jrbaja - 8-19-2004 at 03:15 PM
A ways south of El Rosario there are some pretty good restaurants. They are out in the middle of nowwheresville and used by truckers. These are
generally the best places to eat.
One of these restaurants was owned by this gringo dude named Jim. He was from Texas.
We got to know Jim many years ago and he was a real cowboy although for Baja reasons, he had purty much converted to burros/mules because of their
ability to avoid problems in the desert.
Anyway, Jim used to raise beef and make some o the finest machaca anywhere. Right there at his little restaurant. Had a Mexican wife who didn't put
up with his 70 year old BS and she was a great cook so we always stopped there goin north or south.
Jim told us many stories of the old days in Baja, and Texas and here's an example of Jim.
After many years of being in Baja, he returned to his hometown where he ran into some of his friends who had become Nuns. They were talking about
stuff and they finally persuaded Jim to at least attend one of their services. After all, he had never been to a cult meeting before. 
So, Jim put on his best duds and hat (Bajastyle) and went to that dang ol church. And, when he got there, he was met with "you come to the house of
the lord dressed like that?
Well, Jim was kinda taken aback but having pretty sincere ideas about that religious nonsense formed throughout the years, his reply was " sister,
my Daddy told me that ya never wear yer best duds when yer goin to kill a skunk!
Jim had lot's of stories and you could spend hours there in the middle of the desert listening to them.
Then one day, not to long ago I stopped by to see Jim as I hadn't been there for a while. A few years prior, Jim went into El Rosario for supplies
and never returned. No truck, no sign of Jim, no nuttin!
Bandidos was the most popular thought on the outcome of Jim but no one knows for sure.
Tragic loss of a great story teller and local closet historian. Saludos Sr. Jim
GOOD STORY
mcgyver - 8-19-2004 at 03:52 PM
jrbaja, Would this have been close to the turnoff to El Marmol? Those disappearance's like that are strange!
A few years ago an elderly couple who spent many winters in Baja disapearead after buying supplies in Yuma ,Az. Good Sam Club through its Highway
Hearld magazine pushed for information for a year or more, they were in a green travel trailer and a pickup truck and nothing was ever found. They
never made it to Bahia Conception where they were expected. As I recall there was a reward offered, fliers posted and a good deal of Consulate intrest
but no trace was ever found.
Mexitron - 8-19-2004 at 08:59 PM
A few years ago on our way back home from Baja we stopped at one of the toll booths above Ensenada. I started talking with a guy who said he was
camping by the road around the Mission San Fernando area the night before.....he said in the middle of the night two guys tried to rob him and his
wife at gunpoint and that he pulled out a knife and killed one of the robbers and the other one ran off....he looked pretty upset, said he was an
ex-marine which was why he knew how to use the knife effectively. He was driving a VW Bus and looked to be about 60 yrs old......true? Don't know
for sure, but it happened near the same area as El Marmol.
David K - 8-19-2004 at 11:00 PM
JR, which rancho was Jim at???
The ones I can think of that are (or were) along the highway... that served food:
Los Martires (Arenoso), El Descanso, El Progreso, Santa Celcilia, Tres Hermanos, Sonora, Santa Ynez, San Ignacito, San Martin, Nueva Chapala...
On the old road before '73, there were more!
I have eaten at some of these (El Progreso, Sonora, Santa Ynez) and really enjoyed the tastes!
Good story JR...
Ken Bondy - 8-20-2004 at 06:24 PM
I know this wasn't your original point but I have had some really good meals at a little truck stop/rancho at Rosarito, about 45 miles north of
Guerrero Negro.
++Ken++
El Rosarito Restaurant
Mike Humfreville - 8-20-2004 at 11:56 PM
If I could name the best place to eat in the outback along the peninsula before the road went in it would be that truck stop with their walls adorned
with simply-framed truck-&-Driver photographs, hunters and their kills - and the very best food. Back then when you drove that far, that many days
down the dirt along the center of the central peninsula you long lost track of the ocean as you were travelling through nothing but desert and then
you stumble on a dusty cafe in the middle of what seemed then like nowhere that offers up mostly...seafood? What's up with this we all asked
ourselves before we analyzed it: they're only a hop-skip-and-jump from either Baja California coast and fresh seafood. We just happened to be
travelling north-to-south.
We still stop there, on the east side of the roadway, paved now, and just before the dip where the pavement makes a wide southbound turn before
leaving Rosarito and heading through the turning-to-ugly desert approaching Guerrero Negro.
I still think (although others (JR.?)
Debra - 8-21-2004 at 06:57 PM
have questioned why the truck dirvers stop there. That the little 'hole-in-the-wall" resturant at the Gonzaga cut off has some of the best food I've
ever tired in Baja.
buenas tequilas
jrbaja - 8-21-2004 at 09:40 PM
could you run that by me one more time
If you are refering to my comment JR
Debra - 8-23-2004 at 03:04 PM
I was talking about your observation that the truckers might not be stopping for the food, (you mentioned the ladies :biggrin
Oh thanks Debra
jrbaja - 8-23-2004 at 03:52 PM
it was early