BajaNomad

MC Trip to BOLA

jono - 4-17-2005 at 10:37 PM

This trip was taken by my 68 year old father and myself to celebrate my 40th birthday and also as a last fling before the arrival of my twins this summer. We both rode Kawasaki KLR 650s, his a 1994 model and mine a 2000.

For spares I brought one rear inner tube, one front tube, one clutch cable, and set of throttle cables.

We left Saturday, April 9 at 11:00 am from Oceanside, California. We got a late start because I was having a minor mechanical issue with my bike - the safety switch for the clutch was acting up. I adjusted my clutch cable and that took care of the problem. We headed down I-5, stopped at the second to last exit, purchased insurance from "Instant Mexican Insurance", and then pulled onto the highway and right back off for the border crossing. We pulled into the declare area to the right and I found the immigration office on the far right for our tourist cards. The guy there asked for a passport, I said I didn't have one but that I had a birth certificate. He never looked at either my driver's license or birth certificate, just had me fill out the forms and pay him $20. Once we crossed the border things got a little wild and wooly, I got cut off by a van and forced into the wrong lane and we ended up riding through TJ. But it wasn't as bad as I thought and we ended up finding signs for the toll road pretty quickly. In a couple minutes we were back on the toll road and it was smooth sailing all the way to Ensenada. Hardly any traffic and a beautiful day to be riding.

We gassed up in Ensenada and made our way south through the "suburbs" which was probably the only somewhat dangerous part of the whole trip. Dirt parking lots off of the main road mean that there isn't much rhyme or reason to where people can pull into the road so you have to be really careful. I also got a lesson in Mexican traffic signals. The flashing yellow light means it's about to turn red, not that the signal is broken like in the US. Lunch was a cereal bar in a Pemex parking lot while admiring a car that pulled in for gas with a bumper hanging off the front, no headlights, and a spiderweb crack in the windshield where someone's noggin made contact. I took it as an omen to be extra careful.

Somewhere between the outskirts south of Ensenada and Colonet we encountered a military checkpoint and some kind of sanitary checkpoint. We were waved right through both. Also somewhere on this strech we encountered an accident scene. One semi was taking up both lanes, one semi was in the ditch on the right (which was a good ten foot drop down but it was still upright somehow) and one car was squashed on the other side of the semi taking up both lanes. Authorities were on the scene, their was an ambulance but it didn't seem like it was in a hurry. Not a good sign. We were directed on to a sandtrack alongside the road to get around the accident.

We made it to our first stop, the Meling Ranch just before dark and just in time for dinner. That night we ate an excellent family style dinner of chicken, rice, corn, salad, and homemade bread. Our dinner companion was none other than Graham Mackintosh who just happened to be camping there. Our room was basic but very comfortable with a fireplace and extra blankets. The next morning the frost on our motorcycles showed how cold it got that night.

to be continued...

[Edited on 4-18-2005 by jono]

[Edited on 4-19-2005 by jono]

[Edited on 4-19-2005 by jono]

Mike Humfreville - 4-17-2005 at 11:42 PM

Great beginning. Can't wait to read more!

Meling is a special place.

MC Trip to BOLA - Day 2

jono - 4-18-2005 at 09:29 AM

After a great breakfast of eggs, potatoes, toast and jelly juice and coffee, we spent some time talking with Meling Ranch's Wayne and Armando about the history of the ranch and the day to day operations. It is still a working cattle ranch and they are working hard on restoring the ranch's guest buildings.

We had a nice ride out of the ranch on the dirt road. Stunning vistas and we saw a couple horses running along the side of the road with their colt. Backtracked to the Colonet Pemex for some gas and then started a nice run down the Pacific Coast towards El Rosario - light traffic and gorgeous views to our right most of the way of waves crashing on deserted beaches. Kids in every town wave and smile at the motorcyclists. In El Rosario we again stopped for gas and excellent fish tacos at Mama Espinosa's.

Before leaving Mama Espinosa's, I wet down my special Aerostich "Evaprodana" bandana in anticipation of intense heat crossing the desert but it actually turns out to be quite pleasant. We stop to stretch our legs in Catavina and then keep heading south. I'm loving the wide open spaces, the boulder field landscape and find the tarmac to be in really good condition.

We make it to the BOLA turnoff around 4 or 5 pm and purchase gas out of barrels. I'm not real familiar with the protocol for telling the guy when to stop so I end up making a little mess all over my tank and the guy looks at my like I'm insane. Oh well.

