Trip Report Baja; San Felipe & the Chenowth Legacy Lodge over Thanksgiving

[Greg]

We spent the week of Thanksgiving outside of San Felipe with family, just missing the Baja 1000 by a day or two. Unfortunately with work schedules, the timing was the best we could do. We drove to Yuma from CO in a day, then headed over the border in the next morning.

Once in Baja, our first stop was on the Malecon in San Felipe at Brendas for lunch.

The weather was pretty nice all week with some wind and a couple calmer days. Plenty of amazing food was consumed, fresh fish & shrimp tacos, we smoked some Halibut fillets bought from a local fisherman and a smoked Turkey for the holiday. The water was warm enough for swimming, getting the SUP out and paddling around. Did some fishing too... with some sea bass caught.

The Chenowth Legacy Lodge is just a few doors down from our place and I've wanted to visit for awhile. Lynn Chenowth has created a deep history in offroad racing, as well as building Fast Attack vehicles for the US Military. The Museum at the lodge is an impressive collection covering his time building very competitive offroad cars. The Lodge itself is pretty incredible, you can get a room, swim in the pool, hangout at the impressive bar and get good food at the restaurant.

 

[Greg]

Sunrises in Baja are special.... waking up before sun comes up is something I love to experience... the colors are incredible.

Many years ago my FIL bought a early 70's VW Baja Bug down in Mexico... one of the kids ended up rolling it and the body got trashed. A local was building these VW-based people movers called a Barney, using small square tube and minimal triangulation. He's utilize the VW front beam suspension, rear engine, transaxle & suspension and then build the chassis of Barney. The seats were plywood covered with foam & cloth and weren't comfortable at all. But, it was a fun way to get around in the sand, on the beach, etc. This Barney was the last built, out of about 60 and at this point, it's 20+ years old. They have a cult following down there and are very desirable. At one point my ex-BIL and I ran the Barney in a Poker Run that was much more like a legit desert race, it was so fun!!

Since I've been going to Baja, the Barney has always needed work. I brought tools down and was ready to wrench on the Barney. This time the carb was running rough and it had no brakes. We picked up a new carb in town and a replacement brake reservoir at the local parts store.

My FIL had used the Barney to move his boat down a steep, sandy hill to go fishing and it wasn't working great for that. He's had a standing offer to buy it, from the GF of the Lynn Chenowth. My FIL decided to sell it and upgrade to a utility SxS. It'll be more reliable & capable for his needs, so I get it... but still, seeing it go was the end of an Era!

We spotted some interesting & neat vehicles in Mexico, always fun to see what's running around down there!

The week was nice & relaxing, caught up with @Cody for a short bit who happened to be in SF at the same time. Eventually we hit the road home, choosing to try a different border crossing at Algodones. We'd heard the usual crossing we used in Mexicali was taking 3+ hours to get thru. Sure enough, Algodones took less than 45 min. It's a very small crossing and seems to see less traffic as it's closer to AZ versus CA. The drive from SF to the border takes 3.5 hrs, less than an hour to cross and then we drove to Flagstaff for the night. The next day we were home by 2 PM, greeted with layer of snow... quite different than the weather we'd been used to!

 

[Tonkaman]

Dang, that looks like a good time! Thanks for sharing

 

[mbryson]

Interesting stuff! I always find signs in other countries interesting.

 

[Greg]

Interesting stuff! I always find signs in other countries interesting.


View attachment 167170

The 'To USA' sign looked homemade... 😄

 

[mbryson]

The 'To USA' sign looked homemade... 😄

View attachment 167172

From your pics and my experiences, it appears that's still a pretty common way to get signage?

 

[Greg]

From your pics and my experiences, it appears that's still a pretty common way to get signage?

View attachment 167173

Absolutely!

 

[Thursty]

Interesting stuff! I always find signs in other countries interesting.


View attachment 167170

There’s one of those in Moab on Powerhouse Lane. 😂

 

[benjy]

Can confirm Algodones was the right answer - Mexicali took us 2h45m - after a thorough search of our RV which I was not allowed to observe - way more intense than any military checkpoints we passed