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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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Trip Report.....(you have Mike H. and SallySouth to blame for this)
Please forgive me:
Pieces from my journal......
July 4th. 2004: I'm 5 days late because of major car problems (had the dang engine rebuilt twice in 2 mons.)
The road is in great shape except for about the last 5 miles, then it changes into one lane dirt, loose dirt! I had a choice of taking out a
Mexican family in a very small car, (I was driving way too fast)......letting them slam into a huge- for them- pile of road material or taking the
desert cactus myself- I'm bigger, and I didn't have a 2yr. old standing up in the back seat- so I hit the brakes and jerk to the right, problem is I
see a row of those survey concrete posts, so I really have to slam the brakes on throwing a huge wave of dirt and gravel over the little car. I just
came to a stop before I'm sure it would have ripped out the underside of the 4Runner. The Local man stops to ask me if I'M OKAY! (I'm worried about
the 2yr. old!) We are all fine.......Brendan yells "Nice driving MOM!"
I'm thinking to myself "You idiot" (me) We come into view of B.O.L.A and another inspection, I play dumb again (I really don't have time for these
guys now!) I get another wave of the hand while the guy ahead of me has his whole "U-Haul" type truck unpacked along side of the road....
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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I pull into town,
"anyone have to potty?, Yes GRANMA! (from Payton the "FOO-FOO" 5yrs. old. I swing into Las Hamacas, imagine who I find there? Kevin H. Carly, Josh
and (Mellisa?, I haven't met her before) When I come out of the bano, I comment to Kevin H.. "I think Carly just comes to B.O.L.A. for the food, he
says, " I was just saying to them. "The first thing Debra is going to say to my parents is.....blah, blah...we all had a laugh.
Off to the "Yellow store" to grap ice, drinks (can't move fast enough! As I pull up a total stranger (to me) says "I see you made it", "Yes" I say
(Wa plates?) "I did" wondering who the heck is this guy----?) While in the store I hear a voice I do know behind me "
Guess those "Toys" aren't as reliable as reported" "Just mine I guess" I say,..... so good to see Bo & Amdee, she has grown a foot since last
summer. I give them a hug, so great to see friends, especially after the stress I have felt the last several days.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65178
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Thanks Debra... keep them coming.
I finally memorized the yellow store's name: XITLALA ('zeet la la')
Andee has sprouted up, yes. We had a good time with all of you at Gecko. The problem is, I am already ready to go back... just a month later!
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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Well David
Guess you've gotten it better than me.....I thought it was pronounced "zeet la le" at least that's what I think "Doc" told me..
Anyway, Mike H. read parts of my "ramblings" (while I visited them on my way north) and told me I should post them (I personally think they would be
boring to anyone but me....Anyway, I just made this for us (the kids and I so they could have it for when there are older)
I apoligize in advance for the bordom to all, as I said before......BLAME MIKE H. AND SALLYSOUTH FOR incourging me! (you can just skip it!) 
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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As I start unpacking
it's been a long hard week (I had to have a rebuild to my engine in SD) I'm finally "home" the kids and I are just GOOD! the kids are finally loose
after more than a week and running around camp (the best kids in the world, they were much more calm than 'GRANMA!"
I start unpacking and Beth, 4Baja and others start showing up to say hi and ask about the problem I had in SD "Bergie"
hands me and iced Pacifico (he's the stranger at the store, I realize I met him last year with Beth and Steve) the un-packing comes to a halt as we
all catch up on camp life and I silently Bless the "Pacifico God, Bergie and Joe Jr. (my SD mechinic)
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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The kids are happy off runnning
Brendan showing Payton all the great stuff) I find that Phill and Corrie are here with their kids- Ellie is just a bit younger than Payton and they
hit it off from the start, they are soon joined at the hip.
Soon everyone wanders off and I start un packing again, just as I'm wondering how I'm going to get the heavy coolers off the roof rack Doc. appears
and just takes them off while holding a conversation (
Gosh I love this place!).....I didn't even ask for help.....he just did it!
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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Debra, you just don't know how much we appreciate your trip report. You are there and we are not!
Muchas Gracias!
Bob H
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Good stuff Deb...
Yellow market is Xitlali.
Keep the posts flowing!
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Lindalou
Senior Nomad
Posts: 623
Registered: 1-12-2004
Location: Punta Banda Baja
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Thank you Debra, not bored at all Keep them comming. We will be to camp
Gecko sometime next year and hope to meet you all someday
Linda
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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October!
There always seems to be a bunch of us there in October. It's usually the best weather (sometimes we have to collect between the squalls).
