Baja!!!

[alfalfa]

57 minutes ago, Bruce said:

I know, big balls. But it's handy to remember the GS wont throw you any further than if you were on a 600 single.

 

Of course the GS itself wont bounce as nicely as a 600 single but then it was your decision to take it there.

The big girls do have a tendency to look for a soft landing, tho.  Usually a human body.  Our buddy Rob went over the side in Colorado a couple of years ago.  Nothing happened to him until his loving steed caught up.  Broken foot on that one!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Having been trapped under a heavy bike twice Id say theyre harder to get away from

Dunno if youre more likely to end up under a heavier bike but it feels like you are?!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Ah well yes agreed, going slowly is fatal and on both of those occasions I was going very slowly but there was no choice there was a lot of traffic and you had to crawl forward with the occasional blat if you could push open a space. I know it’s hard to imagine a very long off road traffic jam but that’s kinda what it was

[alfalfa]

59 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Ah well yes agreed, going slowly is fatal and on both of those occasions I was going very slowly but there was no choice there was a lot of traffic and you had to crawl forward with the occasional blat if you could push open a space. I know it’s hard to imagine a very long off road traffic jam but that’s kinda what it was

luckily, our only traffic jams are self-imposed.  We tend to go away from crowds.  However, the proliferation of side by sides out here in the west is making it harder and harder to get away.

[alfalfa]

So, let's see where was I?

 

Oh, yes.  We all made it to Bahia de Los Angeles, and found accommodations.  I'll start off with a lodging picture, just to make you jelly.

The hotel had 2 bed, 3 bed and 4 bed rooms available, so we spent about 15 mins doing Common Core Math in order to figure out the room combination that worked.  I had it worked out, cause I is college edumacated.  It fell apart because 15 type A personalities, you know.

Given there was only one other room taken, we commandeered all the facilities and proceeded to cook dinner.  (actually, the gracious host gave us his truck keys and said go shopping in town and you can use the outdoor kitchen (left in picture above).

 

We ate well.

 

 

with full bellies and beat riders, what was left to do?  well, sitting around the fire, drinking and telling each other how great we were and how much the others sucked that day! You have to have really thick skins to ride with these idjits.  Just keep in mind, however, they have your back.  You will just hear about it afterwards 

 

 

 

Did i mention drinking was involved?

Nothing better than arm wrassling on beat up wood tables.

 

Plans were made for an early fishing trip, with our own boat fleet.

 

Plans were made, but plans werent followed.  Drinking late into the night and waking up after fighting sand and gravel the day before makes one revisit ambitious, drunk-induced activities.   No one got up early enough to catch the boats.

So, we headed off for a good gring-style breakfast, mixed with Mexican entrees.  Then, we took a little ride around the village, ending up back at the hotel where more sitting and more drinking was called for.  The trip itinerary had two days in this general area, so had no great need to head further south.   The comfort of the beds, convenience of the cooking facilities, proximity of stores, etc, made us abandon the goal to camp along the beach.   I wasnt that upset.

 

 

Mexican covid masking.

 

Dennis had heard enough "suggestions" so he hit up a little village swap meet and bought this for his bike.   Guesses on what it means?

 

 

 

 

4 star eatery.   Well, for Baja it is

 

 

 

[alfalfa]

Day 6 - the big one!

 

We had basically reached the end of paved roads along the east coast, when we got to Bahia.  The next stretch was all dirt, 160 miles worth, and no one had been on it in quite some time.  Dennis had done it years ago, but things change in Baja.

We knew that the rode south along the coast connected several little fishing villages, so we figured the road wouldnt be all that bad.  Definitely not like the sand the day before.  And, we were right.  The start of it was some good gravel, a little thin sand in places, and awesome desert scenery.

a Baja superhighway

 

Mandatory FOG pee stop.

 

 

 

2nd FOG pee break

 

 

 

A couple of hours of easy gravel and we reached the southerly end of the dirt stretch, near the village of San Francisquito.

 

And, then......

 

SAND!

 

The thinner stuff

 

 

Resting after the 3rd drop.

 

 

The sand lasted about 6 miles or so, then back to good gravel.  oh, wait!  with hidden sand sections mixed in for when you were just getting comfortable again! 

 

We eventually reached pavement and at least one guy was relieved.

[XTreme]

That sand looks hard work Rick!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

What’s the baby mean then?

No whining? Dont be a cry baby? No children were harmed in the making of this trip?

[skyrider]

On 01/04/2021 at 07:38, XTreme said:

This is brilliant......

what's that between the gloves his brain hasn't popped out has it  ?

[alfalfa]

6 hours ago, skyrider said:

what's that between the gloves his brain hasn't popped out has it  ?

Cow pie.  or, his brain.  same thing, really 

[alfalfa]

11 hours ago, XTreme said:

That sand looks hard work Rick!

oh, yes.  and coming after 3 hrs on the road, already, made it even more fun.   Well, the next day it seemed like we had had fun

[alfalfa]

11 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

What’s the baby mean then?

No whining? Dont be a cry baby? No children were harmed in the making of this trip?

