Ken Cooke - 5-9-2006 at 08:18 PM
On May 6th, JustRuns teamed up with 4x4Survivor.Com for an international run and going away party for friend and US Marine, John Vera. John's son
Paige was also in attendance, but his wife Maam could not attend due to work scheduling. Our trip began from the parking lot of Instant Mexico
Insurance. Instant underwrites for the Baja 500 and 1000 events, so Janice the Mgr. was happy to see all of the Jeeps in her parking lot outside.
After a brief drivers meeting, our group headed south across the border into Tijuana.
Our first stop of the day was to the Costco parking lot where we met up with our guides and Tijuana connections - Sergio and the rest of the
4x4survivor crew. In fact, 4x4survivor hosts trail runs on a regular basis throughout the northern gold coast region, and in the hills near Tecate
where they typically tackle moderate and advanced rock crawling trails. Sergio appeared in his '93 YJ along with his son who was dressed just like
dad with camo gear and boots. Once Gerardo Monroy and his wife Maria Zamora showed up in their lifted '93 YJ to Costco, we were off to our next stop
for friends Pablo Ramirez and Jorge Meza in Pablo's '77 Grand Wagonner. With Pablo and his big Wagonner on board, our group of 9 Jeeps and 1 Ford
Explorer were off towards the impressive La Presa Reservoir.
Rigs/Persons in attendance on this run were:
77 Grand Wagonner - Pablo Ramirez and Jorge Meza
93 Wrangler YJ - Gerardo Monroy and Maria Zamora
99 Explorer - Chris Glass and Sergio Noeh Glass
99 Wrangler TJ - Andrew Gutierrez and Kay Yang
'05 Unlimited TJ - John Vera and Paige Vera
'06 LJ Rubicon - Victor Chacon, Viviana Chacon and Andre Chacon
'04 1/2 Unlimited - Jim and Bonnie Brigham
'03 Rubicon - Ken Cooke
'95 Wrangler YJ - Rodger Mullins
'93 Wrangler YJ - Sergio of 4x4Survivor.com
Our trip down the La Presa trail was a very scenic one. 4WD was not needed, although a good hill climb required a limited slip in order to negotiate
the moguls winding up the hill. Once atop the hill, Victor Chacon in his monochromatic 'H8BLING' Unlimited Rubicon heard his front driveshaft hitting
his engine skidplate. Within minutes, a team was assembled, and the problem was solved. The La Presa trail is a multi-use trail which serves the
local motocross riders who move through this road on their quads and dirt bikes while Jeeps and pickups also take the trail which moves past cattle
ranches and small, family farms.
Eventually, the trail winds down a series of hills as it makes its way down to the beach, just north of Cantamar. Our group said our goodbyes to the
4x4survivor group, and we took a photograph of our entire group which I hope to have posted on the JustRuns gallery.
After running La Presa, we drove to Cantamar where we did a little beach driving, and played on a sand trail before taking more photos. Our next
destination was the Pyramid resort for the Book Signing event that was held there. Unfortunately, we were unable to get there in time, and the
partying crowd had just spilled outside of the convention area alongside our row of Jeeps that were trying to drive in. Hungry and tired, we turned
our Jeeps around and drove the short distance to Puerto Nuevo - a.k.a. Lobster Village for some great eating.
Chris Glass led our remaining group of Jeeps to Ortega's restaurant for some mouthwatering seafood and steak. John and I followed, but first stopped
at the PEMEX gas station where we filled our gerry cans and gas tank with $2.26/gallon gasoline. Boy, we haven't paid that little for a gallon of gas
in a long while, so we took advantage of the situation at better than $1/gallon in our favor!
John dined on the Ortega's Steak and Lobster combination, while his son Paige had batter fried Shrimp dinner. Thanks to everyones donations, John and
Paige's dinner expenses were covered, with no out of pocket to them. John was asked to leave a tip for his dinner, but little did he know, some
envelopes with letters of appreciation for his dedication in the US Marine Corps. contained even more contributions and donation money! So, aside
from John filling up his gas cans and tank, everything from his lunch to his dinner (and Mexican insurance) were covered - making this a carefree day
for him to spend with his friends one last time before going away on his tour of the Hawaiian Islands for 3 years. John said that he will really miss
his new friends and all of the great places he had a chance to visit recently. Thanks again to everyone involved in helping make this happen for John
and Paige. They really appreciated everything.
