{"id":4431,"date":"2019-05-25T06:31:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T13:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=4431"},"modified":"2019-05-25T07:02:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T14:02:43","slug":"baja-2009-the-klr-khronicles-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/05\/25\/baja-2009-the-klr-khronicles-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Baja 2009: The KLR Khronicles Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
What this trip was all about. I grabbed this somewhere in the Vizcaino Desert.\u00a0 That’s my red KLR up front and John’s green one behind it. These are the perfect bikes in the perfect place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In October 2009 it had been a year since my last motorcycle trip in Baja, and that was entirely too long.\u00a0 I was good to go, but most of the guys I hung out with here in So Cal were timid.\u00a0 They believed what they read in the LA Times<\/em>.\u00a0 You know, about Mexico being dangerous.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 I knew better. I needed to get my knees in the Baja breeze.\u00a0 My good buddy Baja John felt the same way.<\/p>\n

My first journey into Baja was with John back in 1994, and it would be good to ride with him again.\u00a0 Our earlier trips were on cruisers…John on a Viagra (spelling intentional) and me on a Harley.\u00a0 We’d both be riding Kawasaki KLR 650s this time.\u00a0 I bought one, and after listening to me rave about it, so did John.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong.\u00a0 There’s nothing wrong with a Yamaha Virago, and if driveway jewelry is your thing, there’s nothing wrong with a Harley (Harleys are the world’s most efficient machines for converting gasoline to noise and self-perceived status upgrades, you know).\u00a0 But the KLR 650s…those were real motorcycles.\u00a0 No pretense, all business.\u00a0 I wish I had kept my KLR.\u00a0 I let the guy who bought it know that I’ll but it back.\u00a0 But that will be a story for another time.<\/p>\n

The plan for this trip was to explore places off the Transpeninsular Highway. On previous trips, we\u2019d seen signs pointing down rough dirt roads to the ruins of various abandoned Spanish missions, the marble quarry at El Marmol, and a few other places promising adventure.\u00a0 On those prior trips we quite appropriately opted not to take our cruisers down those gnarly dirt roads. This time, though, we had the right bikes and we would go wherever we wanted.\u00a0 Dirt?\u00a0 Soft sand?\u00a0 Mud?\u00a0 Banditos?\u00a0 Rabid dogs?\u00a0 Hey, bring it all on.\u00a0 We were ready.<\/p>\n

So, here we go.<\/p>\n

John rode south from Tehachapi to meet me near the Cal Poly campus, and we left late on a Thursday afternoon (John worked his job at Palmdale AFB, and I taught that day at Cal Poly).<\/p>\n

We made it to Rosarito Beach Hotel that first night, my favorite hotel in that town.\u00a0 It’s a classy joint with a great restaurant, but the adverse publicity and overall economic climate in 2009 were killing the place. \u00a0 Think unending stories about drug wars and purported lawlessness in Mexico, and the worldwide Great Recession.\u00a0 My guess is that fewer than 10 rooms were occupied that evening.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The KLRs, rode hard and put away wet that night in the Rosarito Beach Hotel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our plans for this trip were purposely vague, other than to head south and consume large quantities of Tecate after the bikes had been put away. We briefly talked about doing a banzai run all the way to Cabo San Lucas, but that would have been a push. It was already dark when we passed through Tijuana, and south of TJ, the Pacific Ocean mist was fogging my faceshield. I thought about Susanna\u2019s restaurant in Rosarito (more on that in a bit), and all thoughts of Cabo vanished. For that night, Rosarito Beach was it.\u00a0 And that was a good thing.\u00a0 I love having dinner in Susanna’s. \u00a0Susanna\u2019s is the best restaurant in town, and maybe the best in all of Mexico. A stay in Rosarito Beach without dinner at Susanna\u2019s would be a crime against nature and good judgment.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Susanna, don’t you cry for me. I’ll be back.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Ah, yes. The perfect antidote for low cholesterol. The dining at Susanna’s is as close as you’ll get to Heaven without a one-way ticket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a five-star dinner, Baja John and I walked around downtown Rosarito Beach for a bit.\u00a0 It was deserted.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rosarito Beach 2009. The LA Times was killing this place with its unending negative stories about Mexico. More than half the stores, restaurants, and other places were shuttered. Normally a hopping party town, in 2009 it was dead, and there was really no reason for it other than the US news media’s fixation on demonizing the place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
At a club in Rosarito Beach.\u00a0 We were the only two people there.\u00a0 That’s Baja John on the left.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning we rolled south along the Pacific coast to a great breakfast in Ensenada.\u00a0 Good God, we were packing on the calories.\u00a0 My favorite breakfast spot in Ensenada is Velero’s, a place near the ocean just\u00a0 behind the Corona Hotel.\u00a0 The clientele is mostly local business folks, the breakfasts are great, and it’s the hot ticket.\u00a0 They bring a large plate of light, delicious pastries as soon as you sit down.\u00a0 The coffee and the orange juice are superior. That’s followed by a tortilla with melted cheese and salsa. I could have (and should have) stopped at the pastries and the cheese tortilla, but I went for my customary two eggs over hard with the fixings you see below. It was as good as it looks.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Simple, delicious, and filling. Velero’s is the breakfast spot in Ensenada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Velero’s is on a side street that juts off the road along the coast. The Ensenada sign is gone.\u00a0 A pity, as it made for a great photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a great breakfast, we were on the road again, headed south out of Ensenada toward points south, including the aforementioned abandoned missions, a shipwreck on the Pacific coast, and more.<\/p>\n

To be continued…<\/p>\n

\n

Hey, we have a couple of pages you should check out.\u00a0 One is our Baja page<\/a>, which includes great info on taking a motorcycle into Baja. \u00a0 The other is our new Epic Motorcycle Rides<\/a> page.\u00a0 Take a look and let us know what you think!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2009 it had been a year since my last motorcycle trip in Baja, and that was entirely too long.\u00a0 I was good to go, but most of the guys I hung out with here in So Cal were timid.\u00a0 They believed what they read in the LA Times.\u00a0 You know, about Mexico being … Continue reading “Baja 2009: The KLR Khronicles Part I”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,63,57,96],"tags":[3,315],"class_list":["post-4431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazon","category-baja","category-baja-cuisine","category-feel-good-stuff","tag-baja","tag-klr-650"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4431"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4458,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions\/4458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}