Riders
Mark Sampson--(BigDogAdventures.com) Illinois
2006 Husqvarna TE610
Bruce Crawford (GasPipe) Tennessee
2000 KTM RXC
Jones (Jones) California
640 KTM Adventure
Here starts Day One of my ride report
February 11th, 2007
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Here's my friend Bruce Crawford who
I shared 2,000 miles in a truck coming to the border. And then 2,500
miles in Baja for a 16 day dirt ride. Then another 2,000 miles in the
truck.
AKA GasPipe (The Original)
First you got to get really cleaned
up.
Bruce would never look this pretty
again till he got home and his wife made him clean up and take a bath.
We came to ride and hardly brought
any clothes with us.
Didn't want any--takes up to much space.
We got quite smelly but didn't care as there was
usually nobody to please but ourselves on this ride.
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So let's call the above photo
The before shot
Or---the North of the border shot
And let's call this photo
The After Shot
Or-- South of the border shot
Something magical happened
between the North and South
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We were joined by 3 other riders at
the border in Calexico, California.
Me and Bruce already had our paperwork
done and we all headed to the border so that the others could get theirs
done. In no time we were into Mexicali, Mexico or Baja, Norte.
Sadly one rider-------Mike Torst (LasVegasRider)
blew his KLR up on the way to the border. It was on a new bore and piston
and just didn't survive the first few hours of speed.
I had never met or rode with Mike
and was anxious to meet him. Maybe next time Mike !!!
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Me and Bruce had done all the leg work on plotting our
routes. I read where everybody went the first day in Baja.
I just couldn't stomach the pavement to get South---I spent hours at home
searching for a route South, but off the bloody pavement.
I plotted a route South----just East of the tall mountains going down the
center of Baja
Some maps said it went thru----most didn't--some said it might--some said
you won't make it???
About 30 miles straight West of Mexicali I turned South onto the dry lake
bed of Laguna Salida
It's was wide open for miles.----the other riders followed with confidence
Nobody knew the route would go bezonkers--and the adventure would begin.
This was exactly what we came for. My Husqvarna was running good.
6th gear here we come !!!!!
About 30 miles down the straight rough road
we turned off for Guadalupe Canyon
I had read of magical hot springs and vegatation unknown to me.
We had hit a virtual Oasis.
I was takin' back by the beauty of the canyon
which came alive from the warm waters from the hot springs.
In a matter of minutes we had come from an extremely dry lake bed in the desert
to this beautiful green oasis.
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We poked around the area some and
found a nice bench to relax on
drinking our newly aquired cold cokes.
We found many natural hot springs
and tubs in the area for soaking.
Along with these were neat little huts where you could camp if you like.
Ahhhhhh--Mexico-----life is good !!!!!
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A couple across the canyon were enjoying
he warm water
and the warm sunshine--it was nice out.
It was rumored that the girl in the picture stood up and
did some naked shoulder flexibility exercises to the delight
of all on the bench.
However I seemed to have missed all
this somehow but
did get a rear view of her butt floss.
I finally had to kick the guys off
the bench as
they might have stayed all day.
You can hear and see all the mayhem
here
on my video.
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This is the actual Laguna Salida dry
lake bed.
I had so much fun out here letting my Husky have it's way
The route I had made was falling apart
though
as the roads just didn't exist
If you've been to any part of Mexico--you
know this is a common thing---now the adventure has officially begun.
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My buddy Jeff Jones-------AKA "Jonz"
on his well prepared but weathered KTM 640 Adventure
He's from California and is a natural
desert guy
Sand was his friend
Sand would either become my friend
very soon
Or I should go home with my tail between my legs
His riding abilitly was much beyond
mine
I love Jeff's smile and attitude--riding with him was a pleasure
He's also known as....
"DESERT DOG"
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We gave up on our planned route and ran into the Baja 1000
race course
We hung with the main tracks of it for miles running very fast.
We knew it had to go "somewhere"--unfortunately I didn't have enough
gas to go "somewhere"
John Mark from Thailand on his XR650R had
a bar swapper here in the deep silt
created by 800 horsepower trophy race trucks.
His bike was on him when we pulled up and we thought he was hurt--just shook
up tho.
Somewhere I borrowed some gas from Desert
Dog and we made it to San Felipe and a motel
First day and I'm borrowing gas---I didn't like it----and there was more to
come I'm afraid.
Sunset at our Motel in San Felipe on the Sea Of Cortez
Somewhere on the way GasPipe hollered........as
his bike was on fire.
It turned out to be an all but broken ground cable on his battery which caused
a lot of smoke
It was repaired at the Motel---we had to repair it there---where we were going
there would be no parts for anything.
Day 2--February 12th, 2007
Yeh----we rode this rode out of San Felipe along the sea of Cortez
We quickly got used to riding maybe a 1/4
mile or more apart so as not to eat each others dust.
