BajaNomad - I SURVIVED THE BAJA ROAD - 'THE WIDOWMAKER'

I SURVIVED THE BAJA ROAD - 'THE WIDOWMAKER'

Pompano - 2-22-2012 at 08:53 AM

THE BAJA ROAD – (well....not really a 'widow-maker', but is full of real HAZARDS.

This is a collection of ‘road hazards’ I have come across in MANY trips up and down the peninsular highway. If you drive the Baja Road, you WILL encounter one…or two. So beware and be aware…stay alive, and remember to…

…..LOOK OUT!!

This first photo is getting to be an all-too-common sight on the Baja Road.

A question for nomads: Why would you purposely expose your children to traffic?….and especially on the narrow Baja Road?

For myself, I offer no opinion other than to mention....

"JUST WHAT THE HELL DO THESE &%@!!^$ IDIOTS USE FOR BRAINS??!!...

…or do they throw common sense out the window and just 'Polly-Anna' their way through life?"

At least this biker is trying to stay as far off the road as possible…but if he is where ‘TRUCK A’ meets ‘TRUCK B’ at the same time….CRUNCH…SPLAT!

[IMG]http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk45/bajaroger/Baja%20Photos/BAJA%20ROAD%20PICS/USABIKERS.jpg[/IMG

Below: Oh yeah…I can’t wait to go walking/jogging on this speeders highway.

An idea?... One needs to pass an intelligence test before you get to enter Mexico? Unlike these suicidal types, any IQ reading at all would qualify you to enter.

You guessed it. I’ve seen all kinds of gear blowing off cars and vans. I have a nice road-kill surfboard collected from the last trip. :rolleyes:

Here’s a good game for the kids to play on your Road Trip. Guess how many cattle (ganado) will be standing…

…and how many will be ‘laying down’.

Also guess how many mountain sheep and moose you will see? (This is a trick question… as there are NO mountain sheep or moose on the Baja Road…yet!)

Hazard? Not on your life, boyo! Hmm…was this Jesus Maria…or Asuncion??

Luckily, collisions with airplanes on the Baja are actually quite rare…but are within the realm of probability.

This road-kill was too big for to take home…and it would have made such a nice yard planter.

Be aware that the highway edges are continuously eroding away…this never stops.

This Easter Madness ‘hazard’ near Playa Santispac resulted in a rollover… down the cliff… and...Splash!... into the sea. Luckily, there were no fatalities to the partying man and woman. The driver suffered a concussion after his wife got the news.

I can’t fool you on this, can I? Not the Baja Road, but could be Cabo in a few years??

Heavy fog can and will appear anywhere from the border to Cabo..and even further. :rolleyes:

Human nature..and it's variety...remains a mystery? Hello gals...

Where are the good samaritans?

This mini-landslide just happened next to the Serinadad exit the other day after a good rain. I stopped to clear the rocks and mess up..and guess who stopped to help and who didn't? 3 BCS plates (Mexicans) went zooming around me, barely slowing down..what's up with that? ...and 2 tourists stopped (1 Alberta, 1 Nevada plate...thanks, amigos)

You WILL be slowing and swerving a few times to avoid a few of these:

Please avoid bumper contact with our Baja Road 'gitanos'...but feel free to give them a torta and water.

"Admit it, guys...if I walk out onto that highway, you're gonna hit your brakes hard..right? Otherwise I'll mess you up...really, really, really bad."

[Edited on 2-22-2012 by Pompano]

TMW - 2-22-2012 at 10:28 AM

I'm sorry but I had to laugh at the guys running from the plane hitting the truck. Especially the guy with both feet in the air.

motoged - 2-22-2012 at 10:59 AM

Some of those damned ND farmers have a whole field to drive on and they hit a moose :biggrin:

Pompano - 2-22-2012 at 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by motoged

Some of those damned ND farmers have a whole field to drive on and they hit a moose :biggrin:

Hah..motoged, no, not a vehicular homocide, that's a moose barbeque-'Dakota style.'

--you have got to know I threw that moose in as a 'ringer'. That young guy was not killed on the Baja Road, nor by a Nodak farmer..but twas zapped by a lightning bolt from one of our notorious prairie thunderstorms..poor brute never knew what hit him.

Lesson on ND weather: If you're the tallest thing around during a lightning storm...Duck!

Bajaboy - 2-22-2012 at 11:49 AM

what about the old geezers with the oversized travel trailers swerving all over the road :light:

mtgoat666 - 2-22-2012 at 12:21 PM

i am suddenly compelled to channel my inner chrisX...
slow down, gringo, hit the brakes!
watch out for fat ladies in red hondas!
watch out for fat old guys in RVs!
:lol:

p.s. good troll ,pompy! way to open a thread, with a swipe at bicyclists! touche! :lol:

i will now sit back and let the bicyclist bashing begin! :fire:

[Edited on 2-22-2012 by mtgoat666]

Skipjack Joe - 2-22-2012 at 12:35 PM

Naw. Diane isn't as frisky now.

