Category: Baja

How much money will I need in Baja?

From time to time, I hear this question:  How much cash should I take to Baja?  Costs have gone up in Baja (like everywhere else), but Baja is still a cheap date.  How much you’ll need will depend on your tastes, how much you drink, and where you stay.  To cut to the chase, when I ride in Baja, I’ll take a thousand bucks with me if I’m going to be there for a week, and I always come home with money in my pocket.  You can bring a credit card to Baja, but once you get out of the tourist spots (Ensenada, San Felipe, Loreto, La Paz, and Cabo), Baja is mostly a cash proposition.  In these tourist spots, costs will be more in line with what you’d pay in the US for food and lodging, too.  You can’t depend on being able to use your credit in the smaller towns and at the more remote gas stations.

Expenses in Baja will include food, gasolina, lodging, and if you’re going to see the whales or the cave paintings, the cost of admission for those things.  Figure on $50 for a half-day whale-watching tour (it’s worth every penny, in my opinion); the cave paintings a little less.   Both are great things to see (many folks describe them as life-changing, and I’m in that category).  If you plan to have a drink or two at night, you’ll need a bit for that, too.

Gasoline prices in Baja are usually about the same as they are in California.  That’s usually works out to something north of $3 per gallon.  They sell it by the liter and it’s easier to pay in pesos, but they’ll take dollars at an exchange rate that is not usually in your favor.  It’s best to have pesos and pay in the native currency.  You can see our earlier blog on fuel in Baja for more information.

Food is inexpensive if you eat in other than touristy restaurants.  My friends think I’m a genius at finding good spots to eat in Baja, but my secret is simple:  I just look for the spots with lots of cars and pickups parked in front.  It works every time.  I’ll usually budget $25 US a day for food. It’s easier to pay in pesos, but most restaurants will also take dollars.  I might add this:  I’ve never had a bad meal in Baja.  I could write a book just about the restaurants down there.   There are many hidden treasures.  We’ve listed a few on our Baja page.

Hotels are typically between $25 and $70 per night outside of the tourist towns.  In the smaller spots, $25 seems to be the norm.  In the more well known hotels (like Malarrimo’s in Guerrero Negro), it’s going to be more like $70 per night.  The rooms won’t be fancy, but they will be clean, and if you’re like me, you’re not going to be riding Baja as a hotel critic.

Don’t forget your Baja insurance.  You have to get a separate insurance policy for your motorcycle when you go into Baja, and based on my 30-plus years of riding south of the border, BajaBound Insurance is the best.  You should purchase it online before you cross into Mexico, and the BajaBound website makes that easy to do.

If your stay is going to be longer than a week, you’ll need to pay for a Mexican tourist visa (a week or less is free).  The cost for a tourist visa is $30.  You can (and should) pick up your tourist visa as soon as you cross into Mexico.

Here’s a summary of how the above stacks up (all amounts are in US dollars):

As I mentioned at the start of this blog, when I go into Baja for a weeklong trip, I’ll usually start with $1000 in my wallet and I usually return with money left over.  In the event you do need more cash, there are banks in the larger towns with ATMs, and they’ve always worked for me.

We have much more information, including suggested riding itineraries, on our Baja page.  You can read about some of our great rides in Baja here.

Want more info on exploring Baja on a motorcycle?   Pick up a copy of Moto Baja!

The Big Ride: 5 Factors Affecting Daily Mileage

How many miles can you ride in a day?

About 30 years ago I cranked 1070 miles in one day on a Harley Softail coming home from Mexico (and that was on an older Softail without the rubber mounted engine…it’s the one you see in the photo above).  I was younger and I could ride, as they say, like the wind.  A couple of weeks ago, I did a 250-mile day ride on my Enfield and it about wiped me out.

Gresh and I were talking about this recently, and I thought I would share my thoughts on how many miles you can plan on covering in a day.  Maybe it will influence your planning.  Maybe not.  We get paid the same either way.

1: Age

Like I said above, big miles used to be no big deal for me.  That’s not the case any more.  After substantial scientific study and close observation of my geezer buddies over many decades, I developed a graph showing the relationship between age and how many miles you can reasonably ride in a day.

Like it or not, when we get older, it gets harder to rack up big miles.  Serious scientific study went into the above, so if you want to debate our conclusions, bring facts.  We want to hear them.

2: Weather

Weather plays a big role in how many miles you can ride in a single day, and here at ExNotes we rely heavily on our weather rock before leaving on any ride.  You’ve probably heard about weather rocks.  We sell weather rocks here on ExNotes and they are conveniently sized to fit into a tank bag.  They work like this…you hang the rock from any available support (you have to supply your own string and support).  Here’s how to interpret your weather rock:

    • If the rock is wet, it means it’s raining and you should reduce however many miles you had planned to ride by half.
    • If the rock is swinging, it means it’s windy that day, and you should reduce your miles by maybe a third.
    • If the rock is hot to the touch, it means the temperature is elevated, and you should reduce your miles by maybe a third.  Maybe even more.
    • If the rock is cold, it means it’s cold, and you probably can ride as long as you dress appropriately.  If the rock is really, really cold, though, maybe you should stay home.  If there’s ice on the rock, you definitely should stay home.

