7 Days in Baja (epilogue)

There and back again.

 They named it Baja California which of course in german means "big sand pit with rocks"

Its just over a week now since our trip to Baja and I'm pretty well adjusted back to normal. For the first couple days back in Vegas I wanted to say "please" and "thank you" but kept catching myself saying "por favor" and "gracias". I even keep finding Mexican coins ever and there. It was a short trip but just about the right amount of time to get away and loose yourself. Hell after the first couple days I was starting to loose track of time, perhaps its all the bouncing around, or the sand.

Gotta say thanks to Vincent (crashmaster) once again for pointing us in the right direction on a basic loop of Baja. And thanks to Shawn for the tires and tubes. We ran Bridgestone ultra heavy duty tubes and Tkc80 tires. Both were flawless. Not a single flat, and the sidewalls of the tires seemed solid. My front tire hardly even looks warn! Then back however has 2k+ miles and 80% were asphalt and it defiantly looks like it. I was wanting to try a different tire after this but I got so much life on the fron that I'm gonna keep running these for a bit.

The bike handled flawless during the whole trip. I added about a 1/2 quart of oil about 4 days in the trip and clean/lubed the chain once. Got a few new smilies in the front wheel but thats just added character. The top box rack from touratech had bent from the added weight of the pelican case from Beau's Triumph. I bent it back but it is just gonna bend again, I'm gonna need to find another more solid top rack to mount the top box got my eye on CJs. The cam lever on the Kriega had fallen off somethere and the issue I was having was when you crank them down they pull through the Kriega ADV platform and when you just snug them down they apparently just fall off. The RotoPax worked well, only really used the water but it was nice to have that security of extra gas and if need be you can stack up both water and fuel containers to support the bike when working on the front wheel.

The general census from both Beau and I are less weight = more fun. Camping and riding is awesome, but with all the extra shit you need for that you end up spending more time picking up your bike then necessary. So for future trips to Baja we were thinking of leaving the camping gear at home and just stay in cabins, they were cheap and everywhere. Plus when we stayed at places we got to interact with the locals more and got to meet some interesting people. I've got some mods to do this weekend that will be pretty much my light touring setup. I'm gonna have 2 basic load outs for my bike. The first will be 1gal fuel on one side and 1gal of water on the other, the topbox will have clothes, medkit, snacks and my ipad, nothing else, that will work for all day trips and week long dirt rides. The second will be a road tour camp setup, their will be either 1gal fuel and 1 gal water or 2gal water on one side with a 15L bag for liners and rain gear, and a 31L zega pro side case on the other with all the camp and cook shit. The op box will be loaded the same as the dirt setup. I'm not a fan of wearing a backpack but it does make it easy to get a drink of water without taking off the helmet and to cary little stuff.

One of the other things I gotta change is the headlight setup. God knows why KTM gave America the shittiest headlamp and gave Europe a super bright one, but I can't see shit at night on a trail, and I'm guessing its hard for oncoming traffic to see me. Touratech makes this bad ass rally screen for about $1200 so I'm saving my pennies to upgrade to this asap. Also I am going for the 2-1 remus exhaust with a tool storage container to fill the void of where the old pipe used to be. This is an over all effort to drop weight and increase performance.

I have a few other trips planned for this year but nothing will top my experience in Baja, I want to do the UTBDR in Sept hopefully, but we have to see how that goes. Either way, were in the early talks of what to do for next year in Mexico. We want to start making this an anual event, even if I move from Vegas I will still make the trip south.

Buena suerte y viaje seguro a todos!

7 Days in Baja (day 8)

The morning was casual. We needed to figure out some repacking and dump some excess weight, gotta make room for the Tequila. When we meet up with the guys from Twisted throttle they had been drinking a bottle of Corralejo for Dan950ser's birthday and they shared a bit with us. We keept that drink going and ordered it wherever we could, and even got a couple bottles to take bake to the states with us. Good stuff, I'm more of a Scotch drinker but this I liked.

I gave o0Synge0o a traveling partner..

The one thing we hadn't eaten yet in Mexico were Tamales, and luck has it their was just the place right around the corner!

 Inside I found one of those day calendars where you rip off the date. I'm not exactly sure what this calendar is trying to sell, but thats not Liz and aside from the corn stocks on the bottom, this picture is confusing. I guess this is the second location and a chick with christmas underwear drives a semi to deliver 100% corn tamales :)

Ahh Domingo, that means we must go home...

Ok so I'm guessing the city put the bigger stop sign on the right. Then some asshole moved a potted plant in front of it blocking it from view. The obvious solution is of course to put a smaller stop sign next to it.

We crossed over just east of TJ and it was a long ass line but thankfully we are on motorcycles and we just skipped right to the front. Whole ordeal took about a half hour tops.

I'm thinking o0Synge0o has a more comfortable riding position than me!

On our way back we stopped in Old town Temecula for a burger and beer. After 5 minuets of listening to douce bags carry on about the most ridiculous non-sense we were ready to turn around and head back.

That is until the food came... Some things the United States has down perfect!

