Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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For the younger generation on the Board
I posted this a couple of years back and decided, because of the many new names on the board, to repost it here.
For the oldtimers who still lurk around forgive me.
A trip report of course—of sorts
Amazing just how great these Nomad folks do be. Invited I was down to the Vermillion Sea to spend a day, a week or a month just lying about along its
shores from Los Barriles—just had to visit Don Jimmy Smiths resting place by the side of the road where he greets each passing soul—to Buena Vista,
Rancho Leonero, La Ribera and finally Punta Colorada.
Please don’t ask why I would waste my precious time lollygagging around these most famous and sun drenched throw-backs to a far better and slower
paced places—why does one climb a mountain does come to mind. So many wonderful offers that I couldn’t refuse so I began to plan a trip of huge
portions. I checked and everybody said I had chosen the most ideal month of the year to visit all of these folks I had come to know over the years.
April was to be my invasion month. I would spend a few days with this old friend and then a week down that way with another—you all know how it
goes—the invites just kept coming in to the point that I was forced to begin culling through them because I only had a month of days to fill and
almost as many nights. I must be sure to be there for a full moon because I have heard of her rising over the Sea of Cortez since I was a youngin’
and that be a ton of years ago.
Okay! So after much research and work I had my trip figured and began to contact all those lovely folks who had made such wonderful offers of
hospitality to this old guy. Amazing how many of them had family dropping in at the exact second that I had planned to stop by. One lovely lady
secretly told me that her husband had been on a toot for over a month and that she could not possibly spare any time for me because she would be
trying to sober the slob up and that he just might become upset at my presence—all of this six weeks before I had penciled her offer in on my dance
card.
Ah! Their hearts be in the correct place and I will still stop by and visit—over a quick Pacifico and then away before they can throw me out.
So! By now I think you get my drift. I began to scale back on my trip and started to arrange my own lodging when I was contacted by a couple of
folks in that city of peace up north a bit.. They wanted to know if I could make it there for a few days and if so they would arrange a great party
of all the Nomads who hang together in La Paz. That was extremely tempting in the beginning but he petered out about the same way that things did on
the East Cape.
Then all of a sudden I am contacted by a guy—Ed, Dale, or what ever his real name is—who I used to work with in the Cop Shop so many years ago that he
had to remind me just who he was.
Anyway, he suggested that if I shared driving time with him as he transported a car to a Mexican friend somewhere on the Cape that he could secure a
weeks free lodging—somewhere down there.
I did have some reservations because I had planned to fly over what we all have begin to know as “No Man’s Land—Baja Norte. Look he said, “Between us
we stand about 13 feet tall and weight about 550 pounds and both of us still have that hard nosed look of cops who have seen it all and know how to
handle ourselves.” Wow, right I vaguely remember what he is talking about—sorta like that guy of old—Pablo Bunyan and his ‘buey azul’ (for you
language challenged folks that is—blue ox). Who would mess with these old fools.
Besides we would be driving a quarter century old van that no self respecting crook would bother with—it would take a week to get it clean and then it
would probably only bring about a hundred bucks or so on the less than open market.
So I accept this guys, whoever he is, wonderful offer and we etch our trip in stone. Day one was to see us leaving Chula Vista with the first night
seeing us in Guerrero Negro. Well, Darn! We didn’t get there because we didn’t leave when we were scheduled to because the car need some last
minutes things—like brakes and tires—so I am sitting here starting this trip that really should begin tomorrow without any understanding for where we
will be staying nor even when we will get there.
Yeah! I know, the perfect way to see Baja—at a hundred miles an hour in a vehicle that has no papers and which, gloriously will not be used on our
return trip whenever that will be.
I do know that we will be stopping in La Paz to buy return tickets on a Mexican commuter flight that only flies into Tijuana on odd days. From there
we will catch the Greyhound Bus across the border and back into the U.S. where we will take the Tijuana Trolley back to Chula Vista.
So what more I need to know? I know about when we will start and how and I do know, almost when we will return and how. The in between stuff will be
fun and a surprise for all of us.
Oh! I was going to post reports of my trip as I found my place wherever I landed. BUT a very good friend has begun to forget things so I gave her my
laptop so she could post things that happened real time so she would know where she was and who she had been talking with.
I will scribble notes and should I really return home then I will attempt to decode my notes and post the middle of my trip for our enjoyment.
Baja! I just love it. Viva Nomads (remember most of what I write is with tongue firmly in cheek)!