ExNotes offers weather rocks in brand-specific models:

    • If you ride a Harley, we offer chrome weather rocks for $395, chrome with conchos and black leather fringe weather rocks for $495, and chrome, conchos, fringe, and matching do rag weather rocks for $595 (freight and setup fees not included).
    • If you ride a BMW, we offer the GS weather rock with an electronically adjustable center of gravity, BMW logos, and a one-year Starbucks gift certificate for $1995.
    • If you ride a Ducati, you probably don’t need a weather rock (Ducati riders generally only ride their motorcycles short distances on clear days, anyway, although if you insist, we can provide a red rock for you personally autographed by the former famous racer of your choice, or we can put several rocks in a bag you can shake to sound like a Ducati clutch).  Ducati rocks are free, or at least that’s what we tell you (we’ll recover the cost on your first valve adjustment and let you think you got the rock for free).
    • If you ride a Chinese motorcycle, we sell an ExNotes weather rock decal for $2 and you can put it on your own rock.

3: Roads

The kind of roads you plan to ride make a huge difference.  If it’s all freeway, you’ll be bored but you can rack up huge miles.  If it’s surface streets (and a lot of us do everything we can to stay off the freeway), you won’t cover as many miles unless you’re riding in Baja, where you can run 140mph+ on the long straights south of Valle de Los Cirios.  If it’s in the mountains, it will be less, unless you’re posting about your skills on Facebook, where the folks who post are world class riders (to hear them tell it).  The same holds true for riding in the dirt.  You just won’t cover as many miles.

4: Headcount

This is the big one, folks.  Maybe I should have listed it first.  If I’m riding by myself or with one of my motorcycle buddies in Baja, I can easily do over 500 miles a day.  Throw in more people, and…well, read on, my friends.

The number of riders in your group has a profound impact on how many miles you can ride in a day.   In the math world, we would say that the miles per day are inversely proportional to the number of riders in your group.

As a starting point (and after extensive research and mathematical modeling), the technical staff here at ExNotes developed Formula A:

A)  Miles per Day = (M)/(N)

where:

M = Miles you want to ride
N = Number of riders in your group

What the above means is that as the number of riders in your group increases, the number of miles you can cover in a day decreases.  That’s because with more riders you’ll start later in the morning, you’ll be stopping more often, and you’ll take more time at each stop.  That is, unless you’re riding with me.  Then Formula A reduces to Formula B:

B)  Miles per Day = M

where:

M = Miles you want to ride

The B in Formula B stands for Berk because basically I’ll leave you behind if you’re not ready when I am.  You can catch up with me later.  You might think I’m joking. I’m not.

Formula A varies a little depending on what kind of riders you have in your group, and especially if you have a Rupert.  Rupert is the guy who takes 20 minutes putting his motorcycle gear back on after every stop.  I once rode with a Rupert who could take 20 minutes just putting his gloves on.  He got better when we threatened to cut a few of his fingers off.

5: Your Motorcycle

There are several motorcycle factors that play a huge role in how many miles you can ride in a day.  In the old days, a motorcycle was a motorcycle and we did it all with a single bike (touring, off-road, canyon carving, adventure riding, etc.).  Today, you gotta get specific:

    • ADV-style bikes are actually pretty comfortable and the ergonomics make sense.  500-mile days are easy.  My KLR 650 was one of the best touring bikes I ever owned.   It had phenomenal ergos.
    • Standard motorcycles are also relatively comfortable and you can probably do 500 miles in a day, but you’ll feel it, especially if your bike does not have a windshield.  My Enfield 650 Interceptor is a good bike, but it’s the one that wiped me out on that recent 250-mile ride.
    • Cruisers look cool in motorcycle ads and they complement do rags and tattoos nicely, but they are less comfortable on long rides.  I’ve found I can reasonably do 350-mile days on a cruiser without needing to see a chiropractor.  Go much beyond that and you’ll feel it.
    • Sportbikes generally cut into big miles, but a lot depends on your age. Good buddy Marty and I rode sportbikes on the 2005 Three Flags Classic (I was on a Triumph Daytona) and we did big mile days on that ride. But I was 20 years younger then and I bent a lot easier.  I wouldn’t want to do it again.
    • Classic bikes generally require shorter daily riding distances, particularly if they are British and equipped with electricals manufactured by Lucas (as in Lucas, the Prince of Darkness).  I think a mid-’60s Triumph Bonneville is the most beautiful motorcycle ever created, but I wouldn’t want to ride Baja on one.

Beyond the style issues outlined above, there are other motorcycle factors to consider:

    • Bigger motors generally mean more miles in a day, but bigger motorcycles can slow you down if they suck up too much fuel.  One year at the International Motorcycle Show, Yamaha’s bikes all had labels that showed, among other things, fuel economy.  The VMax, as noted by Yamaha, averaged 27 miles per gallon.  You’d be making a lot more fuel stops on that one.  27 miles per gallon.  I can’t make up stuff this good.
    • Daily mileage is independent of displacement at 400cc and above (as long as fuel economy is not VMax nutty).  Below 400cc, it gets harder (I think) to crank big miles.  On my 250cc RX3, 500 miles is a big day for me.  But my good buddy Rob once did a 1000-mile Baby Butt on his RX3, so I guess anything is possible.
    • Seats can make a big difference.  I’ve never found any motorcycle seat to be really comfortable, but I have found a few to be god-awful (my Enfield is working hard to earn that title).  If you want to really improve a motorcycle seat so you can up your miles, get a sheepskin cover (I’ve found those to be quite comfortable).  There are other options like inflatable seats or custom made seats, but my advice is don’t waste your money.  A guy showed up with an inflatable seat cover on a group ride once and it slowed us considerably.  It kept blowing off his bike and we had to stop and look for it each time that happened.
    • Fuel tank capacity doesn’t make much difference.  My KLR could go 250 miles on a tank; my TL1000S would start blinking at 105 miles.  You’d think you could ride a lot further with a bigger tank, but I found I need to stop and stretch roughly every hour or two, and if I do that at gas stations, tank capacity doesn’t matter.

