Motorcycling Trip #17: 9 days, 2,034 miles, Nov 2015.

Day 1: Arizona City to San Felipe

Nov 1, 2015

We traveled at 70 mph westbound on Interstate 8. It was a bit chilly, so we wore our heavy gloves, jackets and long pants. The ride to Yuma was very pleasant, with very little traffic. We stopped for rests at Gila Bend (the eastern exit, with the dinosaurs and the tourist shop) where we bought a large donut to share and hot coffees; at Dateland; and to fill up on gas at our exit to San Luis. This was exit #7, Araby Road (Hwy 195).

Then we rode south and west to the border. The agent waved us through, and then Ray asked her "Donde esta Imigracion?" She pointed to our immediate right, where an immigration guard opened the gate for us, showed us where to park, and opened the door to the office. Meanwhile, he stood watching the small parking lot, keeping a watchful eye. He was very helpful.

After filling out the paperwork, we were directed to the Banjercito in the same building as immigration, to pay for our tourist cards. It should have been a quick process, but there were two other customers in front of us, and we waited nearly half an hour. Finally it was our turn. We tried to pay with some old Mexican currency - some really old paper money, leftover from the late 70s and early 80s kayaking Baja trips. The bank teller said it was no good, with a smile. Then he pulled out some new bills to show us: a 20, a 50, a 100, and a 500 note, and a 1000 note.

[The new currency first came out in 1993. The Bank of Mexico honors all genuine notes it issues, regardless of their date of emission, at present-day values. Retail banks won’t accept old bank notes; you need to take them to the Bank of Mexico.]

We paid with new money and took our Banjercito receipt back to the immigration office where the agent spent a good deal of time stamping the paperwork, stamping our passports, carefully folding the tourist permits, etc. Altogether it took about an hour, but the fellows were all quite friendly and helpful. Outside, I tried to take a picture, but the guard said no photos here. One block away, photos are ok, but not here.

We rode the motorcycles one block south, then turned right onto Highway 2, westbound. Very soon we came to a toll booth. The prices were visible: Motorcycles: 6 pesos - about 36 cents each. Jenny had some coins and paid the toll for both of us, and we sped off. This road was quite busy, and became more so the closer we got to Mexicali. Fortunately, we turned off after 30 miles. There was another toll booth at this turnoff, 11 pesos each, about 70 cents each.

At this turnoff onto Highway 5 to San Felipe, one had to go north a few blocks to make a U-turn. Today was a Sunday, and everybody was out. Besides the church-goers and the yard sales and the swap meets, there appeared to be some other kind of large function happening, we couldn't tell what it was. There were hundreds of cars, people crossing the road, and people selling some kind of gaudy, plastic flower and glittery paper wreath-like things.

Outside of the towns we rode past lots of agriculture, including cotton and sorghum. We stopped at a roadside taco stand. The convenience store next door was super busy, there were lots of people and cars and trucks coming and going. We each had 2 tacos machaca (shredded beef), which were really good, and a soda each.

The wind started piping up from the south. There was a huge plume of black smoke out to the east, looked like someone was burning tires. We kept our speed down to about 50 mph. It was really hot, and there was no shade.

We took a rest stop by the highway, where a dirt road leads east out into the delta. We could see the blue water of the Sea of Cortez. Then We took one last rest stop at a convenience store about 8 km north of San Felipe, in the shade of the building, with a nice breeze.

The gps took us to Don Jesus motel. The desk clerk was nice and offered us a room with front door parking for $59.00. But the area had a strong sewer smell. We drove by a few other motels, and finally settled on the El Cortez at the south end. this place was quiet and very nice. The rooms had views of the beautiful courtyard, and beyond, views of the beach and the sea. We asked for a room on the bottom floor, and clerk said we could park the motorcycles right outside our room. The room was simple but large.

We walked back to town, and at the north end, one block in, we found the ATM where we withdrew some pesos. then we sat down at a taco stand on the north side of the Miramar Bar, and ordered fish tacos, a garlic shrimp plate, and cervezas Pacificos. The food was excellent.

It was dark by the time we finished dinner, and walking back to the motel in the dark felt iffy. We should have taken a motorcycle 2-up (our normal practice when in town).

