BajaNomad

'Baja California, July 1949' A Photo Story with Words By Penny Pickett

David K - 12-10-2011 at 12:41 PM

2014 PDF Link: http://picara1940.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/baja-photo-sto...


Dr. Penny Pickett of Washington, DC has been researching Baja and El Rosario to enhance the story of her and her parents trip of discovery into Baja, back in 1949.

The story is now on Penny’s blog called “Picara” (no longer the web site called 'A Writing Life') and the Baja/Rosario story is one part... I think many of you will enjoy both the story and photos, as well as appreciate the research Penny did. That is how she came to contact me, from my Internet Baja web site and postings, to help a bit with her project.

The link above is to the Baja part that and you can click on 'Fullscreen' near the top of the page to read and view it best... at the bottom, click on the right arrow to go to the next page. There are 111, and includes old maps and photos. The story has 85 pages; you will want to set your browser to a zoom level high enough to read comfortably.

I will send Penny the link to this page so she can read any questions you might have for her... Perhaps she will register on Nomad to respond as well?

Anyway, enjoy this story of a young girl and parents seeking a calmer, less 'atomic' life in Mexico: Old link: http//www.e-kc.info/baja-1-photo-story-1949.html






[Edited on 4-7-2014 by David K]

desertcpl - 12-10-2011 at 05:24 PM

very nice read, well done DK

Baja photo story

drpsp71 - 12-10-2011 at 09:19 PM

Thank you, David, for the very nice introduction to my story and, most of all, for your encouragement, with and without your expert blue pencil, as I developed it. I hope others will enjoy it. Will be happy to consider amending whatever needs it, as time goes by. I was only a visitor, and a long time ago.

Paulina - 12-10-2011 at 11:11 PM

Penny,

Welcome to the Nomad board, and thank you for sharing your story. Have you visited Baja since the trip with your family so long ago?


P>*)))>{

Bob H - 12-11-2011 at 07:30 AM

Wow, July 1949 would be three months before I was born!

Imagine going through Baja in 1949 in a 1947 Packard....

http://www.1947packard.com/pics.html


[Edited on 12-11-2011 by Bob H]

shari - 12-11-2011 at 08:13 AM

Welcome Penny and thank you for your story...I really enjoyed it and my favorite photo was on page 39 of you and your mom in those lovely dresses!....and the CAR!!!! what a class act your family was and I can only imagine the bewildered looks you got from the locals who you passed by. What an adventure and I salute your papa for wanting to protect his gals and can only imagine what went through your mother's mind!!!

dizzyspots - 12-11-2011 at 08:26 AM

great read Penny...thanks Dave for sharing this

David K - 12-11-2011 at 11:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by drpsp71
Thank you, David, for the very nice introduction to my story and, most of all, for your encouragement, with and without your expert blue pencil, as I developed it. I hope others will enjoy it. Will be happy to consider amending whatever needs it, as time goes by. I was only a visitor, and a long time ago.


Good morning Penny,

Glad you got registered on Nomad okay... The depth of your research for this one trip story, of so long ago, is purely amazing!

Thank you for the 'Baja joy' you give with your writing and photos!

Baja 1949 (from BPI)

O.G. - 12-12-2011 at 08:16 AM

http://www.e-kc.info/baja-1-photo-story-1949.html

capt. mike - 12-12-2011 at 09:25 AM

Take a look... from Saturday morning (someone at BPI got it from me, here):

How can you be sure about that?
Perhaps someone at BPI found the publically available resourse themselves, posted it there and another brought it here.

there are many baja scholars, writers and enthusiasts participating on that board - most are pilots but many are more than just that - plus many have significant others who contribute including lots of video and stories, links.

DavidT - 12-12-2011 at 09:31 AM

How ever it got here I'm glad it did. Very interesting story and great photos.

I think the credit should go to the author herself.

David K - 12-12-2011 at 09:37 AM

I helped edit the story... (for a few months we worked on it). I asked the author (Penny) if she would like it shared on the Internet, and I posted it here and on Ron's forum (Talk Baja) to share as soon as it was ready...

I am glad that Baja Bush also is sharing it on their private forum... the more the merrier... My reply to the O.P. is that the story was already posted on Nomad... You know Doug doesn't like duplicate threads, that's all.