What do you think?

So there you have it:  Our thoughts on a complex topic.

We know there are keyboard commandos out there who will take exception to our carefully constructed and presented thoughts.  If you disagree, let’s hear it.  We appreciate all comments, dumbass and otherwise.  Please leave your thoughts here on the blog for others to see.  Don’t waste your time leaving comments on Facebook (all the cool people leave their comments here…only losers post comments on Facebook).  You’ll be a faster rider, you’ll be thinner, and you’ll look better if you post your comments here.  And don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar, or capitalization (believe it or not, it will help our readers assess the validity of your thinking).

Like they say, your mileage may vary, and we’re looking forward to your comments.  If they’re particularly inane, so much the better. We await your inputs.

Some of our more interesting rides?  Right here, folks!

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It’s not a BSA!

I saw this YouTube video a few days ago on the Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor, and I’ve been meaning to post it here on the ExNotes blog.  I think YouTube motorcycle reviews are generally a time suck, but I enjoyed this one.  The dude who made it (MotoSlug, a guy I never heard of before) nailed it, I think, with his description of the Enfield, its capabilities, and the riding experience.  It’s no BSA, Senator, but it’s still a fun ride. Actually, it’s way better than any BSA I ever rode.

I’m inspired. It’s late afternoon here in So Cal, which is to say it’s hot.  When things cool off in a couple of hours, I’m going to fire up my Enfield (that’s it in the photo above) and go for a ride.

Read our story about riding Enfields in Baja here.

Stranded in Baja, Hearst Castle, and more…

Every once in a while we do a blog that covers a bunch of topics, and this is one of those times.

Good buddy Mike Huber and his friend Bobbie motorcycled Mexico (Baja, to be specific, almost another country all by itself), and he most recently published an excellent story about being stranded down there by the Covid 19 pandemic.  It’s not often that we recommend another blog, but hey, Mike’s writing is outstanding and it’s a great story.  Take a look; it’s very good.

My favorite motorcycle magazine (that would be Motorcycle Classics) sends out marketing emails on a regular basis, and in those emails they include links to past (and sometimes recent) articles.  I write for MC, and the most recent email that slipped into my inbox included a link to my Destinations piece on Hearst Castle.   You might want to read that story; I love Hearst Castle.  It’s closed for the pandemic, but the pandemic won’t last forever.  Hearst Castle will be there when it’s over.

We’re having a heat wave (both here in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia and at Tinfiny Ranch).   That prompted us to start a piece on riding in extreme heat.   My first recommendation would be:  Don’t.   But things don’t always work out the way you want them to.  I once rode the length of Baja on a Mustang replicas with several friends, and due to a lack of research on my part we did the ride in Baja’s hottest month (and that’s September).  You can read about the 150cc Baja ride through Hell here.  Do you have any advice for riding in high temperatures?  Please share them with us (info@exhaustnotes.us) and we’ll include your recommendations here on the blog.

We have more motorcycle, gun and other stuff coming up, including info on Ruger’s new Custom Shop and their Super GP100 .357 Mag revolver, favored loads in the Henry .45 70 Single Shot, a piece on Turnbull’s iconic color case hardening and restoration services, a stunning (and tack-driving) Kimber with exhibition grade French walnut, the wrap-up of our ride through the Andes Mountains in Colombia, the Canton Fair, and for you fans of The Ten Commandments, making bricks without hay and mortar.  And a whole lot more.

Stay tuned, folks.

Concluding an Extended Stay in Baja

You’ll remember our intrepid troopers and guest bloggers Mike and Bobbie. Well, they managed to exit beautiful Baja after an extended stay of nearly 10 weeks.   Here’s the wrap-up to that adventure.  Mike, we appreciate your blogs.  Ride safe and stay in touch.

Preface: When we last left our heroes (the description probably suits my girlfriend Bobbie more than myself) we were in staying in with a new friend at her house in San Felipe, Baja, Mexico to see what comes next with the COVID19 updates in the USA before deciding when to return.

San Felipe seemed the perfect place to ride out the COVID storm. We were in a safe location, plenty of supplies at local stores and the residents seemed to take the warning seriously and were wearing masks, using hand sanitizer, etc. It didn’t take long, however, for most public beaches and really everything to be shut down. Traveling too far outside the city became impossible due to Mexican Army checkpoints turning people around, so it wasn’t worth the risk to be actually “locked out abroad.”

There was one private beach that remained open that we were able to use and moto camp in, and that was Pete’s camp. We had camped here 6 weeks prior when the world was quite different and the camp was about 70% full with campers, with side-by-sides roaring up and down the beach playing Van Halen at an uncomfortable decibel level (and I love Van Halen loud), and everyone was carefree enjoying their vacations. Now, however, the scene was completely different. The beach was abandoned, it was eerily silent with nothing but us and approximately a hundred empty palapas on the beach for miles in both directions. We frequented this beach a few times a week as it was a short 4-mile ride and was our only opportunity to really get out as we cut back on our off-roading in the event we should get injured.

