BajaNomad

Racers & Ranchers event #3

juanroberts - 10-23-2008 at 10:28 PM

Below is the press release of the third Racers & Ranchers event. We did some work with the ejido Juarez, next to Laguna Hanson. It was great literally working with ranchers.

Thanks.

John

_______________________________
Racers and Ranchers recently conducted their third community service project in support of establishing favorable relations with Baja ranchers and property owners and we are happy to report it was an astounding success! Our previous initiatives included a trash pick-up along a popular Score/Record race pit area along Baja Highway 3 and a fence repair project at Esteban Meling’s Rancho El Coyote in the San Pedro Martir Mountains. Our third project is aimed at helping the Ejido Sierra Juarez establish a community center where the Ejido members can have meetings, social events, and children’s parties. The Ejido consists of many ranch owners north and south of the Parque Nacional Constitucion de 1857 in the Sierra Juarez Mountains, and includes the famous “Ramona’s” at El Aserradero (Sawmill).

The Ejidatario community center will consist of an old 1957 schoolhouse and a new building to be erected adjacent. Racers and Ranchers met with Ejido leaders several times and decided to initially assist in laying a concrete foundation for the new building and paint the old schoolhouse. Racers and Ranchers solicited both material and monetary donations to get the project started and are extremely grateful to the following:

Doors and windows: Rick Johnson, Competitive Door and Finish, Hesperia CA.

Paint and paint supplies: Brian Schmuckle from Schmuckle Painting, Roger Lopez, Luis Rodriguez from Lifetime Custom Painting.

Monetary contributions specifically for this project: Kennedy Motorcycles, Juan Roberts, Rich Deveau, Rob Bryant, Big Tickets, Vincent Bert, Craig and Philip Martin and Baja Seve.

Working party: Corky Behrle, Big Tickets, Juan Roberts, Rob Bryant, Ivan Estrada, Baja Seve, Luis Rodriguez, Ernesto Ojeda, Lance Kane and Rudy Iribe.

We decided to purchase the initial material from Home Depot in Ensenada. We took advantage of the strong U.S. dollar exchange rate and Mexico-made supplies being cheaper. We also avoided any border crossing hassles by buying the needed material locally. The Racers and Ranchers working party met three ranch owners at Sawmill Saturday morning and divided up into a paint team and a cement/block-laying team.

It was a beautiful day high at 5000 ft surrounded by pines. Sunny with temperature in the low 70’s. Our working party wasted no time in painting the schoolhouse, and assisted Victoriano and Pedro (the Ejido Delgado and a ranch owner) in mixing cement and laying cinder and concrete blocks for the new building’s foundation. Pedro was quite a skilled mason, especially mixing cement the old fashioned method and no cement mixer. We put in a good day’s work before knocking off at sunset.

We stayed at the large cabin at Rancho Rodeo del Rey and were treated to a large Mexican style “barbacoa” for dinner. Story-telling and new friendships were made around a bonfire. We returned to Sawmill on Sunday morning to finish up some work and all departed shortly after Noon.

This event was an incredible success. We made some very positive impressions with the local ranch owners and we need the off roading community to respect speed limits and property lines. We will continue to work with this Ejido in “giving back” to the land owners what many take for granted.


Muchas Gracias to all those who participated and contributed to this event!!!


RACERS AND RANCHERS
1601 North Sepulveda Blvd. #652
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
US: (310) 920-8550 or (619) 405-2574
Mexico: 001 (619) 405-2574
info@racersandranchers.com
www.racersandranchers.com

[Edited on 10-24-2008 by juanroberts]

duke62 - 10-24-2008 at 12:02 AM

Thanks for your hard work. I love your website, and your hard work.

Is it true the Baja 1000 this year is doing a loop and will hit the beach South of Erendira? We are planning on being there at our place for Thanksgiving, but might make a week of it if this is true.

TMW - 10-24-2008 at 07:05 AM

A big thank you to all involved. Relationships are very important if the off-road community wants to continue to race and explore in Baja.

Duke the race is a loop and is posted here in the off road section and at the SCORE web site.
http://www.score-international.com

Here you go!

David K - 10-24-2008 at 09:18 AM

David K - 10-24-2008 at 09:19 AM

juanroberts... thank you for sharing the story!

bajamikey - 10-24-2008 at 11:32 AM

your right tw a big thank you to all involved.i allways start my riding trips out of rancho santa veronica and bring down some old clothing that i give to lulu at rsv.down compadre trail to the saw mill give a little extra to ramona when i'm buying gas from her, it's nice to be able to give back to the pepole of baja for all that they give to us.....thanks juanroberts

juanroberts - 10-24-2008 at 11:11 PM

You guys really get it, and you are very welcome. Next time there is a R&R event, I will try to post it here as a heads up. The website is open for anyone that wishes to join and get emails on developments directly.

Despite my efforts, I feel the ranchers worked harder than the racers. They were great, hard-working people and it was an honor to get taught a few skills. Ironic since I was there to help them but learned a few things.

It gets very easy for me to do community work when its part of doing what I love, and with other people that also share a similar passion for, and value traveling on unpaved roads.

Thanks for the great comments.

John

duke62 - 10-26-2008 at 01:05 AM

Thanks for the race map, David, and, John, the story on your efforts. Please give us the heads up in the future if there is work to be done. I am always looking for a project that is in Baja, not my backyard (which is an acre of coastal sage brush, so, ya know... Sigh).

Whoah, Nellie, steady girl, good girl. I am now a "junior" Nomad. Whoaaa, Damn you, Who - ho - ooa! Sorry. Went to a Gymkhana today in Jamul.

[Edited on 10-26-2008 by duke62]

shari - 10-26-2008 at 08:42 AM

muchas gracias John for this community spirited event. This is really what should have happened years ago...you are on the right track...literally. I hope others learn from your example and begin to organize this kind of positive interaction with locals. All gringo events held in Baja should have some kind of community give back or assistance to foster goodwill.

bajalou - 2-27-2010 at 06:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by TW
A big thank you to all involved. Relationships are very important if the off-road community wants to continue to race and explore in Baja.

Duke the race is a loop and is posted here in the off road section and at the SCORE web site.
http://www.score-international.com


Tom, where did you see that? I just looked and for the 2010 race it said "Ensenada to La Paz".

[Edited on 2-28-2010 by bajalou]

rts551 - 2-27-2010 at 07:34 PM

wrong year. check the posts
Quote:
Originally posted by bajalou
Quote:
Originally posted by TW
A big thank you to all involved. Relationships are very important if the off-road community wants to continue to race and explore in Baja.

Duke the race is a loop and is posted here in the off road section and at the SCORE web site.
http://www.score-international.com


Tom, where did you see that? I just looked and for the 2010 race it said "Ensenada to La Paz".

[Edited on 2-28-2010 by bajalou]

bajalou - 2-27-2010 at 08:15 PM

Ya got me on that one all right. ??? Oh! Doug linked back to this old one, OK. That'll make me pay attention a little more (I hope).

TMW - 2-28-2010 at 09:30 AM

Yea pay attention or I'll have to come down and cook a turkey for you. I'll be down for the SF250 race helping Paul. Not sure when I'm coming. I have some things for Coco and thought I would swing down on hwy 1 to him first and come up to see how the hwy is doing.

bajalou - 2-28-2010 at 12:06 PM

Hope we can catch up - I'll be at contingency most of Friday - but Teina's coming back that day so may cut out early.