We're hoping to get to Gecko late September - early October this year. By next year we hope to have a house nearby. TAAaa-DAAaa!
Get with it Deb - Write on!
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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Well, you only have yourselves to blame for encourging me.
July 5th.
I had planned on going out to Las Animas this trip (never been before), but, with the 4 Runner not acting right I'm afraid to go alone, (41miles in
desert dirt each way alone? , not a good idea with 2 little kids.)
So I ask David, he says "sure, I've never been out there either" (I give him one of my radios and off we go, he in the lead with Chris driving and
Sarah and Andee in the back.
Las Animas is beautiful! I wish I would have brought our tent and supplies so that the kids and I could have camped a couple of days. We spend a few
hours (David goes off on foot looking for that "Lost Mission", the kids and I play in the water, I also have a little 4W fun in the water, which
David can't believe I'm doing.....Salt water EEK! This is what I bought this thing for, not looking pretty I assure him.)
There are hundreds of dead Giant Humbolt (sp?) Squid at the tide line, I ask Doc. (later) why that happens, no one seems to know, best guess it that
they get lost for some reason and beach themselves. (I learn later from a fellow camper, a vet...that he thinks they are spawing similar to what
salmon do here up north)
David wanders back (that Mission will remain lost for another trip) I swear, he will be on his death bed and his biggest "unfinished" in life will be
that damn Mission! 
We head back toward Camp Gecko and suddenly the truck just stops- I fiqure that something has come loose, David is too far around a bend and I can't
get him on the radio, I pop the hood and sure enough the battery cable is off, I grab a rock and pound it back on...all is good, (although this will
happen several times on the way back), she fires right up and off I go (I see David stopped a mile or so in the distance, is he looking for us? (or
did he spot something that looked like a Mission? :mad
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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July 7th. If no one is interested in my car problems you can skip this part of this report.
I need to go into town (Ice, supplies try to make a phone call home, (Doc. had returned his "Sat phone" and his computer is down also) So I go to
start the rig-NOTHING!!! I get a jump and make it to town, this is about the 10th. time this has happened in the last couple of days, Brendan,
Payton and I go to Las Hamacas for lunch (I leave the rig running) we stop at the store, (I leave the rig running) I step on the brake to put it into
gear and it dies! S**T, S**t, S**T!!!!! (I have a melt down, just a few tears though, don't want to scare the kids, Brendan knows me too well though
"It's okay Mom, we will be okay" He pats me (great kid I have there) I raise the hood, battery cable is on, charge says it's not dead. A Local
Ex-Pat comes out of the store and runs across the street to get a kid to jump me. I pray all the way back to Camp. I make it- that's it for the day,
iced Pacifico time!
We hang out at "Roddy Boy Camp" for awhile then it's shower time- I bed the kids down and relax!
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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July 7th. (forgot to add)
I have to back up here a bit to before dead car.
Phil, Corrie and kids (3), 4Baja, Beth (and sons Kyle and Cory) and Bergie had all gone into town. Phil and Corrie's kids went along on the Quads.
Somehow the kids got separated from their parents. I'm at camp getting ready to go into town when the kids come flying in (way too fast) I'm yelling
at them to "slow down!" They all start talking at once. They tell me that some "weird people" (one in a long wig and hat were trying to get them to
their car. They were scared to death and didn't know where their parents were so they high-tailed it the 4 1/2 miles back to camp and me. I tell
them that I'm going into town and they can follow me and we will find their parents, they ask if they can ride with me. (you know they are scared if
they don't want to ride the Quads) Brook is worried that Dad is going to be mad, I'm thinking Mom and Dad are probebly in a panic searching for their
kids! I find Mom Dad and the rest sipping "Maggies" at Guerromos!
In the mean time on the way into town with the kids I see a car stopped on the road, I stop to make sure they are okay, the kids in the back start
yelling. "Debra, that's the car!" I see that the driver just had to make a potty stop. The people are Allah (she is the "scary person with the wig
and hat........no wig, just "Bajaed hair") and Manual her husband, they live in Berkely and had taken a bus to the juntion and 'hitch-hiked" to Bahia.
They explain that they were trying to ask the kids if they had rented the Quads (they wanted to rent some themselves) and to ask if they knew the way
to Camp Gecko, we all had a laugh. This is when I returned the kids to their "Maggie" sipping parents and went off to lunch.
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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July 9th.