[Edited on 12-12-2011 by David K]

norte - 12-12-2011 at 09:45 AM

dON'T MESS WITH THE nOMAD POLICE!!!!!!

bufeo - 12-12-2011 at 09:48 AM

That's a marvelous account. I've forwarded this link to friends who drove to our house at Pta Bufeo before the pavement from Puertecitos south and before the repair to the pavement north pf Puertecitos in their Toyota Camry...which had even less clearance than the Packard.

Allen R

wsdunc - 12-12-2011 at 10:18 AM

Great story, thanx

Vince - 12-12-2011 at 12:22 PM

Loved the story and photos. It was about 1949 or so that I took my first trip with my parents, but we got only as far as San Quentin, pulling a trailer. This story also reminded me of one of my many trips to Mulege, on the way back, about 1978 or so, the bridge over the river went down @ Rosario due to heavy rains. I just made it thru, but the folks behind us were stuck for 2 weeks! Thanks Penny and David for the great article and photos.

David K - 12-12-2011 at 12:26 PM

Thanks for the replies...

David K - 12-12-2011 at 12:33 PM

You know, I think there are still a lot of Nomads who don't use 'TODAY'S POSTS' to read Nomad... and go just to General Discussion or seperate forums here???

If you click 'Today's Posts' at the very top you will see ALL new activity from ALL the Baja forums, on one page... so you don't miss anything... and don't need to click on a bunch of seperate forums to see what's new.

I posted Penny's link on Baja Articles forum, 2 days ago... Here is what it looks like (as you can see I put the authors name right in the title of the thread):

'Baja California, July 1949' A Photo Story with Words By Penny Pickett

Old dead link: http//www.e-kc.info/baja-1-photo-story-1949.html

New good link: http://picara-blog.blogspot.com/p/baja-photo-story.html

Dr. Penny Pickett of Washington, DC has been researching Baja and El Rosario to enhance the story of her and her parents trip of discovery into Baja, back in 1949.

The web site is called 'A Writing Life' and the Baja/Rosario story is one part... I think many of you will enjoy both the story and photos, as well as appreciate the research Penny did. That is how she came to contact me, from my Internet Baja web site and postings, to help a bit with her project.

The link above is to the Baja part, and you can click on 'Fullscreen' near the top of the page to read and view it best... at the bottom, click on the right arrow to go to the next page. There are 111, and include old maps and photos.

I will send Penny the link to this page so she can read any questions you might have for her... Perhaps she will register on Nomad to respond as well?

Anyway, enjoy this story of a young girl and parents seeking a calmer, less 'atomic' life in Mexico: Dead link: http//www.e-kc.info/baja-1-photo-story-1949.html NEW LINK: http://picara-blog.blogspot.com/p/baja-photo-story.html



[Edited on 4-4-2014 by David K]

tripledigitken - 12-12-2011 at 12:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Vince
Loved the story and photos. It was about 1949 or so that I took my first trip with my parents, but we got only as far as San Quentin, pulling a trailer. This story also reminded me of one of my many trips to Mulege, on the way back, about 1978 or so, the bridge over the river went down @ Rosario due to heavy rains. I just made it thru, but the folks behind us were stuck for 2 weeks! Thanks Penny and David for the great article and photos.


Vince,

A friend of mine and I were on a two week trip to the mainland via train from Mexicali to Tepic, ferry to Cabo San Lucas and bus to Tijuana that same winter. When we went to get bus tickets in Cabo we found out about the El Rosario bridge damage. We opted to try and get on the ferry from Santa Rosalia to the mainland. Luckily we managed to get two of the last tickets. We rode the bus from Guaymas to TJ. Quite the adventure! I have run into a couple of others that experienced that bridge washout of 1978 over the years.

Ken

tripledigitken - 12-12-2011 at 12:41 PM

My dream baja rig.............................

1947 Packard.

Looked freshly washed in almost every shot, he must of really loved that car.

Ken

David K - 12-12-2011 at 12:42 PM

Yah, you can see that... pride!

Mexitron - 12-12-2011 at 12:54 PM

Wow, fantastic story! Suppose they took the old logging road up to the San Pedro Martir? That's how Myron Smith got up there (late 50s/early 60s)...the road would have gone up the foothills above Mike's Sky Ranch, through the Oak groves NW of astrobaja's place I think. Myron and I tried to go back down that road in the mid 90s but it was pretty well washed out...

bufeo - 12-12-2011 at 12:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by tripledigitken...Vince,
... I have run into a couple of others that experienced that bridge washout of 1978 over the years.

