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Allwaters
Junior Nomad
Posts: 60
Registered: 10-29-2020
Member Is Offline
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Trip report- Hating towns and cities
Ahhh, but this is somewhat normal for me, as I am one country boy. Just got out of a semi remote backpack trip south of Agua Verde and drove south
thru La Paz to San Jose del Cabo for a quick jaunt out to Huatulco... City shock for me negotiating the heavy urban spread, as mentioned I hate cities
or any crowded places worldwide. If you're doing similar a gps and/or a co pilot of some kind would be helpful if you end up looking for some exact
store or place, maybe I am just technologically challenged as many can do this on their phones. There doesn't appear to be street signs of numbers on
buildings anywhere so finding some exact business makes you ask directions from a lot of folks. I spent an entire morning in frustration looking for a
business listed on google that was not there nor where it should have been. Go figure for this old guy., but just a rant I reckon and so I'll soon
head back into the sticks and dusty roads where I belong on my way back northward. So many fish so little time...
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JZ
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9269
Registered: 10-3-2003
Member Is Offline
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Normally Google Maps is very accurate in Baja.
I just talk to the phone and don't even type.
Say, "Hey Google, navigate to Costa Baja hotel" and it gives you turn by turn directions through your truck's radio.
[Edited on 2-19-2021 by JZ]
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17344
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Hot n spicy
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Quote: Originally posted by Allwaters  | | Ahhh, but this is somewhat normal for me, as I am one country boy. Just got out of a semi remote backpack trip south of Agua Verde and drove south
thru La Paz to San Jose del Cabo for a quick jaunt out to Huatulco... City shock for me negotiating the heavy urban spread, as mentioned I hate cities
or any crowded places worldwide. If you're doing similar a gps and/or a co pilot of some kind would be helpful if you end up looking for some exact
store or place, maybe I am just technologically challenged as many can do this on their phones. There doesn't appear to be street signs of numbers on
buildings anywhere so finding some exact business makes you ask directions from a lot of folks. I spent an entire morning in frustration looking for a
business listed on google that was not there nor where it should have been. Go figure for this old guy., but just a rant I reckon and so I'll soon
head back into the sticks and dusty roads where I belong on my way back northward. So many fish so little time... |
Use it or lose it, as you age. You will avoid mental fogginess of age if you engage your mind in things like learning how to use your smart phone,
and stepping out of your comfort zone (e.g. venturing into urban environment).
Being old is not an excuse for being afraid of urban areas and avoiding technology!
Technology can be a friend for old people, learn how to use technology to navigate and you will be able to find a shuffleboard game in any town you
visit! 
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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HeyMulegeScott
Senior Nomad
Posts: 690
Registered: 8-25-2009
Location: Orygone/Mulege
Member Is Offline
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Google is always trying to kill you in Baja. It's mostly accurate except when it isn't. I try to preview the route and check it against the Sat view
when we are driving our motorhomes and towing the Jeep. Some of the shortcuts Google suggests are scary.
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5819
Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
Member Is Offline
Mood: Retireded
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Thank God, I'm a country boy!
It is not an age related thing, I have always preferred back roads to urban sprawl. My Baja adventures don't start at the border. Using maps (Google
and paper) and a GPS, I search for secondary routes that avoid some of the most developed traffic corridors!
I don't mind spending an extra day or so on the road, especially if I get to check out a road I am not familiar with.
Even with the latest updates, Google and Garmin will have you going the wrong way from time to time!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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motoged
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6481
Registered: 7-31-2006
Location: Kamloops, BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gettin' Better
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| Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo | It is not an age related thing, I have always preferred back roads to urban sprawl. My Baja adventures don't start at the border. Using maps (Google
and paper) and a GPS, I search for secondary routes that avoid some of the most developed traffic corridors!
I don't mind spending an extra day or so on the road, especially if I get to check out a road I am not familiar with.
Even with the latest updates, Google and Garmin will have you going the wrong way from time to time! |
X2 Yo tambien !!!
Don't believe everything you think....
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64493
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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I go to Baja to get away from civilization! It is my "happy place"!
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13165
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
Member Is Offline
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Google is great but sometimes really sends you in the wrong direction.
Not Baja but when we were driving from NE Poland to SW Poland, google had us on a marvelous road until the road simply ENDED.
New road made with EU money and it just ended.
In the end, we drove about 8 hours on what was to be a 5 hour trip. Not fun, no no not fun!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64493
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Google Earth, CalTopo, and Bing satellite images allows you to see roads before you drive them... not all areas have recent imagery, however. Explore
your routes before your trip if you are going 'off the beaten track,' in Baja!
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motoged
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6481
Registered: 7-31-2006
Location: Kamloops, BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gettin' Better
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Just remember....GPS isn't always accurate or correct....or up to date.
Don't believe everything you think....
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Member Is Offline
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A few years ago a lady and her son left Las Vegas to visit Death Valley. The GPS device she was using in her car took them from a paved road to a sand
road and after a while she was stuck. Story ended with her dying and maybe the boy too, I don't remember, before the rangers found her. Why she didn't
turn around when she got to the sand road is anyone guess.
I also heard a story where a guy was following his GPS in his car right off the pier into the water.
I guess the bottom line is a little common sense goes a long way.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64493
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Darwin awards!
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17344
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: Originally posted by TMW | A few years ago a lady and her son left Las Vegas to visit Death Valley. The GPS device she was using in her car took them from a paved road to a sand
road and after a while she was stuck. Story ended with her dying and maybe the boy too, I don't remember, before the rangers found her. Why she didn't
turn around when she got to the sand road is anyone guess.
I also heard a story where a guy was following his GPS in his car right off the pier into the water.
