April Baja Trip Part 2

 We were rollin' really well and having fun. I was picking up the rear but I noticed Gary's left bag was moving around a bit much. On my last trip down one of my buddies had a stock GS1200 with the stock side cases and he had one of his mounts break. Plastic not the best for cases off road. Even light off roading. 

    I was on a mission to catch him before the case broke off. Going over everything and bottoming out the suspension I was at my limit and slowly bringing him back. My horn had died because of the water crossing so no honking could be done. I was able to come up alongside him and as we crested a little roller Gary noticed I was there and pinned it. As we both landed the case ripped off and skipped down the road in front of me. I did all I could not to hit it as Gary railed off. I turned around to pick up the case. As I did that I pulled the bike over in a brain fart move!

     Gary came back helped me pick the beast up and noticed that his case was by his feet. "Hey that's mine!" 

Back on the main road we saw some nice little birdies 

 

Unfortunately once we got just outside Valle de Trinidad Soto's tube let go, again! At least this time we had a nice little place to do the repair. 

 

We did like this gravity fed fuel pump system

The locals love to go out wheelin too

Love the baja dogs down there

Here are some shots after fixing the last flat of the trip on our way to Ensenada 

Here is Gary and Soto rollin into Ensenada 

We then headed to Dona Lupe's for a bite before heading home. This place is wonderful. I highly recommend checking it out

One last stop before getting to the boarder and on our way home

It was a great trip. Just not long enough. The 500 is coming up so might just make it down there soon. Hope you enjoyed the stories and pix

Baja Mike's Sky Ranch

    This past weekend my friends Gary, Soto and I rolled down from LA to Baja Mexico. We were all rolling big bikes. Gary on a BMW GS 1200, Soto on a KTM 990 Adv and myself on a BMW GSA 1150. It was Gary's first ride to Baja and into some serious dirt but Soto's millionth trip and my second. Nothing could go wrong. Ha! That's what the adventure is all about. You can prepare for everything and the one thing you missed will bite you in the ass.

   We hooked up with Soto in the OC and crossed over in Tecate. From there we had some choices. If Gary was uncomfortable in the dirt after 5 or so miles, we'd loop back and slab it down to Valle de Trinidad. Gary rocked it and we rolled as the crow flies to Ojos Negros

Gary did have a little get off when he hit the sand but was fine and some zip ties fixed everything

Here we are dropping onto the highway to Ojos but pick something up along the way

This nail would change the course of our whole ride

We fixed the flat and got rolling to Valle de Trinidad for lunch. Best guac evar!

Unfortunately the fix didn't last and we need to put in another spare tube

That meant ice cream time!

Gary wasn't as excited as I was

    After this we rolled out and almost made it to the turn off for Mike's but the patch blew so standing on the highway with trucks and everything whizzing by we go the wheel off took it back to town and get it back on. Then my bike just didn't start. We had to laugh. Sun was going down and there we were the three of us on a narrow highway in baja like a bunch of tools. Within minutes my bike was back running and we were off to Mike's. 

   I was happy to have my PIAA lights and Gary was getting the ride of his life. Never really taking the GS off road and in one day rocked the first leg and then riding at night in a strange place. Through the water crossing and we were there. 

    A great meal and cerveza and life was perfect. The generator shuts of and we all got a solid nights sleep.

   We woke up to another wonderful morning in Baja got some breaky and coffee then took a short hike. 

Baja 1000 Course Marker

One of the ranch dogs cooling off in the ice water and getting a drink

Got back and geared up and off we went...