Jimi's Great Southern Journey: INTO THE MEXICO

My wonderful cousin Jenny and her
two dogs, Nelly and Mr. Wilson

Saturday morning at the crack of 11:30 we pulled out of cousin Jenny’s on our way to the world famous Alice’s Restaurant to meet up with my buddy, and fellow Cobra, Rick Farren. After lunch we road down to the coast South of Half Moon Bay and began Ricks

Moto Tours. This included a blue bird ride down the coast followed by a town tour, even riding by the famous Santa Cruz Boardwalk, stopping in on his local KTM dealer. He introduced us to the owner Tom who knows KTM640’s inside and out. So I took advantage and asked him to listen to Max’s bike and he confirmed the engines always sound as though they are just about to come apart. Dinner and Lodging at the Farrenmont (Rick and Pam’s house) hosted by the owners Rick and Pam. Thanks, awesome dinner, drinks and sleeping quarters not to mention the steak and egg breakfast the following morning. The highlight of course was visiting with Ricks Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob is the oldest member of the Cobra MC and quite possibly in the best shape. He is keen on traveling and was one of the few people who followed my last blog, Jimi’s Great Northern Journey. He even went as far as getting all the maps and marking my route, putting them together with a printed version of my blog and giving it all to me. I probably would not have read my own blog if he hadn’t done that.

In the previous post I half jokingly said “hell maybe tomorrow we’ll even make it half way to San Diego”. We didn’t.

Sunday morning at the crack of 11:30 (sound familiar?) we hit the road with Rick as tour master again. We rode south through Carmel and along the coast on 1. Another blue bird day! At the Bixby Bridge we detoured up a dirt road that started with a sign reading “Impassable when raining”. Good test for the overloaded GS and the yet to be tested John Briner. Both came though with flying colors! Thanks and goodbye to Rick, who turned around and headed home, and we continued riding on down the prettiest coast ride in the world. Stopped for a couple of tamales and once more to view a shitload of sea lions and decided it was getting too late to camp. Max found a hostel on line. For $80 a night! We ended up with a hotel I got on priceline save a bundle; it was only $75 a night. Dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and down for a good nights sleep.

Monday morning we actually got on the road around 8:30. Road down Hwy 1 past Santa Barbara, through Ventura, Malibu, Huntington Beach etc. etc. and arrived in Encinitas around 5:00. We are staying with a friend of Johns named Shasheen, one block from the beach. An awesome host. We have totally taken over his 600 sf house. Shaaheen turned his house and refrigerator full of beer to us not to mention the party favors! We downed a couple of beers and went out to dinner on, you guessed it, Shasheen. A great walk back on the beach, some wine and to bed.

Tuesday was moto maintenance day. I road down to San Diego and had my knobbies put on and also a stripped bolt replaced for my shift lever. Great experience with San Diego BMW. The got me in when promised and out in a hurry. Not a common experience when on the rode. Example: A number of years ago I made an appointment (3 months in advance!) to have my bike serviced at the Motorcycle Shop in Anchorage. I arrived before they opened but somehow became third in line. It took them another day before even getting the bike in. When you’re on the road that’s sucks! I know Logan would say “get over it Jimi!” Meanwhile back at the ranch the other two was doing their chores. Briner getting his hair cut and Max finding a coffee shop. Of course they still had their tires to change, which they managed to do just before the darkness fall upon the city. Dinner that night was on me so on the recommendation of the neighbors we went to Captain Keno. This place is a trip. The best way to describe it is picture a dive bar built in the early 60’s complete with nogahide booths, a bar and a grill except it all was cherry! We all had the meatloaf dinner, which included salad, mashed potatoes and meatloaf at a total cost of $18.50. That’s right I gave them a 20 and got back change for 4 people! My Bay Area friends would recognize it as a Bertila’s but cleaner. Back on the beach and was about to call it an early night when two friends of Shasheen’s showed up. It was Isabela’s birthday so we had to toast that and a number of other not so memorable events. Erica, her friend, was a yoga and massage therapist and was showing her skills on Max. Next was my turn and worked on trying to get my stick body to bend. She finally gave up and gave me what I’d call a light Thai massage (not to worry Charlotte, no happy ending). It did feel great and I was sore in both the mind and body the next morning.

