Santispac

Dec 6 through Dec 13
This beach is pretty famous and well known to RV'ers. And it's not hard to see why. No real facilities, but it is absolutely gorgeous.  Roughing it never looked so good. Swam some but mostly just laid in the sun, from morning till evening. 75 degrees and slightly breezy all week, near perfect. Went snorkeling one day, saw tons of fish, but nothing real colorful or tropical looking. Water is a bit chilly, had to come in after 1/2 hour or so.

view to the NE

Every evening a guy comes around to collect the $8 fee. Any each morning various local vendors drive through selling fish, shrimp, tamales, etc. Bought a kilo of shrimp for 210P (about $8 per lb). Maybe not a great price, but fresh off the boat and it made ten separate meals. And I found myself really looking forward each morning to a fresh empenada or tamale (12P or about $1.05), very tasty.

fried up with butter, garlic and onions

 Met lots of really decent people camping down here, most were Canadians. Most all of them do this for about half the year, and some have been doing it for 20+ years. One guy from Alberta took me back into Mulege to show me around. I had previously discovered I couldn't get my RV down the narrow streets here, so never really saw much of the town until now. He showed me all his favorite places, shared his tribal knowledge with me, I learned so much. Mulege was hit hard two years ago by a hurricane and the damage is still much in evidence.

best sunrise ever seen

my backyard

moving on

Dec 3 through Dec 6
Good drive back to Vizcaino, stayed one night in a park there, pretty uneventful, found a grocery and ATM.
Next day drive to San Ignacio, quaint little old style Mexican village with a famous old mission. Stayed at a place called "Rice and Beams", restaurant, hotel and RV park. Stayed there a couple nights, the owner was really nice to me, bought me drinks and even a meal. This place is a legendary stop for the Baja 1000. The whole bar is filled with autographed pictures, posters and jerseys from the years past. San Ignacio is an actual oasis, lots of date palms and water.

San Ignacio mission

San Ignacio oasis

Left and went on to Santa Rosalia, back on the Sea of Cortez again. But once again I find this town kind of disappointing. Supposedly a great French bakery in town, couldn't find it. And was hoping to stock up on groceries for some isolated beach  camping, but never found a good store either. Roads too narrow to bring the RV, had to walk everywhere. So with minimal supplies, I head down the coast.

leaving Asuncion

December 3, 2010
Finally broke to magical grip this place has on me.
While scouting the dreaded road situation on my bike, I noticed a few vehicles leaving town on the new/unopened road. Loaded up the RV and made a run for it, hoping to catch the construction crews on siesta. Policeman stopped me about 4 miles down the new road and told me to turn around, I discussed the RV vs dirt road dilemma I had, shared a tootsie roll pop with him, then noticed a worker waving me through!!! Tootsie rolls for everyone. Amazing what good luck and American candy will do.

wild(?) burros alongside the new road

still chillin in Asuncion

November 24, 2010
No turkey here for Thanksgiving, but I did have a nice lobster, grilled over an open fire in the campground.  Been getting lots of sun, locals must think I'm crazy sitting in my lounge chairs all day. Gets nippy at night (low 50's) but warms up nicely to low 70's. Taken lots of rides up and down the coast, running high speed on  deserted beaches, what a fantasy, it's almost as good as the golf course dream (but these tracks repair at high tide). Biggest problem is the local dogs, they love to chase my bike, sometimes whole packs of them. They are damn smart too, because they always attack from the right side, apparently they know I can't hit them with my throttle hand. I'm thinking of designing some sort of remote deployed pepper gas canister. Looked at real estate here. Amazing bargains price-wise, but there are some hoops to jump thru.

no one around for miles

onto Bahia Asuncion

November 21, 2010
Even days after the race now, at least 50% of the northbound traffic on hwy 1 was Baja1000 vehicles and support teams returning from La Paz. Super wide trailers and extended mirrors. I touched mirrors with one at 55 mph, hope his got damaged at least as bad as mine. So after all the scary Mexican semi's passing by, it's a gringo that clips me!
Turned west at Vizcaino, on towards Asuncion.
This little fishing village on the west coast, supposedly now had a brand new paved road all the way into town.Well, only sort of true, I could see it, but it wasn't opened yet. Rough pot-holed hiway and 30 miles of awful dirt road. The RV doesn't do well in wash board. Then some deep sandy sections, I was so worried about getting the rig stuck, but just like with a motorcycle, when in doubt, gas it...........I was a nervous wreck, but I made it. Love this little town, gringos are more integrated here than other Mexican resorts I've been to, no separate gringo enclaves. I find this place so chill and enchanting, I end up staying 12 days! I camp at Juan and Sheri's for $90 a week, hot showers, flush toilets and wifi. Took a panga out deep sea fishing with Juan, caught a bunch of yellowtail, Calico bass, bonita and barracuda.