Day 2: San Felipe to Bahía de los Ángeles

Nov 2, 2015

We walked down to the water's edge and enjoyed the daybreak. Then we packed up and rode into town, back to the ATM for more cash, stocking up on a 8-day supply, we hoped. Back on the malecon most of the taco shops were still closed. Apparently the restaurant/taco shops do not open until 8 am. Fortunately Beans & Rice was open, so we went in and ordered Huevos Rancheros and coffee. We were the only customers at that early hour, but the tv blared loudly anyway. At least it was an mtv station, so it was just disco music.

At the roundabout we gassed up at the Pemex. Here they wanted us to pay first at the outside kiosk, and then pump our own gas. We then checked our tire pressure and oiled the chains.

Finally leaving San Felipe at 9 am, we putted along the narrow, two-lane Highway 5 at 50 mph, enjoying the views. We passed by a lone woman on a bicycle, headed south to who knows were. Much later, we passed by Fina's, 10 miles before the turnoff to Alphonsina's. There was one pickup truck and one moto parked in front, but the morning was still early so we didn't stop.

At the turnoff to Alphonsina's we pulled up to the Pemex and gased up, then we turned east onto the dirt road leading to Alphonsina's. Ray drove right on past a Security Guard without stopping. I thought Ray had simply not seen the guard. The security guard was waving his arms and yelling at Ray, then when he saw me he motioned me to stop. He simply wanted us to sign in. He had a checklist of people with reservations, but I explained that we were not on his list, but were just going in to have lunch, and were not planning on staying overnight.

We drove the short distance to the cluster of homes, bungalows and finally the motel and restaurant at the beach, but we did not care much for the ambiance. It felt claustrophobic; and besides, the only parking was behind the building, where we could not keep an eye on the motos while inside the restaurant. So we turned around. Back at the guard station, guard raised the gate to let us leave. The restaurant at the highway intersection, where we had just filled up with gas, looked good and had several cars and trucks parked out front, but again we didn't stop.

The new highway construction thus far was splendid. Each time we drive this route, we are pleased to see how much more of the old dirt road has been graded and paved. Even the old, rocky and rutted dirt road had been nicely graded. Apparently there is a great deal more heavy construction work traffic using the road now. We reached the dirt section and stopped to air down (let some air out of the tires, to 23 pounds). The graded dirt road was still rather rocky, but much more compacted, and we did not find any of the sandy washes that used to be there. It looked like the washes had been filled in and graded. The new bridge under construction at the north end was amazing.

We had a fast ride to Coco's Corner. It was nice to see him again. We bought 2 sodas at 20 pesos each and also gave Coco 100 pesos as a donation. Coco was convivial as ever, and asked about our route. We said that we planned to ride to Bahia De LA this afternoon, and then points south. Coco advised to skip Bahia De LA, and also to not get gas at Guerrero Negro because of water in the gas. He said to stop at the station 10 miles north. He also said to watch the gas meter and be sure the attendant zeroed out the meter before pumps gas.

Coco said the new paved road would miss his place, but good riddance because he does not like cars and trucks because they drive too fast, and throw littler everyplace. He loves the motorcyclists and thinks that they will stop at his place anyway. We agreed.

We didn't stay long because we were still anxious to get to Bahia De LA that evening. The graded dirt road over the mountain pass was easy riding. I (Jenny) thought this entire dirt road section 100 times easier than three years ago when we rode it northbound. Ray thought the dirt road was in a little bit better shape, but not much. He thought that my skills have improved, especially after our practice sessions at home, out in the desert, which is why I found it much easier.

We reached paved Highway 1 and stopped to air-up the tires, then back on the Highway headed south we made a couple stops to look at the vegetation. At one stop, a car pulled in and stopped right in front of the bikes, and half a minute later a truck pulled in and stopped right behind. We had a feeling they were scoping out the bikes. Once they saw us walking toward the bikes, they both sped away.

We reached to the LA junction, and Ray was concerned about our gas, so we looked for the fellow selling barrel gas. The guy wasn't there, so Ray checked his notes and read that the gas guy is not always there.

We turned left onto the paved road to Bahia de Los Angeles and drove at a moderate speed, 50 mph, to conserve gas. Much later he asked me what my gas log showed - much less than his - so he then realized that he had forgotten to reset his log at the last fill-up. No worries about gas.

This road had much less traffic, not too many potholes, and the afternoon sun was behind us. Along the way we passed through an amazing Boojum forest. The trees were all sizes, and one was 60 feet tall. It looked like a telephone pole, standing way above the rest. It was Boojum on steroids. In Baja they call them Cirios, and we were traveling through a very large Natural Protected Area called the Valle de Los Cirios.

