11 Days

We’re down to 11 days, boys and girls…and then its’ wheels in the wells for Baja and our California Scooter contingent!   Lots of excitment, so I’ll just let you in on the emails as I received them…these are the responses coming in from J, John, Arlene, and Simon after I asked about leaving on the 10th instead of the 11th…

From Simon (he’s flying in from the UK for this trip):

Joe, I am along for the ride. What ever suits you all, suits me.

From John:

I was just looking at it a few minutes ago.  I think that it’s an awesome schedule.  That’s one of the things that will make this trip a huge hit.  You’re familiar with places to stay and things to see, so everyone can see some of the true highlights of the trip (like the date palms) without wasting time seeing things that really are a waste of time.

I only have a couple of suggestions.  Rather than push day 6 from Mulege to El Rosario, why don’t we stay in Mulege on the way down, and stay in Santa Rosalia on the way back.  Thus, Day 2 would take us from Catavina to Mulege and Day 6 would take us from Santa Rosalia to El Rosario.  These should be pretty equal in mileage.  This will also reduce day 3 (the long day), and we don’t have to possibly spend two nights in Catavina.  I don’t think that we need to change your itinerary.  It’s just something to keep in our heads as an option on our way down.  As you mentioned, regardless of the plan, we’ll probably play it by butt to some degree. 

One last reminder, we should carry a gas can in the truck since Catavina will likely be out of gas, and there’s no guarantee that the guys in pickups will be at the Punta Prieta Junction when we pass through.  We may also want to bring either small bills (nothing larger than a $20) or bring one or two hundred in pesos so that we can buy small items from a vendor (like Antonio’s Fish Tacos) and not break their bank giving each of us change.  A $20 bill is a lot of money to some of the street vendors and small stores.  We can stop at an ATM in Ensenada to get the pesos.  On a weeklong trip like this, you may actually get a better overall exchange rate by using pesos throughout.  I imagine that Simon would be the best person to give advice in this area. 

Just a note, we previously stayed at La Perla in Lapaz.  It was the place that served American food, and it was the worst food of that trip.  The lesson learned was stick to local cuisine.  Although it was a nice hotel, I would prefer checking out other places.   

Great job, and thanks for taking the time to create the itinerary.

From J:

Regarding fuel:  I have four 20-liter jerry cans and was planning on bringing them, full of gas. The bikes take premium fuel, yes?. The truck uses mid-grade gasoline, I don’t think that is available in Baja so we’ll run it on premium and have a single fuel for all the vehicles. Fuel range on the pickup is over 400 miles so I don’t expect it to be an issue.

And water:  I also have four 20-liter jerry cans with food-grade linings and dedicated for water transport. I was planning on bringing those, full of municipal water from my house. It’s easy enough to carry and we won’t have to worry about finding bottled water. I’ve got a 40-liter fridge in the back seat. If everyone brings two water bottles for their personal use, we can rotate them into the fridge and always have an abundant supply of cold drinking water.

The extra weight in bed of the truck makes it ride a lot nicer so unless there is a good reason to eliminate the extra gas and water, I plan to bring it. I’m pretty sure the extra scooter will still fit just fine in the bed and leave room for individual luggage.

It’s gonna be a great trip.

From Arlene:

Wow! You guys are all so fantastic I can hardly wait to get this ride underway! We are going to have a fantastic time!!! SOOOOO looking forward to it!!!

From John:

I agree.  The enthusiasm is awesome.  I’m thinking Arlene may take off a couple of days early.  I have no doubt that this will be one of the best Baja trips that I’ve done. 

Just a question for Joe.  From what I can tell in your write-ups, the scooters have proven very reliable, however we are riding 4 of them 2,200 miles in 7 days.  I understand that we are bringing a spare bike, but are we bringing any spare parts (tube, tire, spark plug, coil, etc), or a service manual and tools to make minor adjustments if necessary.

Note from me:  John, we’re bringing spare parts and tools based primarily on what we’ve experienced with the preproduction bikes.  Steve and the boys did a good job engineering these motorcycles; we’ve actually had very few warranty issues on the production bikes.   We’ll be well-equipped for this trip, though.  I remember your Kawasaki’s petcock leaking on the last trip; I’ll bring along an extra one of those for you in case you need it.  And then there was that time your Yamaha got a flat in the jungles north of Puerto Vallarta; we’re bringing a couple of extra tires and a pump, too. 

From J:

Baja Bound is officially on board as the Mexico insurance provider for the California Scooter Baja Buzz.  Geoff and I just got off the phone and I’m very happy to report that Baja Bound will take care of all of our south of the border insurance needs for our upcoming trip.   I’m writing this note to introduce you two gents to one another. Geoff had a couple of questions and I’m sure Joe will want to personally thank BajaBound for their support on this trip.

Note from me:  That’s great news, J!  I’ll call BajaBound this afternoon and coordinate with Geoff.  What a great outfit!  They’re the only insurance company I use on my Baja travels.

From John:

I hope I’m not being a pain in the butt, but in the back of my mind I find that I’m always thinking about this trip so I have questions that pop into my head now and then.  Due to the nature of this trip, I would suggest that we think about certain places that we definitely want to take photos, and how we want to take them.

For example, we should probably take a photo of the bikes crossing the border into Mexico.  Since the bikes aren’t fast enough to get caught on police video, I suppose that we should figure out a way to take a picture since this is both a chaotic and congested area.  Probably the simplest way would be for J to take a picture from his truck as he follows us.  Of course, he would also need to know what you want to see in the picture; i.e. the border crossing sign above the freeway.  Do you want him to lean out of his truck or just take it through the windshield?  Or maybe you want to get ahead of us, pull over at the side of the road, and take pictures as we pass by.  Then we’ll pull over into that covered area on the right after we cross the border and wait for you.  This is just one example.

I know that you will capture pictures along the way while we eat tacos, chat with the military at the checkpoints, drink our cervezas while we ride through the desert (oops, scratch that one), but you may want to think strategically about certain pictures, such as the example above, before the ride starts, and how you want to stage them to ensure that you get the pictures that you want.

Note from me:  John, we are going to grab plenty of great shots.  I’d encourage all of you to bring a camera…this will be a grand adventure!

 Boy oh boy oh boy, this is gonna be a good one!