Lost but not forgotten.rts551 - 5-12-2008 at 07:25 AM
Happy birthday.
I miss his perspective on Baja.Diver - 5-12-2008 at 07:38 AM
Good thoughts, Sharks.
He is still remembered.bajamigo - 5-12-2008 at 08:24 AM
I didn't know the man--my loss. But his words live on. I was particularly struck by one of his posts that helped me answer the self-posed question,
what the hell am I doing here? Here it is:
That Real Baja Feel
For many starts at the border. The shoulders feel less weight, the anticipation of things known, or unkown that are about to happen, the stories
previously read or heard, true or untrue. You are now in a different world. Disneyland/Las Vegas but different. This kind of entertainment is for
those of a different cut.
When you realize that you would rather head south rather than go to Las Vegas, Disneyland, Family Get Togethers, Work, you begin to see things a
little differently. You have been hit. Not your fault but you realize that Ma Nature has something to do with it, smiling faces seem to be contagius,
and food tastes better than it ever has.
So you keep coming back. And then it hit's.
It's a feeling of "Cool". "Well, I think I am so cool with my Baja experiences that Baja doesn't start at the border anymore but Maneadero, El
Rosario, wherever."
And living in Rosarito, it did used to take until El Rosario before the wild Baja feeling hit and the weight was lifted. I think it has to do with
freedom.
But, this too changes. After traveling the peninsula a bunch, spending parts of the year in the south, and parts up here, I experience that same
"excitement" heading back north to Rosarito.
There is just as much thrill going from the wilds of Tijuana/Rosarito to the wilds of San Bartolo/San Evaristo as there is on the return trip. That's
because they are different. But, way entertaining no matter which "wilds " you end up in.
I wouldn't trade for anything! Thank you Baja!!
He sometimes gave me pause
Sharksbaja - 5-12-2008 at 10:03 AM
A passionate soul who gave some of his time and love to those not fortunate or privy to the 20th century.
His attitude tho sometimes cruel to his fellow Nomads was, let's say, pointed with truth and dipped in wisdom.
His undying love for Baja and it's people always struck a sweet chord with me. RIP JR.vgabndo - 5-12-2008 at 10:14 AM
I have, of late, become enamored with the concept of FIERCE COMPASSION. It is, IMJ, something like "tough love" but certainly different. I am
learning from my experiences that I often don't appreciate the voices coming from these sources until they are silenced. D E P, JRLindalou - 5-12-2008 at 02:53 PM
I miss JR too. We emailed back and forth a couple of times about him helping me find someone to reupholster my motorhome when we got to Ensenada. He
died before I got to meet him, which I was looking very forward to.Santiago - 5-12-2008 at 03:08 PM
He used to p*ss me off with his "chicken coopers" rants but over time I think I started to get it - never having met him made it a longer process as
those that did always had good things to say.
Not that it matters to anyone else but Ski Baja's #1 on my all-time-posters list and the funny thing is that #2, if he were with us, would be really
be bugged. They would often go at it.....
Think "Dennis vs. Gull" but on 'droids.Von - 5-12-2008 at 07:41 PM
Feliz Cumpleanos mi amigo...I was just down there in La BArca today.....I know Carol moved to Castillos del mar about a mile north of us.Ken Bondy - 5-12-2008 at 07:53 PM
He was really an interesting guy. Once, when talking about his bamboo projects in a post, he made a statement that bamboo was stronger than steel. I
did a little research and found that, although bamboo has a very respectable tensile strength, it is about a third that of steel. I gently corrected
him in a post and cited a reference that described the mechanical properties of bamboo. This started an extensive series of U2U's between us in which
he was literally craving engineering information about not only bamboo but several other building materials. I gave him as much information as I
could and he seemed very grateful. In all his private communications with me he was respectful, intelligent, intense, and...fun. I miss him too.
++Ken++
[Edited on 5-13-2008 by Ken Bondy]
Sharkes et al
Baja Bernie - 5-12-2008 at 07:58 PM
JR was after all just a guy....But what a guy.....he believed that those folks who wandered over this world could be labeled and label them he
did....Fire and brimstone flashed from his very being and when he labeled a person as a 'human' everyone on this board knew exactly what and who he
was talking about....Passion he had by the ton....He was a man and indeed a human.
Ken is so very correct!!
[Edited on 5-13-2008 by Baja Bernie]BornFisher - 5-12-2008 at 08:22 PM
I met JR a few times and he turned me on to this wonderful site. He seemed a very confident, friendly, and engaging man. Of course all the engaging
was about himself, and when I read what he wrote here, well let`s just say my opinion changed. Hey.. just my thoughts about the man, maybe I didn`t
get to know him well enough. RIP JR, no matter my thoughts, I miss JR and the reactions to his post`s!
A Lurker comes out
Baja Bernie - 5-12-2008 at 09:08 PM
I would like to take this time to introduce you all to Jaime who will be posting as csandjaime. The lady is the daughter of Dick Harrison, a very good
friend of mine for years and I'm sure that you will find her a great addition to this board. She has been bouncing around Baja since she was a'real'
young girl.