We also saw a lot of Elephant trees. And we saw one coyote. It was a very pretty area and the riding was very pleasant. We stopped at the viewpoint above B LA, and the view of the Sea of Cortez was grand. I noticed my motorcycle clock said 3:30 but the sky looked later than that. Must be close to a time zone change.

We drove on down into town and stopped at the first Pemex (there are two) to get gas. Then proceeded along the main street. The town still looked somewhat ramshackle, but there were stores and motels. We drove to the pier at the end of the main street. And we had a look at Guillermo's motel, but it didn't look appealing to us - at all. So we backtracked to the Villa Vitta motel. We had also driven past the Casa del Sol and in retrospect we should have chosen the Casa del Sol.

We pulled in to the Villa Vitta. They had really small rooms for 750 peso, or large rooms for 995 pesos. The manager showed us both. The small room was tiny, so we got a large room. The rooms are expensive mainly because of the out-of-the-way location and the lack of business. The fellow running the place let us ride our bikes up the steep ramp in order to park right in front of our room. Inside, the room was large, but nothing special. There were a few mosquitos outside, so we kept the door closed. We didn't have any mosquito problems at night in the room.

We cleaned up then went to their restaurant for dinner. The same fellow was there, now working as cook. We ordered shrimp tacos, and it seemed to take forever, but they were pretty good. In retrospect, there were a couple of outdoor restaurants down the street, to the north, that looked much better.

Day 3: Bahía de los Ángeles to Bahia Asuncion

Nov 3, 2015

We slept well and got up at the crack of dawn. A different fellow was out watering the plants around the motel. He told us there was coffee in the office, so we helped ourselves. The coffee was brewed not instant, and very nice.

The morning was a little cooler, with clouds. And very windy from the south. We had an enjoyable ride back west to the main highway. It seemed to go fast, and the early morning light was beautiful on the mountainsides. Ray, riding in front of me, saw a coyote in about the same area as yesterday.

Once out at the main highway, we stopped to lube our chains. The blue pickup with 2 large barrels of gas was parked on the west side of the highway, at the large pullout. But we didn't need gas at this point.

We made several stops as we drove south. The wind had stopped. Some cloud cover kept us cool. The traffic was constant, and frequent north-bound, but there was not much south-bound. This part of the highway has some fun twisties and hills. But the road is narrow and the edge dropped off, so we had to drive carefully.

We passed by a couple small towns with restaurants, where we saw trucks parked outside. Just past the military check-point at the north end of Guerrero Negro, we came to the whale skeleton, the turn-off leading to a large military post, it looked like, and the landmark marking the the 28th parallel north, and the border between Baja Norte and Baja Sur.

We drove on south a few more miles, then turned right at the main road into Guerrero Negro. The town sits west of the highway. On the outskirts there's a new motel, it looked quite nice. After a short ways, maybe a quarter mile, we stopped at the first good looking restaurant. It was called Marillmo, and it was a gringo hangout. Fortunately it was still early, so we were the only customers.

We parked the motos out front where we could see them, and selected a table on the front patio. The huevos rancheros was good, but we were pestered by flies while trying to eat. We basically ate as fast as we could while shooing away the flies from our plates and cups.

On the way out of town we stopped at the Pemex station for gas, then continued riding south. We made several stops for leg stretching.

The gps track is spot on; Ray is following his track. But the gps map is inaccurate; It doesn't show any towns, and the Hy is far off. Also we have a paper map (ITM) and that is also inaccurate. We were watching for our turnoff to Bahia Asuncion, as shown on the paper map. We discovered that the turnoff is actually right in the middle of a town called Vizcaino, but neither the paper map, nor the gps show a town there.

(A future tip: the two separate maps were not both visible at the same range of zoom levels. So, arriving in that town, I could not see my track turnoff to Bahia Asuncion. I realized my turnoff had to be there, so I stopped and zoomed in and there was the track. So my tip is, when I make the tracks, make everything on one track and then load that track. So everything is going to be visible at the same zoom levels. You see one, you see them all. )

We left Hy 1 and turned west. The town extended quite a ways west. Everything is ramshackle. We passed large areas of agriculture. It looked like tomatoes and orchards of fig trees. The road west was straight as an arrow and the vegetation got drier and sparcer. Sand drifts covered half the road in a few areas. Caution signs read "Granulos" and "Cruces de Berredos." The sign depicted a leaping deer or antelope. Later we learned there are supposed to be Pronghorn antelope out here.

