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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
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Gonzaga Bay 1964 My first date with three sisters
Great story! My first time to Baja was Gonzaga too, 1975, except we got to fly in and miss "the road"...only hassle we had was at immigracion where
to everyone's surprise my birth certificate had my date of "Death", not Birth...after going through several layers of Mex Immigration, Link Grindle
made a donation to someone and we were on our way...what a beautiful place, I've been smitten ever since.
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13196
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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amazing story !!!! fantastic ..... Baja just grows on you and whoever said Baja vacation anyways ????? an adventure is always more fun
...well...almost always .....
tell us about more adventure-vacations ..
My first Baja adventure was in 1989 driving San Diego to San Felipe ... and I remember seeing so many cars ditched by the side of the road and prayed
the whole trip for the car to be safe ... it was ... and San Felipe had warm water and fish tacos - all you could eat !!!! heaven ...
[Edited on 6-22-2010 by BajaBlanca]
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bonanza bucko
Senior Nomad
Posts: 587
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Airport Bum
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My first trip to Gonzaga Bay was in November 1979. I had never flown in Mexico before that. Adventure! My buddy, Woody, was gonna build a place at
Alfonsina's on the beach. His airplane was in the shop for annual inspection so he asked me to fly him down there. I had a 1957 Cessna 182...good
airplane but with small gas tanks....only 52 gallons useable and a burn rate of about 12 GPH.
I when we took off from TJ I asked Woody for the course...he was gonna go to sleep. He pointed at El Diablo and said "fly over that mountain...place
is on the other side." I did...but Alfy's was about another 30 minutes flying after I flew around El Diablo's 11500 foot top.
Landed on Alfy's beach runway...a first for me.... looking for Juan Pablo who was gonna pour a salt water pad and build a palapa on the lot the Woody
thought he had leased from Alfonsina...wasn't quite sure about that because he had never met her...his secretary, Stella, was best friends with the
only lady bull fighter from Spain who was then performing at the TJ bull ring....she told Stella that Alfy would lease Woody the lot when she got down
there.."sometime."
Juan Pablo wasn't at Alfy's so we flew over to Punta Bufeo where we found him. He came walking up the sand runway...again, my first...wearing zapatos
and shorts with a big floppy Mexican hat. We started to explain what we wanted in pigeon Spanish when he said, "That's OK man..I went to San Jose
State."
Woody gave him $300 to take a barge around Willard Island and pour the pad and to start on the palapa. We flew back to Alfy's for lunch in her
cantina. Had turtle...there was a turtle tank out behind the cantina. Concha Fernandez was the cook...a great one.
Then it was time to go home...about 1500 and it was gonna get dark about 1700...November. I had calculated that we couldn't get back to TJ unless we
could buy some gas....couldn't....none around. So we took off and flew to Mexicali with the mixture as lean as I could get it without engine
stoppage. At MMML I put 52 gallons into those two 26 gallon tanks.... Got back to Montgomery Field in San Diego about dark. Had a good stiff drink
in the hangar. That started a tradition that lasted 25 years.
When we flew into Alfy's, the next time in both our airplanes, about a month later Juan Pablo had finished the work and told us the price was
wrong...he gave Woody $125 back.
Been flying into Alfy's now for 32 years...got a Bonanza now with bigger tanks. We have since built two houses on Alfy's beach. She died about two
months ago...that is a great!! loss.
Woody doesn't fly anymore. But he should....he could fly a C-182 while asleep as long as it had some gas in it.
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Tricky213
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: 5-27-2010
Location: Fresno,CA
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Good storys, like to here everyones baja aventures. I'm 37 and been going there for 30 years. My grandpa built our cabin in 1958 or 59 its was the 4th
one built. I just joined u crazy nomads, but been on here alot getting updates. I will try to get my grandpa on here and he could tell u guys some
good storys to.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Love it... Gonzaga Bay (Alfonisna's) was our first Baja 4WD destination back in 1965... south from San Felipe in a Jeep Wagoneer pulling a
tent-trailer. People at the cantina in Puertecitos told my dad the road ended there (in Puertecitos)... For most, it did... not us!
