Baja - ride report to Cabo...and back!

[luckett]

Guadalupe canyon rocks! And there actually is a real road that goes there.

 

[CockyRooster]

(and I hope you're enjoying the reliving as much as I am the reading )

That event, was that like a mini Mexican Burning Man or what?

Yup

and yup. They were a small faction of the burning man crowd that felt burning man lost it's spirit

Guadalupe canyon rocks! And there actually is a real road that goes there.

From the North, yes, which is what I eventually had to use. I was trying to find it from the south where after it was pointed out to me there was a small, washed out, card board, hand written sign sitting on the ground somewhat visible from the other direction. The road from the North is actually somewhat civilized

 

[dstryr]

Just read the whole thing and sounds like an amazing trip you did.

Where exactly did you and your girlfriend stay? That resort looked sweet and how much did it run you? I just sold my camaro (toy) and a few dirtbikes...looking to take the gf on a nice vacation soon.

 

[luckett]

From the North, yes, which is what I eventually had to use. I was trying to find it from the south where after it was pointed out to me there was a small, washed out, card board, hand written sign sitting on the ground somewhat visible from the other direction. The road from the North is actually somewhat civilized

What was the condition of the road from the south? I was going to take that route, but was advised that it could be rutted out pretty badly since the Mexicali off road clubs like to use that area for races. We ended up going thru the national park and back down, which was a really good ride.

 

[RPegasso1]

Most definitely, a trip to Baja on a bike is in my bucket list… thx CockyRooster, marvellous way to tell you story… but keep it coming “we” still have several miles to travel …

 

[cp1]

Thanks for the post. Hopefully, i'll be able to share my experience on the road as well next year.

Keep it coming. Really awesome!

 

[F33rNoFish]

WOW! Very inspiring!

I would love to take a journey like this one day...one day!

 

[SRAD600]

Very cool trip report.
Was thinking about heading to Mexico with the GF for turkey day...now I'm thinking maybe ride down and meet her there...hummm

 

[CockyRooster]

Very cool trip report.
Was thinking about heading to Mexico with the GF for turkey day...now I'm thinking maybe ride down and meet her there...hummm

So are you riding down for turkey day?

 

[ThumperX]

Anyone want to do this over Christmas?

 

[rwdforlife]

dang! what a trip you got there! you must be one lucky person to have many months of traveling and fun!

 

[SRAD600]

So are you riding down for turkey day?

Nope Was drafted into going to visit the parents instead. :|

sounds almost as fun.....right.....

 

[CockyRooster]

Nope Was drafted into going to visit the parents instead. :|

sounds almost as fun.....right.....

You can still go..(you just might not be able to come back though.)

 

[CockyRooster]

Well it's time to wrap this trip up. Packing up the bags has gotten easier as there's no food left and the water is gone so precious space is welcomed. I fold up the tent and say bye to a some new friends and motor out of camp. A small caravan of trucks paraded out along the dirt road everybody came in on, and as they negotiated every rock, hole, and bump I just fly by on the left at about 70+ waving and honking

I went East to the Tecate border and split the traffic to the front. The line was a miserable 1/4 mile long of grump gringos stewing in the heat. Everyone was jockying for position so it made snaking through traffic difficult, but sometimes the sidewalks came into good use.

Back to America, for better or worse. As I got to the front of the pack before the gate I got back in line and behaved myself, sitting there for some time, letting the whole experience wash over me in my mind.

Almost every person I met was wonderful and generous. Nearly everybody was warm and welcoming to a motorcyclist, or at the very least, indifferent. I found in general that people had a wide awareness of what was going on around them. I would roll up behind a Semi trucker and he within 10 seconds he/she would signal when it was safe to pass. People would wait at intersections for me to pass through, and as I mentioned earlier hotel managers actually thought it was cool to have a motorcycle in the lobby. It was cool to be treated as a first class citizen. It was great to be in the company of much brotherhood. I met a few old desert racers and one guy in particular was about 80 years old. He said he missed riding more than anything after giving it up at 70 because of bad knees. He was one of the happiest people I've ever met

[Begin of gripe]
I've come to just not talk about riding motorcycles to strangers in America because I just can't stand another "I used to ride when I was young, but then I wised up...blah blah blah but I was the best blah blah blah...you should blah blah blah..." I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about. [/End of gripe.]

The locals often work 12 hours a day 6-7 days a week. If a restaurant had a waitress or bartender they were often the only one and would be there for the entire duration of business hours - often from 10-10 everyday. Whenever I stopped back into the motorcycle shop it was always the same people, and never once did I run across anyone less than helpful. Perhaps they went home and complained, but I never heard. I must thank everybody who made my trip such a wonderful time. It was because of them and there hard work that Baja was my little playground for a time.

I make it to the guard gate, and since my tan couldn't hide my gringo-ness, and it was unlikely I had a Mexican stuffed in my saddlebags I got waved through. Hello America!

 

[CockyRooster]

Being in SoCal I had planned on looking for my Mom to say Hi. I hadn't seen her much since my Dad passed away in '02, but I knew she Gypsied around here somewhere among the desert. After a phone call to my sister and some conversations with the local parks and rec. dept. I was able to sort of hone in on what corner of the desert she was hanging out in for the winter.

How hard could it be to find someone?

