Baja Bernie - 10-12-2007 at 07:05 PM
The wife and I suddenly decided that we would haul to Baja for a few days to get away from the boring routine of retired life in the States. My job
is always to load the car, a new Honda CVR which has replaced our old Dodge Grand Caravan, with all the things we would need to bum around Baja Norte
for a few days. It was not like we were going into the ‘wilds’ of Baja. You know below that much maligned town of Ensenada. The CRV replaced the
Dodge because of a ton more mileage but we lost over half of the storage space in deference to $3.00 a gallon gasoline. Beside that the CRV is more
in and somehow makes me feel a little younger without making a fool of myself by tooling around in a red convertible and getting a sunburn.
So, I tossed in a case of water, checked the first aid kit ( to make sure I had a good supply of loperamide tablets), tossed a bunch of ‘Nordic Pack’
frozen things—they come in our shipment of medicines—they do a great job of keeping the wine and the Lu’s Kailua chilled. My bride got hung up on
Kailua and coffee by our old neighbors in La Salina. The ladies had a coffee klatch on the weekends around noon to start the day off correctly.
I also packed two or three cartons of nutrisystem Mac & Cheese and the same number of their split pea soup—yep! been on a diet and am proud of the
fact that I have I have lost 30 pounds and kept it off by using their packaged ‘gruel. In an emergency, when the wife didn’t wake up or we missed a
fine restaurant, all I had to do was boil some water and stir.
As I was doing all of the heavy lifting Lu was packing the toothbrushes and that kind of junk, along with ‘under garments’ and medicines in the
overnight bag. She laid our her clothes and I tossed some stuff in the car as I hung up her four changes.
We were now ready to head ‘toward’ the wilds of Baja with our first stop being that crummy town of Rosarito where we had a fine early dinner with Lupe
Perez a longtime friend and the owner of El Nido’s Steak House.
Even before hitting Rosarito on the Toll Road, about where the grime of the rat race used to slide off, I began to become depressed at the lovely
progress that presented itself in almost wall to wall high rise condos. Being a true Baja Nomad I shook the feeling off with the realization that we
would be visiting with Keri and Mike at the Pyramid Resort were we would be establishing our base camp.
Can you imagine our disappointment when we found that in true Nomad fashion they had neglected to remember that we were coming in and had departed to
San Felipe where they were to spend Mikes birthday looking for a lot to purchase for their new trailer. If you can’t keep up with these, sometimes,
wonderful people just realize that they grew up in Mulege where Mike became famous when he invented his ‘scorpo-matic.’ I can not tell you what this
machine entails because he has so far failed to gain a patent and has sworn me to secrecy. I always feel so sorry for the hand to mouth existence
that those two live in Baja. They moved from Mulege to the Pyramid, just north of La Mision, and they also have a trailer in San Quintin. Yeah! I
sure feel sorry for them—if I reach way, way down in my empty bag of sorrow.
Anyway, we set up camp, got our room key for our normal room, and settled in with a routine view of the entire Pacific Ocean from our third floor
balcony. Sure, the dolphins came by to say hi and the brown pelicans flew in a dead man formation honoring I know not who or why. The fish were
schooling just beyond the breakers and that is why the dolphins and various sea birds put on a show for us.
Oh! Did I tell you that the sun was glorious and the sea was a deep blue streaked in turquoise as it usually is this time of year. The wind slowed
just before sunset and then picked up after I saw the ‘green flash,’ as it always does. We both came to love the keening sound of the wind attempting
to gain entry through the sliders when we first built our home in La Salina—surprise it does the same thing in our eerie in the Pyramid.
The time that all Nomads are aware of arrived—instead of going crazy—we had a small toddy and crawled into our king sized bed, pulled the covers up
and promptly were dreaming our more unfortunate brethren.
Up at the crack of dawn, really good shutters here, and dawn is when you decide to let Senior Sol into your casita. Kidding, not! I got up heated
some water and had a mac and cheese gruel and then was off to visit ‘Dave,’ a fellow Nomad a bit south of our primitive camp.
Pulled up to his place and noticed a beautiful motor sailor resting next to his place—ha! also noticed that he had come home late and parked his
vehicle upon a rather important piece of his boat. We had a good chat and then I headed south.
The re-living of our arduous trip has caused a great deal of fatigue in my fingers so I may follow up with a part two………..Sure, I will because the
next days were more fun than the wife and I deserve.
Eli - 10-13-2007 at 06:50 AM
Felicidades Berine, I am so happy to read this and know that LuAnn and You are still doing the adventure togeather after all these years, few make the
journey togeather thru life this far, and even less are glad they did. Looking forward to the 2nd part of the story.
CaboMagic - 10-13-2007 at 08:30 AM
Ditto! What a treat your stories are Bernie - hugs and best fishes to you and LuAnn!
David K - 10-13-2007 at 08:43 AM
Oh goodie! I love trip reports...
DianaT - 10-13-2007 at 08:55 AM
Looking forward to part two.
Diane
Sallysouth - 10-13-2007 at 01:38 PM
Great Bernie! And here you were telling me "oh probably not much Baja taveling in our future as we are.."Yay! I can hardly wait for the next part.
Bajafun777 - 10-13-2007 at 03:34 PM
Bernie, I know the feeling well, when you wake up early to meet the sun. You just let the day begin by this slight flame that builds until it warms
your soul. Ah yes, to marvel at the begining makes the end of the day just fit into that special part of our longing for BAJA, right????
Later---bajafun777
elgatoloco - 10-13-2007 at 10:56 PM
Señor Bernie
Great trip report.
Nice bookends for a day.
Kailua coffee & the green flash.