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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Baitcast.... loved your story! One of the best quotes I've read in a long time here....
"I have always thought that stupidity must be blessful, for in those days I was my late 20,s and still stupid but happy..."
Your report is a great read dude.
Bob H
PS: By the way, how was the fishing?
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baitcast
Super Nomad
Posts: 1785
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: kingman AZ.
Member Is Offline
Mood: good
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There must be a road in there somewhere,the last grade
Bob H
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Thanks baitcast... now that is the way I remember Baja, too... it was not a day in the park.. but, it was really an adventure.. you were on your own..
pretty much.. people would help.. when they came along...
and really like the part about sliding down backwards.. and keeping the wife calm.. wow.. your hide must be really thick.. 
Really enjoyed, thanks for sharing...
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Coming north from Gonzaga on a steep downgrade... 1974:
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Another shot of the road in '74... It didn't get 'really' bad until a couple years later... and when I drove it in '79 is was barely passable. All
traffic for Gonzaga was coming in from the (new) Hwy. 1 since 1974, and the road south of Puertecitos ceased to get maintenance.
The new graded road was built in 1986...
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
Location: Bat Cave
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sling time!
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Great tale Bruce.
them must have been fun trips, i started about that time too with mainland flying then got right to it with camping landing style all along the SOC
and down to Cabo.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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doradodan
Nomad
Posts: 162
Registered: 11-23-2006
Location: San Felipe
Member Is Offline
Mood: boracho
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bonanza bucko
My first trip to Gonzaga Bay was in November 1979. I had never flown in Mexico before that. Adventure! My buddy, Woody, was gonna build a place at
Alfonsina's on the beach. His airplane was in the shop for annual inspection so he asked me to fly him down there. I had a 1957 Cessna 182...good
airplane but with small gas tanks....only 52 gallons useable and a burn rate of about 12 GPH.
I when we took off from TJ I asked Woody for the course...he was gonna go to sleep. He pointed at El Diablo and said "fly over that mountain...place
is on the other side." I did...but Alfy's was about another 30 minutes flying after I flew around El Diablo's 11500 foot top.
Landed on Alfy's beach runway...a first for me.... looking for Juan Pablo who was gonna pour a salt water pad and build a palapa on the lot the Woody
thought he had leased from Alfonsina...wasn't quite sure about that because he had never met her...his secretary, Stella, was best friends with the
only lady bull fighter from Spain who was then performing at the TJ bull ring....she told Stella that Alfy would lease Woody the lot when she got down
there.."sometime."
Juan Pablo wasn't at Alfy's so we flew over to Punta Bufeo where we found him. He came walking up the sand runway...again, my first...wearing zapatos
and shorts with a big floppy Mexican hat. We started to explain what we wanted in pigeon Spanish when he said, "That's OK man..I went to San Jose
State."
Woody gave him $300 to take a barge around Willard Island and pour the pad and to start on the palapa. We flew back to Alfy's for lunch in her
cantina. Had turtle...there was a turtle tank out behind the cantina. Concha Fernandez was the cook...a great one.
Then it was time to go home...about 1500 and it was gonna get dark about 1700...November. I had calculated that we couldn't get back to TJ unless we
could buy some gas....couldn't....none around. So we took off and flew to Mexicali with the mixture as lean as I could get it without engine
stoppage. At MMML I put 52 gallons into those two 26 gallon tanks.... Got back to Montgomery Field in San Diego about dark. Had a good stiff drink
in the hangar. That started a tradition that lasted 25 years.
When we flew into Alfy's, the next time in both our airplanes, about a month later Juan Pablo had finished the work and told us the price was
wrong...he gave Woody $125 back.