We fully understood how fortunate we were to be lying in hammocks, soaking up the sun on a beautiful beach that kissed the Sea of Cortez while we watched the surreal news that was coming in from America. We held weekly touch points on when and where we should go, if anywhere. Wednesday was an optimal day for these touch points since our plans would have us leave on a Friday thus allowing us 3 days to return to Arizona.

After a month we decided it was time to return as it seemed the supplies (toilet paper, etc.) were being replenished in America while the COVID fatalities seemed to be lowering and our concern that the bubble we were living in would burst quickly if (or when) the virus would make its way to Baja. More importantly, it gave us a solid excuse to get a great weekend of riding in.

We left on a Thursday afternoon to return to the United States. The ride was beautiful. There was NO line at the border to the point I almost didn’t even place the moto in neutral when going through, whereas normally there is a 1 to 3 hour line. Once inside the United States we were a bit hungry and noticed only drive thrus were open, so we got creative and set up our camping gear outside a Chili’s and had several margaritas (probably not legal, but there’s a pandemic; act accordingly!) and a burger in the parking lot.

We had eyed Kofa National Forest as a decent place to camp, and I had always wanted to visit this area so this was a perfect time since it was extremely isolated. This ensured there’d be no temptations to break social distancing. We were not disappointed in choosing this location. It was a beautiful desert landscape with the setting sun lighting up the mountains surrounding our campsite. The weather was perfect and we could take a moment to gather ourselves with it being our 1st night back in our home country in some time.

The following day after getting McDonald’s for breakfast (don’t judge; I couldn’t find a Starbucks open for my BMW to get its fix) Bobbie came up with a different route then just the boring I-10 to I-17 we normally take. Great call! It made what would have been a drab highway drive into a longer, but much more scenic ride through little towns and National Forests, where we could really enjoy the break from everything and just be in that moment fully present and enjoying each moment as we lowered off the mountain passes returning to Sedona, and for a few hours forget about the rest of the world as we returned safely home after our nearly 10-week Baja adventure.

So these two adventure riders are on the road, and at last sighting, they were camping in Colorado’s beautiful Mesa Verde National Park.  Our two troopers are living the good life.   I’m looking forward to their next blog.

All the way, folks.

A Whale of a Tale!

Good buddy Mike, a fellow former trooper who I met on a ride through Baja a few years ago, has been sort of stranded down there until recently.  Mike and his good friend Bobbie went whale watching and they had a unique experience.  Mike was kind enough to share the adventure with us.  Here you go, folks.

So as someone who is always seeking adventure I may have gotten in over my head with this one. Not only am I three years in living fulltime off a motorcycle, currently in Baja due to a global pandemic, but why not throw in a rescue mission at sea just to ensure I have everything covered.  Sure, why not?

It was a dark and stormy night and the sea was angry…actually it was just a bit windy around mid-day when we decided to partake in a whale watching trip on pangas (small wooden boats) in Guerrero Negro, Baja, Mexico. It’s a magical encounter with nature as these majestic creatures, which are the size of a school bus. These gray whales come up to your panga and you can actually pet them and experience these animals at such a close range.  It is just a magical experience…a life-altering experience.

We begin with a standard safety briefing and get bussed out to the docks, fitted with life vests, and we are all excited to get out and see these beautiful animals up close. Prior to boarding our panga I noticed another boat with 8 senior citizens leaving the same time as us and for a minute thought maybe we should jump in their boat as there were less people then our boat, but we chose to just stay where we were assigned with 12 people aboard.

The tour was going pretty well, not great as there was a lot of chop in the bay, so the whales don’t get as close as we’d like since the boat was bumping up and down. As the tour seemed to be ending I noticed we were heading not towards shore but in a direction we hadn’t been. I first thought they had spotted more whales and soon saw a giant gray object in the distance. Once we got a bit closer I realized it was not a whale at all but a capsized panga with three people clinging to the upside-down vessel by the propeller. The reality set in as we saw others floating in the water along with backpacks, camera bags, and purses. I put everything I had into a waterproof compartment in my rain jacket and handed it to my girlfriend as I saw it was the panga with the eight seniors and I said “I guess I am going for a swim.”

As we moved in to begin rescuing people from the water I performed a headcount of those in the water. Knowing it was the panga with the seniors I had all nine (eight and the captain) accounted for and saw they all looked to be relatively well. Although it was windy, it wasn’t too cold.  I also remembered from the safety briefing that there were no sharks in this part of the bay. We quickly realized no one was in immediate danger.

This is where it gets fun, sorta.  As with all “disasters” there’s “that guy.” The guy that has to be a hero no matter how little they know. We were “fortunate” enough to have one on our panga (damnit). The captain of our boat spoke little English but was very competent and was trying to give directions that seemed to drown out by the time they reached us since the newly unelected hero was shouting his own directions on how to handle the situation best.

Knowing the people in the water were not in great danger I sat back on the far side of the boat as a ballast, shook my head, and let the hero begin to rescue people clumsily and haphazardly pulling them into our vessel incorrectly. While this was going on I kept contemplating the consequences of throwing him overboard and rescuing the remaining seniors myself. Would saving eight people but leaving one to swim back result in any criminal charges against me in Mexico? Luckily for everyone that was a fleeting thought.

One haunting moment that really still stands out is when the captain had to re-angle the panga to rescue the last three people clinging to the propeller. Those people thought we were leaving them and began shouting “Don’t leave us, please don’t leave us.”  You could hear the fear and panic in their voices. Once we were angled our “hero” had realized his uselessness and backed off allowing us to properly load the remaining three people safely into the panga without issue.

