Gypsy Jan - 3-28-2005 at 08:04 PM
Does it come under federal jurisdiction, or do the respective states take care of maintenance and road reapair?
It is such an important source of commerce, I wondered who runs it, maintains it and what are the future plans for it.
[Edited on 3-29-2005 by Gypsy Jan]
Diver - 3-28-2005 at 09:15 PM
I don't know their names but;
One trip down we passed the two owners along the side of the road. One was holding a one gallon paint can and the other was re-paining the white
stripe.
When we returned 7 weeks later, they were about 40 miles down the road.
Talk about job security !
Bruce R Leech - 3-28-2005 at 09:34 PM
I'm the one . I own it all every pothole.
no not really the states each have a highway dept. that is funded with mostly fed money. the closer you are to the governors house the better the
highway.
David K - 3-28-2005 at 09:59 PM
Bruce, you're a 'Super Nomad' now... Congrats!!!
Highway owners...
Pompano - 3-29-2005 at 06:16 AM
Way, way back in 1973 there lived a fellow near Rosario who was seen by travelers as he filled a lot of chuckholes in and out of the village. He
worked diligently with an old wheelbarrow and shovel in the hot sun..filling those holes up all day long for donations from grateful drivers.....and
later in the day when traffic was slow he dug them out again. His job was secure for quite a few years.
North of Gonzaga Bay
thebajarunner - 3-29-2005 at 11:09 AM
there was an old guy who had the same game, he just never dug them out again, but he never made much progress either.
As you started up the first grade into the Sisters he was there on the West side of the road, had a shack with a tarp roof, he would hustle out when
he heard your vehicle and scratch a little with his shovel, hold out his hand for a payment.
It got pretty funny during pre-running, you would go by at least once a week, and his shack and his little stretch of road never moved.
I will say that the 200 yards or so in front of his place were really smooth...
Baja Arriba!!
Here He Is!
David K - 3-29-2005 at 08:37 PM
Taken about 1969, he ran Campo Salvatierra, a refreshment stop. Photo from Cliff Cross' great Baja Guide.
Yeah, that's the guy
thebajarunner - 3-29-2005 at 11:32 PM
Notice how pristine his wheelbarrow looks? Nary a rock nor a twig ever dumped into it, strictly for looks.
Baja Arriba!!
David K - 3-30-2005 at 12:12 AM
Yah Dick, I remember when my mom, dad, and I came upon it in the 1960's. There was a sign asking for donations... He wasn't in sight. My parents
commented how new the wheel barrel looked!
Wasn't that a great trip back then? Remeber all the crosses on the grades south of Puertecitos... and the wrecked cars in the canyon below. Going to
Gonzaga Bay was almost a life or death choice! I laugh when people say how rough the road is now!!! It's a super highway compared to the road it replaced in 1986.
Sisters superhiway
thebajarunner - 3-30-2005 at 09:39 AM
Yeah David, it is now a freeway compared to my first trip over while pre=running the 500 in 1972.
We had my partner's new Ford pickup, had procured a brand new set of Firestone "take-offs" and away we went.
The Ford was a stick.... going North in the grades of the Sisters we spun and chattered the back end so bad that when we got home the tread was as
smooth as a NASCAR speedway tire. Amazing. And yeah, the crosses and the crashed cars were pretty unsettling. (the road was not only extremely
steep but the cross ruts in the rock surface were really deep and you had to keep up speed to keep your momentum)
As to our highway repairman friend.... he was obviously used to hearing the sound of an approaching vehicle and scurrying out of his little shack to
be working upon arrival. We ran the pre-runner so fast that every time through we came upon him while he was still pulling on his britches and trying
to get out to the road. It got to be a standing joke with us on the pre-runs, see if we could zap up on him before he got into his standard pose.
Ah, great memories.
Baja Arriba!!