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bajabuddha
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Location: Baja New Mexico
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Mood: Always cranky unless medicated
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Good point to consider; everyone thinks shorter distance = easier, less damaging road. WRONG. Washboards and potholes are created by a simple matter
of more cars = more damage to soft-surface dirt. If you're towing anything you love, make sure it's beefed, your tire pressure is low, you go slowly,
and be prepared for all the traffic that now thinks the 'shortcut' is OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
If my memory serves (what? ME worry?) I do believe downhill traffic on grades has the right-of-way in 'Dirt Etiquette 101'.... or am I mistook yet
again? I don't think i'd take my 28' 5th wheel that-a-way until a little more grading on the hill; maybe next fall. And, I even had my axles beefed
up. Found out an 8600 GVW 5th wheel was manufactured with two 3500 GVW axles. Go figger. MADE IN AMERICA. I paid dearly for my last run on that
stretch a year and a half ago. BTW, I took SIX AND A HALF HOURS to go 35 miles. That's 5 mph average. 4x4 low-lock up the grades. I was VERY
careful. It will be a godsend for me when completed, will save a full drive-day from where I come from. Until then, SOS, DD.
[Edited on 2-1-2015 by bajabuddha]
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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TMW
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["bajabuddha: BTW, I took SIX AND A HALF HOURS to go 35 miles. That's 5 mph average. 4x4 low-lock up the grades."]
Were you just in your truck. I'm sorry I don't know of anywhere on that road that would require 4x4 Low. I've been on that road several times in the
last six months including twice two weeks ago and it seems to me to be about the same it always was. Some places 10mph and some places 35mph.
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chuckie
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I bleve the Buddha was pulling a 5th wheel...a braver man than I.....
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redhilltown
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I agree with TMW...I have been driving that road for over 20 years in a stock Tacoma and it just isn't that bad...sure, slow at times but not even an
eyebrow raiser as to anything technically difficult...if you want to pull a lot behind well, that's not the road's fault!
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bajabuddha
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Quote: Originally posted by TMW  | ["bajabuddha: BTW, I took SIX AND A HALF HOURS to go 35 miles. That's 5 mph average. 4x4 low-lock up the grades."]
Were you just in your truck. I'm sorry I don't know of anywhere on that road that would require 4x4 Low. I've been on that road several times in the
last six months including twice two weeks ago and it seems to me to be about the same it always was. Some places 10mph and some places 35mph.
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Yes, I was towing my 5th wheel, and on the advice from a 20-year resident of Gonzaga community... I was going to do an extra day and go back through
Ensenada, but no, I was told ''it isn't that bad, just GO SLOW'', so slow I went. REAL SLOW. The 4x4 low-lock wasn't for 'four-wheeling', but so I
could walk up the last grades REAL SLOW. Tires, down, the works. I couldn't have driven any careful-er (sorry, grammar critics). My point is, the
last stretch is still in bad shape, will remain so for a while, and possibly get even worse with the now-increased traffic. Ya spends yer money, ya
takes yer chances. It's your own call on what you do to your own stuff.
And those who call 'blame and fault', take a chill pill. You don't learn much by doing everything right, eh? 
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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David K
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Thank you bajabuddha, you made, so it worked!
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chuckie
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I'll be going over that piece of road Saturday.......
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AKgringo
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I agree with Buddah, using low range puts the gears closer together so you aren't over revving or lugging the engine, and things run cooler with less
stress on the drive train.
I am off road, or in sand, snow or mud on a regular basis year round. I will go into four wheel drive before I need to just to keep from tearing up
the roads or trails I am on. Spinning wheels and barely making it through a spot may be fun, but I try to drive with a light footprint.
My vehicle and trailer are light, so I did not need low range for the stretch through Coco' Corner, but If I was pulling a fifth wheel, I would have
done exactly the same a B.B!
Edit....Come to think of it, I did go into low range 2wd heading up that narrow grade for a while. At the speeds that stretch allows, why not?
Besides that, the whine of the transfer case makes my little SUV sound like a real truck!