The boat ride back to the docks was a quiet and bumpy ride. Everyone was soaked, including myself (and I never even left the boat). There were three ambulances at the docks by the time we had reached it. It was a great feeling that no one required them other than for warm blankets.

Feeling great being back on dry land (not as great as the nine that were in the water) we returned to the office where we met the owner of the whale tour company and began explaining our adventure in great detail, telling the story over tequila and tacos.  He brought out his guitar and played requests for us for several hours.

Mike, that’s a hell of a story.  I’m glad everyone got through it without injury.  We actually read about that happening in Baja not too long ago.  In all the times I’ve been whale watching, I’ve never seen that happen.

Hey, the rest of our readers:  If you’d like to see more Baja whale watching, here’s the page you want!

Baja Sportbike Touring in 2004

My good buddy Bryan sent an email to me earlier today asking if I still had the photos from our 2004 Baja ride posted anywhere.  Wow.  2004.  That trip was 16 years ago this month.  Where does the time go?

Anyway, by way of background, there were three of us on that ride:  Yours truly, my good buddy Marty (who you’ve seen in other spots here on the ExNotes blog), and another good buddy, Bryan.   This was to be an unusual trip, as we did it on sports bikes.  Marty had his K1200RS BMW (which, by the way, he still has), Bryan was on his VFR 750 Honda, and I was on my TL1000S Suzuki (which was probably the fastest motorcycle I’ve ever owned).  I used to have a site called MotoFoto.cc and I had this trip posted there, but that site came down when I started the CSC blog.  This trip was on the old MotoFoto site, and when Bryan asked about it, I thought I’d post it here.   So here you go…the original web post from 2004!

This trip was a quick, 1550-mile, 4-day motorcycle tour from Los Angeles  to Mulege in the Baja peninsula in January 2004.  Mulege is about 700 miles south of the border.   I shot all of the photographs on this page with the Sony Mavica CD400. It was digital photography state of the art, sort of, back in the day.

This was my fifth or sixth trip into the Baja’s interior, and I have to tell you that it just keeps getting better. The roads are fantastic, the scenery is awesome, and, well, read on.

We stuck to Mexico’s Transpeninsular Highway (Highway 1). Here’s a typical restaurant in one of the northern Baja agricultural towns. Bryan and Marty are getting ready to continue south into the Baja. Picking the good restaurants was easy…we just looked for the ones with lots of cars parked out front.
Bryan and Joe, stopped at a deserted Baja structure. Most of the Baja peninsula is very desolate.
The roads in Baja are awesome, with long, flat, high-speed straights, and lots of twisties through the mountains. It gets really desolate and interesting south of El Rosario.
We stopped for gas in Catavina, but the town’s generator was shut down for maintenance (as it is nearly every day). Marty is getting his BMW filled up the old-fashioned way. This was an adventure…real Indiana Jones stuff.

We were on our way to Guerrero Negro to see the whales.  The riding was fabulous, as it always is in Baja.  The TL1000S was an admittedly poor choice for touring, but it was fun.

The roads in Baja are awesome.  There’s a long stretch before the Pemex station about 20 miles north of Guerrero Negro, and the road runs straight as an arrow to the horizon for a good 30 miles.  I ran the Suzuki at 145 miles per hour for nearly the entire stretch as the sun descended.  It was a glorious ride until I ran out of gas, and when I did, it was as if someone had shut the ignition off on the Suzuki.  No sputtering, no surging, just a sudden shutdown.  I was carrying an extra gallon of fuel on the TL, and that got me to the gas station.

Marty and Joe, just before getting on the bus to see the whales.
This is Victor, who talked to us about the whales on our way out to Scammon’s Lagoon. Bryan shot this photo.
Another one of Bryan’s photos, showing the boats we used for watching the whales.
One of the many whales we saw on this tour.  I shot these photos, as mentioned above, with the Sony Mavica camera.  It was not really too good for this kind of photography because of the delay between pressing the shutter button and the camera reacting.

On the way in to Guerrero Negro, I had been telling Bryan and Marty about this fabulous fish taco truck.  They were probably tired of hearing me rave about fish tacos by the time we arrived, but when we did, wow, Tony did not disappoint us.

The real McCoy.  Wow, are they ever good…Antonio’s has been selling fish tacos in Guerrero Negro for 11 years (and that was in 2004). I stop there every time I go by.
Antonio, taco chef extraordinaire…circa 2004.
Bryan is a convert. So is Marty.  In fact, they both wanted to stop on the way back through Guerrero Negro just to get another fish taco.
One of the many roadside shrines erected in memory of someone who died along this route. You see these every few miles along the Transpeninsular Highway.

After Guerrero Negro, the whales, and Tony’s fish tacos, we continued south and then east, crossing the peninsula toward the Sea of Cortez.  San Ignacio lies about halfway along that stretch.  It’s a great place to stop and grab a few photos.

The mission in San Ignacio. This building is over 300 years old. San Ignacio is a small town just off the Transpeninsular Highway. If you are ever driving this route, you have to stop in San Ignacio to see the mission. It is one of the Baja peninsula’s most interesting areas, and every one I have ever taken there has fallen in love with the place.
The entrance to the San Ignacio mission.
A macro shot of the door to the San Ignacio mission.
The Virgin of Guadalupe, at the San Ignacio mission.