Ken


We three did...experience the washout, that is. We arrived from the south just as folks were beginning to think a fording was possible. Some local drove into the water in an old, repeat old Dodge Power Wagon. I watched him motor through, then slipped our '76 Chevy ¾-ton 4X4 into 2nd-gear, low-range (left the granny gear as the insurance gear) and followed him.

Once out on river right I stepped out to take some photos and there was a line of vehicles set to cross. I took some shots (one appeared in the Santa Barbara News-Press a few days later) of one or two vehicles in the river.

Pretty exhilarating.

Allen R

[Edited on 12-12-2011 by bufeo]

drpsp71 - 12-13-2011 at 10:46 PM

Thank you All for looking at my Baja photo story and, better, seeming to enjoy it. This pleases me very much. I'm extremely grateful to David K for the considerable help he gave me with corrections and suggestions while I was putting it together and especially his gracious offer to post it here for you and others to see.

Here's responses to a few readers' queries since the day David posted the story.
--From Paulina: Did I ever return to Baja? No. It was Ron's kind of place rather than mine. He liked hot places; I prefer moderate temps. Writing the piece, I've proposed to myself several times "Shall I go back for a visit?" Most likely not. Other stories about other places (some mentioned in the story) will keep me busy writing for some time rather than traveling.

--From Bob H: Imagine, indeed. Thank you very much for the link to the awesome Packard photos.

--From Shari: The dresses, yes. Shorts and slacks were uncommon then, more's the pity. Others have remarked too on Kaye's bandbox appearance in the wilderness. At her best, she was always a knockout.

--From tripledigitken: About the sand on, or not on, the car. When I started to write the story some months ago, sand on the car was uppermost in my mind. I recall the trip for the sand everywhere that, it turns out, is not as evident in Ron's 35 mm photos as I had thought. I moved the ones here from a larger box of his pictures that I seem to have misplaced: I've looked for it wherever I can think it might have gotten to. This searching delayed my writing: I'm convinced the lost box has other photos of this Baja trip with more sand. I searched for it off and on to no avail. (I'm pretty sure the small landing strip I mention has a photo, too, existing more than in just my faulty memory.)

But yes, Ron loved his Packards. He'd had an earlier one--1943, I think--then replaced the 1947 with what I think was a 1955 Packard, the one with lights at the sides of the doors. One reason he may have taken good care of the 1947 car, Baja roads and sand nothwithstanding, is that he'd been on a waiting list for it in the war, when metal was given over to building tanks instead. Heaven only knows how he got hold of the earlier one...

I'm glad to find so many people having a good time with the story. Kaye, who just turned 92, purports, most times when I ask her, to have forgotten the trip. I can only imagine what Ron would have thought of it.

Penny aka drpsp71

David K - 12-13-2011 at 10:49 PM

Thank you Penny! Glad you wrote the story and did so much research and then to put it on the Internet so the rest of the world could enjoy it!!:bounce:

captkw - 12-14-2011 at 07:06 PM

bump///THIS cool stuff//if you love baja

El Vergel - 1-10-2012 at 10:14 PM

drpsp71, thank you so much for the sharing of this information and images! Great stuff!

1949

captkw - 1-11-2012 at 12:08 AM

DAVID K,,where ,,the hell,,do you find,,this stuff ???makes a man rather humble,,,cuass them folk's had,,BIG ball's to do that back then,,in 68,my folk's and us four kid's in a vw bug drove all the way past mexico city and back,, camping most of the way,,,, 6 month trip,,but,nothing like that,,,WOW !! Hey,,I just realized,why I cant stand,, volkswagon's:lol::lol: K&T coming home in a coulpe days..:cool: and a BIG thank you penny !!!!

[Edited on 1-11-2012 by captkw]

[Edited on 1-11-2012 by captkw]

David K - 1-11-2012 at 12:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by captkw
DAVID K,,where ,,the hell,,do you find,,this stuff ???makes a man rather humble,,,cuass them folk's had,,BIG ball's to do that back then,,in 68,my folk's and us four kid's in a vw bug drove all the way past mexico city and back,, camping most of the way,,,, 6 month trip,,but,nothing like that,,,WOW !! Hey,,I just realized,why I cant stand,, volkswagon's:lol::lol: K&T coming home in a coulpe days..:cool: and a BIG thank you penny !!!!