:lol:

Pompano - 2-22-2012 at 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajaboy
what about the old geezers with the oversized travel trailers swerving all over the road :light:

In the years since the Baja Highway was completed in 1973-74 I have seen countless semi-trucks, speeding 4 wheelers, many buses, driving vey erratically and yes, swerving....but never an 'old geezer with a over-sized trailer swerving all over the road'. Funny, but the thing I notice most about those old geezers is that they are mostly the safest... and by far the 'sanest'.... drivers out there. Experience will always show in the final count.

Most of the ones (old geezers) I know are very experienced drivers who have earned a CDL. An accomplishment merited by having good driving skills..tested with over-sized equipment. I thiink you are jumping to a common belief that old geezers cause all the wrecks you see on the Baja Road...that is simply not so in my experience, which is quite a lot of round trips. 150 or so? Just my take on it.

Maybe your personal experience is different.

Bajamatic - 2-22-2012 at 02:12 PM

:lol:

bigzaggin - 2-25-2012 at 05:46 PM

You WILL be slowing and swerving a few times to avoid a few of these:

Clearly this picture was not taken in Baja (I can tell because the dog has all four legs)

LisaR. - 2-25-2012 at 06:55 PM

Pompano, I always love your photo essays! Thanks!

Here are a couple of road hazards from my own travels:

(Really?!?)

This one doesn't look too bad, but I took the picture because he was swerving in and out of the other lane so much I just couldn't believe it. I just didn't catch it at the right moment.

Bob H - 2-26-2012 at 09:18 AM

Great thread and photos Roger. Where do you come up with all of these ideas? I know you must have enough photos around to cover ANY Baja subject matter.

Phil S - 2-26-2012 at 09:47 AM

Roger. Were you actually there as that plane was trying to land on that poor pickup owners 'hood'??? Or did you find it on the internet? Great shot if you were there, and how did you escape where the plane ended up most likelyupside down??????????? (a need to know question)

ddawson - 2-26-2012 at 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Phil S
Roger. Were you actually there as that plane was trying to land on that poor pickup owners 'hood'??? Or did you find it on the internet? Great shot if you were there, and how did you escape where the plane ended up most likelyupside down??????????? (a need to know question)

wow, that is a crazy pic!

[Edited on 2-26-2012 by ddawson]

Pompano - 2-26-2012 at 01:15 PM

No...not my photo, but an old flying buddy, Dusty, sent me that one a few years back. He may have taken that one, himself...or not. Dusty has seen some crazy stuff in his long and exciting career in 'strange' flying jobs around the globe. He was involved in some weird happenings in Chiapis in the 80's..flying black gooney birds, night flights from Texas, runways lit rapidly, and then shut down asap. We joked about me coming back to work with him as door gunner...no thanks, amigo...I'm a peace-loving fisherman these days.

I have another that I did take at the Mulege pista (airstrip) that is almost the same as that one above, though. It shows a pickup truck with a just-then damaged rooftop driven by Ranger Roy of Ecomundo..who had driven the pickup onto the runway directly in front of an out of fuel airplane coming in on final.

Why Ranger Roy drove out in front to that landing plane is still a mystery, as the soldiers stationed there found out when he was questioned...go figure? I guess it was just one of those kind of days in Baja, which seem to come around all too often. :rolleyes:

Below: We're having some fun searching the Pacific shores for bikinis and other fun 'airplane stuff'.

One of those gooney birds flew into my decoy set and bingo!:

[Edited on 2-26-2012 by Pompano]

KurtG - 2-26-2012 at 06:00 PM

Roy told me that it was getting dark and he thought it would be a good idea to use his truck headlights to illuminate the end of the runway to assist the incoming plane.

Alcohol may have been involved.

Pompano - 2-26-2012 at 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KurtG
Roy told me that it was getting dark and he thought it would be a good idea to use his truck headlights to illuminate the end of the runway to assist the incoming plane.

Alcohol may have been involved.

I was there ...it was.

ElCap - 2-26-2012 at 06:46 PM

On the road out to Laguna San Ignacio last year. The young driver of the truck looked pretty bummed. We were able to squeeze by - thought I was going to slip off the other side, but we made it.

POMPANO

captkw - 2-27-2012 at 07:58 AM

you are amazing,,Keep it up,,you post's are better than reading a news paper with coffee in the morning !! K&T :cool:

Pompano - 2-27-2012 at 10:22 AM

Some ganado (cattle) are more likely to be a danger to motorists than others.

below: a rare photo of Baja livestock actually in motion :rolleyes:

Like...if they are moving!...Look Out!

Luckily, Baja has few of the normal Nodak road hazards such as:

blizzards & beef/buffalo crossings.....

...and large harvesting equipment like this combine moving between fields.

Bajamatic - 2-27-2012 at 02:13 PM

This thread makes me thing of the sound of a downshifting semi, which when out of sight, is about the scariest thing in the world because you know in 2 seconds something huge, traveling at a high rate of speed, and probably in the middle of your lane is about to be in your face.