The following report is a somewhat complete history of my recent adventure into Mexico for 6 days to witness the 2011 Baja 1000 with a group of friends. No animals were harmed in the making of this story.
Monday Evening – Witch of the Sea Style Attitude and Coyote Lullabies:
Dave Connors, Kurt Williams, Ryan Davis, Darren Webster, Matt Russel, and I met at the Draper IKEA parking lot around 5:30pm Monday evening. I was the last to arrive, loaded my gear into the back of Ryan's truck and we set off southbound with Mexico in our sights. First stop of the trip, Del Taco on the outskirts of western Lehi for some grub. Oddly enough Dave swore they had a really good burger, which, to my surprise wasn't bad for a crappy taco chain.
Back on the road we headed west down UT73 towards Faust, then southbound on UT36. We hit Delta, Milford, and Cedar City before hopping on I-15 inbound for Las Vegas to ditch Ryan's truck at his Brother's place, and add two more star characters to our convoy, Marc Van Tassel and his trusty FZJ80, Ursula, who lives up to her name by having plenty of attitude. Kurt and I jumped in with Marc, Ryan with Dave and the rest of the crew in Dave's 100 Series Land Cruiser, and we rolled out. Upon exiting Las Vegas there was a very noticeable vibration and slight noise coming from beneath Ursula, which would be diagnosed as a blown U-joint on the front drive-line. The drive-line was removed under the florescent lights of a quiet gas station as Matt pounded down a bag of Cheetos due to Dave's adamant refusal to allow said messy snacks into his Cruiser.
Loaded up and back on the road again we made quick time southward towards Blythe CA, finding a place to camp for a few hours before descending upon El Centro and into Calexico/Mexicali. The air was nice and cool as we slept under a massive bright moon, like a giant 'Welcome' sign ushering us into our desert adventure. We were serenaded by coyotes and tractor trailer 'Jake brakes' as we caught some zzz's.
Tuesday – Menacing Mix-em-ups and Abandoned Beaches
Morning came a bit early, and we bombed toward the border. As we rolled into El Centro we found a drive-line shop who believed that they could fix Ursula's front propeller shaft in an hour or two. It was decided that we would hang out in El Centro for lunch and a little downtime while Wymore Industries Inc performed surgery.
An hour or two turned into 3 hours as we killed time by driving around all of El Centro looking for a Dillards which we never ended up going into, grabbing some In 'n Out, tossing a frisbee around, and watching an episode of 'Eastbound and Down' in Dave' Cruiser. Kurt made quick work of reinstalling the drive-line once Wymore was finished with it, and we were once again southbound towards the border.
Not more than 10 minutes down the road we noticed a burning smell, which we determined was the new u-joints in the drive-line breaking in. Noting that the driveline was quite hot, we made kept our ears perked for unwelcome noises that Ursula might initiate. We rolled into Calexico with the drive-line now making all sorts of noises so we pulled over one block before the US/Mexico border crossing, inspected the damage, pulled the drive-line once again and stowed it in the back of the 80 Series; now realizing that we would be limited to rear wheel drive for the duration of the trip. The u-joints used must have been all wrong, as they were already toasted no more than 20 miles on the rebuilt drive-line.
With the sun rapidly falling from the sky at this point we were rushing to get into Mexico with monies changed, passports stamped, and on our way out of Mexicali but not before snagging some tacos in town. But with my luck, we encounter more surprises at the border with an entry fee to Mexico ranging from $21-25 depending on who you were apparently; there wasn’t much of a standard with the Mexican banker man. This whole process stressed me out, being my first real trip/adventure outside of the US. I was not anticipating a $21 fee at the border, which killed my food cash by 20%. To top it all off, once we filled out the needed paperwork with the Mexican Government they held onto our passports as we changed money across the street, then walked another 100yds to the bank; all in unfamiliar Mexico, at dusk, without our passports. Dave, Matt, and I finally made it back to the Mexican border office to show our receipts for $22 despite paying $21, even though we were originally told it would be $20 and were able to get our passports back. A sigh of relief as we headed away from the chaotic border crossing and hunted down a taco stand that the group found last year. With the taco joint located, I realize how lousy my limited Spanish really is. We filled up on tacos, and made our way south to San Felipe to find our first camp within Mexico.
Progressing through reflector saturated roads, a military checkpoint or two and we were finally rolling through a dark San Felipe late Tuesday looking for a beach to call home for next 10 hours. We found a beach campground that looked to be a deserted ghost town, and hunkered down underneath the wooden shelters with the sound of gentle waves crashing onto the shore; a perfect peaceful night to a somewhat frustrating day.
Wednesday – Baja Miracles and Desert Dreams
The sun popped up quickly, causing me to get restless while others were able to sleep in and recoup from a load of highway hours now safely behind us. After the campground management stopped by to collect dues, we hung out on the beach while Kurt and Ryan took a morning swim in the Gulf.
Slow to pack tents and sleeping bags we eventually geared up to head into San Felipe for yet more tacos, ice-cream, and some souvenirs. Once in San Felipe we found a taco joint called, 'Mariscos El Guero' with a nice ocean view, and we grubbed down as the locals attempted to sell their goods and sing to us with a nylon stringed classical guitar.
After tacos, shrimp, Cokes and Fantas we made our way over to Chumpo's Pizza for some ice-cream and friendly conversations with locals who invited us to stay in their rental houses for next year's Baja 1000.
