BajaNomad - THE INFERNAL INFIERNO - A KILLER

THE INFERNAL INFIERNO - A KILLER

Pompano - 12-20-2009 at 07:53 AM

Who hasn't got a scary story about this steep grade just north of Santa Rosalia? It's STEEP, FULL OF SHARP CURVES, AND...STEEP!

Here's what happened to us yesterday:

At that same moment during one of Zulema's seances in Mulege...

A short memorial service will be held at the Mulege lighthouse baithole at dawn tomorrow. Very short service, cuz I will be after some forktails right quick....and would appreciate it if you would donate a half-dozen big-eyes in loving memory of the mutts.

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Edit by the lowest common denominator. I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

[Edited on 12-21-2009 by Pompano]

Lauriboats - 12-20-2009 at 07:58 AM

Rogerrrrrrrrrr? You are so crazy.

Diver - 12-20-2009 at 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lauriboats
Rogerrrrrrrrrr? You are so crazy.

But it's a really good kind of crazy ! :yes:

KAT54 - 12-20-2009 at 11:26 AM

Can you say Disrespectful?
You know that is someones grave?

motoged - 12-20-2009 at 11:39 AM

Hhhmmmmmm???? Something fishy here...????

The mutts were in a red chaise-lounge at first....and then were out of the green one (post mortem pic) ....are those yappy little darlings fussy about their decor colors.....??????

Santiago - 12-20-2009 at 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KAT54
Can you say Disrespectful?
You know that is someones grave?

Surely that is just a marker and not a grave? But now that you mention it, do the same social mores and customs that apply to cemeteries and graves also apply to markers? What are the names of these roadside memorials?

LaTijereta - 12-20-2009 at 12:35 PM

Have traveled "Infierno Grade" at night..
Not a good choice at times

But I am still with you..We have a great view up front

Looking forward to the end of this trip....

BornFisher - 12-20-2009 at 12:38 PM

Hey that almost looks like me, traveling with an old XM boombox, and dog. Except my motor home is a 19'Roadtrek, I just have one dog and I usually leave my wife at home because she makes me stay in motels!
Good luck on those forkies, and thanks for all the road trip reports!

Curt63 - 12-20-2009 at 07:10 PM

C'mon Roger, Nikki and Nadi are waiting for the rest of the saga (like Woody and I waiting for seawall photos) :lol:

bkbend - 12-21-2009 at 06:42 PM

Some interesting things happen on that grade. The truck in the uphill lane had run out of fuel and was siphoning from the truck in the downhill lane. There was enough of a pullout for traffic to get around, although it did take a bit of work for that truck to make it.

[Edited on 12-22-2009 by bkbend]

trucks.jpeg - 39kB

noproblemo2 - 12-21-2009 at 07:29 PM

We lost many a mirrors on our RV on that road!!!! Sounds like a gun blasting as the glass shatters....

First time is the scariest :tumble:

vgabndo - 12-21-2009 at 08:34 PM

It worked out OK, but I kind of wish I didn't have a story of the parachute grade. I had the '78 Ford half ton bubble top camper I drove to Central America towing a very short coupled utility trailer made out of a Datsun 620 bed with two full tanks of gas from the station on the highway in Mulege.
We made it up at least half the grade before the power started dropping off, and the tell-tale "starved for fuel" symptoms had my heart in my throat. We continued to slow as I downshifted one gear after another until we arrived at the little turn out straight ahead next to the broken boulders in Pompano's third "Here we go" picture. In the end I wound up jack knifed into both lanes out of sight from above and below in the invisible part of Pomp's pic. I got my triangles out up hill just as the first big rig was arriving. Cathy blocked traffic from below. and one of the first vehicles to come up hill was an empty F-350 Diesel who yanked us out of our predicament and to the top of the hill. It was very exposed there! Then I made a bad diagnostic call when I got good flow from the fuel pump with the line off the carb, I determined that it must be the carb that was clogged up. Cathy acknowledges being a bid concerned when I arrived at the camper with a big piece of scrap cardboard and stripped-down the four-barrel (for the first time). I put it all back together and we were on the flats for half an hour before the same thing brought us to a halt. THIS time I was smart enough to look at the farmland that was living where the gasoline in my fuel filters should have been. Two spares handy and a lesson learned. It took a while to get all the mud out of those tanks. It is a LONG way between turn-outs on that grade. I approach it with respect no matter what I'm driving.

Ah yes, that wonderful Cuesta...

Mexray - 12-22-2009 at 02:20 AM

...a bunch a years ago, a buddy and I were on a road trip south in my old VW bus when we started down 'the Grade'...

