Back to Baja, day 11

We woke up this morning to blustery winds blowing off of the water and across town. The whitecaps on the water confirmed that it was a good day not to go fishing. Instead, we enjoyed a nice breakfast, packed up and hit the road.

We pointed the bikes north to catch Highway 3 across Baja to Ensenada. The high winds slowed progress somewhat but seemed to largely be head winds so at least I, wasn't being blown from one lane to another.

The desert varies greatly all across Baja. At some places rocks and cactus dominate the terrain. Other areas can be grass and sage brush while others are a mixture of any and all. Interesting and enjoyable. I had thought of stopping to cut some fresh aloe vera and prickly pear cactus but didn't take the time. I'll try to take the time at the next opportunity.

One of the things Peter and I had been told about traveling in Baja and probably all of Mexico for that matter, is to fill up the gas tank when ever you see a gas station. The reason is, you never know when you'll see the next one. We left San Felipe with less than full tanks. Both of us remembered seeing a gas station at the junction of Highways 3 and 5. It turned out that it was just a store/taco stand instead. Should have topped off in town.

We hit some curves and I decided to blast off and carve some of those corners. The side car can't perform anywhere near the performance of a bike designed for sport. After I had cleared the corners, I pulled over in front of a small store to wait for the rest of the troops.

As Peter pulled in has was glad to


see me, as he was almost out of fuel. If worse came to worse, I could run up ahead and bought some gas and brought it back. Me, having blasted off could have left Peter and our all important female cargo stranded. No need to worry. There was a truck, where I stopped, that was towing a desert buggy. They were filling the truck's gas tank from bottles of gas they had in the back of the pickup. Peter asked, and they were happy to share a little gas with Peter and wouldn't even accept any money for their kindness. Fantastic people everywhere we have been in Mexico.

We arrived I'm Ensenada and were able to find the same hotel the Peter and I had stayed at, both north and south on our last Baja trip.

Magically, it was cerveza time! Off to a favorite bar of Peter and mine. They serve the best Mexican Caeser complete with clams. A few of those, a few cervezas, maybe a vino or two and we were ready for the rest of the evening.




Down to the malicon and a walk through the fresh fish market and finally to a restaurant, Italian in this case, for dinner. Afterwards we went to a little bar down the street for an after dinner drink. We struck up a conversation with


a most delightful couple from Mexico City, here on vacation. Great times!

Just after 10:00PM, having deciding not to watch the pole dancing, we turned in for the night.


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Back to Baja, day 10

Today we toured San Felipe and some of the surround area. After a nice breakfast we hopped on


the bikes and set out to find the aeroporto road. I was sure I had seen a sigh for it on the was into town, the trouble is, I couldn't remember exactly where on on the road that was. We followed our previous route in, but the opposite direction and couldn't find a sign anywhere. When it was obvious we were now way too far north, we turned around and headed back. Low and behold, just as we entered the round-a-bout at the town's entrance, there was a sign pointing to a road leaving diagonally from intersection.

The quality of the side road diminished substantially from the main road. Probably an old oiled gravel pavement but with rocks used instead of gravel. It wasn't so bad on my bike but the sidecar rides more roughly over the bumps.

We pressed on and began to cruise the neighborhoods. Lots of houses ranging from small to down right stunning. Many signs too, of dreams and projects gone bust. Unfinished resorts and


hotels dot the area. We did stop at one condo complex that had some finished units and plans for many more to be completed in two additional phases. We were shown a number of the 2-4 bedroom units. Absolutely beautiful condos built on a terrific section of beach. They'd all be nice!

Buy the time we were done with our tour, it was magically cerveza time!



We headed to the north end of the malicon and went to a nice place a little up the hill at the end of the bay.

We met a few Americans there (even the bartender was from


Bremerton, WA). Some of the people spend months here and some just a week or so. Nice people and fun talking to them.




We just relaxed the rest of the day. Wandering through some of the shops and a small bit of dinner. Back to the rooms early.