It was 45 miles from the highway to the Bahia Asuncion Y-turnoff. The right-hand bend went to Turtle Bay; the left-hand turn goes to Asuncion Bay. We turned left, following the power lines. After another 25 miles, we arrived in town at about 2 pm. We then followed the paved road to its end, where it turned to dirt/sand just above the beach. We followed this beach road around to the west and then south to La Bufadora Inn. It was a beautiful and spectacular location.

We met Shari, who was super friendly. She showed us into our Dolphin Room. We had magnificent views on two sides looking out over the Pacific Ocean and the waves crashing into the rocks just below us. We liked it so much that we decided, on the spot, to spend an extra day here. We asked Shari if the room was available for the following night. She said yes, it was.

We unloaded the bikes, cleaned up, walked to Shari's swimming beach with her dogs Shami (skinny German Shephard) and Cafe (chunky chocolate lab). The dogs seemed to enjoy being our tour guides. Shari had invited us to join her for sushimi and grilled fish hors d'oeuvres. Shari's partner, Juan, is a fishing guide, and fish we were eating were fresh from the boat. The fishermen, Mark and Gary and Juan had filled a large cooler with the fish they had caught that day, mostly yellow-tail tuna.

We rode my (Jenny) moto into town for dinner at the recommended Loncheria Mari. While looking at the menus, the proprietor, Tomas, brought out a gigantic, frozen lobster. It was huge, about 18 inches long. I orderd lobster, but a smaller one, while Ray had fish tacos. For hors d'oeuvres we were served a plate of Pate de Caracol (conch) with crackers. Delicious! It looked a little bit like peanut butter but the taste was out of this world. We recognized the taste but couldn't quite place it. When we asked Tomas, he said "caracol" but we didn't know the world. So he showed us an empty conch shell he had on display on the window sill. Oh, caracol, yes, we recognized the taste of conch from when we spent six months at the Caribbean island of Bonaire, where the grocery sold conch cheaper than hamburger. The grilled lobster was delicious; the fish tacos were so-so.

We missed the sunset while we were eating dinner. After eating we stopped at at a small store and bought some snacks, a small bag of ground coffee, and a can of condensed milk.

Day 4: Layover day

Nov 4, 2015

Rest day at La Bufador. Our room had a coffee maker and coffee filters, so we were able to make our own coffee. I (Jenny) walked toward town, looking for the nearest store, to buy bottled water.

We spent most of the day relaxing in the room. I did take a walk to the nearby beach, again with the two dogs. Shari told us she had just received a supply of empanadas, and asked if we would like any. She explained they are quite good warmed up in the little toaster oven that we had in our room. So I bought two, 20 pesos each. They were greasy and not too good.

In the late afternoon we two-up on my moto into town for fish tacos at Kaiko's. Once again, we missed the sunset.

Day 5: Bahia Asuncion to Bahía Concepción Camp

Nov 5, 2015

We were up at daybreak to make coffee and pack up. Shari had also been up early, she said she normally goes for her morning run about 6:00 before the sun is up. We had the bags and panniers loaded on the bike and Shari took some pictures. Meanwhile, her cat jumped up onto my (Jenny) bike and sat on her seat. What is it with cats on motorcycles?

We asked Shari about the signs about the Barredos we had seen driving west. She said that means Pronghorn antelope, but you hardly ever see them. She has been living here and driving that road for 18 years, and has only seen two antelope in all that time.

Shari wished us well, inviting us back of course, and then we were on our way.

As usual, the return trip east, back out to the highway seemed to go much faster. We gassed up in Vizcaino, then set off southbound on Highway 1. We enjoyed the riding, despite the narrow road with the abrupt edge and the crazy drivers.

We drove in to the plaza at San Ignacio Springs and pulled up at a taco stand for huevos rancheros. In retrospect, we should have left before we placed our orders. The lady cooking never smiled, and neither the kitchen nor the eating table looked too sanitary. As we sat there waiting for our food, we were regretting having stopped here. But the food was actually pretty good, boarding on excellent, and did not make us sick. We use our own forks, but the plates the food was served on were suspect. At least there were not too many flies. However, the wind had picked up, and every now and then a gust would sweep up the dust in the plaza streets and swirl it around us. We ate quickly, paid up, and got out of there.