Been flying into Alfy's now for 32 years...got a Bonanza now with bigger tanks. We have since built two houses on Alfy's beach. She died about two
months ago...that is a great!! loss.
Woody doesn't fly anymore. But he should....he could fly a C-182 while asleep as long as it had some gas in it. BB, Juan Pablo is a great guy,
starter went out on our 23ft T-bird out at Pomo Island about 7 years ago, got on the radio, JP came out in a panga towed us in and took the starter
off a jeep there at bufeo so we could make it back to ptcto, what a life saver, good builder as well, saw some of the homes he built in that area,
very nice. |
\"The time spent off the water, I\'m thinking of ways to get back in\"
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Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
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My twin brother and I got bailed out of the Volvo we burried head first into thevado heading into town from Hwy 1. The engine filled with brackish
water and we ran for our lives to see if anyone could help us. We met a wonderful couple there who towed us out in his Yellow Gigantic Dodge 4x4,
filled the engine with WD40 from a drum he had there and we spent a wonderful time with them and at Alfonisna's eating those great fish tacos.
For years we communicated with those wonderful folks, they had left California when Nixon was elected, thought the country was going to hell, lots of
peope felt that way and they may well have been right. At any rate they had an old 8' wide trailer with palapa attached and a garage full of various
types of booze that the pilots left when they departed. This couple did not drink themselves. Their water was from a sand spike and their potable
water from a truck that came once a week. $100 a month to rent there at that time.
One year I sent them a Living Off the Grid magazine and then received a card from them starting out with "you have ruined our lives", my heart sunk
and my mouth dried as I read those dreaded words. Then as I read on they told me how they were of course living on 12 volts and how they had found and
purchased a 12 volt blender from an add in the magazine and how it had changed their lives. They would take their blender, ice, tequilla and limes out
to fishing boats and swap fresh marguaritas and daquiries for fresh fish!! I laughed my burro off!
Time has passed and I have lost touch with these wonderful people who I hope will be reading this, or perhaps one of their friends from there will
read this. I would love to either talk with them or find out what happened to them.
I am Ricardo, one of the Volvo Brothers.
Iflyfishemegamelaesnombrecarlosemiespanolesmuimaloperomicorzoneespuromexicano
edited for grammar and generally poor writing which the editing hasn't helped much.
[Edited on 6-25-2010 by Iflyfish]
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Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
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I hope one day we can meet Baitcast and tell each other more lies and stories about our adventures in Baja. Great story! Brought back lots of
wonderful memories.
Iflyfish
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Cool story thanks.. that is when it gets fun....
[Edited on 6-25-2010 by wessongroup]
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
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I just went through that area and thought about your experiences. We were in an air conditioned vehicle and still arrived exhausted at San Felipe.
Driving a VW down THAT road in July in THAT state of disrepair is really something. Your wife was a saint. You can destroy a marriage that way.
I once saw on German television a group of Germans frying an egg on the fender of their vehicle during a heat wave. I have no doubt in my mind you
could have done that this July in Gonzaga.
But what beauty. The heat made those islands appear as though suspended in space over the water. It's an almost mystical experience.
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
Member Is Offline
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Floating Islands
| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
.... what beauty. The heat made those islands appear as though suspended in space over the water. It's an almost mystical experience.
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I've seen 'em like that and you're right, it is mystical.
If not for clouds who would know which way up.
nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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baitcast
Super Nomad
Posts: 1785
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: kingman AZ.
Member Is Offline
Mood: good
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Without the clouds you would never know where the water stopped and the sky started or did you already say that, beautiful pictures,THX
Rob
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baitcast
Super Nomad
Posts: 1785
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: kingman AZ.
Member Is Offline
Mood: good
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Lots of dirt!
Once upon a time there was nothing but dirt
Rob
Anyone can catch fish in a boat but only \"El Pescador Grande\" can get them from the beach.
I hope when my time comes the old man will let me bring my rod and the water will be warm and clear.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Thanks for bumping this up!
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