From there, it was on to Santa Rosalia and then Mulege on the Sea of Cortez. Mulege is a fun town, and the tiny Las Casitas hotel is just outstanding. The rooms were great, and the margaritas and dinners were off the charts.

We stayed at the Las Casitas hotel in Mulege, which is a hopping spot.

After we checked into the Las Casitas, we followed the road all the way to the Sea of Cortez just to check the place out.  It was a cool place.  It was a dirt road and the TL1000S was a handful, but it was cool.

Bryan and Marty on the Sea of Cortez. We had just driven several miles down a very rough dirt road to get to this spot. It was worth the effort.
Checking our route for the next day with the Sea of Cortez in the background.
The river running through Mulege. The date palms were introduced by the Jesuits hundreds of years ago. Mulege is one of several oases in Baja. It is an incredibly scenic spot.
Joe and Bryan, taking in the Mulege scenery.
The mission in Mulege. This building served as a prison at one point during its life. Life was so good there, though, that the convicts were released during the day to go to work and none ever tried to escape.
Another shot of the Mulege mission.
Joe and Bryan, with the first of many margaritas and Negra Modelos in the Las Casitas restaurant. The first of many. Actually, the first of too many.
Marty and Bryan enjoying their dinner in Las Casitas.
A painting in the Las Casitas bar.

On our way back north, we stopped in Santa Rosalia because I wanted the guys to see it and we hadn’t really spent any time there on the way south. Santa Rosalia is a bustling fishing town on the Sea of Cortez.

Santa Rosalia has a French heritage, and all the buildings are constructed of wood. It is a colorful little town.
Here’s a shot of the stained glass windows in Santa Rosalia’s interesting, Georg Eiffel-designed church. The little Sony did a pretty good job here, with the meter set to the spot-metering mode. Like all of the shots on this page, this is a hand-held photograph.
Another of the stained glass windows in the Santa Rosalia church.

We had a pretty rough drive on our third night in Baja. All of the books I’ve read advise not driving at night in Baja, and for good reason.  We rode 130 miles on a moonless night to get to Catavina.  Riding at night in Baja is not an experience I recommend. The roads are not lit and it’s amazing how dark it gets out there. Then, just to make things more interesting, the white lines marking the road’s edge disappeared about 20 miles before Catavina on those winding mountain and desert roads. Throw in stray cattle and blind corners, and, well, you get the idea.  We made it to Catavina safely and stayed in the La Pinta Hotel.

We stayed in Catavina on our last night in Baja at the La Pinta Hotel.  We were tired and sore from riding edgy sports bikes for three days. The photo above shows us getting ready to depart just as the sun was rising, with 400 miles to go.

It would have been nice to take more photos as we continued on through Tecate, but we were tired and just after crossing the border we were caught in a rainstorm near San Diego. We waited in a McDonald’s, so that’s about it for our Baja photos from this trip.

Want to  know more about Baja?  Hey check out these pages!

Epic Motorcycle Rides
Baja
Berk’s Works

Want to read more about Baja?  Here you go!

Thinking of riding Baja yourself?  You’ll need to get insurance, and BajaBound is the best there is!

Locked out abroad: Mike in Baja

You guys and gals will remember my good buddy Mike, whom I met on one of the CSC Baja runs a couple of years ago.   It was a chance meeting…we stopped to buy bottled gas from one of the roadside entrepreneurs in Catavina and I noticed one of the bikes had a set of jump wings on the tail box.  We had been on the road a few days already and I wondered why I hadn’t noticed the Airborne insignia before, and then I realized it was because I hadn’t noticed the bike was a BMW GS, not a CSC RX3 (that’s how much the bikes look alike, I guess).  I looked around and there was Mike (a new face in the crowd), waiting for fuel just like the rest of us.  You meet the coolest people in Baja, and you meet the coolest people on motorcycles.  I liked Mike immediately.

Mike is a former US Army Paratrooper (my kind of Amigo), an adventure rider, a good friend, and one hell of a guy.  You’ve seen him here on the ExNotes blog before.  Mike lives on his motorcycle (a big BMW GS) and travels all over, working as an untethered project manager and writing regularly.  It’s a cool (and an enviable) lifestyle.

I received an email from Mike yesterday offering this guest blog, and I wanted to share it with you.

Joe,

Thought this would make for an interesting story for your blog. I know its been an interesting story for us! Let me know what ya think. Few colorful pics for it as well.

Hope you are doing well. I am sure you are fully prepared. 🙂

Mike

PS. Be cool if we could get Chris Hansen to read the blog “take a seat over there, would you like some lemonade” HAHAHA

Locked OUT Abroad- Mexico- Extended Stay

My girlfriend, Bobbie Surber and I both work remotely, so in late February we thought a 4-6 week adventure moto trip through Baja would be a great way to kick off spring. We could get some great riding in, explore camping along the beautiful beaches, and really just clear out the cobwebs from any winter blues and lack of activity we had been experiencing.

The trip started out great in San Felipe in a wonderful off grid solar AirBnb casita, with a lovely host (we only travel Saturday and Sunday as we are heads down working Mon-Fri in AirBnBs). We continued camping, riding, and staying in AirBnBs all through Guerro Negro, Muleje, La Ventana, Todo Santos, and Loreto. We were spending a week in each location to fully absorb the unique cities, people, and culture while soaking up the incredible desert roads, ocean views, and all while meeting new riders that will become lifelong friends along the way.