We stopped by the office at the yurts to see about changing our reservation for a day earlier. Since we had taken a rest day the day previously, we had to change our itinerary, and would not be going south past Bahia Concepcion. Jennifer, the new help at the yurts, was very friendly. Terry and Gary, the owners, were leaving for a few days, sight-seeing with friends. And it was no problem to change our reservation date.

The drive east over the mountains to Santa Rosalia was curvy and hilly, and would have been fun except for the crazy drivers, the narrow road with sharp edges, and a strong, gusty wind. Once we dropped down toward the beach north of Santa Rosalia, we pulled off for a rest at the first beach. Then we drove on into the outskirts of town to the first Pemex gas station. This proved the best one in town. The service was prompt, it was not all jammed up with other cars and trucks, and it was easy to get in and out of.

We carried on west along the main business part of town to the Panaderia. This part of town was just jammed with traffic. We loaded up on fresh breads and cookies. Then we made a mistake, not stopping to buy drinking water. We were thinking we could get water in Mulege. We drove on south. We should have taken the turnoff to Punta Chivato for camping (note for next time).

We reached Mulege and spent a fair amount of time driving around and around the town, up and down the narrow, busy streets, down the wrong way on a one-way street, past the plaza, again and again. We were looking for the recommended hotels, but were not having any luck finding them. We finally found one; the sign was not at all obvious. In fact, the only door opened into a restaurant. Apparently, the hotel rooms were behind the restaurant and not accessible from the street. This would have been our choice, but when we asked about where we could park the motorcycles, the fellow said they had street parking only. No thanks. That was out.

We looked for a store to buy drinking water, but they already closed for the day.

We rode south a couple miles and pulled off at a hotel that was located down in a draw. It was another one recommended, but nobody was there. We returned to the highway and continued south.

Riding alongside the Bahía Concepción beach, we started seeing a number of pull offs for beach side camping, condos, and resorts. We turned onto one where the sign advertised "The Lighthouse." We rode about a quarter mile to the beach. The road was half dirt, half sand, although not very deep sand. We ended up near the playa de lighthouse on a little hook of a beach. To the south was the fake lighthouse and the closed down hotel, the empty RV parking area and a long series of empty palapas.

There was good camping close to the water on smooth rocks, but the wind was strong and we didn't want to leave the bikes out in the salt blast, so we rode north a short ways and found another pull off protected from the wind by trees and bushes.

There we found a large tarantula on a mission. It was moving right along. And the ground was littered with shell middens galore. Thousands upon thousands of clam and scallop shells, several feet deep in places. We were relaxing under the shade tree, watching for any more tarantula activity, noticing a few ants on patrol, and enjoying the sea, the sky and the ambiance, when a pickup truck full of soldiers pulled up. The driver turned the truck around, we waved, and every one of them smiled and waved back. And then they left. Is this area dangerous and needed to be patrolled? We didn't think so. Just making the rounds.

We spread our bedrolls and it would have been a pleasant night's sleep. I slept pretty well, but Ray was experiencing some biting insects. When you're half asleep you are not thinking too good. He later said he should have got up after the first bite and done something about it. We had not brought our shell garments - big mistake. Ray finally sat up and asked if I was getting bit. No. He turned the flashlight onto his ground sheet and discovered it was swarming with tiny ants. They were after the cookie crumbs. They were tiny ants and their bite was only mild. He shook off the ground sheet, laid back down, and the ants returned. I had no ants (and no crumbs) so after shaking out his quilt and jacket, he moved over and shared my ground sheet. Back to sleep.

During the night we saw about a dozen shooting stars, and awoke early, as usual.

Day 6: Camp to San Ignacio

Nov 6, 2015

We packed up and gleefully departed. Last night we had very little water and only some bread and a few cookies for dinner, so we wanted to get to a store as soon as possible. We rode back to Mulege, but found no stores open yet. It was too early. So we continued north to Santa Rosalia and by that time the stores were open. We parked along the malecon and walked across the street into a store. They had a pot of hot coffee so we bought 2 cups, along with a large selection of snacks, two apples and a package of cheese. It turned out that the coffee was instant.

We made another stop at a taco stand in the city center, near the plaza, for a couple of (weird, it turns out) tacos. Thumbs down on those.

