Travel Report Calexico to Los Barriles, Dec 21 – 23, 2019.
Part 1
So along with my unindicted co- conspirator, we cooked up a plan to get an “Illegal” trailer from my home in California to Sheri’s place in
Bahia Asuncion.
So with a fabricated data plate showing the Vin # of my utility trailer, riveted to the rail, screwed on TPI license plate to boot, and I headed
out pulling a 4000 lb enclosed 10 ft trailer, with AC unit solar panels & generator on board. Got to the border about 4 pm Saturday night, the
line (west) was jammed with cars back about a mile into town. I was a bit disappointed / relieved, got the green light. I even tried to pull in to
the parking on the left side to ask where I needed to go to get my FMM - but the guard waved me away and pointed me to the line through the booths.
So I’m in, trailers all good - it is insured for Baja (added to my vehicle insurance - no extra cost, thanks baja bound / chubb), but I have no
FMM – so I’ll probably be shot at the first check point according to some people here!
Made the quick run into San Felipe, (Quick look inside the trailer by the military checkpoint, 2 minutes, and on my way again). stayed for the
night in SF - cant remember the name of the place - its right next to El Cortez, right on the beach, but 20 bucks cheaper - they got me 60 bucks,
room was clean and comfortable, and secure parking - that’s was a big deal. Dinner - I don’t really eat much on the Malecon, I find the
restaurants there to be GMT’s (Gringo Money Traps) playing to the loud obnoxious ugly Americans! I’m not there to drink, And I’ve never
found the food there to be great, or reasonably priced. So, I went to El Tucan, one of my favorite street taco stands - 3 tacos and coke - 3
bucks – absolutely delicious.
TIME CONSTRAINTS:
I had to make Los Barriles by the 23rd, and couldn’t leave any earlier from my home, so now it was on!
Hiway 5 - pulling a fairly heavy triler with a honda ridgeline pick-up. What a dream - a few detours around the washouts between SF &
puertocitos - (and no way they get that done by February BTW) but no traffic to speak of, and good pavement. I however am sad to report that
either I missed it, or its been worn away - but the infamous - Oh chit dip - I didn’t see it, or remember it I thought I remembered the dip -
but the landmark label was missing (unless I simply missed it)
Military checkpoint at ? Puertocitos? No issues, a quick look inside the trailer, plus inordinate amount of interest in my fishing rods, but no
issues. The new part of the road - fantastic. That stretch was great - no traffic , great pavement - no issues what so-ever!
Now the trouble starts - see part 2
[Edited on 12-24-2019 by caj13]
[Edited on 12-29-2019 by caj13]
[Edited on 12-31-2019 by caj13]bkbend - 12-24-2019 at 03:11 PM
The work between SF and Puertocitos is to replace vados with culverts. Oh Chit was a casualty of that. I was through there at Halloween and the dip
was gone but the pavement label was still in place. They were working in that area at the time and may have applied a final skim layer of asphalt and
covered the label by now. Another experience turned into a memory.
When my kids (now mid-30s) were little they always wanted me to go faster so I could catch air through those things.BajaDanD - 12-25-2019 at 04:33 PM
I got all 4 wheels of my van off the ground on one of those dips south of San Felipe my front end was never the same after that. Ron in BC - 12-26-2019 at 04:44 PM
Sounds good so far, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hope that it's not road related.
RonAKgringo - 12-27-2019 at 09:35 AM
Good report so far, but you left us hanging on topes and pot holes!caj13 - 12-27-2019 at 11:23 AM
Part 2.
The dreaded intersection. I join up with highway 1 and head south. The road is narrow - but above all – the roads have no shoulders - and drop
offs are steep and tall on both sides of the road.
Speed wise I’m only going about 50 mph, but traffic is fairly light, and we are managing the old turn signal time to pass trick just fine. Then I
see in my mirror - the tire on the trailer is chunking. I am lucjy enough to see a place to exit the road way just ahead - still steep, but
manageable - I get it slowed down - pull off with bit of a worrysome 1 wheel in the air trailer manueverthat threatened roll over - but I get it
safely stopped. Luckily last thing I did before I left was double check my jack system. Tire is shreaded but the rim is OK. So I jack it up and
with a couple of forced prepositioning the jack / blocking maunuevers - get the tire changed. And I’m back on the road. Danged spare looked
fine, but it doesn’t last more than 15 miles, it flies apart - and I have no where to pull off the road. I have to drag it a mile or so on the
rim to find a pull off place. Rim is destroyed. And its Sunday morning in Baja!
I drop the trailer and head south, luckily the turn off to BOLA is only 20 miles up the road. I get there, and some old guy is sitting there under
the tree with his compressor, some hand tools and a sorry collection of 3rd hand tires. Essentially the state of the art tire shop in Baja! We find
a tire similar in height – that will have to do (no solid axle on the trailer - that helps).