At the turnoff/gas stop, we meet three Harley-Davidson riders who just came up the road from Bahia de Los Angeles. I ask one "How's it going"? And he replies "Good, until now". It turns out on their ride into BOLA, they came across the scene of a fatal one-vehicle accident. A pickup had overturned and it and the debris were taking up both lanes. They stopped to see if they could help, saw the dead driver in the truck and were told the authorities had already been notified. They said they turned around because of the accident blocking the road but at the same time they said they could've ridden in the ditch to get around it "if they wanted to". We figured maybe seeing the accident right after it happened bummed them out enough to make them turn around. We didn't discuss not going to BOLA because of the accident. We just figured we'd be able to ride around it somehow. I was dreading coming across a gory accident scene but at the same time enjoying the beautiful day and road. it was weird, I felt really bad for the unfortunate soul who died but at the same time didn't feel like I should feel guilty for enjoying the day. No amount of feeling bad was going to bring this person back.

We came upon the scene, there were two police standing near the wreck, they waved us in the direction of a sandtrack paralleling the road and we got around the accident easily.

Just before coming into BOLA, there was a military checkpoint. They waved us right through and we stopped for some photo ops of the bay on an overlook just past the checkpoint. We attempted to stock up on groceries at the Diaz grocery store. The pickings there are really slim. That night we stayed at Camp Gecko in a cabin with a kitchen (sink, propane 'fridge, hotplate), bathroom with flush toilet and cold shower, and two rooms one of which is a sleeping loft with a thatch roof. We also met a couple other motorcyclists staying at Camp Gecko that night. One was riding a new BMW dual purpose and the other was on a Yamaha TDM 850. We spent the evening comparing rides and looking over maps and such. They had just come down through San Felipe, Coco's Corner. I felt sorry for the guy on the TDM.



[Edited on 4-19-2005 by jono]

MC Trip to BOLA - Day 3 and 4

jono - 4-18-2005 at 10:47 AM

Day 3, Monday.

This day was a non-travel day. We decided we liked BOLA and Camp Gecko so much that we would just hang out there an extra night before heading back north. We spent the day hanging out with other campers, went into town for lunch and then rode the dirt road north along the water until we could get any farther, came back and just soaked up the beach, had a campfire with wood we found on the beach that night, relaxed.

Day 4, Tuesday.

We headed back up the paved road to the BOLA turnoff. At the military checkpoint on the way out of town, they waved us right through. The truck from the accident was gone, but no one had bothered to sweep or clear any of the debris away. We were counting on gas at the turnoff again and of course, found it to be completely empty except for one old dodge van with a guy selling food out of it.

"Vende gasolina aqui?"
"No".

I point across the road at some kind of collection of trailers and cars and buildings. "Vende gasolina aqui?"
"No".

Time to get out my AAA map. I point at Chapala. "Vende gasolina aqui?"
"Si".

I point at Chapala and Catavina (where I saw people selling out of barrels on the way in), "Vende gasolina aqui y aqui?"
"Si".

So we headed for Chapala (which is where were going to turn off to Coco's Corner anyway) hoping that we wouldn't have to go further up the road to Catavina and then backtrack. In Chapala we found a truckstop that not only had gas in barrels in back but an excellent place to stop for lunch as well. To cap it off, a trucker pulled up outside and treated us to his tunes as we eat while he attended to his truck. We also met a couple on a Harley at this truckstop who had ridden all the way from Portland, Oregon.

We made the 18 or so dirt miles to Coco's Corner fairly quickly and stopped and had a couple Pacificos and took some pictures. Coco dispensed all kinds of very specific and accurate advice about road conditions ahead and was nice enough to wet down my Evaprodanna for me. Today, I needed it. It was really hot. We made it as far north as Campo Punta Bufeo and couldn't take the heat and washboard anymore and so pulled into there for the night. Found a basic but clean room there for $35. There is also a restuarant of sorts there. We were the only ones staying so the kind woman running things (Catalina) arranged to make us fish and shrimp tacos with rice and beans at 6:00. This left us plenty of time to explore the deserted beach, swim, take showers, unpack, swing in hammocks, play with the puppies that live there, etc..

[Edited on 4-19-2005 by jono]

David K - 4-18-2005 at 05:22 PM

Thanks jono, please continue... this kind of posting on Nomad is the best!