One last stop for gas and to lube our chains, and check the air pressure in the tires, then we headed out of town. Las Tres Virgines mountain is really amazing, really tall. Probably 5,000 feet. Just on the west side of the mountain pass we pulled off for a rest at a large pull out. Right here we saw what looked like a small creek with running water. We couldn't believe it - running water. Turns out the dry creek bed was full of oil, like a tanker had dumped here.

We reached San Ignacio, and loaded up on groceries at the large store on the highway, adjacent the turn off to San Ignacio. It was a pretty good store, lots of variety well-stocked, and quite a large produce section. Then we drove in to the Yurts and luxuriated. We had reserved the yurt named La Canadiense. It was a new yurt, very large, beautiful inside with comfortable furniture and 3 large beds, a big bathroom with a huge shower. The yurt had a screened skylight which we opened for more ventilation, and the door and all the windows had screens. The front screen door had a magnetic catch to keep it shut securely.

This yurt was very close to the lagoon. And in fact, this is almost the same spot where we stayed 3 years ago. However, this yurt was not here; back then there was a small cinder block cabin that we stayed in. But all that remains of that cabin is some of the foundation and a few colored tiles from the bathroom and shower.

We learned that 2 years ago Hurricane Odile caused a huge amount of damage to the resort, destroying almost all of the yurts and buildings. Then, a year later they had major flooding that really made a mess of all that remained. Amazingly, the owners, Terry and Gary, decided to rebuild.

We could see evidence of the hurricane and flood damage, huge chunks of concrete slabs tilted up at odd angle, tree debris around the perimeter, and large gashes in the perimeter stone wall. But the new yurts were ready for business and the main office and kitchen and dining area were fully operational.

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. We washed some of our clothes by hand, then explored alongside the lagoon. One of the workers had dragged a large bundle of dates onto a blue plastic tarp, and we sampled some of the ripening dates. They were small, but sweet and flavorful.

We were the only guests that night, so I (Jenny) wandered over to the office to visit with Jennifer, who had just flown down from Fort Saint John in northern British Columbia, Canada. Jennifer was planning to stay the winter down here, working for Terry and Gary. Her main occupation is cook at gas and oil camps, so she is used to cooking for guests.

Day 7: San Ignacio to Catavina Camping

Nov 7, 2015

We were getting low on pesos, so we had planned to look for a bank with an ATM where we could make a withdrawal. However, we passed by Guerrero Negro without driving through town.

North of Guerrero Negro we began to see more American tourists driving south, in RVs, in camper vans, in trucks loaded with surf boards and other toys.

The highway wound through the mountains. As usual, it was an enjoyable ride despite the narrow road and the high-speed traffic.

We stopped in the busy village called Catavina, hoping to get a room the fancy Hotel Mision Catavina. First, though, we each got one gallon of gas from a woman selling gas from jugs. She carefully poured the gas into our tanks using a large funnel. A Baja 1000 truck pulled up to get gas also. It was a pretty amazing machine. What caught my eye was the breathing tubes attached to the driver's and passenger's helmets. The dust must get horrendous out there on the race track.

Then we drove across the street to the Hotel. The parking lot was busy with Baja 1000 trucks and motorcycles, and people. We inquired at the front desk about a room: yes, available, USD71 per night. Parking? Only in the big parking lot out front. There was no way to park in front of our room. The front desk guy offered that we could park our motorcycles in front of the lobby, just outside, but no thanks.

So we determined to camp out that night, since the day was getting late. We drove north a short ways and stopped at a store to buy food and water for the evening. We bought a can of tuna, crackers, cheese, 2 apples, a bunch of snacks, water, and fruit juice.

Then we rode on north, looking for a secure place to camp for the night. About 30 miles north of Catavina we turned off to the south on a good dirt road, crossing a sandy wash and back up a loose rocky section of road. The we turned off to the right and rode out into the bush, where cattle had been grazing. Here we found a safe and secluded to make camp. We looked around for ants, but saw none. Ray parked the motorcycles facing east so as to minimize any reflections that might show toward the highway to the east. We were at least a mile away from the highway, but we could hear the traffic.

We took a short hike west toward a ravine, but didn't find much of interest. The vegetation had been heavily browsed by the cattle. We set up camp, reclining on our bedrolls, eating our dinner and being careful not to drop any crumbs. The sun set, the sky darkened, and stars began to show. Our bedrolls faced east so we were pretty much enjoying that view of the night sky. The large tree we were camped near was blocking some of our view to the west.

