Tucker’s Baja Escape

       This morning had a different flavor as we gathered for our briefing just before 8:30 am. Dave and Darlene told us that we had about a 3.5 hour drive and would arrive at the border around noon. We would be finding our way though Mexicali and it's many stop lights and turns to get to our destination. Darlene had even made copies for all of us of pictures and direction of the turns to find our way across Mexicali to the crossing. It felt strange to know the next time we hooked up would be in the U.S. and not Baja.         The travel up from San Felipe wound through the mountains and then would drop down and follow the coast. We saw many little settlements of trailers and homes that ranged from very temporary to more strongly built cement block houses. These coast areas are in fairly easy reach of people coming from the northern border for a stay in Baja on the playas. These areas in places looked as though they had endured some strong weather and, perhaps, a hurricane or two. A

  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

         Some of us had explored Mulege while we were camped at Santispec earlier in our trip but most wanted to see more. We happily arrived early as our drive from Requeson was under an hour. The park we went to, as have several we have stayed in, have see better days. Covid and few travelers over nearly two years have struck a blow to the repair and maintenance. We arrived at Hotel Serenidad by 9:30 am and had to go in largest vehicles first. The Escapes were last and some of the later pull in spots lacked electricity and had issues with the sewer connection.  Must say by the time we returned from Mulege, the electrical and the sewer issues had been dealt with in a professional way. More to say about Hotel Serenaded later in the post.  The Mission at Mulege had been dedicated to a Saint from Palermo and it's architecture was influenced by that of churches in Palermo. The patrons had connections to that area.  Here is a larger view of the Mission and it grounds. I was able to r

        On our second day at this amazing playa, we were treated to sunrise that turned the world red. The sun sent red rays through the clouds which turned the playa gold and red. Those of us up early enough to see it and photograph it, felt it was one of the best we had ever experienced.  Jim took this dramatic picture of the sunrise. The color reflected in the clouds and water was amazing.  The day started with heavy cloud cover which looked like it may rain.  It was not cold though and by mid day it began to clear.  We were soon out in our chairs enjoying. We have come to know the vendors who ply the Bahia Concepcion beaches. There is a young woman some of us bought shrimp, scallops or even yellow fin tuna from at both Santispec and Requeson. She also offered warm tamales, and banana bread on order as it came freshly baked to us the next day. All her food was fresh and very good.  The two sons who were very bored and playing with their iPhones. The family lives in Mulege up the ro

      At 8:30 am we made an interesting departure from our Loreto site. The plan was that we would unwind by having those that had an unblocked access would move out and go down a street and line up on the next street over. We had also lined up on that street to give Darlene and Dave a chance to check out the spaces and tell us the order we should go in. We did so well. By 8:23 am, Jim and I being the first ones in were now the last one out. We hooked in record time as all were out on the street and waiting. Darlene and Dave were in place as number one, we just eased in behind them in number two position and as we started down the road, each rig according to the position pulled out behind us and we were all on our way by 8:30 with time to spare. What a group!      We traveled over the mountains again and came down to drive along the Bahia Concepcion. We pulled in at to the playa of Requeson at about 10:30 and just marveled. We all had loved Santispac earlier in the trip but this playa

  12.6.21       I did not mention in the last blog as we came into the RV park in Loreto, and also into the RV park in La Paz, people already in the park, commented to several of us that we looked like a well oiled machine. In both cases our caravan had been to the park before and we had a good idea where we were going to park. It was like a bit of a dance performed by 8 trucks, trailers, 2 Class C, and a very large RV. We did look like we knew what we were doing although practice makes perfect. The first go round, not so much. The park in Loreto was especially challenging  as it is small and crowded. We had to enter according to how we could best get everyone in.       Lovely morning and at the crack of ten, Kristina and Paul offered to take us in to the Loreto Square. Our pickup, which was unhitched and wedged into a small unused space blocked by Liz and Bill’s jeep, Ann and Greg’s pickup and Paul and Kristina’s pickup. A good example of how closely we were wedged in.  This Missio

    We were all hitched and ready to pull out at 8:00 am for a long drive to Loreto. We stopped for two 10 minutes "body breaks" 1 gas stop, and a lunch stop of about 30 minutes. It was more stressful than most of our drives due to the length of time on the road, traffic and the mountainous conditions.  I give credit to Darlene as she kept up with announcing on coming traffic to help get the cars and trucks behind us get around. Our schedule change was necessitated by construction at one of our planned stops.       There was a wonderful outlook site as we got closer to Loreto. It was large with lots of parking, even some vendors with an other look at the Sea of Cortez. There was a tribute to this woman at a large shrine in the outlook. I don't know if it was dedicated to just her or is for the many travelers lost to this long mountainous stretch of Highway One in Baja.  Many of the shrines, like this one are protected from vandals and many appear to be regularly tended. S