We decided not go fishing in San Felipe. White Sea Bass is the local fish along with their famous shrimp fishery. A 1/2 day trip is only $30 per person. If you venture much further out, other species can be found.

Instead, we have decided to head towards the wine country near Ensenada. We'll pack up and head towards the Guadalupe Valley tomorrow.


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Back to Baja, day 9

We woke up in Tecate, well rested after a good dinner at a local restaurant and a night cap at a local disco bar. We had


arrived too late to visit the Tecate brewery and now it was too early. We did drive by and the smells of the boiling wort were wonderful.




Breakfast at a local taco stand had us ready for the road.

Our travels took us from Tecate through La Rumorosa bypassing Mexicali and on to San Felipe. About 4-1/2 hours of travel.




San Felipe is a very pretty little town situated on the north end of the Sea of Cortez. Lots of hotels, shops, restaurants, bars and vacation property a plenty. A grand Malicon boarders the waters edge. The trouble is, with the falling of the US economy, San Felipe has suffered.

Apparently weekends are busier but for us on a monday, its pretty quiet. The Baja 1000 off road race fills the town for a few days and a shrunken tourist trade remains. The place is kept spotless and ready for more people.

We had a great dinner at a steak


and seafood place next door to our hotel followed to a walk to a seaside bar for a nightcap.

Peter and I will be checking out the fishing. Shopping and sight seeing will fill the remainder of our time here.

Lots to see and do. Should be fun.


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Back to Baja, day 8

Today, we began our journey to Mexico. Our route took us over highway 74 to highway 371 to highway 79 and on to some other astonishingly twisty roads. The altitude and temperature change of our ride was somewhat unexpected. We went from the relative sea level of Palm Springs to the twisty roads over mountains defining the area to the high flat land of Tecate.

The temperatures ranged from a promising 70or 80 in Palm Springs to freezing and probably below above 4000 feet (which we reached several times.) We stopped several times in a smattering of small towns or what ever was convenient, just to get off the bikes and restart circulation. Cold! Startlingly cold. We were dressed for much warmer temperatures than we encountered.

The countryside is beautiful and goes through numerous variations along the way. A geologist could explain it, but a well chosen route none the less. Highly recommended for anyone else who has shelved their sanity and opted for adventure.

When we finally dropped down to Tecate, we saw a very pretty area. A sprawling town draped over rolling hills As of this writing, we haven't yet explored much of the town. Just enough that we know we want to see more.

We had a very good dinner at a




restaurant close to our hotel. It was night capped by a drink at a dance club just a little further down from that.

Back to the room, we will explore and travel on mañana.


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Back to Baja, Day 7

Our better halves arrived today. Our most important task was to make sure to be at the airport on time.

Tougher than you might think as the airplane, for once, was early. We had a couple of errands to take care of before hand and got there just as the plane was touching down. It all worked out.

We thought we would show the ladies around a bit and grab some lunch. From the airport we were blocked by a parade down one main streets so we had to detour a bit.

Peter spotted a neat little bar & grill while cruising around that worked great for a quick stop. From there we cruised around looking at some of the homes. We finally made our way to El Paseo Dr. which is the Palm Springs equivalent to Rodeo Dr. in Los Angeles. All the high end stores.

Finally to the house for a little cocktail hour, a bite to eat at a local restaurant and back to the house for the night.

We begin our journey to Mexico in the morning so we're all ready for a good nights sleep.
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Back to Baja, day 6

We finally had a chance to play tourist today. Up early, we decided to head back to a little mexican restaurant that we had lunch at the other day. We had noticed several landscape trucks parked in front while driving by on a previous morning. That led us to believe that the food would be good. It was. Chorizo and scrambled eggs is a great way to start the day. From there, we hit Highway 111 heading south toward the Sultan Sea.

The goal was to drive around it just to explore the area. The GPS was programmed for Niland, CA, just a short way down the east side of the sea. We took the "Old Highway 111" which took us through all of the old towns that had thrived when all thr traffic had to pass through.

