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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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I SURVIVED THE BAJA ROAD - 'THE WIDOWMAKER'
THE BAJA ROAD – (well....not really a 'widow-maker', but is full of real HAZARDS.
This is a collection of ‘road hazards’ I have come across in MANY trips up and down the peninsular highway. If you drive the Baja Road, you WILL
encounter one…or two. So beware and be aware…stay alive, and remember to…
…..LOOK OUT!!
This first photo is getting to be an all-too-common sight on the Baja Road.
A question for nomads: Why would you purposely expose your children to traffic?….and especially on the narrow Baja Road?
For myself, I offer no opinion other than to mention....
"JUST WHAT THE HELL DO THESE &%@!!^$ IDIOTS USE FOR BRAINS??!!...
…or do they throw common sense out the window and just 'Polly-Anna' their way through life?"
At least this biker is trying to stay as far off the road as possible…but if he is where ‘TRUCK A’ meets ‘TRUCK B’ at the same time….CRUNCH…SPLAT!
[IMG]http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk45/bajaroger/Baja%20Photos/BAJA%20ROAD%20PICS/USABIKERS.jpg[/IMG
Below: Oh yeah…I can’t wait to go walking/jogging on this speeders highway.
An idea?... One needs to pass an intelligence test before you get to enter Mexico? Unlike these suicidal types, any IQ reading at all would
qualify you to enter.
You guessed it. I’ve seen all kinds of gear blowing off cars and vans. I have a nice road-kill surfboard collected from the last trip. 
Here’s a good game for the kids to play on your Road Trip. Guess how many cattle (ganado) will be standing…
…and how many will be ‘laying down’.
Also guess how many mountain sheep and moose you will see? (This is a trick question… as there are NO mountain sheep or moose on the Baja Road…yet!)
Hazard? Not on your life, boyo! Hmm…was this Jesus Maria…or Asuncion??
Luckily, collisions with airplanes on the Baja are actually quite rare…but are within the realm of probability.
This road-kill was too big for to take home…and it would have made such a nice yard planter.
Be aware that the highway edges are continuously eroding away…this never stops.
This Easter Madness ‘hazard’ near Playa Santispac resulted in a rollover… down the cliff… and...Splash!... into the sea. Luckily, there were no
fatalities to the partying man and woman. The driver suffered a concussion after his wife got the news.
I can’t fool you on this, can I? Not the Baja Road, but could be Cabo in a few years??
Heavy fog can and will appear anywhere from the border to Cabo..and even further.
Human nature..and it's variety...remains a mystery? Hello gals...
Where are the good samaritans?
This mini-landslide just happened next to the Serinadad exit the other day after a good rain. I stopped to clear the rocks and mess up..and guess who
stopped to help and who didn't? 3 BCS plates (Mexicans) went zooming around me, barely slowing down..what's up with that? ...and 2 tourists stopped
(1 Alberta, 1 Nevada plate...thanks, amigos)
You WILL be slowing and swerving a few times to avoid a few of these:
Please avoid bumper contact with our Baja Road 'gitanos'...but feel free to give them a torta and water.
"Admit it, guys...if I walk out onto that highway, you're gonna hit your brakes hard..right? Otherwise I'll mess you up...really, really, really
bad."
[Edited on 2-22-2012 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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I'm sorry but I had to laugh at the guys running from the plane hitting the truck. Especially the guy with both feet in the air.
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motoged
Elite Nomad
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Location: Kamloops, BC
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Some of those damned ND farmers have a whole field to drive on and they hit a moose 
Don't believe everything you think....
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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| Quote: | Originally posted by motoged
Some of those damned ND farmers have a whole field to drive on and they hit a moose |
Hah..motoged, no, not a vehicular homocide, that's a moose barbeque-'Dakota style.'
--you have got to know I threw that moose in as a 'ringer'. That young guy was not killed on the Baja Road, nor by a Nodak farmer..but twas zapped by
a lightning bolt from one of our notorious prairie thunderstorms..poor brute never knew what hit him.
Lesson on ND weather: If you're the tallest thing around during a lightning storm...Duck!
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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what about the old geezers with the oversized travel trailers swerving all over the road
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
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Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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i am suddenly compelled to channel my inner chrisX...
slow down, gringo, hit the brakes!
watch out for fat ladies in red hondas!
watch out for fat old guys in RVs!
p.s. good troll ,pompy! way to open a thread, with a swipe at bicyclists! touche! i will now sit back and let the bicyclist bashing begin! 
