Tucker’s Baja Escape

  We left Gonzanga Bay and the cursed wind at about 8:30 am. Few of us left with regret at leaving. I plan to research the weather in that area and find out if that was just a weather front that caused the wind to roar out of the mountains behind us or a normal event. From the looks of the area and barriers against the wind, I suspect it is a normal occurrence.         Our drive today was a little over 3 hours through mountains and, at times, along the coast of the Sea of Cortez. There are small structures on the beaches and some old trailers among newer but it was not very populated. The weather is getting cooler as we move north toward the border. Our destination today is at Victor’s RV Camp in San Felipe. Jim and I have been #2 in the lineup since the first day since we missed a right turn leaving the Mexican border. Well, today, as we all left the gas station a few blocks from Victor’s, on our own, I managed to have us follow the road left instead of right and wander a few blocks

        The wind, as I write about 5:30 pm, has never stopped. It blows so hard that the sand drifts are building up and it is hard to open the trailer door. Now we know why this camp has these large roomy palapas and beach shielded by an area build up by soil brought in from the flat below to create a high area that enables you to walk the beach. Someone made a huge investment but when we arrived no one else was here though Gonzaga Bay is a beautiful place. The wind comes from behind us off the mountain, I suspect, endlessly.  If you stayed here long, the wind itself would wear you down. As a postscript, I found out later that this area is subject to what we in Upper California call Santa Ana wind though here it may have a different name.  The sea looks calm in this picture though it was full of white caps. There were no boats on the water today.         In our own ways, we are enjoying. Liz and Bill walked miles down this long long beach. Jim and Greg explored a monument down the r

       We were set to leave Daggett’s Camp at 9:00 am this morning but lots of events were to occur before we were on the road. At about 8:00 am Dave was out with Cleo as she was in the water at the edge of the beach doing her normal “fishing.” She dances on her long poodle legs, she is a Standard, and wags her tail furiously as she looks for the little fish who swim in schools at the most shallow parts of the bay. She pays no attention to other dogs, her only focus in her fishing. She has, at other beaches, caught fish 6 or 7 inches long, and deposits them on the beach for the stray beach dogs to eat. But this morning there were three other dogs on the beach, one we had seen the day before but the short legged pit bull was new. I assumed the third one belonged to someone walking the beach. They all seemed to be getting along but something did not seem right in the kind of stiff legged approach of the pitfall. Tucker started to move toward them to play and I called him back. He actu

  This Sunday morning at Bahia de Los Angeles the sun rose streaming through the clouds. The weather though cooler than we enjoyed on other beaches, warmed enough so we could bring out shorts out again. Today we had no wind. In the early morning about 5:30 am, Liz, Bill, Kirk and Euclid left to go fishing in a panga rented from Daggett’s Camp. A guide went with them. This was something they all had looked forward to doing. They had to ride in the boat on the boat trailer to the launch at the end of town at least 3 miles away. The rest of us except Ruth who stayed back to do a day of trailer cleaning as crossing the border is now only 5 days away. The rest of us left for town at various times during the morning to go to the little Museo which was only open from 10-1pm.   We watched this sunrise through our front door as we ended up being the trailer closest to the beach. It was a great way to enjoy coffee and welcome a warmer day.  This guy was our official welcoming committee for the m

        As we gathered this morning in Guerrero Negro to do our morning briefing, we were all sporting long pants and sleeves and coats. All the sandals were gone except for Ruth’s who says she even wears them at home in Canada in the winter. The morning, as I mentioned yesterday included the incidents of the day before. It was 45 degrees this morning and coyotes had howled during the night. It was a bleak place that we were happy to leave. After an uneventful gas stop, we were down the road to Bahia de Los Angeles about 111 miles down the road. We are slowly more north and once again entered Pacific Time leaving Mountain Time.       Our drive was uneventful but continued cold all the way to BLA. The Dagett Camping and RV is on the beach but rustic and again feels as though no one has been here in a while. Covid and the border closing have devastated many businesses, some have closed, some look like there just has not been the income to maintain them and, some we have learned from

           Today, with a 8:30 am departure, we continued our back track as we head north an find ourselves with only 7 days left in our journey. We drove through Santa Rosilia next the water of the Sea of Cortez. At a gas stop, an hour into the drive, we were greeted by the sight of a group of dolphins, leaping through the water swimming very fast. It was such a wonderful beginning to the day which was to be a long one and a taste of dangers on Mexican highways.          This next incident which involved Jim and I was one we did not learn about from the others till the next morning during briefing. We we pulled out from the gas stop at Rosalia, our trailer being #2, the road had appeared clear and Liz had noted all clear but just as we pulled into the road and were getting into our lane barely, a semi who had been behind a corner and was going, according to others at least 70, blasted his horn and missing us by inches according to others. We were shaken but did not realize how close