A BC Buell goes South

[BC Brian]

Originally Posted by Toadride

Hey Brian. Good on ya! It's still my dream, to head waaay south for the winter. I remember you from the Big Traillee. Too bad Manxman has opted out. But great that someone is jumping back in. If I'm around I'll be there next year. And, oh ya. Great RR. I'll follow you to the end.

Thanks Toadride

South this time of year is Gooood!


That was my 1st Big BC Trailie, and I had an awesome time.

I hope to be back in time for it, too. It might turn out that I hit it on the way back before going home. It would be a good way to end my trip

[chilango13]

I wish I could do that...one day it'll be my turn...

[lexluther11]

Originally Posted by BC Brian

Yep, a t-shirt. First thing i ever won, ever.

Its a pretty darned nice t-shirt, too.

It's blurry because you were running so fast

[jimbowie]

Hey Brian, Just a question for future reference. How have your tires handled the gravel roads?

[BC Brian]

Originally Posted by chilango13

I wish I could do that...one day it'll be my turn...

Thanks.

I am thinking that If you can make it happen, you won't ever regret it!

[BC Brian]

Originally Posted by lexluther11

It's blurry because you were running so fast

I am trying to slow it down a bit, but a sure bet is that any pic of me, my mouth will be open, cause I'll be talking :)

[BC Brian]

Originally Posted by jimbowie

Hey Brian, Just a question for future reference. How have your tires handled the gravel roads?

I am running the stock Dunlop 616's and they seem to be fine on the gravel. Just have to take it easy.

mud... well thats a different story :)

[BC Brian]

I had heard about a small town on the Pacific side of the Baja called Todos Santos, so I figured that would be a good place to check out. It wasn’t very far away, so I took my time getting going. I had seen a Wal-Mart on the way into La Paz, so I figured I would stop and see what a Mexican Wal-mart looked like.
First thing I noticed was that the parking lot had shaded parking.


Inside, the store was just like any other Wal-Mart, only the signs were in Spanish J

Looked at the map to see how to get to Todo Santos. Figured it out and away I went. I may have mentioned earlier that the signage is……lets say…. a bit confusing to me. I saw a sign that said Todos Santos, an arrow and a turn lane to a beautiful, fairly new, well paved divided highway going the way I wanted to go. This was just after the sign with the arrow. So I turn onto this nice divided highway, ride past a couple of gas stations and stores, a typical highway going out of town. The traffic is steady but not heavy. Looks good. I ride a few kms, and the road turns to a good 2 lane road. Pretty typical, right? Then, all of a sudden, I am on a dusty, dirt road that seems to go nowhere.



Hmmmm. Turn around, go back take the NEXT road, that doesn’t have a sign that says Todos Santos, and away I go.

It was a pretty nice, short ride, and I pull into town. Park the bike and go for a walk. The town is pretty touristy, but laid back, friendly touristy, not like La Paz. There is supposed to be good surfing near here, and I see lots of young people, backpackers and some families.

I run into a retired guy from LA, and he came down for a week, and has decided to move here. He was lining up an apartment, and as we were speaking, his contact showed up to tell him that he had made a deal for him on a place to live. He told me about the place he was staying and that it was a reasonable price.

I take off to go and find this place, and I see a big brick hotel looking place with a liquor store attached to it.


I don’t see a sign, but the door is open, so I walk in to a nice looking, lobby type area, with a few people milling about. A lady sitting down stares at me, and as I am about to ask “ tiene un habitacion?” ( do you have a room” she says, in perfect English “this is a house!” OOPS. Lo siento, lo siento ( I’m sorry, I’m sorry) and away I go in search of an actual hotel.

I had seen a likely looking place on my previous walk around, right across from the actual Hotel California ( I checked, it was waayyy expensive there) and a fellow comes up and asks me if I was the guy riding back on forth on the bike. He says his name is Pepe, and he rides a bike, and he wants to help me. Cool. He takes me in to the cheaper place, does the talking in rapid fire Spanish, gets me a room, shows me where to park. And then we start talking bikes. He gives me advise on where to eat, what to see.
I ask him if he just stands around helping people, and he says he likes to help motorcyclists who come through town. If you ever find yourself in Todas Santos and need some advice, he owns the higher end jewelry store right across from the Hotel California.

Me and Pepe


Hotel California


My parking space


Talked to a few of the guests. Met a fellow from California who is bumming around mexico for a while, a Lady from Vancouver who is just kind of winging it and may head to costa rica and Peru later, a fellow from Mexico who was working in the States and is just looking around Baja for a while.

I went for another walk, with my camera this time.







Got talking with Dave, the guy from California, and he told me there was a beach, but it was quite a walk away, so we walked down there to check it out.





Came back, had a bite to eat, and hung out visiting with my new friends until quite late.

[GhostRiderFC]

This report is getting better and better.

[Wopper]

Hey, Brian, Great ride enjoying the RR, Keep up the great reports and pix!!

[BluNozr]

Keep rolling Brian. Enjoy the holidays on the road and keep those posts coming.

[BC Brian]

I wanted to give my bike a bath today, and I was about due for an oil change. I had seen a little hut with a car wash sign in front yesterday while I was riding around, so I went to see if I could find it again. When I found it, the proprietor had a car in that he was cleaning, but told me to pull in beside to wash my bike. Not a lot of room, but there was enough. The car wash consisted of a garden hose, a bucket of semi clean, cold water with soap bubbles and a bunch of rags. Kind of like washing your bike in the driveway. I wash off most of the heavy stuff, and ask him if there is a place where I can change my oil nearby. He points to the side of the road beside his business. He gives me a gallon oil jug to catch the oil, I cut out the top, and I am in business!!



I head back to the beach for a look around. The surf was rolling in real nice.





Walked down the beach and found an area with some big rocks.



Walked a bit further before turning around








I had heard there were turtles hatching, so I was on the lookout for any baby turtles on the beach. Didn’t see any.
On the way back I met a lady who told me there was the “friends of the turtles” Sea Turtle release everyday for the next couple of months, and it was happening in about half an hour. I figured I had better check that out. They collect turtle eggs, put them in a safe fenced in area, and let them hatch. Then they dig them up and release them into the ocean.

Digging up the turtles


Some were still hatching




Turtles ready to be released


Packing them to the ocean


The guy drew a line in the sand, and everybody placed a turtle at the Start Line


And they’re off


The surf rolls in and picks up the turtles


They don’t all make it with the first wave


Watching the turtles


If you watch the turtles instead of the surf, you get wet( I got wet)

[SoSlow]

Wow, dude - those are the kinds of pictures you see in National Geographic! Nice!!!

[Circle Blue]

Wow! The Turtles. What a great opportunity. Good on you for not missing it. It made my day.

[jimbowie]

Hey Brian,

Those turtles were fantastic. What a wonderful opportunity to take part in something like that. Thanks for the great pictures. Right on Bro.