Plenty of commerce still appears to take place, but signs were there that many tourist attractions were no longer viable. We also pass by hugh fields of Date Palm trees. It appears to be a sizable farming industry in the area. Further on we happened to merge with 6 other bikes heading in the same direction. They turned off at a road labeled "Hot Mineral Spa Road". We kept on going the remaining 16 miles to Niland.

Peter had heard that Talipa fish were farmed in the area and upon stopping in Niland we learned that it takes place at the Hot Mineral Spa Road, 16 miles earlier. Oh well, something to go and see the next time we are in the area. Next stop was Brawley, CA at the south end of the Sultan Sea. We were told of Ramey`s Meats in town that was a must see. Nice place with friendly people. We thought we would cook in tonight so a couple of steaks were in order. We were traveling on however so purchasing them now would have been a problem. Our route back would again take us through Brawley so we would (and did) make our purchase later.

Calexico was our next stop. This is right on the Mexican boarder across from Mexicali. Since we were in the area, why not walk across the boarder and take a look at the town. Walking into Mexico was easy; just walk in. We did notice, however, a mile long line of people waiting to walk across into the US. Verbalizing or concern that out 2 hour parking limit would expire long before we could return, a helpful bypasser informed us that "old people" could head to the front of the line. Fealing great now, we walked on...

Mexicali reminded me of the stories you heard about Tijuana many years ago. Lots there for the drunk sailor. Apparently, many touriests also go there for medical and dental procedures as well as their prescription drugs. There were a number of establishments providing those needs. We decided to stick with having a quick beer and purchasing a bottle of liquor to take back across the line.

It was difficult to find a bar without dancers to entertain the sailers. We finally found a place that seemed to lack entertainment and went in. We ordered a small beer each that happened to be an entire 940 ml!  One was plenty.

It was more difficult to find a liquor store than we thought it would be. We had asked a number of people after failing to see signage. Most people didn`t want to understand our butchered spanish and failed to understand english. Finally Juan happened to hear us askng questions an stepped in to help. Not only did he personally take us to a liquor store but also helped us "old folks" to the front of the return to the US line where we found the SENTRI line (the Mexican equivalent to NEXUS). Juan was rewarded nicely for his tour guiding and his efforts left us with plenty of time on the parking meter.

We headed back on the west side of the Sultan Sea. We took a short detour to see some of what used to be a thriving vacation area. Back home we cooked up our Brewley steaks and had a fantastic dinner to cap off a very nice day.

Back to Baja, day 5

Thank Google for the lack of pictures. I will edit the posts as soon as I figure out how to work with or around their latest changes.

It's amazing how well rested you feel when you're not on the side of the road in the cold and snow with diesel trucks blasting around and through at any and all hours of the night. Not that I'm complaining, its been a great trip. But this morning, I felt very well rested.

Our day was filled with mostly errands. The motor home developed a crack from top to bottom of the drivers side windshield after navigating some rather nasty parts of highway 99. As we were heading towards Palm Springs, Peter had made arrangements with his insurance to have it replaced. Great. The challenges come in because the place that is going to fix the glass, can't store the motor home. Okay, so we can find a place to store and luckily, the glass company is willing to install the glass where ever it's parked.

We had been told that Bermuda Dunes Executive Airport (a local private airport), would store motor homes. They told us that they try not to. Fortunately they did have a place that gave a discount to people from the airport, which we had now just become…. We dashed over and made arrangements. All good. Now, we were on bikes rather than the motor home. So back to grab one of each.

Parked. Now back to sign the contract for the glass. Good, except they can't do that until they have a price for and order the glass. Okay, so we head off to find the airport that our wives will be landing at and we might as well grab some lunch.

Great lunch, some touring around, back to sign the contract they finally had a price for pretty much filled the rest of the afternoon.

We did manage to find our planned route from Palm Springs toward Tecate. Highway 42 is a twisty road that was paved over the existing rocks, hills and valleys of the hills that boarder one side of the Palm Desert. Should be a fun trip.


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