Trip Report part two—East Cape
As I mentioned before the vehicle (using that term lightly) we were supposed to leave in last Wednesday had a few issues and the trip was set back
until Thursday because it was decided that it would be very nice to have brakes and that new tires replace those that were rotting in place from age.
Oh! Yeah, we found that it needed brakes when the right front wheel got so hot that it melted the hubcap. Truly a frightening site to watch a plastic
wheel cover melt and puddle right next to the wheel that got so hot that it could not be touched.
Thursday came and the trip was again delayed because cash flow problems of one of the guys who was going. That evening I received another call that
the water pump needed to be replaced and that the new one would not arrive until Friday noon.
This decided me and I finally listened to someone who had been whispering in my ear since this whole thing started—I cancelled the mini-Baja 500 and
purchased airline tickets. Now the plan is to leave on the 4th, spend a week in Barriles and then take five days in La Paz. Then I will fly home on
the 14th
Unfortunately, this change in plans means that I will not be able to play ‘paper boy’ and drop books off as we sped south. I did get a set of books
dropped off for Shari in Guerrero Negro. Sure hope she got them.
I will be able to carry a few books down there but not the number I had hoped give away.
I will be staying at the Playa del Sol in Barriles and at the La Perla in La Paz.
I am anticipating visiting with several Nomads while down there so if any of you are in the area please give me a hollor.
I get to meet a bunch of Nomads in the Norte area every year but I seldom am allowed to visit, face to face, with you lucky ones who live in Baja Sur.
Another benefit of going by myself is that I won’t have to put up with the snoring and the farts of traveling companions.
AIN'T BAJA GRAND...I was lucky enough to meet Steve & Ana and longlegsinlapaz...and a bunch of other wonderful folks...longlegs even provided me
with a wonderful dancing gal and showed me the sites.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13237
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
Member Is Offline
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good story Baja Bernie - is there more to come ??
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Barbarosa
Nomad
Posts: 188
Registered: 1-12-2011
Location: Jackson, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: "On th' road again..."
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Baja Bernie
I posted this a couple of years back and decided, because of the many new names on the board, to repost it here.
A trip report of course—of sorts
Amazing just how great these Nomad folks do be. Invited I was down to the Vermillion Sea to spend a day, a week or a month just lying about along its
shores from Los Barriles—just had to visit Don Jimmy Smiths resting place by the side of the road where he greets each passing soul.
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What a great read!
Had the great pleasure of hearing some of Jimmy's tales firsthand lo those many years ago, which of course just makes reading them even better. Got
in touch with his soul down there m'self coupla months ago.
Anywho, thanks for resurrecting this.
Barbarosa
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Baja Bernie
Another benefit of going by myself is that I won’t have to put up with the snoring and the farts of traveling companions.
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Oh Boy...if Jamie reads this, you'll be sleeping on the couch, Bernie. 
Nice to see you, as always.
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Miss Ya down here Bernie! Hope someday you return and bring Jamie with you! Saludos, Sara
[Edited on 4-24-2011 by Eli]
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
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Kudos, Bernie...saludos.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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longlegsinlapaz
Super Nomad
Posts: 1685
Registered: 11-18-2005
Location: La Paz
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Baja Bernie
AIN'T BAJA GRAND...I was lucky enough to meet Steve & Ana and longlegsinlapaz...and a bunch of other wonderful folks...longlegs even provided me
with a wonderful dancing gal and showed me the sites. |
Uhhhhhhhhhh....I prefer to think of that young dancing gal as a spontaneous act of kindness or something....I pulled up at Balandra at just the right
moment....one of those serendipitous moments in life, versus anything I intentionally arranged! 
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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Sara
Jaime and I are definitely planning a trip down your way before the year is out...Told her the story of your granddaughter teaching me how to fold
clothes...I will never forget her look as she corrected me with--"No! You do it this way." and made me do it again.
So many great memory's.
Dennis could be!
Longlegs your telling is better than mine...
Baja Blanca...every now and then as the mood strikes me.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65282
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Hi Bernie! Happy Easter to you and Jaime!
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Hope so Bernie, it would be wonderful to cross paths again. I bought my ticket to Mx. Looks like I am out of here June - Nov., back to Vera Cruz and
most likly Oaxaca in the fall. Hasta............Sarita
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13237
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
Member Is Offline
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" as the mood stikes you " ... what a wonderful way to put it !! as my mom always sez - "it's a hard life but someone has to do it ..."
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