It turns out she is somewhere near Blythe, so I was advised to just find the prison, hang a left, and go into the desert for about 15 miles. Or maybe 10, perhaps 20. So I head towards Blythe by way of a two lane road to find a hotel room to settle in as it may be a day or two of exploring. I follow a VW bug along the road way poking along at 30mph somewhat erratically and decide to get away from the bozo. I pull to the left to pass and sure enough the dip twit decides to do a U-turn in the middle of the road, in the middle of the desert, for no apparent reason without even an intersection for miles. I goose the gas and swerve wide but the ding bat seems to punch it as well, and I nail his left front fender as I run out of road to escape on (ditch/fence on the shoulder.) He clipped my saddle bag and just knocked me into a fish tail, but I rode loose and got the little mule to stop. The guy pulls over and stares at his fender for about 5 minutes before coming to see how I was. I remained focused fixing my saddle bag.
"I never saw you."
Never looking up, and quite agitated I replied "No kidding," Strapped the saddle bag back on after mending the tweaked clip, and rode off. Two months in Mexico and not a single incident. I'm not across the border for 20 minutes and I get taken out

I find a hotel room and unload the bags before setting out to find a meal. What did I want? *Drum roll please* McDonald's! For all of the good things in Mexico the food is mostly sugar and fat, and I was craving some salt and fat. The line was long as the place was next to a major highway, and the people seemed consist of a predetermined disappointment. The patrons were tense with a loaded gripe about the service/food etc, and the employees were a bit snobby as if they were too good for their jobs, and prepared to not care. It was a bit of culture shock after so much hospitality in even the furthest corners of Baja. I enjoy my hamburger and fries and return back to my hotel room satiated albeit feeling a little sick.

I loaded up early with a big day ahead, enjoy my continental breakfast of stale muffin and hotel coffee, and head out. It took a little bit of criss-crossing the area but eventually I had found a likely spot and found her.

I never got to say goodbye to my dad in much of any way. He was just gone. No real service or ceremony - just a phone call, some paper work, a visa card transaction, and that was about the most of any connection I had with his passing but for the memories of the last time I saw him a few months earlier as he was passing by. Somehow I knew that he was making his round of goodbyes and that would be the last time I would ever see him. Not unlike many war vets he was a gristled old summabich even when he was young, but I gave him the strongest hug that I could and told him to enjoy his trip. He returned the hug in kind, and I guess that was my clue.

Motorcycles have been a needle that has threaded so many friends and family into my life. My father was a closed book on affection, but after I won my first amateur championship I got the first hug from him ever, and the best conversations we had were about the workings of my race motors and race strategies. Motorcycles just have a magical way of opening up some otherwise impossible possibilities.
With what he could give me in shelter and food he did as a father, but what he shared with me in knowledge and experience in life he did as a friend, and that is a gift not many people receive. By way of tearing apart engines together he taught me how to think and that there is no such thing as a shortcut - just experience of knowing what works and what doesn't so often by trial and error. He reminded me often that it is important to just shut up and pay attention to what you're doing

I understood that his ashes had already been scattered, but it turns out my mom still had a small stash left, so I loaded him into the saddlebags for one last ride and headed out deeper into of the desert. Dusk was settling in and about 20 miles out I found a special little hill.

I'm sure that this is a view he would enjoy.

Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought that this was a special place as this pile of rocks were formed on the top in particular way.

In my riding gear I felt it was appropriate attire as this when we were at our closest and it was time to finally say goodbye.

It is a surreal experience to hold the bones of my father in my hands and sift his ashes through my fingers...the very bones that fed me, hugged me, hit me, taught me to think, taught me to fight, taught me to love - sifting into the wind disappearing into the horizon. As he spread out among the world it was indistinguishable to know were he ended, and life began. The ashes looked like, and disappeared into the dust and the bones fell to the ground as rocks. The separation was nil and humbling. I tried to wonder where he went but the only thought I had was nowhere. I just no longer recognized him.
People weave in and out of each others life in transit and death, but for the first time in my life I understood the definition of loss - something that cannot be recovered or replaced.

Godspeed

Among the stark stage of the desert it is obvious that everything we have in life ~ we create. The Earth is nothing but rocks, dirt, and a few remaining trees, but the human experience is entirely ours and our own. Civilization, art, technology, business, love, hatred, friendships, enemies, and family is what we foster and bring to the theater of life. It is a gift by whatever source it may be - God, luck, circumstances, it really doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what we do with our day, and how we do it. To make it count.

The world owes us nothing.

Thank you to everybody that has joined me along this trip, and to all my comrades that have the courage to venture into the darkness beyond the flowers in life.

-Peace

 

[Jcrocker]

Travel being the enemy of ignorance only shows itself more on a bike. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Nemo Brinker]

Amazing trip; great pics; great observations, too. I thought I was the only one who scattered my dad's ashes after a long moto journey--very cool that you had an opportunity to do it as well.

May there be many more such adventures. Bravo.

 

[HiggyB]

FWIW I only recently returned from own, albeit shorter, Baja adventure. I've just gone through this one again as I'm now keen on returning but with a ride all the way to Cabo and back. I hadn't read the last bits yet (everything posted Nov. 8th) and must say that puts quite a finish on an already awesome ride report. Touching stuff about saying your goodbyes to your Dad, thanks for sharing as that goes up there with NB's ride report (trip mentioned just above).

Baja screwed me up, riding has screwed me up. Every day all I can think about is hitting the eject button, throwing a leg over the bike and going... somewhere. Threads like this are the methadone for my addiction (when I can't make a run for the real thing ). With a smile back on my face, I now return to working so I can wrap up this day. Thanks for the smiles and advice I can draw from your ride (again)!

 

[cp1]

Thank you for sharing. I can't find the words to describe how your last post made me feel. very deeply touched.

Ride on and I, too, will join the rank one day and be on the road somewhere.

Thanks again

 

[SteelerFanatic]

Awesome adventure and thank you for sharing.

That is very inspirational, an one day I hope to have something like that experiance me.