7 Days in Baja (day7)

In the morning we had a nice long breakfast after a stay in the nicest hotel in Baja, the Hotel Paraiso Colonet. I sincerely recommend this place to anyone passing through.

Ok like I had said before, I feel horrible about not speaking any spanish before heading here. We had been planning a trip to Cali for 3 months and 3 weeks prior to leaving, I phoned up Beau and said "Hey wanna go to Baja instead?" "Eh, sure" was all he had to say then it was a scramble to get things ready for an off road trip rather than a tarmac road trip. So I had grabbed a spanish study book but forgot to download any apps for my phone. Along the way you can figure out what people are trying to get across and you figure out how to comunicate with body language. Of course we made a huge effort to only speak spanish when we spoke to locals and tried to pick up a few things. Beau the connoisseur of anything food and drink related. Was able to order anything on the menu but could not say "how far is the", "how much is the" or "250 pesos." We got by and learned as we went, most inn keepers and a lot of restaurant owners spoke enough english that they were able to help us along. Anyway I had ordered this delicious plate of machaca con huevos. Basically dried almost beef jerky like beef and eggs. But instead I ordered muchacha con huevos, wich is girl with eggs :D

Earlier in the trip I when we were at a restaurant where the server knew english I asked him for the check when we were finished. He said "no checks, cash only" Needless to say I'm working on my spanish right now. And I'll be a bit more prepared for the next trip.

They had these little street vendors all over the place selling anything from CDs to clothes and anything in between. I was on a mission since the get go to get Julie a stuffed animal from the trip. Everywhere I go I bring her back one and its just kinda been our thing. I found a little orange frog, but it was made in China and had nothing to do with Baja so I'll just keep looking and use this as a backup.

One thing I gotta say is the drivers here are atrocious. Only complaint I have. Here is a semi passing another truck on a double solid yellow line approaching a blind corner.

Many of the guard rails have been taken out.

Two cars passing a semi on a blind corner. This yellow median disappears at the corner. This is just a gripe and something to be cautious of. I learned to stay on the outside of the road on turns and always expect someone to be in my lane or not paying attention.

This is really no different than other trips in America to tell you the truth. I was heading down the PCH a couple years ago on a sportbike and had a guy almost take me out. He was passing someone in oncoming lane on a very narrow tight and twisty part of the 1. It was 2k foot drop off to my right and two cars side by side hauling ass at me in the road. I got around them unharmed but it just goes to show you people are just plain retarded sometimes.

Came across another group of guys that come down here a couple times a month. They had the right idea for sure, a truck full of beer and gas and no weight on their bikes. Helps to live so close in San Diego. The told us of Puerto Nuevo, a little beach town that had a nice hotel and good food, so we headed there. Now they told us to check out the Ortega resturant when we got there and stay at the Newport Beach Hotel. The hotel is now under a new name and may have been aged since their last visit. The Ortega restaurant  well their are about 10 restaurants named Ortega :) so we picked one and it turned out to be amazing.

This is what we paid $27

And this is what we got! So good!

Later on that night we hit up the town. It was a bit touristy but I was able to find the stuffed animal

I found this one place that had all kinds of stuff and I ended up getting this. A little senorita doll.

Walked around the corner and found a little gata doll as well so I'm set.

Heres a guy doing some spray paint art. We these guys all over vegas, the only difference is this guy isn't using an mask or one of those vacuum air filter things.

The town was not very busy, kinda sad but I guess the tourism has fallen off since the drop in the US economy, we saw it everywhere. People say they would barter with the locals to get a cheaper price and I could hear the tourist doing it, but seriously. Your complaining about spending $5 for something and talking them down to $3-$4? Come on, whats $2 to you? It means a lot more to these people. Cough of the cash and stop being a tight ass. If its a fair price then buy it, if not then don't.

So we bar hopped to a few places and ended back at the Hacienda Ortega. Sat down and watched some boxing and had a few shots and beers. When you sit down and order a beed here this is what you get. Chips, salsa, pico de gallo and fresh tortillas. And this little snifter is what they use for a shot glass. More like a big gulp shot!

7 days in Baja (day 6)

Gotta use the gopro and iphone for the rest of the pics.

Welcome back to Baja

Another excellent breakfast and on for a push to Ensenada. Durring breakfast we ran into Peter again! It's funny how you keep bumping into the same people down here. He saw our bikes out front and came in to find us and said he always see us eating. I can't help it. The food here is amazing! Almost everywhere you go they do their food a little different but equally as good. Gonna have some serious mexican food withdraws when I get back.

Here's one of the smaller military checkpoints we came across. I have some videos to sort through and I'll post a typical checkpoint crossing to show everyone how they really are. All the guys seemed nice and courteous just like our soldiers here in the states. When you tell them your from Vegas they all say "ahh Las Vegas!! fun times" You can see the barrels filled with sand in the road with tires on them for a makeshift sand bunker and defense position. And old tire tread painted yellow for speed bumps.

I should have taken a photo of a Pemex gas station to show their not all local barrel gas. But on long stretches of empty road and remote towns you come across these guys. It's not a huge worry running out of gas here. Our bikes will get us 200 miles on pavement and about 160 in dirt and sand. The "closest" we got to running out of fuel was when he had 70 miles left on our tanks. We just made sure to fuel up when we could and tried not to run below a half tank.

