Unwinding from real life
On Friday we decided to hit the beach which was a total of 50 yards from our house that we rented. We took a 3 1/2 hour walk on the beach. At one point we walked out to a sandbar where there are many birds and a few crab traps. When we decided to come back from the sand bar, we realized the tide had rolled in. We ended up wading back in 5 feet of water. Adventure at its finest!
We decided to head into town to check out a Chinese restaurant that had been recommended by my friend Carl. We were debating on whole orders or half orders and decided to go with a half order since it was lunch time. When the food came out we couldn’t believe it. There was so much food we thought they made a mistake and gave us a full order. It was indeed a half order. If you’re looking for this restaurant, it is the first big Chinese restaurant you come to on the main drag. As far as I know, it is the only Chinese restaurant in town.
With full bellies, we headed down to the beach to explore the boardwalk. We only saw a handful of tourists the entire time we were in San Felipe. We saw a merchant selling tropical drinks served in a fresh pineapple with a little pink umbrella and we decided to indulge. Absolutely delicious! The umbrella made it that much better. We headed back to the house and laid out on the roof which is purposely designed so you could take a staircase up and catch some rays. For dinner we decided to head back into town to eat at a restaurant on the beachfront called Rosita. Another fine meal.
Expect the Unexpected
Saturday we hit the road early as we had 50 miles of dirt ahead of us and several places we wanted to stop. The pavement was quite an adventure in and of itself. They have these dips called Vados. They were so severe the bike bottomed out a few times. You could see the gouges in the pavement where cars have scraped the pavement. It made for a fun and interesting rollercoaster ride. We got to Puerticitos and to our surprise the pavement continued on. We had been expecting the pavement to end right after Puerticitos. The scenery was breathtaking through this part with wide sweeping ocean views that complemented the twisty highway. The pavement then came to an abrupt halt. We were faced with a dirt road that went straight, and another that went off to the left. We decided to stay straight.
We went about a half a mile through some loose dirt and the road seemed to start packing down a little more providing stable riding. We quickly realized this was not the “dirt” road that we should be on. This was just a road being prepped for paving. We turned around and headed back to the end of the pavement. When we got to the loose dirt part the bike started to fishtail and swerve and bam we went down like a sack of potatoes. We had to unload the bike in order to pick it up because it was extremely heavy even with two of us trying to pick it up. We managed to get the bike up, loaded back up and headed down the right dirt road this time. This road was extremely loose and sandy. It seemed we couldn’t go a few feet without the bike starting to fishtail.
We ran into a couple pedaling their way on this sandy mess. They had sold everything they owned and had started their journey in Vermont and went across to California and were headed down to La Paz to take the ferry across to mainland Mexico. They were then planning on riding all the way to South America. When I asked them what next, they said they were hoping to find a sustainability community to get involved with and live in. Pretty cool! You can check their progress out at www.2cycle2gether.com.
We decided that the road was too sandy and loose to continue. So we turned around and decided to go down the pacific side of Baja. It would be longer, but we would end up in the same spot and see more parts of Baja. We headed back towards San Felipe and turned west towards Ensenada. The road to Ensenada proved to be very twisty and windy the closer we got. Everything went from brown to green as desert turned into lush mountains.
When we got to the city of Ensenada, we were both surprised how hilly it was. We got to Hwy 1 to turn south and head for Guerrero Negro. Going through Ensenada was the most terrifying time I have ever had on a motorcycle. People drive like maniacs. I would rather be stuck in LA rush hour traffic than drive through Ensenada. When people turn off the road they don’t make 90 degree turns. They angle off the road at 45 degrees so you may see a car coming right at you in your lane. The city seemed to go on forever and I was just praying we would make it through unscathed. Finally, we got out of the madness and back into the lush hillsides with the very twisty mountain roads. Some of the best motorcycle roads I have been on. It was getting late and we started looking for lodging. We were trying to make it all the way to San Quintin. Just before we reached San Quintin, we saw the nicest hotel we had seen all day and the only hotel worth staying at. The Mission Inn. Total mileage for the day was 415 miles.