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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
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Joys and Sorrows of The Baja Road
If you know persons who drive like this, please bring it to thier attention. Help to save thier lives ..and thier victims.
40mph southbound on the straightaway out of Mulege. Signaling and with no other traffic, I tried to pass...once.
Was almost hit and forced off the highway. After that narrow escape I backed way off and just kept my eyes open. The vehicle kept changing
lanes..not swerving, just wandering slowly. I could see that 2 people were in the car, and will leave gender and age out of this. Suffice to say
that I could see the older driver's face in her mirror, but she never looked into it while I was attempting to pass. This is what transpired further
down the road.
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I turned off down into Santispac and the refuge of Ana's. Sometime later, an amigo from Posada told me he was behind the SUV from Santispac south and
also decided not to try passing. And to think Easter Madness is just a short time away....
[Edited on 4-9-2009 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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rpleger
Super Nomad
Posts: 1087
Registered: 3-12-2005
Location: H. Mulegé, BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Was good.
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Yup.....been there....done that....
Richard on the Hill
*ABROAD*, adj. At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to
be miserable; to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.
-- Ambrose Bierce, _The Enlarged Devil\'s Dictionary_
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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I guess that's why the Italians invented those multi sound carhorns. They do get your attention if you wander like that. Riding scooters or
motorcycles through the Italian Alps, they get a bang out of blowing that horn at you in tunnels. Enough to almost make you jump out of your skin.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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Hey Pomp-
Love your stories and pictures...just curious though....are you taking photos while driving your RV?
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Good pics---and we plead GUILTY--
However, we do not drive 40, never around a blind curve, and we make sure no one is behind. But we may fit the age profile. 
On the other hand, we are very careful when passing to make sure the other driver knows we are there and we have followed middle lane drivers who
never do become aware--a few of them being big trucks.
Good one----thanks
Diane
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
Hey Pomp-
Love your stories and pictures...just curious though....are you taking photos while driving your RV? |
Bajaboy, sometimes I use my Rebel w/ mount and a remote button. Other times, I use my small Nikon palm camera and just shoot one-handed. Useful in
RV, pickup, plane, boat, etc. Easy as a mug of coffee...or lining up a windscreen gunsight. 
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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They traded the U-Haul for an SUV?
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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I was once given a ride from a couple who drove like that.... all the way from La Paz to Los Barriles.
Curvy edgy road with incredible views.
Believe me, it's lots worse riding with people who drive like this than it is having to follow behind.
Nena
[Edited on 3-31-2009 by Natalie Ann]
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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In my first reply, I pleaded guilty---now if there is no one else around here who is guilty, I guess all of the gringo licensed cars we see driving
over the center line do not belong to any nomad.
When there are no other cars around, and no blind curves, I prefer the center lane. 
Diane
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Those idiots Pompano followed shouldn't be on the road.
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BajaGringo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3882
Registered: 8-24-2006
Location: La Chorera
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Mood: Let's have a BBQ!
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I admit to using both lanes on NON-blind curves when I can clearly see a distance ahead that nobody is coming. It sure saves on the brakes...
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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BajaGringo...exactly how my friend Marty was killed in a head-on south of here about 2 years ago this May. A young fellow came around a curve way
over the center line and took Marty out. The reckless driver escaped injury.
.
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=24800#pid2295...
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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BajaGringo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3882
Registered: 8-24-2006
Location: La Chorera
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Mood: Let's have a BBQ!
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I agree Roger that it has the potential for a risky move which is why I only do it when I can see CLEARLY that nobody is coming ahead
on a road I know and travel constantly. Even knowing the road as well as I do, I never try it at dawn, dusk or night, knowing how many old cars in
Baja have no or very dim headlights. I probably should have added that the decision to do so always comes with the second opinion approval of my
co-pilot in the passenger seat, lending a second pair of eyes and judgment.
I should also add that if I am ever not 100% sure, I just don't attempt it. Common sense always prevails...
[Edited on 3-31-2009 by BajaGringo]
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Good enough for me, BajaGringo. You sound like a good, safe, and caring driver.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jdtrotter
In my first reply, I pleaded guilty---now if there is no one else around here who is guilty, I guess all of the gringo licensed cars we see driving
over the center line do not belong to any nomad.
When there are no other cars around, and no blind curves, I prefer the center lane.
Diane |
I'm guilty....back in the old days when the road was full of pot holes is was necessary. It seemed as if all the holes were where one's tires would
be if driving in the lane. Therefore, I straddled the line in order to miss "most" of the pot holes. Old habits are hard to break.
And Pomp, not judging just impressed with your ability to capture a moment and stay on the road.
Zac
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KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1201
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
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Mood: Press On Regardless!!
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On the motorcycle I can time it to quickly get by folks like that before they have time to crowd over even more. It always amazes me that they then
move back into their own lane AFTER I'm all the way past.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Kurt...I can relate to that.
Bajaboy, thanks, I've had a little experience in this field, civilian and other...and I never thought you as judging, just interested. Really easy as
pie...so easy a caveman can do it.
KurtG...Just the other day, I was passed by these two motorcyclists who very safely went by at a high rate of speed...but..the solid
yellow line would have gotten them a ticket from an agressive trooper. 
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3810
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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Diane,
I plead guilty as well, for the reason Zac listed.
I use the "middle lane" is only when the coast is clear in both directions.
There have been many times when we've almost been met head on by someone who takes their piece out of that middle lane around a corner.
Idiots.
As far as passing goes, sometimes I feel like I spend more time looking in the rear view mirrors than I do out the windshield. Some people don't
bother to let the car ahead know of their intention to pass. I see it all the time when someone passes me, and then keeps on going like a bat out of
hell all the way to the front of the class.
Just like the middle lane drivers, corners don't seem to bother the passers either.
P<*)))>{
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Paulina
Diane,
I plead guilty as well, for the reason Zac listed.
I use the "middle lane" is only when the coast is clear in both directions.
There have been many times when we've almost been met head on by someone who takes their piece out of that middle lane around a corner.
Idiots.
As far as passing goes, sometimes I feel like I spend more time looking in the rear view mirrors than I do out the windshield. Some people don't
bother to let the car ahead know of their intention to pass. I see it all the time when someone passes me, and then keeps on going like a bat out of
hell all the way to the front of the class.
Just like the middle lane drivers, corners don't seem to bother the passers either.
P<*)))>{ |
We also slow way down before blind curves, not only too many who drive the middle, but trucks that drag their trailers--almost taken out by a flatbed
many years ago headed into Santa Rosalia. Fortuanately, we were on the mountain side and ane were able to climb up it and out of the way.
Yes, corners don't bother the passers, nor do hills, so one cannot be too defensive, and like Roger's friend, it can still happen.
One thing that is a given is while waiting for a safe place to pass, another vehicle is apt to come speeding up behind, and they are determined to be
the first to pass---we let them do so --- not going to argue over who goes first.
So, while I plead guilty, it is only under the other specified and selective conditions.
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KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1201
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
Member Is Offline
Mood: Press On Regardless!!
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| Quote: | | KurtG...Just the other day, I was passed by these two motorcyclists who very safely went by at a high rate of speed...but..the solid
yellow line would have gotten them a ticket from an agressive trooper. |
Yeah, I'm guilty but a bike can pass safely where a car can't and I do take advantage of that. Also when visibility is good I take advantage of the
whole road in cornering. I just pretend it is my own private track. And before anyone comes down on me for admitting that keep in mind that I have
been riding Hwy 1 safely for 35 years now. I have advised others that the secret to making good time on Hwy 1 is in knowing where to go slow--
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