As we had just arrived in Loreto on March 15th we really began to notice the COVID-19 virus was really starting to ramp up in the United States to the point travel alerts were being issued globally and we began to see fellow travelers from Canada and the EU being requested to return home by their countries.

In Loreto, we were still a solid 3-day ride away from the US Border when on March 19th a Level 4 travel advisory was issued to either return to the United States or hunker in place for an indefinite period. At the same time people in America were hoarding toilet paper and individual states were beginning to “shut down” one by one. We took this quite seriously and given what information was being provided at the time a team decision had to be made by us. It was a long 2-3 days of going back and forth in open dialogue between both of us on different ideas, plans, and solutions. None of which either of us were thrilled with.

We both agreed returning to the United States was not a wise decision, however, we did not want to stay a 3 day drive away from a border crossing in the event there was a health emergency for either of us. We decided to reach out to our 1st Baja AirBnB host in San Felipe and she graciously offered her casita up for us to hunker down in which would place us within a 2 hour drive from the US Border should there be an emergency where one or both of us may need to return home. This seemed like a perfect staging area. The virus seemed to be less in the Baja, perhaps due to lack of testing, but nonetheless it was a peninsula so geographically it made sense that the impacts would be less. There was also an abundance of supplies (to include toilet paper, which I am still confused as hell on why there was a run on that particular item).

So now to our current state of affairs. We are in self-quarantine in San Felipe with our new AirBnB friend, Victoria and are continually evaluating the situation in the United States looking for a safe opportunity to return home, and are quite frightful for the new reality we are returning to. Confident in both our analytical and decision making abilities I am looking forward to writing Part II of this, hopefully sooner than later.

Mike, that’s an awesome input and we sure appreciate hearing from you.  Thanks very much.  Your photos and descriptions made me realize just how much I miss Baja.  Sue and I would have been down there this month had it not been for this CV19 business.  As soon as we return to normal, I’m headed south and we’ll be down there.  Ride safe, take care, and thanks again!

A note from Sergeant Zuo

Sergeant Zuo on our 2016 ride across China, somewhere along the Silk Road.

I recently wrote to my good buddy Sergeant Zuo, who led our 2016 ride across China.  Zuo lives in Lanzhou, a huge refining center we visited on the China ride.  He and I became great friends on that 38-day adventure.  Zuo is a former Chinese Army senior NCO and in an earlier life I was a lowly lieutenant in the US Army.  But hey, a lieutenant outranks even a senior noncommissioned officer, and every morning (even though we served in different armies), he’d snap to attention and salute me.  And I would then return the salute.  It was cool and it added to the good nature and relaxed camaraderie we all felt on the China adventure.  Zuo is that rare natural leader you sometimes encounter when groups gather and he was perfect for the China ride.  He made what could have a been a scary undertaking into a grand adventure.  I would follow him anywhere, and I imagine the troops in the Army units he led felt the same way.

Sergeant Zuo along Qinghai Lake, one of the largest salt water lakes on the planet.  We were about a third of the way into our ride when I took this photo.

Zuo owns an RX3 (he was one of the very first people to buy an RX3 in China) and it is his daily driver.  He doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Chinese, but that had no impact on us.  We spoke RX3 and riding, I guess, and we formed an immediate bond.  A good motorcycle can do that, you know.

Sergeant Zuo on the ferry ride to Qingdao.  Qingdao was our final destination on the China ride.

Our trip started in Chongqing, we rode to northwest China (the Tibetan Plateau and the Gobi Desert), then back to central China, and finally over to Beijing and then Qingdao.  Qingdao was a name that stuck in my mind.  Nearly 50 years ago I was on a US Army missile site in Korea and our primary target line pointed straight across the Yellow Sea at Qingdao.  And now, here we were at the end of our China ride five decades later in that very same city.

Zuo, Gresh, I, and a dozen others rode our motorcycles right onto the beach at Qingdao, stripped down, and went swimming in the Yellow Sea’s cool waters.  Damn, that felt good.  After fighting the oppressive heat and humidity of a damp Chinese summer, I could have spent all day in that cool ocean water. Back in the day I was ready to launch missiles at bad guys coming from Qingdao; 50 years later I swam in the Yellow Sea with Zuo at that very same spot to wrap up the grandest adventure of my life.

Our route on the ride across China.

With that as a backdrop, here’s the note from my good buddy Zuo:

Joe(大舅）：

谢谢您给我的信。

从网络里看到新型冠状病毒（CV-19）在美国蔓延，这个可怕的家伙成了人类共同的敌人，但是我们应该相信，它是会被战胜的！

我们这里的疫情虽然得到控制和缓解，但是疫情警戒还没有结束。

J，我很好，谢谢您。

阅读您和二舅的博客是我生活中的最大乐趣，看到你们快乐的玩很是高兴。因为你一直相信在大洋彼岸有一个和你惺惺相惜的好朋友一直在关注这您们，是吗？

等到疫情结束，如果能和您一起摩旅那将是我最幸福的等待。

非常想念您——我的良师益友。

代为向您的爱人问好。

祝愿您和二舅一切安好。

—— 左振义 2020年3月20日 于中国.兰州

Yeah, I know, you don’t speak Chinese.  That’s not a problem; we’ll just turn to Google’s translation site:

Joe (big uncle):

Thank you for your letter.

Seeing the spread of the new coronavirus (CV-19) in the United States from the Internet, this terrible guy has become a common enemy of humanity, but we should believe that it will be defeated!  Although the epidemic situation here has been controlled and alleviated, the epidemic alert has not ended.