Long grueling highway miles all the way to this other hotel north of San Quinten. We're not rushing this trip at all. We could get up at dawn and haul ass to till the sun goes down. But that's no way to take a trip, the idea is to sit back and enjoy life and what it has to offer. Visit new places and see different things, along the way you'll meet some pretty cool people doin the exact same thing. Yo will also come across a few people doing some crazy shit. This is Scott (Fudscrud), this man has been zig zagging agross Baja on some remote side trails, game trails, and even following some old buried waterlines till the trails petter out. Very cool guy, who introduced us to Gatapeso a local celebrity who should be on the Dos Equis commercial and truly the most interesting man in the world. LOL

Stopped in this place for some grub and cold beers, I cant remember the name now (this is where that notepad would come in handy) but the food was awesome and the atmosphere was very typical Baja. Another thing about water in Baja, people say don't drink the water here unless its in a bottle. Well beer is usually either bottled or canned and its mostly water. So as long as you stay hydrated with cervezas you'll be fine.

Empty desert highways, full of canyons, rolling hills and no cops. A motorcycle travelers dream.

The little citys are just like any small town city, but without lines in the road or people following traffic laws. Keeps you on your toes :)

Stayed at a super nice hotel along the coast that is a pit stop for the Baja 1000. Great food, friendly people and beds as comfortable as the ones in the Bellagio Casino back home. 

7 Days in Baja (day 5)

Just before we took off we topped off with gas prom Poncho who told us San Francisquito had been taken out by a hurricane a couple years ago and theirs nothing left. We were truly bummed because that was our destination and all we had the night before w granola bars, trail mix, beef jerkey and rum. Looks like it'll be a long haul for some breakfast

I forgot to mention that these pictures are from both Beau (o0synge0o) and I. We both had iphones and both had a Sony DSC-TX10. I also had the go pro on my helmet so I got some good video I'll be posting after I finish this report.

The Sony camera is a real nice walk around point and shoot. You just slide down the cover and snap away, super fast and 90% of the photos are in focus and has proper values of color and contrast. The pictures from the camera along with the size and the fact that its waterproof sold me on the camera. The down side is if you start to drop the camera and catch it by the lanyard, it breaks the outside case where the lanyard loops into. It happened to both our cameras. I found a bungee cord and attached mine to my tank bag thinking it would just bounce back up in a drop but instead it just dangled and bounced off the ground. The bungee worked but I didn't notice it fell out of the bag so it hung there for a little bit getting the shit kicked out of it on each bounce.

On the way from Ponchos we jumped right in to the mix of sand and rock. Came across a couple of other 990s heading the other way from San Frascisqito. Nice guys, chatted up a bit then took off. They said they had just stayed the night in SF and it may have been taken out a couple years back but its got cabins and a house you can rent. Not sure if Poncho was trying to get us to skip his competition or just didn't have any current info. Either way good news! This means tacos on the beach for breakfast!

Deep sand,broken pannier racks, and no tacos on the beach...

The trail went from rocky to deep sand with some washouts in between. As we entered another sandy bit going about 30-40 mph when Beau got sucked into the center, then highsided and ejected. The spill snapped his Heptco Becker pannier rack in 4 separate places and bent it up like a paper clip. The metal they used is like that cheap pot metal and the welds themselves looked sloppy.  I even grabbed part of it and bent it with my own hands. It's garbage, stay away from them!

The combination of heavy bike, heavy panniers and delicate racks ended up with use trying to safety wire and zip tie the rack back together. We did what we could but this thing was fucked. We tried using that C-clamp bit in a chain tool kit to brace the rack. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Our little Jerry rig efforts held for about a half mile then the rear support bar got caught on the rear wheel and broke what was left of the rack. So we had to take and strap one box on the top of my bike and take all the luggage out of his other side box strap it up on the top of his.

We slowly limped our way back into the main road. Due to the damage done we had to get off the dirt and back to asphalt then continue the ride on road. Wich was totally fine because we were running out of days and still had a lot to see.

We stopped by Rancho Piedra Blanca for a bite to eat. The guys here were nice as hell and the food was of course amazing. The place had showers, bathrooms and was real clean. It's gonna be a must stop for future trips.

On an inspection of the bikes I noticed one of the mounts for my sidebags was pulling through, the Kriega Pannier design needs a large flat washer to keep it from pulling through. Noting I can do about it now, I just popped it back in and I'm hoping for the best. A short while later one of the handle screw things fell off. So it is either too tight or too loose with these things >.<

Stopping once again for gas along the way I decided to take a picture of the funnel I brought. Make sure you bring your own funnel with a screen or this shit stops up your filters! Another idea is to bring coffee filters and use that in their funnels. Just make sure you use something. We also brought some octaine booster but soon we found out that the Pemex gas stations sold that as well. So we just put a bit of that in the tanks when we got crap gas.

Got on the the highway and found a hotel in Gurrero Negro that had Wifi! I was finally able to check emails and my work calls and update a little on this blog. I also got a chance to do some much needed laundry.