LOL, well Dr. Penny found me... The Internet is a pretty big deal and I have put a lot of Baja history and travel details out there, over the past dozen years.

The point where her dad ended the attempt to get to El Rosario was very vivid in my memory as well. The top of the grade off the El Rosario mesa.

In 1966, there was a stop sign propped on the rocks at the drop off. It was so steep, my dad first thought it meant 'wrong road', so we continued across the mesa but the road ended at the airstrip (built by the U.S. in WWII for coastal defense operations).

We returned to the stop sign, and believed it was there so you would listen for any vehicles coming up, before venturing down (the road was one lane wide with no pull outs).

DAVID

captkw - 1-12-2012 at 06:23 AM

thank's for shareing,,,,do you have any pic's ??? K&T

David K - 1-12-2012 at 12:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by captkw
thank's for shareing,,,,do you have any pic's ??? K&T


From the 1966 trip? Yes... A few I have scanned... most are slides... I need one of those scanners that can convert slides to digital to share them here.

Some of the 1966 pictures from my web site:


My first Cardon (past El Rosario)



My first dorado (off Cabo)



My dad and I at the Mazatlan ferry that we took for the return trip home.

DAVID K

captkw - 1-12-2012 at 09:23 PM

awesome,,I just,recently received some old foto's from mom,of us kid's on the mainland ,back in 66or maybe 68,no dates,,But I remember ,,that trip,well, and like checking out any old pics of mex and baja,,thank's K&T :cool: ps first fish is like the first girl you kiss......You never forget !!

chuckie - 3-4-2012 at 06:14 AM

Great Read! My first trip down was in 1956, while in the Navy at San Diego. Three of us bought a WWII surplus Dodge 4wd Ambulance from a yard in El Cajon. Appeared to be brand new when we got it. Installed a couple of 55 Gallon barrels with a hand pump for fuel, bought some extra rock hard military tires, and started exploring Baja....I wish I had kept some records of where we went, or that my memory was better. We went to Baja every chance we got...Sometimes for weeks at at time...Had a lasting effect, obviously, I have never really left.

David K - 3-4-2012 at 09:16 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
Great Read! My first trip down was in 1956, while in the Navy at San Diego. Three of us bought a WWII surplus Dodge 4wd Ambulance from a yard in El Cajon. Appeared to be brand new when we got it. Installed a couple of 55 Gallon barrels with a hand pump for fuel, bought some extra rock hard military tires, and started exploring Baja....I wish I had kept some records of where we went, or that my memory was better. We went to Baja every chance we got...Sometimes for weeks at at time...Had a lasting effect, obviously, I have never really left.


That would be classic!!! :bounce::bounce:

David K - 4-3-2014 at 11:17 PM

Penny contacted me recently and I learned her wonderful 1949 El Rosario story was no longer online. I guess I convinced her it was a wonderful amount of work and research and if she would consider putting it back up, we Baja fans could continue to enjoy it.

Here is the new link to it...

pdf easier to view link: http://picara1940.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/baja-photo-sto...


[Edited on 4-7-2014 by David K]

cocoscabana - 4-4-2014 at 08:22 AM

Wonderful story and pics. David...you are such a great source of information!!! You must live in your own private Baja museum? :lol:

durrelllrobert - 4-4-2014 at 10:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by tripledigitken
My dream baja rig.............................

1947 Packard.

Looked freshly washed in almost every shot, he must of really loved that car.

Ken

My uncle bought a brand new one in '47 and my first car was a 13 year old 1940.



At 5'0" I was the smallest kid at my high school and driving the biggest car. I had to sit on cushions to see over the windshield and tape 2 x4s on the pedals to reach them. The closest I ever got to a Baja adventure was the Friday night ventures to the TJ bars.

David K - 4-7-2014 at 12:47 AM

Penny sent me an email saying she improved the look, everything is bigger and easier to read/ see at this pdf link: http://picara1940.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/baja-photo-sto...

Bob H - 4-7-2014 at 10:20 AM

Wow, that was interesting. July 1949 was three months before I was born!

Vince - 4-7-2014 at 12:57 PM

One of the good reasons for sharing these old travelogues is that is reminds one of his own experiences. Great reading, keep them coming.