Selling gas at Chapala now? That would be a logical place for a future Pemex, at the jcn. of two federal highways (even if one is still dirt).

You have discovered some just plain nice places to visit and stay... including Camp Gecko. Sounds like you stayed in one of Doc's 'deluxe' cabins... as we did for New Year's...


Good stuff, Jono

Mike Humfreville - 4-18-2005 at 06:20 PM

Keep it coming! We must have missed you at Gecko by only a week.

thebajarunner - 4-18-2005 at 07:09 PM

Good so far.
We posted the week before we left about our trip, asked if any other Nomads were headed to Bahia.
You must have missed the post, we were at Gecko briefly mid-week, you rode your bikes out to La Gringa, very close to our campo.
A brief stop would have treated you to lots of cold libations and warm fish...
Next time.
Also, Diaz is not at all well stocked, but several other stores in town have all the essentials you need, even fresh (well, pretty fresh) sandwich bread.
Crash was a real bummer, wasn't it?!
We got a very graphic first had report from Mia, don't want to get much into those details, though.

Baja Arriba!!

jono - 4-19-2005 at 08:23 AM

David K. - that looks like the exact cabin we stayed in the first night at Camp Gecko.

thebajarunner - we noticed some encampments in the La Gringa area but didn't know if people wanted company or if they want to be left alone so we just rode around and took pictures out there.

MC Trip to BOLA - Day 5

jono - 4-19-2005 at 09:54 AM

My dad left his gloves laying around outside our room the night before. It was that kind of place. No one around but us. And two adorable puppies. When he couldn't find one of his gloves he immediately suspected one of the pups. Dad speaks almost no Spanish so he drew a picture of a glove and of a dog and showed it to Catalina. She got the jist and retrieved the missing glove from wherever the puppies hang out.

A word about Punta Bufeo if you've never been there. Besides the motel, there is a restuarant, a public phone, an airstrip, and about 18 fairly high-end looking houses on a beautiful white sand beach. I only saw one person, an American at the houses. The rest were vacant.

As we headed north on the dirt road out I found myself humming the theme from "On Any Sunday" and imagining I was Malcolm Smith riding an old Husqvarna. Farther north the road got more interesting with challenges other than trying to pick the part of the road with the least amount of washboard or loose gravel. The road began to get more fun - curving and winding steeply up and down hillsides clinging to the coast. Every so often there would be a sandtrack road heading to some kind of camp on the water but not much else was out there. Just desert to our left, the Sea of Cortex to our right and a dirt road stretching for miles and miles in front of us. We saw only one vehicle coming the other way on this stretch. And the day before we had only seen one vehicle the whole time we were on dirt.

Approaching Puerticitos the frequency of American vacation homes increased and the dirt road magically became very smooth, then somewhere north of Puerticitos the road became pavement, but the worst pavement I've ever had the displeasure of riding on. The road was more pothole than road, literally. I tried slaloming my way around them, I tried riding in the dirt along the edge of the road. Just when things would improve and we picked up speed, it would go back to being worse than before. Finally, south of San Felipe it became normal pavement again.

Right as we head into San Felipe from the south, there is military checkpoint. Waved right through as usual.

San Felipe is very Americanized from what I saw, there are some really nice vacation homes right on the water, lots of realty signs in English. After getting gas at a Pemex (where I ran into a fellow teacher from the high school I teach at in California - small world) we stopped at a sports bar for lunch that could have been in just about any western town in the US. We even ordered ourselves some grilled cheese sandwhiches, fries, and cokes there.

Just out of town there are two military checkpoints. One on highway 5 and then you make a left and another on highway 3. We got waved right through these two as well and started heading in the direction of Ensenada.

The ride at this point was just plain hot and flat, the same as riding through any other desert in the Southwest US and very similiar looking to Interstate 8 as it approaches the San Diego County foothills. Our goal was to make it to Mike's Sky Ranch for the night. We stopped in San Mateas (SP?) to stock up on bottled water and refill our Camelbacks and then found the dirt road heading into Mike's Sky Ranch.

About a half mile in some men were working on an interesting road construction project. They were filling a low spot in the road with all kinds of large, flat rocks and, I think, then pouring some cement on the whole works. Kind of a back-country, dirt road vado I guess.

