Mulege, Baja on the way back North to the USA
BMW s1000rr to Baja and back!!!
Erin and I decided to spend ThanksGiving in Baja with the kids this year. The last time we went we had a amazing time. The only thing is I always have to do things the hard way. What I mean by this is I am going to ride my motorcycle there again. (This makes for a very hard travel day for Erin. She has to pack the kids up and jump on a plane with a 1year old a 3 year old and a 13 year old). To go the shortest way is about 2200 miles or so. We decided to break up the trip into two parts the first that I would ride to the No GI Worlds on my BMW S1000rr. I left the BMW in a shop in Long Beach. I had the oil changed, new rear tire, and the kick stand had came loose again so I was going to have them fix that also. I flew back home for 2 weeks and would return to finish the Tuesday before ThanksGiving.
I had been dealing with the dealership over the phone and had to involve the GM on the last day. Because they hadn’t fixed the kickstand the way I had asked. They were claiming it was going to take until Friday to do it. (I had to be in Cabo Thursday.) He agreed to have a guy get on fixing my bike and it should be done when I arrive in Long Beach. Well at 9:00am when I arrived the bike wasn’t finished. It ends up taking 3 hours longer. So I ended up leaving at 12:00 instead. This doesn’t sound like a lot but I am trying to get as far as possible into Mexico. Becuase I have to pick up Erin and the Kids in 48 hours in Cabo.
Mexico has a few problems with the Cartel as most of you have heard in the news. I end up making it past Ensenada. In hind site I should have stayed there. I stayed in a hotel of sorts, this is the type of hotel where there is no front desk. Just a guy walks up to you (outside) and asks if you want a room. Of course I had the bike in the room. In the middle of the night someone tries to break into my room. My reaction was kind of funny in hind site. (Someone is trying to get in, fuck SOMEONE is trying to get in!!) as I was awaking from my slumber. After I slammed the door shut we were yelling on opposite sides of the door him in Spanish me in English. The walls are cinder block so I was standing up against that in case they started to shoot. I waited about 30 minutes then went back to sleep. Figuring they were convinced I probably wouldn’t sleep for the next month. When I woke up in the am I noticed I had put a hole in the door(about half way thru) from where I hit it in the middle of night. I left really quick in the am, peeking around corners just in case, was hard to get the bike out fast enough. Worst room ever without the break in. With the break in I cant descibe how bad it was. Slept on top of the blankets with my clothes on. I don’t like to stop where I did but the motorcycle shop had me three hours late. So I didn’t make it as far as I should have and ended up sleeping too close to the border. My fault!!!
The bike when I parked in the room the night before. Notice the door.
And the door in the am notice the hole.
The second day involved crossing the part of Baja without gas stations. The locals have taken this into there own hands. At the spots where the government had their gas stations. (Before they closed them) are locals with gas cans selling gas. Kind of interesting if there is a demand for something it will be filled one way or another. Which explains why we can’t keep drugs off the streets in America. There is a demand and no matter how hard we try to stop it there will always be someone willing to fill it. Mulege is a special place in my opinion. This time it didn’t disappoint being far greener then any other time I have been thru it. I am just disappointed that I didn’t have time for pictures on the way down. Because I was running so late on my way to pick up Erin and the kids from the airport. But on the way back I am going to take Erin’s new camera and try to take some pics. It should be fun. I ended up staying in the Loreta at the same hotel I had stayed the last time. Safe secure, nice restaurant right across the street. Wifi to check my email and FB. All the little things we take for granted in the states.
Thanksgiving day I left early to pick up Erin and the kids. I wasn’t sure if I would have time to book our room or not. But I ended up getting a room in time. I rode about 400 miles that day total. So definitely not a short day considering I pick up the kids and Erin plus I booked a room and rode that far.
Here in Los Barriles. We really had a great time. We stayed at a great hotel with our room right on the beach. We took the kids to the beach, ate at this great Italian restaurant, Otra Vez, every night it was open. The one afternoon we went to La Paz. (Erin and the kids had never been.) We parked the car by the Harber. Just something completly different more of city then Cabo. It being a port city lots of industries there. Huge port ect… We went had lunch. W were walking along the harbor and a guy walked up to us telling, or I should say selling us to go out and see the Whales. We said no because of the language barrier. Then I saw pictures! We had the kids, no bathing suits, had to wade out into the water to get in the boats. We all went out there wading out to the boat and then climbed in. The Captain then proceeded to take us out to where the Whale Sharks were feeding. Jourdan and I jumped in the water in our underwear with googles to SWIM with Whale Sharks. Crazy cool, complete accident and dumb luck to get to go. Cost $55 for everyone to go. Just crazy!!! Erin was sad she didn’t get to go swimming with them but she didn’t like the idea of going in her Bra and Panties! But we all agreed it was amazing! I wish I would have had my Go Pro with me it would have been amazing footage. The water was crazy clear and you could see thousands of fish following the Whale Sharks as they fed in the Harber.
We spent 5 days together in Mexico.
Day 1 of the ride home. Dropped the family off at airport then hit the road at around 8:00. Stopped back in Los Brarriles for breakfast at the roadrunner cafe. Then hit the road from there used today as picture taking day. Since I didn’t want to go past Santa Rosalia, a coastal town above Mulege. Last stop before turning into no mans land of villages basically truck stops. No Thank you! Planning on a 500 mile day tomorrow to Ensenada. Then leave Mexico on Thursday. So not really killing miles. But took lots of pictures made it there right before dark. I spent the night in a ok hotel right on the ocean. Clean safe, I would have no problem having my family stay here with me.
I left early hitting the road at 7:00. Took some cool pics both last night at the hotel and on the road today. Met a couple ridding bicycle from Alaska to Argentina. (Family-pedaleres.blogspot.com) They are traveling with there 15 month old baby daughter. It really is crazy who you meet sometimes on these trips. But these two kind of take the prize. They ride around 30 miles a day. He is 27 she is 26. But they are traveling with there baby! Keep in mind they are months into this trip leaving 7 months ago when she (the baby) was just 8 months old. Hospitals miles/days away. Cold, rain, strange people, in the middle of nowhere. And I understand people settled the west in wagons with kids. But that was for a better life. This is just to do it. I understand putting myself in harms way possible to accomplish goals ect… But putting your kid out there is well a little out there. To each there own! There are from Berlin Germany. Both just graduated from university. He has a social working degree her I forget but something similar. Said that they both will have great jobs when they return!!! I thought well fuck in America that degree will keep you living at the poverty level. They both said there parents aren’t happy with them. But they try to Skype once a week if they can to stay in touch so they can see the baby.
Place I met the Husband and Wife
