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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
I'd been feeling the need to get back down to Baja. I contacted my sister to take a week, and go south with me. We loosely planed on taking in the San Felipe 250 off road race as well as going to Gonzaga and LA Bay.
I'd been getting my old Dodge Van ready to use as a primitive, rough and ready traveling/camping van. This would be it's maiden voyage after the suspension lift and big tires.
The van is a 1972 model with a small V8...., but the good thing is that a former owner put a 5 speed 'granny' standard transmission in it. The granny gear allows it to pull as big a tire as you can fit on it, which is good for the deep sand of the southwest.
I touched up the paint job and was ready.......
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| From Dodge Van 2011 |
March 9th, 2011 finally came, and I was off to pick up Tam at the San Diego airport. This would be our longest togetherness since we were in high school back in the '50s. Thinking about it that way kind of gives me a shiver. LOL
The pick up went without a hitch as she was waiting on the curb in front of the Baggage claims at 2:00pm. Our schedule would be a quick run out to Slab City on the east side of the Salton Sea 30 miles north of El Centro Ca. Then up to Indio to pick up a roof rack from a generous donor, Andres, who saw a picture of my van and knew that I needed his rack that he no longer had a use for.
From Andres' place on Thursday we'd head to the race in San Felipe, and then make a loop south as time permitted with Tam getting back on a plane to her home in Florida on the following Wednesday.
After the airport we made a beeline to Slab City to spend the first night camping. Slab City is a former military base that is nothing more than a bunch of foundations that are used currently by snowbird types that hold up there during the winter.
But first Tam needed a down home Mex food fix. We found this place in Brawley Ca.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Tam introduced me to Horchata...on the left. It's a great sweet, cinnamon, milky drink. Very good.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Tam is thinking of fleeing Florida with her truck and travel trailer to spend time in the west during the winters. RV parks charge $30 and more per night, but it's free at many places, and slab city is one of those places.
This is high season at the 'Slabs', but it was easy to find a spot to set up. So we picked this one to spend the night.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
We had a small campfire, and a beer to loosen our tongues. The weather was nice so we slept without a tent and contemplated the stars to our heart's content. We'd check out life at the slabs in the morning.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
The next morning we went for a walk. The slabs were alive with folks.
The Range has an inhabitant, but it also has a purpose. Seems as though there are all manner of performances held here on Saturdays.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
These folks are prepared for the heat with a little extra shade. Clearly they are in it for the long haul.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
This is another entertainment center touting live music on Sat night.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Signs directing folks to places of possible interest.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
One guy out there was selling solar energy installations, and many of the camps had several solar panels up and operating.
These guys were the keepers of the skateboard park. Tam is talking to a young woman, maybe 30 yrs old. She and her man are artists with a place down the way. These 2 travel by rails. There is a RR track about a mile away.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
They've converted a pool into a skateboard bowl, and built a couple ramps and half pipes.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
This slab was reserved for a clothing exchange.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
We knocked around the slabs till about 9am, then it was time to make the 60 mile run up to connect with Andres and the roof rack. The ride thru the desert was nice as the sun was warming things up and there was no wind.
The GPS took us to Andres address with only a little drama. Andres was a hoot. Andres is Spanish. He had used the rack on his van a couple years ago when he and his wife and kids had toured mainland Mexico. He'd sold the Van and the little lady was on his ass to get rid of the rack. I could see Andres was sorry to see it go, but he knew that happiness at home was dependent on him finding it a good home.
.....and a fine rack it was. I was happy to get it. Just look at this beauty. Can't you just see a canoe or kayak up there? Much Thanks to Andres from Indio, or CARRERASBAJA on ADVrider.com
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
So it was off to Mexico now. The old Dodge was purring away like a brand new one. We passed the old reminder that we could be 100 ft or so below water if the wrong conditions should pop up.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Soon we would be in Mexico. I had to chuckle as a couple of my friends declined to come along on this trip for fear of the Mexican border problems.
We gassed up in Calexico before we crossed the border. That was a minor mistake as gas north of the border was $3.90/gal compared to $3.50 below the border. By 2pm we had cleared Mexicali proper and were approaching the open country of the salt flats of the Sea Of Cortez.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
We arrived at Pete's Camp, just north of San Felipe. We had been corresponding with Kay at Pete's Camp. But first, we wanted some Mexican food. Pete's Camp had at least 50 full time residences, a bar/restaurant, and palapas on the beach for campers.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
A cute kid entertained us as we ate.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
And more
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
and more
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Then this dog took over with the entertainment...
