My new baja ride

I love cars you can get dirty and bounce thru the countryside in without dragging bottom or worrying about things falling off.

I think it started in high school, in the 70s, when my first car was a VW "dune buggy" : a 60 something beetle body with fiberglass fenders and hood, on a cut down transporter frame with big tires and the extra low van gearbox that allowed it to climb pretty much anything. My parents towed it behind the family RV on weekends, and I drove it around San Diego schooldays.

In the 80s I had a 71 VW Westphalia camper van that I basically lived out of while leading rock climbing, canoeing and backpacking trips around California. I used this car to visit San Ignacio for the first time, and look a whale in the eye in Scammons lagoon: I was hooked! I learned how to pull the engine, install an external cooler to replace the doghouse cooler near the 3rd cylinder since it had a tendency to make it run hot, adjust the valves and install a new clutch. My friends with vans referred to this as "Field maintenance." lol:

It was simple and it was slow, but comfy, and I wasn't exactly living life in the fast lane back then.

In the 90s I had a 4x4 Mitsubishi station wagon that left its transmission somewhere near Catavina, so I graduated to a 4x4 Ford Ranger extended cab with a matching fiberglass camper. Over time I added Yakima roof racks to carry kayaks, camping gear, etc. and often travelled south with a large black lab who was too smart for her own good, and escaped from the truck and tried to swim after us while kayaking and whale watching. (But it was amazing how quickly I was waved thru the highway checkpoints down south when she was in the back! She was the canine version of the "Ready Pass.")

When a friend's Ranger was stolen in Ensenada, I sold him mine a few years ago. When we had lunch earlier this year, he told me he was still driving it, and getting compliments from the ICE officers at Tecate when he drove through. I began to remember how much fun I had driving that truck- how I liked sitting up high, feeling like I was ready to go just about anywhere given the time and inclination.

And suddenly I thought: what am I waiting for?

So... I have a new ride: Waltzing Matilda.


She's a 2000 Mazda B4000 (basically a Ford Ranger) with an extended cab and a wonderful lift kit, big a$$ tires and a newly installed Callen camper with adjustable airshocks. The engine was just replaced and has fewer than 10K miles on it.

Never have I enjoyed driving so fast along rough Baja backroads, and since it's a 6 cyclinder automatic, idling at the border is no longer giving my clutch (and leg) a workout.

I put 1200 miles on her during the whale watching trip to San Ignacio and back last week, and she didn't bat an eye. She's a rare site in Baja- I think I only saw one other Mazda the entire trip.

She's pretty bare-bones inside right now:



But I'm staying up late on websites like Expedition Portal to figure out how to outfit her for more trips south. I want a canopy, a rear cargo carrier, and an outside shelf for happy hour. I'll be looking at options for a mini-galley setup inside for when the wind blows, and a comfy bed... and plan to return to Baja as often as possible with kayaks, and a guide to rock art sites, and with a slightly less aggressive looking dog: Yvette, the poodle. She doesn't swim, but she's still too smart for her own good... and fits much better in the truck.




Alas, she does not intimidate the inspectioneers. No more "ready pass."

I'll keep you posted on our progress.

PS- on the way back thru Tecate, the ICE agents complimented me on my truck, admired the "vintage" Callen camper and asked about the lift kit... I'm back!

Congrats on the purchase! Before I bought my Jeep 10 yrs ago, I drove a 1994 Ford Ranger. Sleeping in the bed during Baja windstorms was very convenient.

My Baja Ford Ranger and I (Big Bear, CA 2002)



[Edited on 3-18-2013 by Ken Cooke]

Great post... That Callen camper looks identical to the one I had on my '01 Tacoma for one trip to Cabo and back. They are indestructible!

On the road to Montevideo in Jan. 2, 2002, where the world's tallest(?) boojum tree had recently toppled over from a hurricane like wind. I think Neal Johns measured it nearly 100 feet tall, as it lay across the ground?



To the right of Capt. Mike's RV at Santispac:



[Edited on 3-18-2013 by David K]