I had almost dreaded the terrible dust I had heard about in Baja
It just wasn't a problem when you have smart riders--I only cleaned my air
filter once.
GasPipe told me that white stuff was bird poop.
I wasn't that stupid to fall for that--------turns out it was.
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We finally blew into Gonzaga Bay---a
very neat little place.
A very small little place with a few homes near the beach.
The main attraction here was it's remote location and lack of people---you
either came in on a very rough road in a suitable vehicle or flew in
on the dirt runway with a small plane.
This was my first of many views of
a fishing boat-----Taco's Pescado (fish) was big on the menu here at
the neat little restaurante.
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This nice fellow on the left was on
a BMW adventure and was a world traveler.
Said--"I'm livng the good life
of Baja"
Great guy---we just ordered a big
plate of seafood and the thinnest flapjacks of all of Mexico and just
dug in--------sharing the food and the bill.
I kept all my gear on-----ATGATT.........never
know when the ole' man might fall out of his chair.
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About a 1/3 mile down the beach was these
nice little Palapa's to get under.
We camped on the beach and it was a night to remember.
We thru down our tarps a sleeping bags and
the sun went down and the wind picked up-------a lot !!!
It howled flapping the tarp violently at times---I loved it and snuggled in
for the night wondering
if a gust might blow my bike over on me---my tarp had to be tied to my bike
to keep from blowing away.
Glad I didn't have a tent-----tents make no sense down here for many reasons--leave
it at home.
Sunrise on the Sea Of Cortez
I peered out of my bag and tarp and spied John Mark (from Thailand) sitting
up in his bag.
I spotted this roll by him--not sure what that's all about. All of a sudden
he just blurted out....
"I did not sleep one minute--when the wind wasn't howling Bruce was snoring".........
"And evey orifice in my body is full of sand"
It was actually all of us snoring--as the rest of us slept
like babies.
Day 3----February 13th, 2007
Alfonsino's at Gonzaga Bay to Bahia de Los Angeles
Certainly all Mexico travelers know all about Coco's corner.
If you don't---he's a 70 year old Mexican who kind of homesteaded this lilttle
corner in the middle of nowhere.
You can stop in and have a cold one, camp and enjoy his wonderful tales of
the "Chupacobrah" monster. (which we run into later on)
He's a wonderful friendly guy and insists you sign his guest book.
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Coco's Potty
In Mexcio--you do not throw your toilet paper in the hole------put it
in a bucket and they burn it.
The same for some flush toilets
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I video'd this whole ride--well not all of it--just the
good stuff.
I used a Viosport Adventure Cam 3 on my helmet which fed to a Sony HRC-96
mini DV camcorder in my back pack.
I had a remote switch in which I could not only turn the camcorder on and
off-----------but start and pause it.
It worked out perfect---I worked hard at getting this properly setup before
the ride.
When we stopped at really neat places I took the camcorder out and did some
hand held work.
I did a lot of narrations telling what was going on and where we were at.
The video came out so much better than I ever hoped for---with just a little
editing.
When I got home I burned it to a DVD and the quality on my TV was excellent.
I was so happy with what I had accomplished. My equipment worked so well it
never slowed us down at all.
You wouldn't believe all the stuff I got on tape------I even got a scorpion
crawling up my leg.
This is the Calamjue Wash--one of the most fantastic parts
of the whole trip.
I was in the rear and my camera caught all of us running thru here splashing
each other and
wallering thru some very deep water and mud holes.
We had been running on the Baja 1000 course and it got
so tough in the deep silt we couldn't hardly go.
We ran off the side of it thru the cactus where is was fun to ride.
I don't know how come none of us never got a flat on this whole trip.
Day 4----February 14th, 2007
Bahia de Los Angeles To San Ignacio
Yeh his toothbrush is working pretty good--ought to last
a long time with only 2 teeth.
We crossed this river on the way to another misson.
The missions are always by a source of water we found-------Duh ???
More of those exotic green plants I love.
One of my personal favorites.
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We ended up in San Ignacio----there
are a thousand San Ignacio's in Baja it seems.
But only one with a "Rice and Beans" restaurante and motel.
This place caters to the Baja race crowd.
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She loved our motos.
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Ok this picture has a story---about
the cord--not the lavatory.
We checked in---one lonely lamp was
on the table but no place to plug it in.
We traced the cord down-----and found it was very long and was coiled
up inside the table it was on. But no place to plug it in.
However it was long enough to run
all the way across the floor between our beds and into the bathroom
where the only plug in the room was above the lavatory------how handy
was that ???? How clever ???
They
had hot water 24 hrs
However it wasn't 24 hrs. in a row !!!!
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On To Day
5