No cry babies, yep.   We  arent allowed near children....

[XTreme]

14 minutes ago, alfalfa said:

No cry babies, yep.   We  arent allowed near children....

Well that's @Bruce excluded then! 

[alfalfa]

Day 6 - continued.

 

We had finally reached pavement again, and reached out to the BMW club riders who had been south to do whale watching - here is what that experience is like:

(1) A Day With The Whales - YouTube

We found out that three of them were in San Ignacio, so we headed south to meet up with them, spending the night at Rice and Beans. 

 

 

The day had been long, warm, dusty and extremely tiring so we made sure to rehydrate.  This required 50 margaritas and ended with a large decrease in the Tequila supply in San Ignacio, if not in Baja! 

 

 

so much tequila was consumed that some even changed their pet allegiance....

The plaza in San Ignacio

Ran across some fellow GS riders from Sonora, mainland Mexico.  They had taken a ferry across from the mainland, and were headed north.  Very clean GS's and they eyed our dirty beasts with a grin.

 

 

 

 

Rested and hung over, we left San Ignacio the next day, Day 7.  It was time to head north, back to the good ol US of A.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alfalfa]

Day 7 was pretty much a slog north on pavement, our destination being a hotel in Catavina about 300 miles north of San Ignacio.

gas stop in Guerro Negro, the border between Baja and Baja Sud.

Not sure of the purpose of the Harley monument, which is an army bike.  There is an army compound right here, as well.

Pemex gas stop at the border.

 

 

 

Catavina is known for.... well something that we have no clue about.  Strangely enough, there is a nice hotel located there that is a twin to one in San Ignacio.  It is notorious for being the only gas supply along a stretch of nothing.   And, that gas supply is usually a pickup truck with barrels of gas in the back.

I had checked in with the fellow leading the club ride, our buddy Lu, who stated that a new PEMEX (state run) gas station had been constructed in Catavina.  True to form for Lu, there was a gas station there, but it hadnt opened yet.  So, we were back to finding the truck with gas.

I passed on the gas service as my bike said i had enough range (barely) to reach the next known gas station in El Rosario, the next day.  This would prove to be wrong <G>.

The hotel in Catavina

Oh, we hit a little rain coming in to town

 

Bike count was now up to 16, inundating gas stations and restaurants and pretty much everywhere we we went <G>

 

 

[alfalfa]

Day 8 -

The nite at the hotel was kind of low key, with some pool playing and drinking.  But, it was apparent that people were ready to get home.

We woke the next day to nice weather, packed up and headed out.   That day's destination was a place known as Coyote Cals, south of Ensenada

 

 

(cant figure out why the map shows up twice...)

 

The main group took off for El Rosario, the next gas station about 85 miles away.   I hung back to escort one of the guys who was recovering from the night before.  Margarita  poisoning, or something like that.

When we hit the road, about 10 miles north of town, i thought i would check my gas only to discover that yesterdays ' 75 mile range' had become '55 mile range'!!   And, with 80 some miles to go, too.  Going back wasnt an option (is it ever?) so we motored on, hitting zero range about 20 miles south of town.  Given that BMW has some of the best corporate lawyers, i had a good feeling that the miles remaining would be very, very conservative and we finally pulled in for gas with no issues.

 

 

The east coast of Baja is my favorite because it is usually warmer.   The west coast (above) is just as awesome, when the weather cooperates.

 

 

 

 

Mexican fast food.  If you ever see one of these, stop!   The food was excellent!  Unfortunately for the locals, we wiped out that days supply!

 

Things had been going pretty smoothly, which is a sign that an FTroop moment was overdue.  Our FTroop nickname (look up the old 60s era American TV show for an idea of what i'm referring to) comes from the fact that during a club ride, it is a 50-50 chance on whether we all end up at the same place, at the same time, even with starting out together.

A common thread in an FTroop episode is when Lu is leading, as he was to take us into Coyote Cals after lunch.  He split out of the lunch stop at warp speed, with the majority of the riders in tow.  Gary and I were lagging for some reason and took off to catch them.   I had the route in my GPS and was watching the screen as Gary and I were starting to catch the main group.  Getting stuck behind a truck, i didnt see them miss the upcoming turn onto the road to the coast.  When i reached that road, i knew something was amiss.  No one was waiting for me at the next corner, and i couldnt see them up the road.  I thought they may have taken the second turn to this road, so headed up there to wait.  Nobody.  I turned around and headed out to the beach, sure that they were in front of me and had just kept going at the turn.   Reaching Coyote Cal's i realized they were no where around.

So, figured i would check in to the rooms and unload the bike.  About 20 minutes later, i went outside at the sound of motorcycles and found one of the funniest sights of the trip.

 

The last 3 miles of road to the hostel are dirt.  Given that it had rained that morning, there were large puddles and muddy sections.  The guy above prides himself in a clean GS (i know, the first sign of a sick mind), so he of course, went down in a puddle.  He unpacked and spent the next hour or so cleaning his gear and his bike.  I guess he didnt understand we would be riding out the same way we came in, the next morning.

