Good times last night and this morning…at 2,034 miles on my RX3 after the Baja Run, I adjusted the valves, changed the oil to synthetic, and when I was all done, there were no parts left over (always a good sign). The strainers were relatively clean, the bike used no oil that I could tell on our 1700-mile cruise through Mexico, and the magnetic drain plug had only a little bit of dust attached to it (way less than the first oil change, as expected). My intake valves were very slightly above spec, so I left them there. The exhaust valves were a bit tight, so I adjusted them to the upper end of the spec.
This puppy is running strong. The shifting is smoother, the bike finds neutral easily, and I saw an indicated 90 mph on the freeway rolling out to the plant this morning (but don’t tell anyone). The bike is a bit dirty (the Baja patina, as Steve calls it), and I’m going to leave it like that. I’m headed to Flagstaff with Paul (from ADV Moto magazine) and my good buddy Duane tomorrow for the Overland Expo. Today I’m going to focus on getting ready for my Overland Expo presentation on the RX3.
Before I bore into that, though, I want to share another story or two about Baja. The first is about Mama Espinoza’s and El Rosario. Do you believe there are spots on the planet that are somehow magical? I think that’s the case with El Rosario. It’s the last town before entering the Vizcaino Desert when heading south, and I always bump into interesting people in that place.
Take our first night in Mexico on the recent Baja Run, for example. We were enjoying a super dinner in Mama Espinoza’s (thanks again, Steve!) when I saw a very attractive woman looking at me through the window. To my great surprise, it was my good buddy, fellow writer and moto-traveler Carla King!
Carla was traveling north on her KLR while we were traveling south on our RX3s. Imagine that…bumping into Carla King deep in Mexico!
Carla loves riding in Baja, but she hasn’t restricted her international travels to Mexico. Carla has a number of epic rides under her belt. She rode around the periphery of the United States and Canada on a Ural, and she did a similar ride in China on a Chiang Jiang. A Chiang Jiang (named after a river in China) is a Chinese copy of a 1932 flathead BMW that was in production in China until very recently. Once, when Carla was at my home, she spotted a photo of a Chiang Jiang repair center I had grabbed in Beijing, and she knew the motorcycle mechanic in it! That book you see to the right is Carla’s story about riding a Ural around North America. You need to buy a copy of it, and you can do so here!
Carla sat down with us for a bit and we had a great visit. The CSC RX3 riders on our expedition all fell in love with her. When Carla mentioned that the chain on her KLR was a bit tight, the guys were volunteering left and right to help her adjust it.
We had a cool time on the way back on our last night in Mexico, too. Juddy, Justin, Pete, Abe, and I stopped at the Pemex just next to Mama Espinoza’s in El Rosario when this really badass digital camo truck pulled in, complete with a rollbar-mounted machine gun!
I snapped a couple of photos and the passenger came over to see what I was doing. He had the air of a leader, and he noticed my T-shirt. It was one I picked up at Fort Benning with the US Army Airborne jump wings on it, and that got his attention. He pointed to the jump wings on his jacket. A fellow trooper from the Mexican airborne infantry!
I grabbed a few more photos, and when I got home, I looked up the insignia for the Mexican Army. Folks, meet Colonel Martinez, a Mexican Army paratrooper…
Good times, with many more coming up. Stay tuned!
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