Just after dark, I looked toward the west and saw a bizarre sight in the sky. Ray got up, and went into a clearing for a better view. "Come over here and see this" he beckoned. What we saw was a surreal, pale blue-green glow that seemed to expand, with what looked like an immense halo surrounding it. Below this glow there was another bluish light, but this was a streak of light that went from the horizon upward, vertically, toward the blue-green glow. Neither of us had ever seen anything like this. Gradually the vertical streak faded. And even more gradually the blue-green glow dissipated. The show that we observed lasted about 45 minutes. Later we found out it was a missile test.

The nighttime temperature dropped dramatically. We were chilly most of the night. We should have put our riding clothes on to stay warmer.

Day 8: Campsite to Ensenada

Nov 8, 2015

The morning was chilly, so we bundled up. The highway was fairly quiet for the first hour. There were just a few trucks headed south. We took a rest stop at a mountain pass with wonderful views all around, and beautiful morning light. From our camp to El Rosario, the highway continued to wind its way through the mountains. We noticed that in the valleys the land became more lush and most of that fertile land was being used for agriculture.

On the eastern outskirts of El Rosario we stopped at a large taco stand for lunch. The tacos were pretty good, and we talked with a woman from Canada doing volunteer work in the schools.

The highway turns sharply north and we stopped for gas at the Pemex. Lots of American tourists here with Baja 1000 style trucks. And from here all the way to Ensenada we saw increasingly more American tourists driving south. This part of Baja is more densely populated, with a lot of agriculture. There are small villages every 10 or 15 miles, so inevitably we would have to slow down for the school buses or a worker buses that would pull off the highway, or pull onto the highway without warning.

We drove through San Quintin. Originally we had planned to stay at the Hotel Jardine Baja, but our itinerary had changed and it was still morning, so we decided to not stop.

In Vicente Guerrero I spotted a Banamex, so we stopped to get more pesos.

We reached the outskirts of Ensenada where the traffic became hectic. With Ray in the lead, following his gps tracks, we eventually turned left, and in a few blocks reached the beach area, where we turned north and drove past the harbor area. In the center of the tourist area we found a motel that had a locking gate on the courtyard. The Villa Fontana Inn. The room was very basic, but clean and very handy.

We walked about town. They were having a festival at the Park (Flag Park) with music and crowds and booths selling knick knacks. Then we stopped at a taco stand for dinner.

Overall it was a good day, but the riding in the San Quintin area was pretty hectic.

Day 9: Ensenada to Home

Day 9: Nov 9

The gps had come in really handy, and this case it showed the turnoff to Tecate, a few miles north of Ensenada. This road, Highway 3, was recently paved and not busy. It was a really fun, pleasant and scenic ride through wine country. Even though the early morning air was again quite chilly.

The road climbed over some mountains and dropped into valleys with small towns. Reaching Tecate, we got caught in a one-lane traffic jam. Finally we got in line for the border crossing. The driver of the car ahead of us motioned for us to pass, saying to pass all the waiting cars, and the border authorities will let you through.

So we passed probably a mile of waiting traffic that at one area went up a steep hill that would have been difficult to wait on a motorcycle. We came to a military checkpoint where the soldier waved us through, and to proceed to the US border station booth. The agent processed us only one motorcycle at time. She scanned our passports and looked at our license plates and asked if we had anything to declare. And we were back on US soil.

Following the gps now became much easier because the gps showed the roads on the map. We followed Highway 188, the Tecate Road, north to Highway 94, Campo Road, where we turned right, east. This was a fun and twisty, well-paved road with little traffic.

A few miles before reaching Campo we pulled off for a short pit stop and happened to find the PCT. The trail sign said 3.2 miles to the border. We rode past the old Campo store and kept going a few more miles to Cameron Corners where we stopped at the gas station and convenience store. We tanked up and bought cup of real coffee.

Soon we were whisking along Interstate 8, headed for home. The traffic wasn't too bad. We stopped for gas in Yuma. At Dateland we stopped and I stocked up on dates, for us and for gifts for my family. Dateland is one of the few places we have found that sells a wide selection of dates, all grown right there at the Dateland date groves.

At the eastern Gila Bend exit, we pulled off and took a rest on the south side of the highway, at a gravel pile. Instead of retracing our track to the highway on-ramp, we simply climbed the dirt and gravel slope up to the on-ramp and got back on the interstate.

We arrived home at 4:20 pm, which pleased me greatly because it meant that I had time to drive to Oro Valley to pick up Camper and Juniper from the kennel.