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
After dinner, we made arrangements for a campsite on the beach.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Our camp neighbors....turns out these guys are from a little town about 15 miles from my home in Oceanside. Nice folks and they went to bed early, which I didn't expect.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
That's Kay up there waving. Kay was going to run the Race on Saturday. Kay invited us up to his girl friend's house (Marsha) to get acquainted. Then later that night we went over to his garage for a drivers and pit crew meeting.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
I could feel the pre-race excitement building that used to get my juices flowing back in the day. Somethings never change. There wasn't ever enough time to do all the work necessary, plus the pre-running. Kay was corresponding with all manner of folks to arrange other rider/teammates, and borrowing parts and spare wheels. He was getting three rider's changes organized, and then planning to get everyone the GPS coordinates necessary to position themselves during the race. We never had the GPS advantage in the old days.
My admiration went out to Kay, who was an Egyptian who came to the USA with racing motorcycles in the back of his mind. He'd been here in the USA since shortly before the 9-11 event, and only last year got to race his first Baja Race.
That was Thursday and the race would be on Saturday. I planned to watch the race, but Tam and I had to find something to do on Friday. So after a walk on the beach Friday morning...we took some pics of Pete's Camp from the beach.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
More.....
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
More....
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
We decide to go look at the Puertocitos hot Springs. We had breakfast before we left San Felipe, and we stopped at Bud Wright's place on the way south to Puertocitos. No one was home, but we spotted a new addition to Bud's back yard.
30" whale vertebra
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
We stopped at the tienda near Bud's place and bought 25 lbs of block ice. That block ice lasted us 5 days, till be got home. Then on to the Hot springs.....but first we stopped for a soda at the 'Cowpaddy'.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Inside the Cowpaddy Smilie greeted us. Smilie is one of those dogs that has a big smile for everyone.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
That's what I like about Mex. There are no laws about dogs in a place that serves food or any such foolishness. You just do what works. If the dog is a problem, it is eliminated....no PETA to cause problems.....and no problem dogs.
This guy was in Mex for a long weekend. He asked about our trip and was fascinated by our retired attitude/lifestyle. He was making a fast run to Gonzaga Bay and back to Los Angeles to be at work Monday. Yeah, I can just barely remember those days. LOL
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
It was just a short run of a couple miles on into Puertocitos. Back in the day the hot springs were free, but now it costs $5 to take a dip. The spring consist of pools of too hot water. The bay's tide comes in and floods the pools which cool the water to a tolerable temperature.
The pool with the right temp is in the upper left corner of this picture. The pool in the foreground is about 115 degrees.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
More.....
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Felt good....
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
While there, these guys cruised by...never flapping a wing. How do they do that?
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
As we left the hot Spring, we decided to skip the race and go south as the day was still young. It would have taken nearly a 100 miles of backtracking and cost us a day and a half of travel time.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
It would be another 50 miles to Gonzaga Bay for the night. Much of the route was along the mountains overlooking the bay. 25 miles of the long time rocky road had been paved now so that would make the drive a little over 2 hours. We had plenty of time.
On the way down I spotted a beach about a 1/4 mile away. I consider it a nice free camping spot so I directed the Gorilla Express down to the beach for a look see. Oh, oh, that's a little steeper than I imagined....and with some holes near the bottom to keep me from getting any run at it. Oh well, I was committed now. Might as well act like I know what I'm doing. :(
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
more....
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
It was a beautiful location, but there wasn't any sand and it was too early in the day so we moved on. The granny gear of the Dodge took us up out of there with hardly a wheel spin. Woohoo.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
As we drove toward Gonzaga we passed an oncoming pickup truck who was waving at us as if he knew us. Well, he did know us, that was our new friend from the Cowpaddy. He'd already been to Gonzaga and was making the return trip. If you have to be at work on Monday, you have to make your time count. He was surely doing that.
We got to Gonzaga Bay as the sun went below the horizon. I gassed up and then went toward some palapas on the beach. Oop, I had to cross 50ft of deep sand to get to the beach camps. I didn't make it. The old van went looking for China. Double shit.
I had avoided letting air out of the tires, so now was surely the time. I began letting air out and jacking the van up out of the hole I had dug.
......but then it was time to admire the sky for a moment.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Ok...back to digging and going a few feet. Then we noted a black jeep approaching us. We wondered if we would soon have our heads cut off by a Mexican Cartel. Nope, it was a Mexican alright, but he only wanted to pull us out of the sand. That was a close call.
We accepted his help. I got my 50 ft of 5/8 rope out and he made short work of my predicament.... I kept telling myself that I could have got out by myself, but I didn't mind the help. I thanked him and he took off without any hint of wanting to be paid for his help. Now that is the real Baja.
We made camp on Gonzaga Bay....beautiful.
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Sunrise
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| From Baja travel, Mar 2011 |
Today (Sat) we would move on To Bahia de Los Angeles....Tam hadn't been there since she was a teenager...
