Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
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Mood: Mellow
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Trip Report - Part 1
We crossed the border in the big red H-1 Hummer from Calexico to Mexicali about noon on Sunday October 10, 2004. The primary purpose of the trip was
to photograph whale sharks in Bahia de Los Angeles. But we also wanted to see some places we had never seen on the northeast coast of the peninsula,
namely Gonzaga Bay. Our crew included my son Jesse, my good friend Jim Bailey, and me. We budgeted ten days for the whole trip. It was our first
time crossing the border at Mexicali. We had prepaid tourist permits, and planned to get them validated at the imigracion office which I was told was
immediately across the border on the right side. However if it was there, it sure wasn?t obvious. Lacking any obvious place to park and find it, we
decided to continue on and handle the paperwork in San Felipe. We filled the Hummer?s tanks (25 gallons in the main tank and 17 in the auxiliary
tank) with diesel at one of the many Pemex stations in Mexicali (4.9 pesos per liter). We also filled three 5-gallon plastic bottles with diesel and
one 5-gallon bottle with a gasoline/oil mix Jesse would use for his dirt bike (a Kawasaki KX250). We carry the spare gas bottles on the roof and the
bike on a rack mounted on the rear of the Hummer.
The trip south to San Felipe took an uneventful 2 hours and on arrival we checked into the El Cortez Hotel right on the beach at the south end of
town. We then located the imigracion office in San Felipe, which was of course closed (Sunday afternoon, duh!). Jim and I are both pilots and have
made many flying trips to Baja, and Jim got the idea to drive out to San Felipe International airport where we knew there is an imigracion office open
seven days a week. That turned out to be a great idea, a pretty female imigracion officer looked at our passports, stamped and validated our permits
in no time and we headed back to the El Cortez as legal tourists.
The El Cortez was a good choice, nice big rooms, right on the beach, friendly people, decent restaurant. We noticed an El Nido steakhouse almost
directly across the street from the hotel, which of course drew us like magnets. We had a great steak, walked back to the hotel, smoked a good Fuerte
Hemingway cigar, drank a little Presidente brandy, solved several of the world?s pressing problems, and hit the sack.
The plan for the next day was to make the drive to Alfonsina?s in Gonzaga Bay. We were anticipating about a six hour trip, two to Puertecitos on the
mostly-paved road and another four on the graded road south of Puertecitos. We weren?t sure what to expect here, we had heard many conflicting
reports about the quality of this road and how long it would take to get to Gonzaga. Actually we found the worst part of the road to be the last 15
miles north of Puertecitos where the pavement is heavily potholed and a lot of diligence is required to avoid the holes, even with the Hummer?s big
38-inch tires. Jess unloaded the Kawasaki when the road started to get rough north of Puertecitos and rode it on the dirt the rest of the way to
Alfonsina?s.. We made it to Puertecitos in just under 2 hours.
The 42 mile graded road south of Puertecitos is excellent, with many stretches that we took easily at 40-45 mph. When the road rose into the low
coastal hills it often had sections with rocky outcroppings and these had to be negotiated carefully and more slowly. This trip along the
northeastern shoreline of the Baja peninsula is truly magnificent. The views of the coastline, the islands, and the shimmering expanses of the Sea of
Cortez were breathtaking, not to mention the strikingly beautiful cactus fields of cardon, ocotillo, cirio, viznaga, and the mountains to the west.
It was a magical Baja day, great October weather, clear and warm but not hot, and the combination of watching Jess ahead of us on the bike and the
fantastic scenery was memorable.
We were about two hours out of Puertecitos, when Jess ran out of gas on the bike. We brought the Hummer alongside the bike and shut down on the road.
Our two GPS units (full explanation of that coming soon) showed that we were only 4 miles north of Rancho Grande and the short cutoff to Alfonsina?s,
our next destination. Jess took the spare gas container off the roof of the Hummer, and filled his tank. After replacing the gas can, we walked
around awhile to savor the views on all sides, then Jess lit off the bike again and Jim and I got back in the Hummer for the final short leg of our
trek to Alfonsina?s. We turned the key and?nothing. The Hummer suddenly had no electrical power. It was early afternoon and we were shut down on
one of the most remote roads on the peninsula.
continued
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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I'd love to help you, buttttt:
I currently have several vehicles stranded in isolated locations along the skinny peninsula. Suggest you retrieve your vehicles ASAP b efore your
reuptation suffers. In PARTICULAR watch out for DEBRA. a bitter pill to swallow.
GREAT STORY, write on!
Amigo Miguel.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65193
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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I just love trip reports... with suspence! It sounds like the Hummer died about the same spot where Humfreville had a flat with no spare and no jack?
Could it be the El Tomatal of the Gulf coast? http://vivabaja.com/et
Here's Ken's H-1, from his web site...
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4baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1339
Registered: 9-4-2003
Location: morro bay ca
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should have bought a toyota!
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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I had a similar thing happen two years ago on that road near three sisters. Battery was dead. Lucky for us a chevy tahoe came by and jump started us.
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Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
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Mood: Mellow
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4baja...
You are discounting pilot error. Hold off til you read the rest of the reports. I'm sure I could screw up a Toyota equally as well as a Hummer.
++Ken++
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synch
Nomad
Posts: 316
Registered: 9-14-2004
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Mood: wandering...
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