J, I’m fine, thank you.

Reading your and Erji’s blog is the biggest joy in my life, and it’s great to see you playing happily. Because you have always believed that there is a good friend who cares about you on the other side of the ocean, has you been paying attention to you.

When the epidemic is over, it will be my happiest waiting if I can travel with you.

I miss you so much–my mentor.

Say hello to your friend.

I wish you and Erji all the best.

—- Zuo Zhenyi in Lanzhou, China, March 20, 2020

About that “Erji” business…the Chinese quickly gave Gresh and me Chinese names.  I was Dajiu (big uncle), and Joe was Erji (little uncle).   After that initial christening, those were our names for the entire trip.  It was cool.

You know, when this CV19 business is over, it would be grand to get Zuo over here for a US and Baja ride.  It’s something to look forward to, and I promise you it’s going to happen.

Edit:  Just in case you haven’t seen these videos, here you go.  The first is Gresh’s China Ride video, the second is the one released by Zongshen.  They’re both great.

The Royal Enfield, the RX3, the TT 250, and more…

So you’ve probably noticed I haven’t been riding too much lately.   You know how it goes…it gets cold, you have other things going on in your life, you want to send some lead downrange, and on and on it goes.

I needed to break that pattern, and there’s no better way to do that than to buy a motorcycle.   Yeah, I know…I already have two motorcycles (what has to be the world’s most well-traveled RX3, and a pristine, low miles TT 250). I like CSC motorcycles.  But you may recall that Uncle Joe Gresh and I road tested two Enfields last year and I fell in love with the 650 Interceptor.

Down Mexico way…dinner at the San Remedio in Guerrero Negro. Life is good, folks.

I was primed to buy a Royal Enfield when I returned from Mexico, but the Enfield dealer in Glendale had done a God-awful job prepping the Bullet (I wouldn’t buy squat from those guys now), and the Enfield dealer in Brea was doing the normal bend-you-over-a-barrel, here-comes-the-setup-and-freight-charges routine.   Folks, I’ve worked in the industry, and I know what setup and freight costs actually are.  Trust me on this…they ain’t $1500.  So I didn’t buy an Enfield.

Then an amazing thing happened.  One of the few dealerships I trust picked up the Enfield line last week.  It’s Art Guilfoil’s Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino.  I asked Art what he could do for me on a new Enfield, I was shocked at how low the number was (don’t ask, because I won’t tell), and, well…

I think this is No. 42 or No. 43 or something. I’ve owned a lot of motorcycles. This is the latest. Sue is cool with it, too!

I’m picking up my new 650 Royal Enfield on Thursday, and to say I’m excited would be an understatement of immense proportions.  It was a tough call for me between the Enfield and the new CSC RX4, but truth be told, I love my RX3 and it checks all the boxes for what I want in an adventure touring motorcycle.  Arguably, the RX3 is the finest adventure touring motorcycle in the world if you’re going places other than the corner burger joint (for all the reasons I explained in my piece titled Why a 250?).  I know.  I’ve been to places other than the corner burger joint, and I’ve made most of those trips on an RX3.

So with my new Royal Enfield coming in, it begged the question:  What should I do with my RX3 and TT 250?  My first thought was that I’d sell them.   Then I got to thinking about the RX3.   I’ve done some miles on that thing, folks, and we’ve bonded.  Nope, I’m going to hang on to it.  Baja beckons, and all that.  The RX3 is perfect for poking around the peninsula.  And next, month, that’s where I’m headed.   Susie’s going with me, and we’ll share a Tequila or two with Baja John.  You can read about it here.

That leaves the TT 250.  Hey, I was involved in bringing the TT 250 to America, and it all started when I eyeballed the 150cc version on display in Zongshen headquarters.  It was a bit of an uphill struggle…you know, getting Zongshen to make a 250cc version, and then selling the idea in Azusa.  I got the powers that be to go along and then I was out of town when the prototypes arrived in California.   A couple of the CSC underlings didn’t like the bike, and I had to sell it in Azusa all over again.  But it worked out, and the TT 250 is one of CSC’s best selling motorcycles ever.  It should be…it is a hell of a bike for a stunningly low price.

My TT 250 on the road at La Rumarosa in Baja.

With the Enfield coming in, I thought I would sell my TT 250.   Hell, it’s pristine, but because I don’t ride it too much, the carb gummed up on me.  I thought maybe I’d bring it to CSC and have them make it perfect again, and then another serendipitous thing occurred.  A few days ago, a post popped up on Facebook (why do I spend so much time on that moronic site?) from Revzilla, and what do you know, it was about doing your own maintenance on a CSC motorcycle.  In this case, it was the San Gabriel (a wonderful name for a motorcycle if ever there was one), and the guys from Revzilla said the CSC shop manuals were wonderful.  I thought that was great for a lot of different reasons, including the fact that, along with help from Gerry Edwards and the guys in the shop, I wrote many of the CSC manuals.  Then I realized…hey, I wrote the TT 250 manual.  I can fix my own carburetor.  I looked up the carb stuff and this afternoon I took mine apart, I cleaned the low and high speed jets, and now my TT 250 is running great.  There’s something uniquely satisfying about fixing your own motorcycle, and the Revzilla boys were right:  Those CSC manuals are amazing.  So are the motorcycles.  And so is the 650 Enfield.   I know, because I took one on what had to be the longest demo ride ever…all the way to Baja and back!

More good times coming up, folks, on the Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor!