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John Harper
Super Nomad
Posts: 2289
Registered: 3-9-2017
Location: SoCal
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August 1984 in my 1971 VW bus. Drove the old dirt road out to Abreojos, 42 miles or so IIRC. Just before the point, we drove through a shallow
saltwater marshy area. Got out there, set the parking brake, camped and surfed for about 5 days. Huge surf, clams from the estuary, plenty of
cervezas. Camped next to some crazy Aussies. A little bit of heaven.
After 5 days, fired up the van, released the brake, popped the clutch, and.....nothing. The rear shoes had fused to the drums.
Found a fellow surfer with a 4WD to hook up to me, revved the engine, dumped the clutch, while he hit the gas and yanked the van at the same time.
Fnally got one wheel loose, then after him dragging me and revving motor/dumping clutch a few more times, it finally broke free on the other wheel.
We continued on after that as far as Bahia Concepcion and back up to LA Bay, but also found the low octane gas (ran out of octane booster) made the
van almost impossible to start in the morning. Took about an hour each morning to get her fired up. Once started, she ran like a champion all day
long. The minute I reached the states and put in some US gas, had no problem starting in the morning ever again.
I always brought a can of starting fluid after that experience, and plenty of octane booster.
John
[Edited on 3-28-2018 by John Harper]
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StuckSucks
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Posts: 2325
Registered: 10-17-2013
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Quote: Originally posted by David K  | | The other thing to do if possible Jim would be to not take such a direct approach for the climb out of the arroyo, but to go diagonally so you are not
so steep and the vehicle weight is a bit more shared rather than 90% going to the back tires. |
I get that, but I was mid-turnaround when it dug in. Uphill is not good, but it was out of my control at that point.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64857
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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The good news is that you made it out and are here to share the fun!
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chippy
Super Nomad
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| Quote: Originally posted by John Harper | August 1984 in my 1971 VW bus. Drove the old dirt road out to Abreojos, 42 miles or so IIRC. Just before the point, we drove through a shallow
saltwater marshy area. Got out there, set the parking brake, camped and surfed for about 5 days. Huge surf, clams from the estuary, plenty of
cervezas. Camped next to some crazy Aussies. A little bit of heaven.
After 5 days, fired up the van, released the brake, popped the clutch, and.....nothing. The rear shoes had fused to the drums.
Found a fellow surfer with a 4WD to hook up to me, revved the engine, dumped the clutch, while he hit the gas and yanked the van at the same time.
Fnally got one wheel loose, then after him dragging me and revving motor/dumping clutch a few more times, it finally broke free on the other wheel.
We continued on after that as far as Bahia Concepcion and back up to LA Bay, but also found the low octane gas (ran out of octane booster) made the
van almost impossible to start in the morning. Took about an hour each morning to get her fired up. Once started, she ran like a champion all day
long. The minute I reached the states and put in some US gas, had no problem starting in the morning ever again.
I always brought a can of starting fluid after that experience, and plenty of octane booster.
John
[Edited on 3-28-2018 by John Harper] |
Were those crazy aussies in a cal. plated baja bug?
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StuckSucks
Super Nomad
Posts: 2325
Registered: 10-17-2013
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Not sure if this classifies as a "stuck."
There were four of us in two Toyota trucks prerunning the Baja 1000, circa late 80s. The course passed through Mike's, so after a full day of
prerunning, we all decided to stop and have a margie. What started as one margarita, morphed into a few more. It was decided to press on -- the course
departed Mike's, ran through Coyote and over to the Observatory Road. In those days, the Observatory Road was dirt all the way down to Highway 1.
Once we got off the relatively slow Coyote portion of the course, we headed west and down the hill on the graded Observatory Road (read: graded road +
margies = road rally). We continued down the hill in an expeditious manor; I was keeping an eye in the mirror for the other Toyota's headlights, not
that we were racing.
About half way down the hill, I noticed the other headlights were missing, so I slowed down and finally stopped. And waited. We decided to head back
up the hill, to see what the problem was.
The problem was this: the other Toyota had rolled in a sharp, right-hand curve, tumbling him 1-1/2 times until he came to rest on the passenger's side
of the truck. These guys were lucky x1000 -- there were many opportunities to skid off the road and down a steep ravine, but instead they managed to
roll into one of the few places which had a large, level turn-out on the left side of the road. When we arrived, both occupants were out of the truck
standing next to it, both OK -- the truck's headlights were on as well as the emergency flashers.
The windshield was completely broken and had to be hacked out with a hatchet. Not a single piece of sheet metal remained straight. We tipped the truck
back on its wheels and decided that *this* was a perfect spot to camp for the night.
The next morning we drove down the Observatory Road toward Highway 1, our destination was Ensenada.
While passing through a small town while heading north on the highway, we got pulled over by a police officer who wanted to see our accident report.
We told him it was a solo accident and there was no accident report. He became rather insistent, but we played the mordida card and the problem went
away. But when passing through Ensenada, we encountered a second helping of police and accident reports.
The good news was we were in front of Roberto's Restaurant in Ensenada, and as soon as the cop started giving us problems, Roberto came running out of
the restaurant and got in the cop's face, until the cop finally backed off and went away. Roberto was a great guy, allowing us to store the broken
truck in the back yard of his restaurant before we moved it to a repair facility in Ensenada (we subsequently spent thousands of dollars at his
restaurant).
The truck was repaired in an Ensenada shop over the course of the next 12 months -- they did a great job of restoring the wadded mess.
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John Harper
Super Nomad
Posts: 2289
Registered: 3-9-2017
Location: SoCal
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No, they had an old blue Ford with a camper shell. A few days later they wrecked it heading north, but were okay. Lost touch after that.
John
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Cancamo
Nomad
Posts: 360
Registered: 4-5-2011
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I believe it was in the winter of the early 80's, traveling north. We came to the big drainage/vado north of Jesus Maria with at least 6' of water
briskly flowing across. Traffic including buses, trucks, military etc. backed up on both sides. It was way too deep and moving too fast to pull anyone
across, although the dozer was patiently standing by. We waited overnight into the next day, the rain was intermittent and water wasn't going down any
time soon. I as well as a couple folks with me had a pressing business commitment and had to be back NOB in a few days. Mulling all options,we drove
back to Guerrero Negro.
Going to the bus station looking for a trip south we came across many other wayward travelers and no bus transport either direction in the near
future.
From there we went to the airport where we found the well known Baja pilot Francisco Munoz and his older twin engine aircraft. He had been servicing
all corners of the peninsula way before the highway was built much less many roads. Many Nomads know whom he is.
Us, along with other stranded travelers were able to charter a trip out of there with Sr. Munoz. Others included a doctor and his wife, a cruise ship
steward, an elderly couple with pending health issues, two college kids, and couple of missionaries. Everybody had critical commitments north and
couldn't wait it out or they would lose their job, their health, their semester, their patient, their connecting flight back to Europe, etc...Captain
Munoz would not take us north to Tijuana due to the continuing storm and turbulence, although he would fly us back to La Paz. From La Paz we could
potentially book a flight on a larger, commercial plane which could get us to Tijuana.
We arrived in La Paz thanks to Capt. Munoz, and our disheveled group spent the night sharing the large dormitory room at the old Pension California
downtown. That was all that was available at the late arrival time, and we were too exhausted to search around.
The next morning we boarded a commercial flight to Tijuana. From Tijuana we went our different ways. Some of the group were traveling without tourist
cards, (common in Baja then), and had issues with Immigration at the airport.
My friend whom we were traveling with overland, stayed in the van at the arroyo and was able to cross through the water a few days later after it
subsided. He eventually tied in with us NOB.
We were able to get back to our work obligations just in time.
I've got a few more stuck stories, including the three week transmission rebuild in La Paz in 1981. I really got to know the town as a pedestrian,
great walking town. Bent tie rod at Punta Prieta, thank goodness for old Fords, parts everywhere..... More later......
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64857
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Cancamo, excellent story!
A few years ago Capt. Muñoz was discussed (The Kissing Captain) and I scanned a few photos of him taken mostly in the 1960s when Erle Stanley Gardner
used to contract with him. It was rumored that Gardner helped him get the bigger twin plane to help his little airline...
| Quote: | Originally posted by willardguy
the kissing captain.  |
Yes!
Some photos from an Erle Stanley Gardner book (1967):
The family at EL BARRIL
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