The sand was a little loose on the first stretch of the 22 mile road into Mike's and then firmed up some. Then about two-thirds of the way there, there is a sand wash of sorts that is maybe 100 yards long. I made it through with all kinds of scary wiggling of my front wheel and then stopped and waited for my dad. Never leave a man behind.

A quick aside, I'm sure this stretch of sand is nothing for a light-weight, purpose-built dirt bike with full knobbies. They probably don't even notice that they are riding on loose sand. But we were riding KLRs, not a light bike to begin with, and they were loaded down with spare parts, water, camping gear. sleeping bags and we were running on tires that are a compromise between being able to go on dirt roads and being able to ride on hot pavement at 70+ mph all day long without disentegrating.

Back to waiting for my dad. He's not showing up. Damn, I have to ride back through that nasty sand wash again. I barely made it through the first time. I make it back through one more time and find dad with his bike laying prone, he's got all his gear off 'cause it's really hot. We right his bike, he gets on it, fires it up, and starts digging a hole to China. I slap him on the shoulder and yell at him to stop. We push and pull it out of the rut he dug and he ends up having to get off the bike and with it running walk it along for a few yards until he can start from a more firm area. At least we didn't have to unload anything from the bike to get him going.

The rest of the ride into Mike's is very nice as the road soon turns into hard pack which is pretty easy to deal with, compared to sand anyway. We arrive at Mike's to find two different groups hanging out at the pool downing Pacificos and soon join them for an afternoon of BSing. These guys are all on high-buck, purpose-built bikes like KTMs and Honda XR650s with aggressive knobbies. Something about these high-mileage, overweight, overloaded KLRs riding into their dirt stomping grounds upsets the applecart of some of the guys there. They compensate by laying it on pretty thick with how fast they can take the road. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever.

When I check my Camelback later, I find that I had used almost the entire 70 ounces just on the dirt road in and getting my dad unstuck. I felt a little more justified in all the extra water (two gallons) I was carrying in my saddlebags.

Dinner is a perfectly grilled steak the size of a manhole cover, rice, beans, and fresh, hot tortillas. We spend some time checking out the bar and memorabilia. Like Meling Ranch on the other side of the mountain, Mike's seems to be past its glory days but trying to regain them and definately worth a stop. Our room is comfortable, nothing special really. The shower doesn't seem to have hot water. I can't believe how pitch black it gets there at night.







[Edited on 4-19-2005 by jono]

neilmac - 4-19-2005 at 10:17 AM

Jono;

What a great trip - I've got to dust off the XT600 & try it...

BTW.. did you see any evidence of road Construction between Chapala and Puertocitos?.... I read they were surveying there in January...

Neil

jono - 4-19-2005 at 10:34 AM

I didn't see any evidence of road contruction there, no. I did see some course markers/flags on the stretch between Chapala and Coco's Corner. Does anyone know if the Baja 1000 course went through that stretch?

bufeo - 4-19-2005 at 11:17 AM

Nice report, jono, I enjoyed reading it.

I returned from Punta Bufeo last night. Found your comment about all the houses being "vacant" amusing. Just shows what a layed-back bunch we are. :yes: When you were there I'd say that about a third of the "residents" were en campo. Maybe most were hiding from the "bo-bos", the name given to the pesky, non-biting, flies that love to annoy one. Hard to avoid them this time of year.

The perritos at the Campo are new additions. They're replacing the two adult dogs that disappeared. Story had it that they went off in search of female companionship. I miss Lobo, the older of the two, he never failed to come over to greet us when we arrived. He could water four tires faster than NASCAR pit crew can change them.

You asked about the Baja Mil course (guess you refer to the '04 race). It followed the road south by Rancho Grande down to Coco's, then went through Calamaju?, so the flags you saw are part of the survey not the race course. Speaking of the survey, after speaking to a couple of the crew doing the work, there is great disparity in the projections of "completion"--if at all.

Thanks again for the report. It's a fun read. We had over twenty motos, not all in the same group, come through this past weekend. I noticed four staying over at the motel on Sat night. Maybe someone of that group will find this Forum and give a report.

MC Trip to BOLA - Day 6

jono - 4-19-2005 at 11:47 AM

Breakfast is scrambled eggs, beans, tortillas, coffee. I'm a little worried about the road out so I jettison my cheap sleeping pad. This enables me to get my butt back over the rear of the bike so that I can unweight the front. I also air down the tires to about 25 psi. I'd usually go even lower in the dirt but I'm worried about a pinch flat miles from nowhere.

