke some Spanish. Currently she was relaxing in Morango Valley in the Mojave Desert so I've got my first destination already picked out. The Plan: Leave Sacramento, head to Morango Valley, make sure she's not an axe murderer and head to Tecate. Which Route to take? Could take I-5 South and drive through California's many buttholes, or take the more scenic route.. Tahoe to 395 to Mono it is.. Tahoe Peeled off just before the lake and cut over to 395. Saw a dilapidated house for a camera op. Got distracted by a CDF fire lookout Highway 395. Mono Lake: Always wanted to check it out. Arrived late in the evening with the sun setting so I'll have to check it out in the morning. In the mean time, I've been having so much fun on my first day of vacation I forgot to eat. Coffee and Cliff bars only work for so long. Pulled in the town of Lee Vining, got a motel room key and tore ass over to the Historic Mono Inn as they were supposed to be closing in 30 minutes. Lee Vining is a cool little town. Beautiful, close to Bode ghost town, close to the backside of Yosemite and cool stuff to see around Mono lake. Good place to take a significant other for a few days if one was so inclined. Ordered the Colorado elk burger with the caramelized onions and bleu cheese with a side of truffle fries. Holly fucking balls. As it's my first day of what should be an epic vacation, had to grab a nightcap at the grocery store's wall of microbrews. With a healthy buzz I hit the sack and passed out immediately. Not a bad first day. NEXT: 395, a ghost town, a desert and a new friend. many many many pictures to come.
Mono Lake to Morongo Valley of the Phoenix Woke up at 6:30 with a splitting headache and cottonmouth. Looks like Brother Thelonious hurt my feelings once again. I owe a couple rather embarrassing nights to the good brother, sneaky beer. I'm sure the altitude and likely coffee induced dehydration had a hand to play, but still, that beer just has my number. Luckily it's cold as balls outside which should hopefully make the hangover a little better with the cool air. Glad I went with the Badlands pants over my Mojaves. Noone wants frozen man parts. Excited to finally get a chance to see Mono lake, I pop, er, drag out of bed and load the bike up. Today will be a decent ride as I'm shooting for meeting up w Rocketgrrl in Morongo Valley by nightfall, 371 miles away. Mono Lake Breakfast in Mammoth Back to 395 Bad shit happened here A few weeks earlier I did a trip with the girlfriend down to Joshua Tree and back, as seen HERE, where we stopped off in the Ghost town of Randsburg. While we were in town I meant to stop off at the general store and get a hand mixed Sarsaparilla but never did. Figured I'd swing a little wide and grab one in the desert heat. Juvenated once again I hit the freeway for a head down assault in the hot wind towards Mojave. The heat was getting brutal and my underpants were getting saucy so I put the camera away and just made for time. 151 miles to Morongo Valley to meet up with fellow inmate Rocketgrrl aka Phoenix. I pulled into Morongo Valley in the evening after getting caught in some San Bernardino traffic. Exhausted, hot and stanky I pulled up the driveway where Phoenix was staying and was immediately offered a towel for the shower and coffee, sweet salvation. Phoenix: Up to this point, Phoenix was largely an unknown and admittedly a source of a little bit of travel trepidation as she was, well, an unknown. We had corresponded a couple times on ADV and talked on the phone a few times but this is the first meeting and didn't really know each other. Plus, considering I've grown rather accustomed to traveling solo over the years, it's definitely outside my comfort box introduce an "unknown" into what is potentially a challenging 20 day adventure into Mexico. Lucky for me... Phoenix is fuckin rad! We spent the evening tinkering on the bikes, talking shop and porking out on Mexican food as a warm up. Turns out we agreed on travel style, lack of planning style, food, humor, life outlook, politics and even spirituality. We already get along like peas and carrots. Huuge relief. This should be a damn good trip. A few tasks to be completed before we depart for Tecate in the morning. I need parts for my electricals and P needs metric hardware for her crash bars. Plus we still need to sit down and figure out where the hell were headed to once we cross over. Hopefully tomorrow we get a mid to late morning start time departure then camp near the border for an early crossing. UP NEXT: Twisties, pie and one last day in the states.