4Baja, Beth and boys, Phil, Corrie and kids Bergie (just about everyone I know, "Roddy Boy Camp") pulls out for home (I'm not sure but, they might
have left early so that they didn't have to rescue me anymore   At this point I'm so fed up with this rig if I'd had a gun I would have shot it and
just resigned myself to live on the beach and eat clams and fish for the rest of our lives. Brendan and I would have been happy, but, my Daughter
might not be too happy when I failed to return her daugher after the month I'd promised.
I'm sitting on my porch and having a cup of tea when Allah wanders by, I offer her a cup and we chat, I find out that while she was in collage in 1974
she and some girl-firends hitch-hiked down Baja and this was her first trip down since then. They don't have a good running car right now (who does
 ) they have 5 kids 2 out of collage, 2 still in, one is at Princeton! and an
11yr. old at home, (I admire their priorties!) But, Allah wanted to take this trip anyway, so they hitched, Manuel wasn't so sure of the whole idea,
but, he was smiling (he'd never been before)
I tell Allah that I'm going into town and have to find a mechanic to fix my dying problem and if they would like they could come with me and I would
take them to the store ect. but, first priorty was the mechanic, she say "great" and goes to find Manuel, soon we are off to town.
Damn Yellow- Tail! Every mechanic I go to find is out fishing! Sammy Diaz is in Ensemada. S**T! The last one is next to the gas pump (he's
fishing also) I decide while I'm there to gas up, well you know I have to turn the engine off to get gas, imagine my luck, of corse I'm dead. It
won't start and there is a line behind me to get gas. a Susuki and a motorcycle the guy in the Susuki wants to push me out of the way. "HA! HA!" No
way Pal! this sucker won't go into gear unless it's running! (I'm thinking to myself) He has to give me a jump to get me out of his way. The then
tells me to wait and gets his gas (he speaks no English but I have Allah with me) he shows me his business card, turns out he works at an auto
electrical shop in TJ he tells me to follow him to his house out by the Turtle Rescue. With Allah transulating he tells me what he thinks the problem
is, he needs to check for a short, worse case he says it will cost $100 guarenteed to fix. I'm way low on money I have just about that (I need to
"Pay Pal" Doc.)but, I haven't been able to get on a computer or grab Doc. (Damn Yellow-Tail again!) I tell Allah "Just tell him fix it, I'll figure
out the money thing later, just tell him I'm a bit short right now, but I'm good for it" She explains it to him "Marcos" is his name, he says okay
and Allah leaves us to join Manuel and the kids that the turtles, he says it will take about 2hrs. he goes to work (I beg for agua, he brings me some
I suck it down so fast it makes my stomach hurt)
My new "best friend" Marcos gets his volt meter thingie and starts poking around, then to my alarm he starts tearing my dash apart (he's smilling and
nodding--, I'm not smiling and worried) he grabs some electrical tape and starts at this mass of wires under my stearing wheel (I just trying to feel
comfort remembering the $100 guarentee!) Suddenly he says "Okay" looks at me and grins, pats my arm and starts putting my dash back together (this is
a good sign) it took all of an hour. I try to convey that I'm going to go get the others and will come back to pay him, (it must have worked because
he didn't tackle me when I went to drive off.)
The kids have been having a great time at the turtles (Manuel too, a big kid himself) We thank everyone and head back to Marco's, Allah does the
talking, he tells her it will be $60 she says "But it took 1hr. not 2, she has these children and is low on money (I'm understanding what she is
saying, I'm happey with the $60, he tells her $50, I shouve my hand out before I get embarresed with her haggling (the guy just saved my life!) I
find out later from Doc. that I'd gotten lucky, Marcos wasn't supposed to be in town and my only other hope would have been Guerro Negro (3hrs. away
with the kids alone in the desert? I don't think so!!!!
Marcos also told me to stop by his shop in TJ on my way home and he would go through my whole electrical system to make sure everything is okay "no
charge" he tells me he will make a list to tell my mechanic at home what to do (In Spanish?) nice of him to offer though. He also tell me he will be
here another week, if I have any problem send someone to fetch him (or radio him) and he will come to me. I give him my heart felt thanks and we are
off, we take a trip to La Gringa to swim, Allah (out of her magic bag) produces tomatos, cucumbers oranges, onions and chile sauce (I didn't know
this excurrision would be catered!) it was great, I would never have thought to put chile sauce on an orange (Payton age 5, ate it up!)