So I get it back on the trailer, and start up again. Now I’m worried about time, as I have to be in Los Barriles Monday pm. I’m also worried
because I’m running without a spare.
I get throught the military checkpoint (it must have been Rosarito?) OK, but the guy showed inordinate interest in my fishing rods, and smelled and
resmelled my gym bag several times- it has old shoes and dirty socks in it, I guess either he was looking for drugs - or he has some sort of
fetish.
Sure enough flat #3 comes in about 10 miles from Viscaino. No spare , and its getting dark. I call up sherri, she sends out her right hand mn, we
find some old decrepit tire that will fit the rim, the guy calls in a favor, and gets a guy to open up his tire shop (Sunday evening) Christmas eve
eve.
We get back out to the trailer after dark, get it up and running, and limp into Viscaino, where Sharis RHman puts it in his shop.
So I finally got rid of that albatross! But time wise - I’m up against it. I decide I need to make San Ignacio tonight, so I have a chance to
make Los Barriles on schedule.
No problem, with just a pick-up - no trailer, driving gets about 100% easier. Nice cruise into San Ignacio, just get a room at Rice and beans -
700 pesos, it was OK, and eat dinner there, nothing special, but it was ok. Not expensive not cheap –
So part 3 coming up - The shake down, the road to los Barriles – and a surprise ending!
BTW in hindsight, If i had been smart i would have just put 2 new tires on the trailer before I left. They were over 10 years old - they looked ok,
good tread, didn't wobble, no side checking, but obviously they had deteriorated , If I had to guess, by looking at the carcasses, I would say
the belts broke, tread shifted, and then they chunked!
I was trying to save sherri some money, but that was a bad decision, i should have delivered the trailer with new tires on it!
[Edited on 12-27-2019 by caj13]
[Edited on 12-27-2019 by caj13]Ron in BC - 12-27-2019 at 05:12 PM
Whoa, part 3 of the series still to come, I'm on the edge of my seat.
There's been lots of talk on trailer forums about tires aging out but I've always looked at it the way you did. No sidewall cracks, lot's of tread
etc. the tire should be OK. Some folks have had blowouts etc. but none have said that the tire was old. At any rate, something to think about if
the tires still look OK but are old.
Glad you were able to get clear enough from traffic and didn't get hit by passing traffic.
RonLancairDriver - 12-27-2019 at 06:01 PM
The word among the RV set seems to be change out tires at no more than seven years regardless of how good they look.That is especially true for steer
tires on an RV, which of course doesn’t apply to trailers.Some claim they have run tires for ten years or so. Seems to be a matter of personal
choice. The thread is a good example and shows what a pain old tires can be.
[Edited on 12-28-2019 by LancairDriver]Jinete Viejo - 12-27-2019 at 06:51 PM
Lancair Driver is correct. Change out tires on a travel trailer at 7 years max. There is a small oval on the tire with 4 numbers in it that indicates
when the tire was made, such as 2513. The first two numbers are the week of the year and the last two are the year. So in this example the tire would
have been made in the 25th week of 2013 and the tire should be replaced by June of 2020. advrider - 12-27-2019 at 07:15 PM
I agree, I check the date and change them before I have a problem. First trip with my tent trailer and I blew a tire on I-5 before Mexico. The next
morning I was in getting a set, the old ones looked really good, but they weren't! caj13 - 12-31-2019 at 11:39 AM
Part 3
San Ignacio to Los Barriles, The shakedown
Left San Ignacio at 5 am, had to make LB by evening. Roads are quite good, beautiful drive, particularly when you are on the Sea of Cortez side.
So I got to the military checkpoint at Santa rosalita I believe. 2 guys there were not friendly at all. Ordered me out of the car, immediately both
started rooting around - one on each side of the car. I asked them 1 at a time please, and locked up all the other doors. So the 2nd guy went back
and started rummaging through my pickup bed. I had wet sites, snorkels etc in my dive bag back there.
Guy checking the front grabbed a screw driver from thec compartment between seats, a worn out old wall mart phillips - and he held on to it.
Eventually, after going through several bags, fiding nothing - (the guy missed the cash stashed inside an envelope that had Christmas cards in it.
Anyway the other guy finally gets his turn, and he goes through the passenger side, eventually he sees a pair of old mechanics gloves sitting on the
seat. I pick em up 3 pair for 10 bucks at Home depot. He latches on to them and starts with the old “how much” routine. I tell him he can have
em. He proudly pulls on his new gloves, and waves me through. What a couple of Aholes! Only time this whole trip I ever got treated like that!
Make it to Insurgences, fuel up - great fish tacos at the road side stand leaving town, for brunch, and head out back on the road.
At la Paz they had the Federales inspection station working. They were very friendly and nice, only thing they wanted to see was my car
registration, which he looked up on his phone, I don’t know if he was checking my name or the registration, but I think he was checking my name.
After than, trouble free into los Barriles. 3 days 1400 miles, 900 of em pulling a trailer.
