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3464james
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Gonzaga
Does any one know if the construction on the road to Gonzaga has started back up?
Last post I saw was that there was about 12-13 miles to Rancho Grande, left to pave?
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David K
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While at Bahia Santa Maria 12 days ago, a group drove to Alfonsina's for lunch. They reported just under 10 miles from end of pavement to Papa
Fernandez' road (or 13 miles from Alfonsina's Pemex/ Rancho Grande).
At the rate they been paving, give them 2 years to get there (10 km./ year)... If they up their rate, then sooner... but why wish such an evil thing
to happen to Gonzaga Bay?
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Roberto
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I bet the locals have a different perspective on that.
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norte
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would you feel the same way if it was a road in front of your house? Maybe we should undo all the SD freeways?
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David K
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Locals? Gonzaga Bay 'locals' are people who are there because it is not on a paved road... Oh well, things change. I feel bad for those who wished for
their isolation to remain, but they could see it coming.
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woody with a view
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yeah Dave, my good friends wife is an heir to a chuuunk of the Gonzaga Bay. she doesn't know who to sell to, or how much she should command. i can
just see the signs now.....
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Roberto
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Locals as in Mexicans, David. Is that why they are there, because it's not on a paved road. Get a grip. Is it better to not build the road because a
couple hundred foreigners will lose some of their isolation? Not from where I'm sitting, though I PERSONALLY would prefer it to remain the way it
was/is.
[Edited on 1-14-2012 by Roberto]
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woody with a view
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no Roberto, she has implants and a 3 bedroom home in chula-juana..... but does that matter at all?
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Roberto
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No, Woody, not at all. Implants? 
As I said, I would personally prefer it not to happen. But does THAT matter at all? Building those roads is the right thing to do, for the the people
that live there.
Take the commercial traffic. That will be helped a lot by this, and THAT will help all Baja, which will help ... oh never mind.
[Edited on 1-14-2012 by Roberto]
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woody with a view
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agreed. said friends wife couldn't care if she ever goes back to Gonzaga......
who am i to judge? the implants are REALLY impressive, if you like those kind of things.....  
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coloradoboardheads
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I just drove through Gonzaga Bay last weekend. There is only about 10 miles of gravel road left north of Fernendez Road to the new pavement as noted
above.
No additional road prepwork was proceeding south of the pavement and no large equipment was observed. Maybe done for awhile?
It is sort of the best of both worlds now...Still too rough for many, but offers a great short cut for some of us through some of the best of Baja!
Speaking as Gringo of course!
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bonanza bucko
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The new pavement of THAT ROAD will bring commerce and more prosperity to the Mexicans who have lived and fished here for all these years. You can see
that starting to happen as you drive down the parts of THAT ROAD that have been completed. It's really too bad that us Gringos have been so
prosperous and pampered for so long by our interstate highway system and good local public utilities...sewer, water, gas, phone etc. etc....that we
can't see how those miracles will help the people of Baja and Gonzaga Bay.
But they will also change it for the worse while they are changing it for the better. We will be able to drive in comfort and safety to San Felipe to
shop in under two hours! WOW!...that used to take most of a day. Now yer basic crowd of idiots in camper shells will be able to make it for a three
day weekend all the way from Fullerton, ferheavinsakes! Some of us have been flying in and out of Gonzaga Bay for 40 years + because that was the
only way you could get there on a weekend and the new camper crowd will never understand that....some will think that the runway, under water at the
high tide, is a good place to fish. They won't understand what those airplanes are doing parked up there about an inch above the water.
Change is change. I will miss THAT ROAD when it's completely gone. Nobody will remember how bad it really was. Nobody will know what "The Tres
Marias" are or what the Ray Grove RIP was...all gone. Nobody will remember how you crawled up over two foot boulders as you climbed the first hill
out of Clara's Puertecitos Paradise. Nobody will believe that we usually saw mountain sheep and longhorns casually watching us crawl slowly by.
Nobody will really know what it's like to spend a day and a night pulling a boat trailer the fifty miles from Puertecitos to Alfy's. Nobody will feel
the dust of Baja the way we felt it....and which will never wash off.
But...on the brighter side: My best friends in the canyons and draws along the new road are gonna participate in the new "commerce" too. There are
bandidos sitting around a fire polishing their pistolas and waxing their mustachios and singing "Coo, Coo, Coo, Coo Coo la Paloma" in the moonlight.
They are waiting for a fat Gringo in a Cadillac to stop and take a leak so they can stick him up. There are chupacabras up there who haven't found
a goat to suck all the blood out of for years and years so they are hungry for some happy little Maltese dawgs to get out of those fat Cadillacs.
These buddies of mine usually let a pickup truck go because they know it belongs here...especially if it rattles and has some rust on it.
Nobody will remember.
BB
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willardguy
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wait a minute, what really changed the face of gonzaga bay? was it the hotel? the market? the pemex station? the new road? or was it jim atkins
landing his cessna there in 1958? Im always amused when I hear the story of these hearty pioneers flying down for the weekend (after all that was the
only way to get there). Imagine an aerial view of gonzaga bay in 1958 and look at it today. who left the scars? now we have"yer basic crowd of idiots
in camper shells"a comin! gimmeabreak!