Wednesday

By the time we cleaned the house, packed the bikes and sorted our heads out and found coffee it was pert near noon before leaving. Max needed riding shorts and John needed an ATM so add another 30 minutes. I wanted a pair of reading glasses so we split up and I went for the specs. After looking for max and John all over town (they were in the basement parking of the store I was in) we’ll add another 30 minutes. So by 1:00 we’re headed for the border. Out of 100 cars we were signaled out for a search. At least the customs women were cute. I think they pulled us over cuz they thought Max was hot.

Things went so smooth I completely forgot to go inside and get our visa and importation papers. The next few minutes were a blur. Max leading (he’s been there before) He hesitated at the correct turn, which started a chain reaction resulting in John running into the rear of my bike! No harm no foul. We ended up getting spit out in Tijuana so The GPS came into play. Unfortunately Dufas 3 (my GPS) missed a turn and we ended up back in the city. This time I immediately realized the mistake and was able to turn off on a mid road to make a u turn at the same time a policia car was on my ass hitting the siren a blasting me with unintelligible Spanish. John being on the backside of them decided it best to continue and not try to make the turn. Max and I backed up and began the chase! He was parked at the next turn around and I pull up. Max missed it and continued looking for the next one. There wasn’t one and John and I waited of 5 minutes thinking he couldn’t have gotten lost could he? Turns out he eventually just hopped over the medium divider and we are on our way. On the toll road. Turns out the toll was about 8 bucks to Ensenada and well worth it. Our brains were fried by that time. We found an affordable hotel for the night and hung out.

Thursday

Up early to be the first in line at the immigration office. Got our visitors visas and was told that is all we would need (not too sure about the now but we’ll find out when we get to La Paz). Spent sometime looking for a restaurant not in the tourist zone. No luck so we eat where all the other gringos eat. Ensenada is pretty well set up exclusively for us gringos, the port area anyway. After searching the city for some cinch straps we spend a half hour just getting out of the city. I think this will be the norm for the trip. The ride east on hwy 3 was great. Up and down mountain passes with very little traffic. We found the turn off to Mike’s Sky Ranch without any trouble and rode the 24 miles to the ranch. Before going into the trials and tribulations of getting there a little history….

Mike’s is a haven for off road enthusiasts and a Mecca for off road motorcycles. It was started as a weekend get a way for California exec’s and their secretaries for weekend rendezvous. They had a airstrip nearby where the fat cats could fly into without any worry of getting caught/. Sometime in the 60’s the off road crowd found it and it has become a destination for them. It’s nestled in a small valley in the mountains and has a pool, bar and restaurant. But getting there on an 800# motorcycle is another story. The road in is, of course, dirt and sand. The dirt is fine but the sand is a bitch! In Mongolia they called this sand “slick sand” for obvious reasons. When it gets deeper than a couple of inches (2/3 of the road is this way) the front end of the bike gets a mind of it’s own and tends to want to go right of left, not straight. At first I thought going fast was the best way but after a number of near crashes and Max going down we slowed the pace to 1^st and 2^nd gear. This worked well in the lighter sand but then we hit the deep stuff. 1^st gear while feathering the clutch seemed to work. That is until I forgot to put the clutch in and the mother ship was down! John plodding along behind us was the only one to make it to Mikes without falling. There walks a man, a Man made of anvil granite! A beer has never tasted so good (except maybe in Mongolia) as it did when we arrived. An awesome steak dinner and in bed early.

