Tag Archives: Baja

Baja bound

It’s time to hit the road again. This time I’m headed down the Baja. Yes, that’s right. All the way down once again. The last time was in 2001, and that seems like a long time ago.

That last time I rode with a good friend, who has since passed away. Don was an old-time biker who rode and wrenched and did most everything there was to do on a motorcycle. I will miss his humor on this trip, but I know he’ll be looking down and smiling.

The temperatures down there are in the mid-70s. The sky is blue and the beach sand is white. What more could there be to life?

I’ve got a fresh engine and new tires. In fact, the bike is running flawlessly, so it won’t be a problem.

All I have to do now is pack, and that won’t take long.

I have no good-byes to say.

A Christmas ride

Santa passed me by so I took off for a ride down the hill to warmer temperatures, blue sky and sunshine. With only 1,100 miles on the new engine I want to hit the asphalt as much as I can between now and when I head down the Baja early next year. I’d rather discover the problems before I’m on the road down there. The isolation and lack of communications doesn’t bode well for getting a lift to civilization or for ordering parts.

This is the second Christmas that I’ve spent out riding. I did the same thing last year. It’s such a welcome change from being up north in the cold and snow. I enjoy it down here so much because of the weather alone.

No matter what comes next in life, I’ll always have fantastic memories of the great riding, the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. Even the hypocrites and the losers I know take on a new look in such weather. I can just smile at them all and venture on down the road while they remain where they are, trapped in their petty little lives trying to live a lie.

The riding is good. The weather is good. Life is good.

This man doesn’t need more than that.

Rumor and myth

Riding the Baja

For years I had wanted to ride a motorcycle down the length of Mexico’s venerable Baja Peninsula, a one-way trip of over a thousand miles. Now I had the opportunity: No job. No home. No future. I was ready!

As rides go, it wasn’t going to be all that adventurous. Sure, there were the usual rumors of bad roads, bad gas, bad food, bad people and military road blocks, repeated ad naseum by people who had never ridden or even put a foot on the Baja.

As for the bad roads, that was a myth. Mexico 5 is paved all the way from Mexicali to San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez. Yes, it is narrow, and yes it is rough in spots, but all manner of vehicle, from dirt bike to Winnebago, traverse the road to San Felipe and beyond – while the gas at the most remote end of the pavement is good.

For years while riding to San Felipe I had come across the usual road blocks, manned by kids no older than 18, wearing brand-new uniforms and brandishing M-16s. They didn’t appear too threatening to me, and were mostly interested in my motorcycle and having their picture taken while standing beside it, all the while sporting huge grins.

To date, I’ve not had a meal in Mexico that I haven’t liked.

The people are superb, and my only disadvantage has been that I am unable to speak fluent Spanish; however, that’s my problem, not theirs.

So much for rumor and myth.