[Edited on 1-14-2012 by willardguy]
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David K
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bonanza bucko
The new pavement of THAT ROAD will bring commerce and more prosperity to the Mexicans who have lived and fished here for all these years. You can see
that starting to happen as you drive down the parts of THAT ROAD that have been completed. It's really too bad that us Gringos have been so
prosperous and pampered for so long by our interstate highway system and good local public utilities...sewer, water, gas, phone etc. etc....that we
can't see how those miracles will help the people of Baja and Gonzaga Bay.
But they will also change it for the worse while they are changing it for the better. We will be able to drive in comfort and safety to San Felipe to
shop in under two hours! WOW!...that used to take most of a day. Now yer basic crowd of idiots in camper shells will be able to make it for a three
day weekend all the way from Fullerton, ferheavinsakes! Some of us have been flying in and out of Gonzaga Bay for 40 years + because that was the
only way you could get there on a weekend and the new camper crowd will never understand that....some will think that the runway, under water at the
high tide, is a good place to fish. They won't understand what those airplanes are doing parked up there about an inch above the water.
Change is change. I will miss THAT ROAD when it's completely gone. Nobody will remember how bad it really was. Nobody will know what "The Tres
Marias" are or what the Ray Grove RIP was...all gone. Nobody will remember how you crawled up over two foot boulders as you climbed the first hill
out of Clara's Puertecitos Paradise. Nobody will believe that we usually saw mountain sheep and longhorns casually watching us crawl slowly by.
Nobody will really know what it's like to spend a day and a night pulling a boat trailer the fifty miles from Puertecitos to Alfy's. Nobody will feel
the dust of Baja the way we felt it....and which will never wash off.
But...on the brighter side: My best friends in the canyons and draws along the new road are gonna participate in the new "commerce" too. There are
bandidos sitting around a fire polishing their pistolas and waxing their mustachios and singing "Coo, Coo, Coo, Coo Coo la Paloma" in the moonlight.
They are waiting for a fat Gringo in a Cadillac to stop and take a leak so they can stick him up. There are chupacabras up there who haven't found
a goat to suck all the blood out of for years and years so they are hungry for some happy little Maltese dawgs to get out of those fat Cadillacs.
These buddies of mine usually let a pickup truck go because they know it belongs here...especially if it rattles and has some rust on it.
Nobody will remember.
BB |
Love this BB!!! 
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David K
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Gonzaga Bay in 1975 (also L.A. Bay, San Borja, El Marmol):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2404313/197507-Desert-Magazine-197...
(on pages 20-23)
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john68
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We're driving from Colorado to Los Barriles next week. Still trying to decide if we should go Hwy 5 vs Hwy 1.
We're in a Dodge Durango 4wd and towing a light sailboat.
We'd like to see some new country and the thought of reducing the drive by a couple hundred miles is appealing. On the other hand, if the 50 miles of
washboard is going to take five hours to drive, I'm starting to wonder.
Any more thoughts?
Thanks to all. John
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bonanza bucko
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John68:
I'm sorry if my tongue in cheek post above about the OLD 50 miles from Puertecitos to Gonzaga Bay spooked you. You very definitely should go that
way...it is a beautiful trip and it is paved to within about 14 miles of Alfonsina's turn off at Gonzaga Bay. That last 14 miles have been graded and
they are an order of magnitude better than THAT ROAD described in my post above. Your trip from San Felipe through Puertecitos to Gonzaga Bay should
take you something like 2.5 hours...but you'll stop to take pictures a lot so expect a little more.
After Gonzaga Bay there are 31 miles of graded dirt...some washboard...to Mexican Highway 1 at Lake Chapala. You will stop a Coco's corner for a beer
and to look Coco and his set up over. Those 31 miles will take you about 1.5 hours...not counting the stop at Coco's.
My post above was an epitaph for the old THAT ROAD...which was as I described it..but it ain't no more!
BB:-)
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bonanza bucko
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Another reply for John68:
Your sailboat trailer will cause some problems on the 14 miles and the 31 miles of dirt. You can make it but go slowly....and be sure, double sure,
to have a spare tire and wheel for the boat trailer. Boat trailers don't like washboard at all and the really don't like twisting over rocks which
you will find in a couple of places in the 14 miles just north of Gonzaga Bay. Guys make that trip with trailers all the time but the ones who do it
and have a good time a well prepared.
BB
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grizzlyfsh95
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You will save no time, even though it is a shorter route. You will need to "air down" your tires, and watch for sharp rocks. It is not well traveled,
there are NO support services. You will need a compresser to "re-air" once you hit 1 at "Lake" Chapala as the llantero there, isn't. I think it is
more like 2-21/2 hrs across there. If that road was ever paved, it would make that whole area, including BOLA more economically viable.
The harder I work, the luckier I get
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David K
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If they aren't pretending to be in the Baja 1000, they will do fine on the 50 dirt miles. However, if they have a fear of dirt roads (why go to
Baja?), then they can go to Tecate then south. However, someday they will need to go somewhere that requires dirt driving... might as well be now?
Go slow, check for loose nuts and bolts every 25 miles, have a tire pump (pretty mandatory for Baja travel), lower tires to 20 psi to reduce chance of
sharp rock punctures.
The beautity of the Cortez side of Baja is a reward and some rough road more than makes up for city driving through Ensenada and San Quintin, IMO.
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