She would be posting here but she forgot her password.
hi, jaime here! i've been a baja brat for years.......doug HELP....please send me my password .........csandjaime@aol.com
[Edited on 5-13-2008 by Baja Bernie]
Ski Baja
baitcast - 5-13-2008 at 07:47 AM
I had just bought my first pc back in the old Amigo days and was feeling my way along,very slowly I might add, always been tech challenged,the thing
scared me, it was tap a button and hope it didn,t explode on me
Being a Baja junkie I was always looking for something about the place and stumbled on the site,took several days to work up the courage for my
first posting,a introduction and something clever would be just the thing I thought.
Up went the posting now wait,checked every 15 min nothing,it seemed like forever but finally it came,someone by the name Ski Baja,never forget
it,he said "very funny Baitcast welcome to the board".
I was hooked,nice guy,he always made it a point to reply to my early postings and encouraged me from the beginning,loved his stuff,raising
hell and the like,I felt like I knew the man tho never met him,I miss him. RIP my man.
RobBob H - 5-13-2008 at 08:10 AM
Yeah, I miss JR too! One would never really know what JR was all about unless you met him face to face, and shook his hand. A very friendly person
with a wonderful smile on his face, offering you an ice cold beer!
Bob H
Note my Bouncing Around Baja Sticker on JR's Truch
Baja Bernie - 5-14-2008 at 02:16 PM
Just over Bob's left shoulder
If you were to write his obituary...
bajamigo - 5-14-2008 at 04:05 PM
I'd like to know more about the man, knowing only what I do know about him through his later posts. If someone on the board knew him well enough to
write his obituary, what would you say?DENNIS - 5-14-2008 at 05:14 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by bajamigo
I'd like to know more about the man, knowing only what I do know about him through his later posts. If someone on the board knew him well enough to
write his obituary, what would you say?
Minnow says they were good friends. You might ask him...U2U.
Bajamigo
Baja Bernie - 5-14-2008 at 05:28 PM
Read my post on a Distant Drummer....some would say it was close to an obituary.
Minnow would be a good guy to fill it out.David K - 5-14-2008 at 05:34 PM
jrbaja was two people to us who knew him on the Internet and in person... and I don't mean the because of the period he used the handle 'Ski Baja'
when he couldn't remember his Nomad password.
I mean this in a good way, as he was multi talented person and loved the ranch people way back in the hills of southern Baja... jrbaja had many goals
to help travelers to Baja and even started an auto club of sorts for Baja travelers.
What I mean is that many of his posts were high energy, confrontational, bordering on insults... But, in person... a really NICE guy... His attacks
were always to flame and get a reaction, he never meant anything personal... and he told me that, in person... He loved to get the excitement level up
on Nomad!
I have been to jrbaja and Carol's place in La Barca many times... I met Antonio (BajaCactus) and his family there when jrbaja offered the use of their
home for the mini party... see http://vivabaja.com/bajacactus
jrbaja accepted my loads of kids clothes that he distributed further south... bug repellent, too (for dengue breakouts).
So, yes jrbaja (Ski Baja) was a great man who did do for others MORE than he did for himself and that says it all... Go back and read about his bamboo
plantation in San Bartolo. Don't think it was only warfare on Nomad between him and I... We had a good time in person, looking at maps, books,
drinking Pacificos, JR and Carol attended the first Baja Cactus Cultural Fiesta in Tijuana: http://vivabaja.com/fiesta/
So, JR... you did good here on earth... I hope you and your amigo Herb are having fun where you both are now!
Photo of us at La Barca: jrbaja talking with David K and Baja Bernie talking with Antonio's dad and Antonio. Photo by Baja Nomad.
[Edited on 5-15-2008 by David K]
Family Guy - 5-14-2008 at 05:36 PM
Just thought about him the other day as I rummaged through the garage. I was wondering whether those kids were still playing with the baseballs I
mailed down for JR to deliver.Sharksbaja - 5-14-2008 at 06:16 PM
Nice post David, good on you for reminescing. He brought an element here of contrast or reality that proved very hard to avoid sometimes. He
straightened out my burro a few times.
Good Thoughts, Sharks
Gypsy Jan - 5-15-2008 at 05:48 PM
I have written about jr before, a good man I never met, except in the internet kind of way.
I enjoyed reading his posts - the passion, the devotion to developing a sustainable economy for the least privileged residents of Baja (the bamboo
projects), his love for the real back of beyond, and his commitment to preserving the ecology and his savage relish for castigatigating the
privileged gringo enclavists who come, take and don't bother to learn the language, manners or needs of their adopted country.
Here's to you, jr (and skibaja), happy birthday, and cheers to the insightful people who remember you and cherish your thoughts, accomplishments and
your .life
[Edited on 5-16-2008 by Gypsy Jan]
[Edited on 5-16-2008 by Gypsy Jan]
David
Baja Bernie - 5-16-2008 at 03:03 AM
Got a lump in my throat from reading your thoughts! Good on you.
JR & Herb wandering down dirt roads that no one realized were even roads yet. Now in the clouds.....Nice!