[Edited on 2-22-2012 by mtgoat666]
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Naw. Diane isn't as frisky now.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajaboy
what about the old geezers with the oversized travel trailers swerving all over the road |
In the years since the Baja Highway was completed in 1973-74 I have seen countless semi-trucks, speeding 4 wheelers, many buses, driving vey
erratically and yes, swerving....but never an 'old geezer with a over-sized trailer swerving all over the road'. Funny, but the thing I notice most
about those old geezers is that they are mostly the safest... and by far the 'sanest'.... drivers out there. Experience will always show in the final
count.
Most of the ones (old geezers) I know are very experienced drivers who have earned a CDL. An accomplishment merited by having good driving
skills..tested with over-sized equipment. I thiink you are jumping to a common belief that old geezers cause all the wrecks you see on the Baja
Road...that is simply not so in my experience, which is quite a lot of round trips. 150 or so? Just my take on it.
Maybe your personal experience is different.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Bajamatic
Senior Nomad
Posts: 571
Registered: 8-31-2006
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yuletide
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bigzaggin
Nomad
Posts: 441
Registered: 5-27-2004
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Mood: way too ites
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You WILL be slowing and swerving a few times to avoid a few of these:
Clearly this picture was not taken in Baja (I can tell because the dog has all four legs)
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LisaR.
Nomad
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Registered: 6-3-2009
Location: Chapala, Jalisco
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Pompano, I always love your photo essays! Thanks!
Here are a couple of road hazards from my own travels:
(Really?!?)
This one doesn't look too bad, but I took the picture because he was swerving in and out of the other lane so much I just couldn't believe it. I just
didn't catch it at the right moment.
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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Great thread and photos Roger. Where do you come up with all of these ideas? I know you must have enough photos around to cover ANY Baja subject
matter.
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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Phil S
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 10-28-2003
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Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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Roger. Were you actually there as that plane was trying to land on that poor pickup owners 'hood'??? Or did you find it on the internet? Great shot
if you were there, and how did you escape where the plane ended up most likelyupside down??????????? (a need to know question)
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ddawson
Nomad
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Registered: 9-6-2010
Location: Hilo
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Phil S
Roger. Were you actually there as that plane was trying to land on that poor pickup owners 'hood'??? Or did you find it on the internet? Great shot
if you were there, and how did you escape where the plane ended up most likelyupside down??????????? (a need to know question)
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wow, that is a crazy pic!
[Edited on 2-26-2012 by ddawson]
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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No...not my photo, but an old flying buddy, Dusty, sent me that one a few years back. He may have taken that one, himself...or not. Dusty has seen
some crazy stuff in his long and exciting career in 'strange' flying jobs around the globe. He was involved in some weird happenings in Chiapis in
the 80's..flying black gooney birds, night flights from Texas, runways lit rapidly, and then shut down asap. We joked about me coming back to work
with him as door gunner...no thanks, amigo...I'm a peace-loving fisherman these days.
I have another that I did take at the Mulege pista (airstrip) that is almost the same as that one above, though. It shows a pickup truck with a
just-then damaged rooftop driven by Ranger Roy of Ecomundo..who had driven the pickup onto the runway directly in front of an out of fuel airplane
coming in on final.
Why Ranger Roy drove out in front to that landing plane is still a mystery, as the soldiers stationed there found out when he was questioned...go
figure? I guess it was just one of those kind of days in Baja, which seem to come around all too often.
Below: We're having some fun searching the Pacific shores for bikinis and other fun 'airplane stuff'.
One of those gooney birds flew into my decoy set and bingo!:
[Edited on 2-26-2012 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
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Mood: Press On Regardless!!
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Roy told me that it was getting dark and he thought it would be a good idea to use his truck headlights to illuminate the end of the runway to assist
the incoming plane.
Alcohol may have been involved.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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| Quote: | Originally posted by KurtG
Roy told me that it was getting dark and he thought it would be a good idea to use his truck headlights to illuminate the end of the runway to assist
the incoming plane.
Alcohol may have been involved. |
I was there ...it was.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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ElCap
Nomad
Posts: 281
Registered: 1-22-2010
Location: Montara CA, or San Ignacio BCS
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On the road out to Laguna San Ignacio last year. The young driver of the truck looked pretty bummed. We were able to squeeze by - thought I was
going to slip off the other side, but we made it.
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captkw
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3850
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Location: el charro b.c.s.
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Mood: new dog/missing the old 1
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POMPANO
you are amazing,,Keep it up,,you post's are better than reading a news paper with coffee in the morning !! K&T
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Some ganado (cattle) are more likely to be a danger to motorists than others.
below: a rare photo of Baja livestock actually in motion
Like...if they are moving!...Look Out!
Luckily, Baja has few of the normal Nodak road hazards such as:
blizzards & beef/buffalo crossings.....
...and large harvesting equipment like this combine moving between fields.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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