One of the main objectives of my trip was to go swim with the whale sharks off of la Paz.
Go with La Paz VIP tours, run by Anna. And our guide was Maritza, who has a masters degree in marine Biology, and has been studying the whale sharks
for 6 years. An absolutely incredible experience. Make sure you spring for the full tour – 160 bucks, both the whale sharks and the sea lions
snorkeling, plus lunch on the beach.
And I would tell you to get together 4 or 5 people and get on the small boat!
so now: diving and trying to film underwater today
tomorrow, i will stalk the fish of los barriles - and show no mercy (except when I turn em loose)
then its head on back to auberry Ca. probably another 3 days on the road
chippy - 12-31-2019 at 01:04 PM
So what are you gonna do with the trailercaj13 - 12-31-2019 at 03:18 PM
Trailer was donated to Shari, she needed a trailer for storage of her whale camp stuff, i had this sitting around for 10 years, didn't see any use
down the line, so i was happy to hand it over to her.
i had actually outfitted it pretty well for a research station, I put a big sliding window with screens in the side, paneled the inside with ply
wood, has a table/ desk running the length of the trailer. the thing has an Onan generator, solar panels, AC built in. i would run 2 marine
radars, the AC, 3 laptops and a full complement of lights all night long - worked really well!, honda tom - 1-1-2020 at 12:26 AM
I was having issues with my boat trailer and prerunner trailer tires.... always looked great … but often fell apart. Have a friend that runs 10 to
12 trailers a day for his business.... box trailers and light duty flatbeds, over 20 years. His method is buy the cheapest tire you can (in your load
range) and replace every 4 years. Sell your used ones on craigslist for whatever you can get for them. A shreaded trailer tire can ruin a great day of
your Mexico trip.David K - 1-1-2020 at 09:24 AM
Very cool donation caj13!!!bajaric - 1-1-2020 at 09:33 AM
When it rains it pours, eh? I had a semi-unpleasant experience at the military check point just north of Gonzaga a couple months ago. The Jefe,
slightly older than the young soldiers, started eagerly rooting around in a plastic tote I keep on the front seat. There were a couple of packs of
cigs in it and he held one up and without asking me looked at one of the soldiers and said "Quieres?" (Want this?) I said, "No, es malo para su salud"
(It's bad for your health) and took the pack from him and gave the soldier five cigs out of it. Kind of irritating he did not ask me, just presumed
he could have it. Then he said he wanted to look in the back in the camper shell, and suddenly stopped and laughed and repeated "Malo para salud" ha
ha and motioned me on my way. I have noticed that the camper shell is a deterrent to getting searched because the hydraulic cylinder that raises the
lid does not work and it is a pain to crawl in there on the knees over the tailgate. An open truck bed is like an invitation. Have had them jump up
there and dig through all my stuff but with the shell they usually take a pass or just look at the stuff that is accessible from standing outside. shari - 1-2-2020 at 08:22 AM
what an adventure and I gotta say Wow and sombreros off to you Caj for daring to help me out in the true baja spirit and style.
Your generosity and kindness will no go unpunished and you have some whale adventures waiting for you whenever you can make it!
I wish you a safe uneventful voyage home!
Now to find some tires....
Here she is in all her splendour! hooked up with my sexy new ride!
[Edited on 1-5-2020 by shari]caj13 - 1-5-2020 at 05:16 PM
Thats awesome sheri! I assume you got the keys to the locks? they are all the same. In case you haven't opened it yet, that panel on the left
side , you see it in the photo, thats where the generator is. probably need to have the carb cleaned up and serviced, but it should be ready to
go. You will have to figure out where you want the fuel tank for the generator mounted, as it's just free floating around - i would put it on a
platform outside the trailer - no fumes, but it's up to you now - good luck!
Trailer Tires
captkw 123 - 1-5-2020 at 07:26 PM
Being do this as part of work.. don't listen to the tire salesman. They MUST say ST on the sidewalls.. very, very portant
I can't tell you how many times a trailer is brought to me and them to take it back and the right tires ( drives me nuts) also if the tires on tow
unit are bias ply must run with them. If radials you must run with them
I don't recommend runing the cheapest.. towing Baja 30+trips
Panama and back towing.. Alaska and back 5 trips towing
I repair and rig boats and trailers with 35+ YRs Experience
OUT
Oops almost forgot
captkw 123 - 1-5-2020 at 07:48 PM
It's real simple. Great your trailer tires balanced and if you really want sweet ride ? Shocks on the leading (Front) Axle
Damn Imustbe getting older
captkw 123 - 1-5-2020 at 07:58 PM
I Also suggests when the is off, put a all dape of moley lub on the studs. OMC Treble quard. Make them Torque wrench. And rechecheck tightness
Two/three times Marc - 1-20-2020 at 02:35 PM
I learned the hard way about letting tires grow old.