The road out goes much easier. What I difference taking the road when we are fresh and more familiar with it makes. The men are still working on the vado on the way out. A teenager there motions that he wants me to pop a wheelie.

Another cool thing we saw heading down highway 3 was a group of several full-on off-road race buggies. These were piloted by guys wearing full-face helmets and racesuits. Another "only in Baja" sight.

Highway 3 towards Ensenada has nice sweepers and pavement surfaces. There's a large airport along the way and right afterwards a military checkpoint. For the first time on the trip, they actually have us stop. The soldier pokes at my tailpack a little, asks me if I speak English. Yeah. Asks me if I speak Spanish. A little. He waves me on. Maybe he wanted to talk bikes in Spanish?

For the first time on the trip, trucks are veering over into our lane a little bit. No problem as I'm ready for it and hugging the right portion of my lane and can usually see them far enough in advance. This stretch of road is really nice ranch country/rolling hills. At some point I stop for a gas at a mom and pop type gas station/grocery store. I don't even know if I'm in a town or not. The women working at the place (mother and daughter maybe) don't seem really sure if they vende gasolina aqui or not. After some discussion they turn on a main breaker, then attempt to work the pump, which looks like it dates from the '70s or before. I'm thinking they don't sell gas here very often, start to wonder about the freshness of the gas and then stop worrying, remembering that my KLR has run exactly the same regardless of where I've purchsed gas or what grade it was. My tank gets another drenching with gas but this time it's someone else's fault.

As we drop down towards Ensenada it feels like the temp drops at least 10 degrees. We stop for Pemex and decide we can make Tecate for lunch. People on the road from Ensenada to Tecate haul serious ass. There's more trucks here too but the drivers are very courteous. One more military checkpoint. As they check out a truck in front, we get waved through once again so we don't have to wait in line. Sweet. Oh yeah, a soldier here wanted me to pop a wheelie too.

We make it to Tecate and find a money changing place right next to a place I remember eating at a couple years ago. And they're both on the main road a couple blocks from the border crossing and across from the very nice town square. I started the trip with $400 worth of pesos and $100 and am astonished to get $230 back when I turn in my pesos. We've hardly spent anything this week! We celebrate our safe trip with one last Mexican meal at a Taqueria where Dad gets some carne asada and I get some piping hot chicken mole and an orange soda.

No line at all at the border. We both get the third degree from the US official about our missing license plates (they broke off somewhere along the Sea of Cortez a couple days previous) - no one in Mexico cared if we had license plates at all.

A short run down the twisties of old highway 94 and Otay Lakes Road gets us to the 805 where we slog through traffic for one and half hours to get to Oceanside. Welcome back indeed.




[Edited on 4-19-2005 by jono]

thebajarunner - 4-19-2005 at 12:27 PM

Jono, yep there we were, sitting in our camp at the cove just North of La Gringa.
I remember hearing some big bore bikes riding in the area early in the week.
Next time before you leave be sure and scan Nomad to see who might be in the area, we put out a bulletin of welcome to all for a week or more prior to departure from home.
Anyway, our manners are improving, last year we shot rockets at 'elgatoloco' but this year we did not shoot at visitors.
Sorry you missed us.

Baja Arriba!!

Bajagato - 4-19-2005 at 01:42 PM

I loved your trip report! Made me want to get in the truck and head south! Probably won't get that direction for months, but then again, its gonna get hot soon! We'll be down in September!
Glad you had such a great, cheap, fun trip! Thanks for the report!!!!

Mike Humfreville - 4-19-2005 at 03:09 PM

You just know it's a good story when you don't want it to end. Glad you had a good and a safe trip. Thanks for sharing.

jono - 4-19-2005 at 03:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner
Jono, yep there we were, sitting in our camp at the cove just North of La Gringa.
I remember hearing some big bore bikes riding in the area early in the week.
Next time before you leave be sure and scan Nomad to see who might be in the area, we put out a bulletin of welcome to all for a week or more prior to departure from home.
Anyway, our manners are improving, last year we shot rockets at 'elgatoloco' but this year we did not shoot at visitors.
Sorry you missed us.

Baja Arriba!!


Yeah, we were through there on Monday so maybe it was us you heard. We also saw a newer Suzuki at the very end of the road but the rider was nowhere in sight.:?:
Maybe he was taking a hike...or a swim?

Next time we won't be so shy and we'll drop by,