Day 20 - Loreto Baha California Sur

Day 20 at Augie’s Bar and Bait shop on the la playa (beach) and I’m thirsty, tired and hungry that I hope to get all, but the sleep out of the way. I can already tell this is where all the retired folks hang out cuz the 5 people here are all retired from the state. 2 couples that sound like they spend a lot of time with each other here and another guy that’s retired here by himself and apparently he know’s how to work the women. Anyway, a root beer, some food and a number of crevasses should wake me up a little. 

So the day didn't quite start as expected, sure I got enough sleep and didn’t worry about getting up early, but with the time zone changes and having been getting up early every day for the last couple of weeks, I was up early and ready to hit the road what would be considered early for me, 9:00. Showered and packed so figure I should head west to get a shot of the Pacific ocean since I know I’ll be on the opposite border before the end of the day, but I didn’t quite make it to the ocean,  but as far as the winds blowing in off it. Not sure how far down the road I would’ve had to go to see it, but it didn’t look like a road I really wanted to deal with today. I know what highway 1 is like so just want to get some gas and get on my way. 

Well, that’s where a 2 hour delay came into play as I was trying to leave town. Guerrero Negro happens to have a number of topes (speed bumps) and they aren’t small at all. Once I noticed the first one I hit it a little hard and bottomed out that I made sure I was a little more careful with them from that point on, but I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention and happened to hit another one a little hard that really caused problems. After hitting it my kickstand was down and it wouldn’t stay up like it should so I could ride. That meant a pretty quick stop to walk back to the topes where sure enough, part of my kickstand broke loose and the spring that holds it up had come loose. I asked the gas attendant if there was a mechanic opened on a Sunday and he point me up the road that I had know idea how far he said it would be. Anyway, there I am slowly riding along holding up the kickstand with my food when a guy and his family pull up next to me and tell me to follow them. The guy takes me to the auto shop back where I came from and took me in to see if we could find something that might work, but we couldn’t find anything that would get me on the road. After looking at it I figured a piece of rope to tie up the stand and be able to slide off when I needed to put the kickstand down would work enough to at least get me to Cabo. 

Apparently the guy, Carlos had a different idea and that was to have his wife call her dad and meet him at his shop to do a little wielding, now how could I turn that down and especially on a Sunday morning. Anyway I did follow him to his father in laws shop and we tried to chat a little before his father in law showed up. You would think 2 weeks of Spanish class and started to put together sentences would be enough for me to get by, but none of the sentences helped with everyday things like this. They were where to find a bathroom, pen, pencil, lamp, and a few other Spanish words, but to as much as I’ve already found out I could’ve used for the road. Anyway, his father-in-law showed up and accessed the situation and figured a quick wield would get me on the road that we took the kickstand off to fix and then tried to put it back on. Well, there happened to be one problem, the kickstand wasn’t staying up as far as it should’ve of that Jesus (the father in law) and he sure seemed to be a Jesus to me. Remember they don’t pronounce it the same as us that it’s like Hay-sus if you want to know how to pronounce it. At that point Jesus figured he’d drill another hole in my frame to put a little more pull on the spring and do you think I’d care, for what this bike has been through a few more holes is nothing. He pulled out the torque drill and got through pretty easy that it took a bit more pulling of the spring but it was a great fix. I did ask how much they wanted for their troubles, especially on a Sunday morning that all they wanted was 200 pesos that what the hell, I had 300 and just appreciated the help tremendously, now it’s hoping the kick stand will hold until I get to Cabo.

Ok, so I’m finally on the road and what did I say, 2 hours later than I expected, but today was suppose to be the shortest ride that I’ll have on this trip which should only be a 5 hour trip to Loreto and it definitely helped that the road from Guerrero Negro to Santa Rosalia was a better road than some of the other that I’ve taken. Today for most of the way, at least from Guerrero Negro East it was mostly just me on the road that I was able to set the cruise at 70 and just cruise, that is until I got close to the other coast, yep, the opposite coast from the Pacific Ocean which is the East that borders the Gulf of California and the first thing I notice was how many butterflies were smashing into my bike and the next was how warm and humid it was getting. Well, I can say, the ride on the East of the B.C.S. is an awesome ride along the coast, especially from Santa Rosalia to Loreto which was mostly a view of the water of the gulf. Sorry I don’t have better picks from the GoPro and this is where a mount on the opposite side would’ve been nice, but trust me, the view to the left was awesome.

I saw some beaches with clear blue water that looked like a great place to camp out ad I did think about it, but wanted to make sure I at least get to Loreto so my trip to Cabo won’t be too long a ride. Yes it’s still about a 7 hour ride, but at least I got a shower, a root beer to quench my thirst, a Sunday night burger special and now time for a number of cervasses, that tired that I felt early is gone. 

And for the other thing that happened on the road, one wash out that still had standing water and I know what they say not to drive through it, that instead of wading through to make sure it wasn’t too deep, I just waited for the truck coming the opposite way so I knew with way to take through it. Not a big deal but not something you see very often and I sure see enough signs for those kind of things along the only highway south, washout spots. Today only had 2 military stops, but the last was the most intrusive than any that I’ve had so far. I guess I kind of thought it might be when I saw them going through the car in front of me and sure enough, the guy had me untie and open my pack so he could check everything in side. He didn’t even care about the bikes side bags so I guess it was a good thing for me that that’s where I carry my drugs, no nothing illegal, but for some of the pills I take I’m sure they’d question what Im carrying. As for the illegal drugs, well  that’s not for me and I’d really rather not get thrown in jail on this trip that beers is all I need and maybe a shot or 2 of tequila which also means, I am not getting on my bike either after a few beers. 

Oh and finally for the motel that I’m in. I did try the Desert Inn according to the Canadians that went through on this trip that I thought I’d make a stop at some of their hotels that although I had to ask for directions I did eventually find it and it was a pretty nice place at the very end of the street ride on the la playa, beach but pretty dead. There didn’t seem to be anyone else that and more of a walk to a place like this that for 950 pesos I think I can find something a lot cheaper just for a shower bed and electricity for my devices. I did checkout the other beach hotel, but when they said it was only 175 US dollars I figured I could still find cheaper so went about 5 blocks away to the central of town next to the old mission and found a hotel for only 400 pesos, sure I had to pay in cash but it was a hell of a lot cheaper, Sure I don’t have wifi and other amenities that would be nice to have, but I really don’t need much and my vacation won’t really start until I get to Cabo.

I know, enough babbling, but once I get going, have a few brews and start remembering more of the day, I just have so much to say that I guess the rest will be the stories that I have when I get home. Tomorrow I hope to reach Caba and although it felt like it was going to start to sprinkle here, it might just be the heat, humidity and a little gulf mist blowing in that I don’t think there’s any forecast for rain tomorrow, at least that’s what I hope for.

I do know there will be no pictures tonight since I don’t have them all to use the bars wifi to upload that they will have to wait so check back after tomorrow for more to the story than just the story. 

Now there are pics here: Day 20 Loreto pics