Monday Evening – Witch of the Sea Style Attitude and Coyote Lullabies:
Dave Connors, Kurt Williams, Ryan Davis, Darren Webster, Matt Russel, and I met at the Draper IKEA parking lot around 5:30pm Monday evening. I was the last to arrive, loaded my gear into the back of Ryan's truck and we set off southbound with Mexico in our sights. First stop of the trip, Del Taco on the outskirts of western Lehi for some grub. Oddly enough Dave swore they had a really good burger, which, to my surprise wasn't bad for a crappy taco chain.
Back on the road we headed west down UT73 towards Faust, then southbound on UT36. We hit Delta, Milford, and Cedar City before hopping on I-15 inbound for Las Vegas to ditch Ryan's truck at his Brother's place, and add two more star characters to our convoy, Marc Van Tassel and his trusty FZJ80, Ursula, who lives up to her name by having plenty of attitude. Kurt and I jumped in with Marc, Ryan with Dave and the rest of the crew in Dave's 100 Series Land Cruiser, and we rolled out. Upon exiting Las Vegas there was a very noticeable vibration and slight noise coming from beneath Ursula, which would be diagnosed as a blown U-joint on the front drive-line. The drive-line was removed under the florescent lights of a quiet gas station as Matt pounded down a bag of Cheetos due to Dave's adamant refusal to allow said messy snacks into his Cruiser.
Loaded up and back on the road again we made quick time southward towards Blythe CA, finding a place to camp for a few hours before descending upon El Centro and into Calexico/Mexicali. The air was nice and cool as we slept under a massive bright moon, like a giant 'Welcome' sign ushering us into our desert adventure. We were serenaded by coyotes and tractor trailer 'Jake brakes' as we caught some zzz's.
Tuesday – Menacing Mix-em-ups and Abandoned Beaches
Morning came a bit early, and we bombed toward the border. As we rolled into El Centro we found a drive-line shop who believed that they could fix Ursula's front propeller shaft in an hour or two. It was decided that we would hang out in El Centro for lunch and a little downtime while Wymore Industries Inc performed surgery.
An hour or two turned into 3 hours as we killed time by driving around all of El Centro looking for a Dillards which we never ended up going into, grabbing some In 'n Out, tossing a frisbee around, and watching an episode of 'Eastbound and Down' in Dave' Cruiser. Kurt made quick work of reinstalling the drive-line once Wymore was finished with it, and we were once again southbound towards the border.
Not more than 10 minutes down the road we noticed a burning smell, which we determined was the new u-joints in the drive-line breaking in. Noting that the driveline was quite hot, we made kept our ears perked for unwelcome noises that Ursula might initiate. We rolled into Calexico with the drive-line now making all sorts of noises so we pulled over one block before the US/Mexico border crossing, inspected the damage, pulled the drive-line once again and stowed it in the back of the 80 Series; now realizing that we would be limited to rear wheel drive for the duration of the trip. The u-joints used must have been all wrong, as they were already toasted no more than 20 miles on the rebuilt drive-line.
With the sun rapidly falling from the sky at this point we were rushing to get into Mexico with monies changed, passports stamped, and on our way out of Mexicali but not before snagging some tacos in town. But with my luck, we encounter more surprises at the border with an entry fee to Mexico ranging from $21-25 depending on who you were apparently; there wasn’t much of a standard with the Mexican banker man. This whole process stressed me out, being my first real trip/adventure outside of the US. I was not anticipating a $21 fee at the border, which killed my food cash by 20%. To top it all off, once we filled out the needed paperwork with the Mexican Government they held onto our passports as we changed money across the street, then walked another 100yds to the bank; all in unfamiliar Mexico, at dusk, without our passports. Dave, Matt, and I finally made it back to the Mexican border office to show our receipts for $22 despite paying $21, even though we were originally told it would be $20 and were able to get our passports back. A sigh of relief as we headed away from the chaotic border crossing and hunted down a taco stand that the group found last year. With the taco joint located, I realize how lousy my limited Spanish really is. We filled up on tacos, and made our way south to San Felipe to find our first camp within Mexico.
Progressing through reflector saturated roads, a military checkpoint or two and we were finally rolling through a dark San Felipe late Tuesday looking for a beach to call home for next 10 hours. We found a beach campground that looked to be a deserted ghost town, and hunkered down underneath the wooden shelters with the sound of gentle waves crashing onto the shore; a perfect peaceful night to a somewhat frustrating day.
Wednesday – Baja Miracles and Desert Dreams
The sun popped up quickly, causing me to get restless while others were able to sleep in and recoup from a load of highway hours now safely behind us. After the campground management stopped by to collect dues, we hung out on the beach while Kurt and Ryan took a morning swim in the Gulf.
Slow to pack tents and sleeping bags we eventually geared up to head into San Felipe for yet more tacos, ice-cream, and some souvenirs. Once in San Felipe we found a taco joint called, 'Mariscos El Guero' with a nice ocean view, and we grubbed down as the locals attempted to sell their goods and sing to us with a nylon stringed classical guitar.
After tacos, shrimp, Cokes and Fantas we made our way over to Chumpo's Pizza for some ice-cream and friendly conversations with locals who invited us to stay in their rental houses for next year's Baja 1000.
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