I guess the bottom line is a little common sense goes a long way. |
People also made same mistakes following maps, in the olden times
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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PaulW
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3009
Registered: 5-21-2013
Member Is Offline
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In Colorado they found an 18 wheeler (long trailer as well) stuck on Engineers pass. Took a helicopter to get the thing back to real roads. The driver
said he was following the GPS.
Pass was closed for days.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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Up north, in the areas west of Redding, CA, and S. Oregon west of Medford, we have had several drivers follow roads indicated on their Navigators as
real-roads only to find them barely passable, and in winter not passible at all, and they died in their vehicles when stuck in a snow-drift many miles
from anybody!
That is a real bummer for them!
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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David----------I have camped in that exact place--------fabulous area!! (-:
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LancairDriver
Super Nomad
Posts: 1587
Registered: 2-22-2008
Location: On the Road
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: Originally posted by Barry A. |
Up north, in the areas west of Redding, CA, and S. Oregon west of Medford, we have had several drivers follow roads indicated on their Navigators as
real-roads only to find them barely passable, and in winter not passible at all, and they died in their vehicles when stuck in a snow-drift many miles
from anybody!
That is a real bummer for them! |
I was very familiar with one of these incidents here in S Oregon a few years ago. A tech guy that had a TV show in San Francisco took his wife and
very young son on a trip to Seattle. On their way back to SF they disappeared. For a few days it was unclear whether foul play was involved. A search
was started that went on for several days with no results. Then it eventually came out in the Paper they were scheduled to stay at a resort on the
Rogue River near Gold Beach. It was in the early winter and the snow had already hit the mountains. I immediately thought they could have had trouble
on either of two possible mountain routes through the mountains to Gold Beach after leaving I5 that could be risky. I and a friend got my airplane out
and flew the most likely route I thought they might have taken with no luck. We connected with the other possible route and decided that was where the
main search was going on so abandoned that idea. As it turned out, they were found close to the spot we had quit and the father had given up hope
after many days of being stuck in the snow and set off walking for help. He didn’t make it and fell to hypothermia and died. His wife and child were
found shortly after by a private helicopter pilot flying to his house on the Rogue River the next day. I have always regretted not taking the short
run of a few minutes up towards I5, and would have found them before he gave up on waiting. A friend from CA had previously sent me a gps route he was
going to take to visit me almost identical to the one they had taken. I told him immediately to forget that route. There were other incidents in the
same area that ended badly in years before. Lots of similar story’s stranded in the Deserts.
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John Harper
Super Nomad
Posts: 2289
Registered: 3-9-2017
Location: SoCal
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: Originally posted by LancairDriver | | Quote: Originally posted by Barry A. |
Up north, in the areas west of Redding, CA, and S. Oregon west of Medford, we have had several drivers follow roads indicated on their Navigators as
real-roads only to find them barely passable, and in winter not passible at all, and they died in their vehicles when stuck in a snow-drift many miles
from anybody!
That is a real bummer for them! |
I was very familiar with one of these incidents here in S Oregon a few years ago. A tech guy that had a TV show in San Francisco took his wife and
very young son on a trip to Seattle. On their way back to SF they disappeared. For a few days it was unclear whether foul play was involved. A search
was started that went on for several days with no results. Then it eventually came out in the Paper they were scheduled to stay at a resort on the
Rogue River near Gold Beach. It was in the early winter and the snow had already hit the mountains. I immediately thought they could have had trouble
on either of two possible mountain routes through the mountains to Gold Beach after leaving I5 that could be risky. I and a friend got my airplane out
and flew the most likely route I thought they might have taken with no luck. We connected with the other possible route and decided that was where the
main search was going on so abandoned that idea. As it turned out, they were found close to the spot we had quit and the father had given up hope
after many days of being stuck in the snow and set off walking for help. He didn’t make it and fell to hypothermia and died. His wife and child were
found shortly after by a private helicopter pilot flying to his house on the Rogue River the next day. I have always regretted not taking the short
run of a few minutes up towards I5, and would have found them before he gave up on waiting. A friend from CA had previously sent me a gps route he was
going to take to visit me almost identical to the one they had taken. I told him immediately to forget that route. There were other incidents in the
same area that ended badly in years before. Lots of similar story’s stranded in the Deserts.
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Wow, how tragic.
John
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pacificobob
Super Nomad
Posts: 2242
Registered: 4-23-2006
Member Is Offline
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that's a great motorbike ride. an excellent way to reach the coast from grants pass.
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RFClark
Super Nomad
Posts: 2339
Registered: 8-27-2015
Member Is Offline
Mood: Looking forward to 2024
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Finding one’s way around in the parts of the world settled from Spain and Spain itself can be a challenge! There are often no numbers, street signs
or even street names painted on the sides of buildings! Google, even in the States often gets business locations wrong. Then there’s what you get
when you’re out of cellular range, I also use “Maps.me” which works where there’s no service! Getting through La Paz to and from the south can
be a challenge because of local street “improvements” as can getting to the new West crossing in Mexicali! “The map is not the territory” can
definitely be the case!
When you travel you are often on your own! If you travel back roads you definitely are on your own! Flatlanders don’t always understand this and
fail to carry even the minimum of items required for survival! They also assume that phone service is universal! Well, it’s not! A few years ago I
invested in a Spot Emergency Satellite Transmitter. It also will automatically transmit my location every 10 minutes so it’s possible to find me or
what’s left after the whatever!
Traveling in Baja and the outback US it’s generally prudent to carry a couple days food, water and shelter, plus a healthy medical kit. The
emergency locator and offline maps go too! Tire repair stuff as well! In the States “S and W” goes along, in Mexico “Osos” are a problem, so
Oso Spray! Never had a military checkpoint even ask what it was! Imagine that!
The older I get the more contingency gear I carry and install extra lights on the rig!
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