 

Coyote Cals

 

 

 

 

 

[alfalfa]

Scenery around Coyote Cals:

 

[alfalfa]

One could get used to this place.

[alfalfa]

Day 9, our last day in Baja and return to "civilization"....

 

We woke up to discover it had rained again overnite.  Our OCD GS owner woke up to discover that his freshly cleaned gear the night before hadnt faired so well hanging on the clothesline overnite .   His boots hadnt done that well, either.  At least, there was no mud on them.

me, i was looking for a sequel to the "fun" i had missed the day before.  I wasnt to be disappointed.

Knowing what was between us and the pavement, we formulated a bike ferry plan and got everyone out to safety, with just enough "entertainment" for those of us who had missed it the day before.

 

 

The above results were better than the day before:

Lu may be FTroop and AGALOS, but the boy can ride.  His K1600 never touched down as he flew thru the mud.

But, once again, no one died.

 

 

 

[alfalfa]

Not much was left to do of any interest as we finished our last leg north to the border in Tijuana.  Given the number of bikes, we had formulated a plan for crossing. Most people at the border understand that motorcycles have "permission" to filter thru the line, to the front.  However, we didnt want to piss anyone off by having 16 bikes filter to the front at the same time.

 

Unfortunately, we relied on one of those "i know a shortcut" guys and that is what we, in fact, did.  Fernando, the 650 rider, "knew" a shortcut thru Tijuana to a dedicated bike lane for the crossing.   Or, he thought he did.   After traversing thru the outskirts, thru two roundabouts, we found ourselves at an intersection where the leg to the border crossing was guarded by a man with a rope.  Fernando convinced him to let us thru as this was the bike lane.

Well, as it turns out, it wasnt.  We never did find the bike lane, but we did find 30 other lanes, all full of cars.  And, those cars had been waiting for quite some time.  In fact, so much time that when 8 bikes crowded in front of them, "words" were thrown.   We hadnt planned to crowd someone out, it just ended that way when our leader split the k rails and left us on our own.  A true FTroop leader!

 

Fortunately, we were smart enough to split up the group somewhat, but i cant really imagine how pissed the guy behind this group was when he suddenly found himself 8 vehicles further back than what he thought he was.   Apologies to him, whomever he may be.

 

40 mins later, all riders accounted for, we blasted up Interstate 5 to a late lunch and several respective lodgings for the night. Those that had to catch planes the next day, did.  Those who had to drive back to Louisiana did.   And, no one died.

 

 

 

 

Epilogue:

My buddy from Connecticut rode back with me to my place, as he was flying out of Las Vegas.  This was the guy who had shipped his bike and when he arrived in Las Vegas, found out his bike had yet to leave the East Coast.  He rode Flames.  Not nicely, it turns out.  But, being the standup guy he is, he said he had an idea.  he would ride Flames to Las Vegas and put her on a truck east, as the company owed him one.  Once he got it back to his place, he was going to turn it over to Max BMW, a store he used to manage.  The goal is that Flames will get a facelift of some sort, up to full restoration if he gets crazy, and i will fly out in August to attend the Rock Lobster Rally and see about riding her back home.

 

I miss the ol girl. 

 

[XTreme]

Amazing stuff Rick.....that's really riding! 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Thats a great write up of a very entertaining trip. Thankyou so much for posting it

Its so well done I’m left wanting to burst out of lockdown and never sit down again

Fantastic views. Are those pics taken on a phone? They look too good to be a phone.

Do you do this trip type of trip regularly?

[Catteeclan]

Fantastic report Thanks.
Alway great to see other peoples corner. You guys have far too much time and play area, very jealous.

[alfalfa]

11 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Thats a great write up of a very entertaining trip. Thankyou so much for posting it

Its so well done I’m left wanting to burst out of lockdown and never sit down again

Fantastic views. Are those pics taken on a phone? They look too good to be a phone.

Do you do this trip type of trip regularly?

Most of my pics are iPhone 11, which has pretty good resolution.  Some of them are from people with better cameras.  Here is a link to full set of pics, taken by another friend. https://rickks.smugmug.com/Motorcycle-Trips/AGALOS-Baja-2021

The core group of riders in the baja trip do some great and epic rides.   It started with a 3 person trip to Alaska in 2009, and has grown in size and craziness over the years.  We try to do at least one big trip a year, and Colorado is usually the focal point.  We've ridden in Mexico and Colombia, besides the US and Canada.  These guys have either created some really good rallies (March Moto Madness is one, Ribfest is another), or attend some GSGiants stuff.  Two of the riders in the group were on different GS Trophy teams.  The KTM rider was on the latest one, in Mongolia.  Dennis was on the team that went to Thailand.  Two other friends were on the team that went to Canada.  I'm happy to say that they tolerate my poor offroad skills, and i'm not sure why

 

[alfalfa]

27 minutes ago, Catteeclan said:

Fantastic report Thanks.
Alway great to see other peoples corner. You guys have far too much time and play area, very jealous.

We make time and yes, we have a large play area.  You are always welcome to come play in it!