to be continued:
[Edited on 8-12-2004 by Debra]
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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On the way back from La Gringa
We decide to stop to see the progress at the new hotel. The "kids" Manual, Brendan and Payton hit the pool, Allah and I go on a self guided tour. We
wander into the resturant where we find the owner (and several hotel guests) we introduce ourselves and he offers us a cerviche taco, I kick into
Travel Agent mode and start asking questions, he tells me that he has 15 rooms open right now (from the looks of how many people are around all full I
figure)....also, we just missed the Bishop from Mexico City (I had heard he was here, excitment in town) he also tells me that he will build maybe 10
more for a total of 25, he says he is only building to hotel to encourage people to stay and buy one of the 300 homes he plans to build on the 123
acres he has bought out near La Gringa (Allah and I make all the right smiles and nods, we thank him and leave, once out of safe earshot we both say
in unison "UGH, I hope not!" I find his wife Suzanne and ask if there is an empty room I could look at "Si", the rooms are very nice, TV, 123 Sat.
channels, fridge, microwave, AC, separate sitting room with couch. (this was a standard room) This place is going to be very beautiful! (I hope it
burns to the ground!) It's my nightmare come true! (I don't really hope it burns, they seem to be very nice people, I'm just being selfish and don't
want to see La Gringa turn into a City.
We have a date with some very dirty turtles so off we go----
I realize that we are and hour early for the appt. with said trutles so we stop for a visit with Raquel and Larry. Larry tells me he heard the turtle
people on the radio with Doc., turtle cleaning time has been moved up and hour, Doc. tells them we aren't there (Camp Gecko) but, we get the message
and fly to the research center, they are waiting for us (so nice of them)
The kids get to clean the baby turtles today (7mons. old) Ruth fround them on the beach a La Mona just hatched last Nov., there were 7 only 2
survived. After the turtles are nice and shiny both Brendan and Payton (with no prompting) pitch in a scrub the tank. I'm so proud of those kids!
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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Debra - This is a most enjoyable trip report. Thank you for taking the time to write it. Leaves me with that wonderful sense of "being there", which
then brings my own memories and Baja dreams and.... well, we all know that feeling.
 
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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Thanks everyone......
I've never posted a trip report before (as I said, didn't think anyone would be interested in my personal ramblings) I'll keep sharing as long as you
keep enjoying.
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
Location: Bat Cave
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Mood: Sling time!
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www.losvientosspaandresort.com
can't wait to stay there a night this fall. he has a great plan. gives me a reason to visit BOLA. :moon:
down the road, maybe a home on the airport taxi way, the owner bought all the land around and now owns the pista. you'll see their cherokee 6 with
logo painted on the side down there a lot.
good people, met them at a bar in Bonita. Jesse Carbojal.
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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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
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Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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Yes, they do seem to be very good people Capitano
and I did see Suzanne in town in the Jeep.
You being a A/C loving guy that you are, will I'm sure love the place, as I said, it is very nice! Once they get it landscaped it will be very plush!
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Deb,
You?re off and running into a story many will enjoy.
You?re saltwater adventures at Las Animas reminded me of the ?60?s where my pals and I would escape L.A. for camping in the dunes south of Rosarito
Beach. A friend had a small cabin on the bluff a few miles north of there and we all had 4wd?s and would race up the landside gullies and canyons to
the upper hills and down into the dunes and onto the beach and in and out of the ocean all the while just laughing it up and full of silly capers. My
vehicle then was a 1967 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40 (named and painted ?La Tortuga?) with a totally removable top and doors and a windshield that folded
down onto the hood. We were young then and goofy and the truck was not prepared for an extended Baja journey in the described condition but it looked
cool and that?s all we cared about. We?d strip it down and hit the dunes and take pictures while launching it a few feet in the air and then climb
40-degree sand piles in the late afternoon and throw down margaritas in the evenings at the bar Cantomar before we drove slowly back to camp for the
fire and extended conversation.
We were leaving for a family and friends vacation in 1984 when my trusted La Tortuga gave up the final ghost. I knew the affair was over as she?d had
major surgery a number of times due to my abuse. But I still loved her, regardless. She sat in our back yard for a decade or more. I lovingly
wanted to teach our kids to drive in her. But by the time that became an issue, La Tortuga was too worn out and no longer safe. Her axles were worn
and bent and her steering column askew from all the jumping and climbing adventures she had carried so many of us on in her early years. Her frame
carried the most noticeable damage: salt water rot. But I was younger then and the tattered and worn exterior of La Tortuga was my proud badge. Now
that I?ve aged (I never said ?grown up?) I see that it might have been a badge of stupidity. But would I have changed? I doubt it. The little boy
is?still a little boy. I often reflect that girls turn into women, but boys remain forever, just boys.
So ? here?s to memories, yours from a few days ago at Gecko and others from other times. It?s wonderful to share these.
Thanks for sharing your journal. Write on!
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