As we came to the curve at the far end of your 'Here we go..." picture, we found a local family of five in a Chevy sedan that had just swapped ends and had their rear bumper hooked on top of the outward bulging guard rail!!!

We jumped out and somehow managed to lift the bumper free before another 'hot shot' came around the curve to wipe us all out...

I seem to remember La Senora was rather upset with her hubby, but I don't think he spilled a drop of his Tecate...!

noproblemo2 - 12-22-2009 at 07:04 AM

We could call this the curve tales, anyone who has been there has them I'm sure, once you get thru that stretch you can actually start to breathe again :biggrin:

longlegsinlapaz - 12-22-2009 at 09:00 AM

Pompano, you're very creative....terrible

....but in a creative way!

Do the Co-pilot, Jazzy & Dexter KNOW you killed them off in cyber-space? :?:

We better be seeing pics of Jazzy & Dexter with tell-tale Rice Krispy crumbs on their adorable little mugs & opening their Christmas presents here soon! :lol:

PRESTO!

Pompano - 12-22-2009 at 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz
Pompano, you're very creative....terrible

....but in a creative way!

Do the Co-pilot, Jazzy & Dexter KNOW you killed them off in cyber-space? :?:

We better be seeing pics of Jazzy & Dexter with tell-tale Rice Krispy crumbs on their adorable little mugs & opening their Christmas presents here soon! :lol:

Well, longlegged one, to tell the truth, I thought they were both 'goners' for sure. They were last seen disappearing over the edge of El Diablo grade.

But early this morning I heard munching sounds coming from the front room. They had obviously landed like cats..and then homed in on the Rice Krispie treats.

And while being adorable, they need a bath today...lotsa crumbs on mugs.

[Edited on 12-22-2009 by Pompano]

ELINVESTIG8R - 12-22-2009 at 10:27 AM

longlegsinlapaz - 12-22-2009 at 10:28 AM

Well, that's a huge relief! :yes:

Thanks for visible proof....Oh wait! How do we know that pic isn't from Christmas of 2008?

Pompano - 12-22-2009 at 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz
Well, that's a huge relief! :yes:

Thanks for visible proof....Oh wait! How do we know that pic isn't from Christmas of 2008?

Longlegs...you missed the date on the cereal box. :rolleyes:

longlegsinlapaz - 12-22-2009 at 11:34 AM

Nice try, Pinocchio! :rolleyes:

Doug/Vamonos - 12-29-2009 at 10:54 AM

Had some good ones on that grade, but my best story was the small grade coming down towards LA Bay. Not the grade with the view but the one that leads down to the desert stretch where the ranch is with the burros. This was when they were doing the major road work a few years ago before the power lines. A flag man stopped traffic ahead of me, just down from the hills. I stopped in line, was sitting there wondering how long this might take, and then noticed the flagman jumping up and down and waving his flag frantically. I think for a moment, and then look in my rear view mirror. I see a freaking propane truck hauling ass down the hill behind me and his brakes smoking, trying to slow. I had no where to go because I was on the guys bumper ahead of me and I had my trailer in tow. I was almost ready to jump out my door when the truck started to slow and he got control of it. That one got my heart pumping. Now, I always leave space ahead of me when I'm stopped in a line of traffic.

ecomujeres - 12-29-2009 at 02:24 PM

A way back in the posts, someone asked the name of the road side markers. And they are markers, not graves.

In Spanish, one name for them is "descansos".

ELINVESTIG8R - 12-29-2009 at 02:30 PM

Just for the record if I am ever killed

on the highway in Baja California and a memorial marker is erected for me, I hereby give my expressed permission to use it as a comedic backdrop for a joke or whatever reason they may need it. That way no one can be accused of desecrating my descanso.

Signed David Elinvesti8 M.

[Edited on 12-31-2009 by ELINVESTI8]

Neal Johns - 12-30-2009 at 01:53 AM

You kids think that paved grade is tough? My current wife (don't try that phrase at home, professionals only) is so old she says she drove it when the road was dirt over the edge down in the bottom of the arroyo!

See you all at Mision Santa Maria? They have a new paved highway going there now. Trust me.

David K - 12-30-2009 at 07:14 AM

LOL... Even though I was mostly asleep... my dad drove his Wagoneer down the old road in 1966, at night! We didn't see San Ignacio at all... it was dark... and the switchbacks going down to Santa Rosalia were such that he had to back up to make some of the turns! We slept on the beach near town after checking the old downtown hotel... It was pretty bad in '66.

He was in a hurry to reach Mulege and start fishing! I don't think he had any idea that it was so tough a grade. The next time he went south that far was in 1972 and was so impressed by San Ignacio! Pavement had reached north to Santa Rosalia and new road work towards San Ignacio was underway.