27 lb yellow tail

Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez

November 17 >>>> 20, 2010
Ended up staying here for 4 days, at Daggets campground just north of BoLA. Got good sun and some fishing, windy at times. But the high-lite here was the Baja1000 passing thru town. First two motorcycles came thru at about 1:30pm, then the next bikes didn't show up for another hour. BoLA is at mile 380 of the race course, and these two guys had a huge lead already. I watched all the bikes come in on a dirt section just south of town

not one of leaders I mention, but good shot

relaxing on the Sea of Cortez

Then towards the evening, I was cruising around on my bike, waiting for the trophy trucks to start showing up. I met up with some guys from Team Mango Racing, they invited me into their pits for refreshments, really nice folks. When they found out I kind of knew what was what, they asked if I'd help out when their trucks came through. They had a trophy truck and a Pro truck running. About 10pm, after many hours of waiting, now we get a burst of excitement, trophy truck arrives and gets tires and fuel. All that travel, waiting and expense for just ten minutes of necessity. And that process was repeated at about ten different pit stops per team.

Team Mango trophy truck

These million dollar vehicles have absolutely incredible lighting systems. Through out the race, I was riding around on my bike and was assumed by many to be a racer. Locals cheered me on and cops tried to direct me into the official SCORE pits.

Crossed into Mexico at Tijuana

November 16, 2010
Thru the border in relatively uneventful fashion, showed my pre-bought FMT  and they stamped my passport. Going thru Ensenada was pretty lively with all the racers cruising the streets uncorked and in full race gear. Then there was a 30 mile stretch of the highway that had multiple road construction projects taking place. Lots of delays and waiting, and this is the main highway for the whole state, they sure do things differently down here.

Now passing through Catavina boulder field, some of the most dramatic and curious desert scenery imaginable. Awesome trees and cactus everywhere, very prehistoric looking flora. Passing thru this area after a grueling 12 hours of white knuckle driving.

I spend my first night in Mexico at Rancho Santa Inez, just past Catavina. I sleep well.

The day has come, on to Baja

November 15, 2010
Heading to Baja tomorrow morning. Hopefully all my planning, dreaming and preparations will be rewarded. What adventures may lay ahead? Added bonus, the Baja1000 offroad race will be happening while I'm down there. I've been a fan of and a participant in desert racing for many years, but I've never witnessed this epic event in person.

Hungry Valley Off-Road Vehicle park in Gorman (top of the Grapevine)

Early November 2010
Spent a couple days here, superb riding trails. Best of all, all three of our sons were here with there bikes also. And it was the first time I've been able to celebrate my brothers birthday, in person, for 35 years. When we used to ride back in the old days, I not sure we ever envisioned such an event in our future. Taylor brothers and all 3 Taylor sons together, carrying on the dirt bike tradition. Lots of testosterone flying around that weekend, great bench racing and trash talking.

on to San Diego

October 2010
Spending lots of time with two of my kids in Ocean Beach. Mostly stealth camping on the city streets, never got hassled by cops. Stocking up the RV with basics, lots of new fishing gear and some specialty items. I take a few trips out to Borrego Springs to test the RV and motorcycle for the high level of preparedness needed in Baja. Some heavy rains and flash floods, intermixed with nice sunny riding days. Almost got the rig stuck in the flooding while boon-docking, but the riding the next day was superb. After the rains subsided, rode the bike out to Font's Point, the normal dirt rode was totally washed away, and the 50 yard wide arroyo was now the trail. Not a single tire track anywhere, this was akin to skiing fresh virgin powder. On the way out of Borrego, I encountered a section of highway at the Salton Sea that had sustained recent earthquake damage, the RV actually got airborne a bit and my bike launched out of it's rack and got drug down the road. This mishap tore up the rear tire, but I was real lucky, this could have been catastrophic. Lesson learned, one extra tie down needed.

Peg Leg campground totally flooded

Font's Point trail

mishap

now in southern California

September 19, 2010

Arrived in SoCal after a nice 3 day trip. Spent a few days doing things on the RV, mainly making a good/strong motorcycle rack for the back of the rig. Really cool custom fab work by my brother and talented sons. Should be tough enough for the upcoming Baja abuse.

Leaving Seattle

September 17, 2010
Took a week or so to clear up all Seattle responsibilities, said goodbyes and headed south on I-5.

general background and my intent

Mid September 2010
I've been fantasizing about this for a long time. Looks like now is the time to make it happen.  I bought a 10 year old RV and a dual sport motorcycle. This motor home will be my only "residence" for the foreseeable future. Plan is to head south to Baja, seeking good sunny beaches and hooking into some lively fishing. As a rule, I hope to camp free, and in general get by on as little money as possible. Last and scariest preparation step, I gave notice and quit work after a 35 year computer engineering career.