[Edited on 2-3-2015 by AKgringo]
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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TMW
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Thanks for explaining, I now understand your reason.
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dtbushpilot
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Actually the up-hill traffic has the right of way. It is easier and safer to back up hill rather than down.
"Life is tough".....It's even tougher if you're stupid.....
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bajabuddha
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Location: Baja New Mexico
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I do believe you're correct-a-mundo. Been too damned long since I did the serious O/R driving... forgot how to hang sheet-rock too....
Oh, and DK, I made it, but my 5th wheel needed some welding at the Bahia LA Jct. yard for a broken spring shackle.
[Edited on 2-3-2015 by bajabuddha]
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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krazytoy
Newbie
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I think it also has to do with what you are driving and how comfortable you are on dirt roads. We made if from pavement to pavement in an hour and 15
minutes, to me it's not "that bad"... I didn't feel like I was pushing the Cruiser or my driving abilities either, I could have done it faster, but
whats the point, leave the racing to the pros and continue on Baja time. If it takes an hour or 10 it's still a very pretty drive.
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StuckSucks
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The canyon between Coco's and Laguna Chapala. There was a full load of rebar on the flatbed.
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thebajarunner
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You are right on the law- don't agree on the rest
Yes, the basic highway law says uphill has right of way.
A law which I always found frustrating.
I have never found it easier to back up hill than back downhill.
Just saying....
And I have done a lot of driving in reverse,
hate backing uphill direction.
Plus, if it is real steep, you have two wheel drive, and a stick shift.... lots of luck going backward up the hill. (did a lot of that in the old
days, auto tranny has made all of off road a lot easier)
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David K
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Location: San Diego County
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| Quote: Originally posted by krazytoy | | I think it also has to do with what you are driving and how comfortable you are on dirt roads. We made if from pavement to pavement in an hour
and 15 minutes, to me it's not "that bad"... I didn't feel like I was pushing the Cruiser or my driving abilities either, I could have done it faster,
but whats the point, leave the racing to the pros and continue on Baja time. If it takes an hour or 10 it's still a very pretty drive.
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That would be a "Toyota Thing"  
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StuckSucks
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uno mas canyon shot:
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David K
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Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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On the Hwy. 1 to the dirt Hwy. 5, going north (in July 2012):
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basautter
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Thanks for the update! That part of the coast is destined for a lot of change in the near future.
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AKgringo
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I am in no hurry to see the final section completed. I would rather deal with the known downside of twenty plus miles of bad road, than the unknown
effect of all the highway one traffic that will move to highway five when it is finished!
I didn't start driving the east side until 2010, so for me these are the good old days, and I don't want it to change!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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bajabuddha
Banned
Posts: 4024
Registered: 4-12-2013
Location: Baja New Mexico
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Mood: Always cranky unless medicated
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RULES OF THE ROAD REDUX:
Yup, the basic rule is the 'uphill ROW'.... however, all has to do with stopping, a-s-s-e-ssing terrain, vehicles, and who will have the most
difficulties in doing what. Been there, done that. Drove dirt before I drove pavement, and the FIRST rule is courtesy and communication... que no?
Many years back, was in a (dumb-azz) situation (mine, as usual) couldn't go up or down, jack-knifed on a switchback w/trailer, and a Mexicano peek-up
with goats in the back coming DOWNHILL had to chain up to my front bumper and pull ME uphill a quarter-mile to save my sorry azz. I offered
recompense from pesos to cervezas to sodas, he wouldn't take anything but a smile and a handshake. I introduced myself as 'Senior (squiggle over the
'n') Estupido' and we had a good laugh.
The last stretch on the former 'Road From Hell' will still be a challenge for the next few years, that's a given. Young bucks with their young trucks
(they forget who taught them) will do that road in an hour. They yet haven't learned that their excessive speed is also what CAUSES WASHBOARDING, so
drive on, Mo-fo's.... I used-ta too.
[Edited on 2-4-2015 by bajabuddha]
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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