Friday Mikes Sky Ranch

A breakfast then a hike. Worked on the POS KTM. Air filter, jetting, and new plug, running too rich. Seemed to have made a difference. We’ll see tomorrow, we’ll have 24 miles of 1^st and 2^nd gear to try it out. Finally time to catch up on the blog! We were promised the bar would Great Pollio dinner with a couple living in Spain and his brother from Calistoga. Early to bed, lights go out at 10.

Saturday

They shortened the road back to the highway! I swear it’s was miles shorter going out even though it was the same road. Must be we are all getting used to riding in 1^st and 2^nd gear. Max’s bike is running much better since we changed to a leaner main jet. I road it out the last 1/3 of the road to the highway and man is it fun! After slogging through the sand on the GS it felt as though I was riding a dirt bike. It also did wonders for my confidence. The ride East to San Felipe was through mountains and valleys, very pretty.

San Felipe itself is nothing to write home about (then why are you writing home about it?). Kind of a dirty town with beaches lined with gringo pads. Lots of potential development. Square miles of graded land with streets leading to nowhere. The ride down the coast to Gonzaga Bay once out of the San Felipe area was spectacular! On the map it showed it as a dirt road but 2/3’s of it turned out to be new pavement. Of course the last 1/3 was washboard and sand. Arrived at Gonzaga Bay around 5 and went straight for the “Resort”. Not too much here but the did have a cold beer waiting for us. After talking it up with some other tourista’s it was decided to find a campsite and cook dinner. We were told of some plapas down the beach so we headed out while the sun was setting. We turned off the road where we thought the campsites were. I went first, then Max, then Briner. After about 50 meters I bogged downed and buried my bike to the panniers, Max fell over and John comes walking up and I think he made the right choice and didn’t follow. Not! He went down at the start! After pulling all my gear off we managed to move my bike to safer ground. Now it’s dark but we managed a pretty good dinner, rice veggies and Pad Thai. Set up the tents and went to bed.

Sunday

An early morning walk on the beach at sunrise. I thought about a dip in the gulf but after spotting two sharks out there the day before and also seeing all the feeder fish jumping for their lives I decided against it. Back at camp John and Max cooked up a delicious pot of oatmeal and apples. Being the self appointed tour master I appointed them the official cooks for the trip and myself as chief bottle washer. While taking down camp Max found a scorpion under his jacket. Shit one more thing to worry about! If I remember right it’s the small one’s that will kill you and this one was big so no worries, right? We all made it back to the road without incident and rode toward the Pacific. 40 more mile of loose gravel and sand. Much more of this and I’ll be trading my GS in for a 250 or something.

Anyway the highlight of this portion of the ride was coming upon Coco’s corner, made famous in the movie “ON Any Sunday” and “Dust to Glory”. This guy Coco has been out there, literally in the middle of the desert, for years. His place is a dive in the 1^st degree but is so unique I hesitate to call it that. The entire compound is fenced with a 6 foot high fence made of wire and beer cans that whistle and chine in the wind. He also has 100’s of signed panties and tee shirts handing from the palapa. He sleeps out in the open palapa and doesn’t even make his bed! It is a must stop for any off road riders down there because of his notoriety and he also sells gas out of 55 gallon drums. Did I mention he has no legs? He gets by with thick leather cups on his stumps and kind of crawls around or while visiting with folks, a wheelchair fits the bill. At this point I trade Max bikes for the rest of the ride to the highway. Wow! This is actually fun! Unfortunately I feel obligated to let him ride the GS a ways on the paved highway. After a few miles my hands are numb from the vibration and my butt is sore. We arrive in San Ignacio at dark and find a hotel with secure parking for the bikes. Ummm margarita! Dinner, watch some women boxing and I’m out for the count!

While working on our bikes at cousin Jenny's two complete strangers (who also ride) walked up and asked about our trip. After a few minutes offered to take us sailing on the Bay. I hesitated and Max jumped all over it. Thanks Steve and Tom!