slagnado

I plan to stop and smell the roses.. Ill call Mike's this morning around 9, anyone adding after that needs to call.

I have the REI chair and I love it. Worth the money, I used it on a week long big bike trip I took last year.

I have been wanting to stay there for sometime. Hey can you send me your dining list? We need to do a day trip to the Cheese Caves. Love the shot with the KTM and the hotel. I plan on going there next month!!

I wish I could go, have fun. Up for a trip next weekend?

Thanks for sharing, interesting read.

Are you going this year? I am thinking of riding a street bike down for the day to see the trucks and watch the bikes come in. Anyone else going? or interested in going?

We set off for San Felipe on Friday, April 19..... for our "Mulege or Bust trip". The plan is to ride for 3 days and take a day off then head back. Erik and I pulled into the camp where we are staying and decide to pull over and he rides over the berm.......no, not in the "golf course" and yep, we get stuck......we are off to a classic start. The first house we go to help, the women comes over and tells us she is posting it on FB and walks away shaking her head. My friend asks her if he can be tagged in the photo. I go up to another house and humbly ask for help, he tries but he doesn't think it will work. It doesn't work. As we are trying, Luiz come's home, he's the camp handyman(we happen to be stuck right in front of his house). He pulls out the tracker and we are back in business. I silently hope my friend has a sense of humor about it when we show up. We give him $25.00 and head to my friend's house to take her to dinner. The next morning we are off....the plan is Bay of LA. We don't get past the last Pemex out of San Felipe before E gets pulled over. We aren't five miles into Day 1 and here we go. I pull up and the Policia tells him he needs to stop like she did. Yep, that's why I like to have at least one mirror. He ends up letting him go with a warning, we are off. We stop at Alfonsia's for lunch, it was as good as I remembered. On the way to Coco's my gas cans fell off, the strap to side bags are gone......it's a trip theme..to be continued.. We stop at Coco's with gifts... Let's hit the Calamuje Wash, we find a shady spot and stop. I decide to rest and heard myself say "Where is the hard part?" Words I would greatly regret in a few short minutes. The view from the ground. We start moving and as soon as I can see it's a sea of sand, as the canyon bends all I can see is another stretch of sand. It's hot out and dump the bike fairly quickly. I pick it up and keep moving, then I land in a bush......I think I lost my good luck charm shriner here, that should have been my first clue. Then the bike starts acting up. I struggled in the wash. At one point, I look both ways and think I have to commit there is no going back but not only am I overheating so is the bike. E pressures me to move forward. We get through the sand wash, what a relief. Then I feel like something is wrong and I look down and I see my boot being filled with gas........this can't be good.. To be continued.. No idea how to remove the duplicate pics, it's my first ride report so bear with me... Continue of Day 1 We stop to see the damage. The fuel line had came off and fix it quickly..ok E fixes it quickly and we decided it is time to get the Valdez off the trail. As soon as I start moving my foot starts burning, it felt like fire ants had entered my boot. We had to abort our original plan of going into Window Rock from the wash, the bike won't make it. We hit the slab and turn off to Bay of LA. E is ahead of me and I run out of gas miles from town. Finally a photo op moment. I'm bored waiting I stop a truck, I can tell they are nervous and ask them in Portuguese to tell my friend that I am out of gas. I am sure he has stopped. Turns out E stopped the same truck to see where I was and he comes back with his extra gas. He pulls up... I hear you need gas? We are off again. We head into Bay of LA and once again my bike runs out of gas but just my luck....I am 20 feet from the Pemex pump. I wait for him to pull up to see if I should fill it up, he at this point comes back a little hot......it's wasn't his first back track of the day for me. We fill up and head to the hotel, they serve I heart Baja burritos. Day #2 In the morning, we start to take apart my bike and it doesn't look good. First we have to drain the gas... Then we realize the tank is missing a interior bolt and that there is a crack in the tank. Will JB weld work? Can we make a bolt sleeve to hold the tank in? We had joked at one point before the trip about just hanging out in Bay of LA, the reality of it on morning of day 2 was not what we had mind for the week so let's hope the weld works. It works, we're off. We get extra gas and head to San Francisquito TBC This may not be a speedy ride report...my pictures are out of order.

I added a little bit more to the first post, it seems to be slow going. Should I add it to a new reply or up above?

I just had mine done on my Wr450 by Evan Grist (fadingfastsd) from RaceTech Electric and it worked like a charm. He did a great job.

I am a maybe, depends on work. The date change helps.

PM'd my number

I don't fit the ride "description" for intermediate:) and take the weekend off but.......wait for it ,I am happy to loan you my camping gear. Location near downtown San Diego. E-mail at SL92102@gmail.com

Too late yet again!! It sounds like it will be a good one.

Great photos!

I am a little embarrassed to share this story and am in the hopes that it helps someone else. A few weeks ago I went to look at a Pathfinder off CL. The guy said he lived in National City and gave me an address. When I got there, it was a big building and you needed to be buzzed in. I called him and he said to meet him in the back of Union Bank parking lot behind the building. I test drove the car and stupidly did not take on the freeway even after the first words out of my my mouth were I want to go on the the freeway. The guy is a story teller which turned out to be all lies. He said he got a DUI, he can't drive, etc. At one point he wants me to see the stereo and I had to tell him I can't drive and check out the features. A few things weren't adding up but I was kind of caught up in the moment of getting the truck. We return to the bank, agreed on the price and parked it out on the street. He had told me it had a smog certificate and the tags were current. He showed me the paperwork and said he signed it but i didn't really look at it. I didn't even get a receipt. I handed him the money. We had agreed to meet at the bank next day to sign some loan papers. I leave and come back with a friend who follows me home. On the freeway the backend of the car swerved badly a couple of times and I knew it was bad. We drop it off at home and grab food. I have the unsettling feeling I just bought a stolen car. It takes me a few hours to even have the courage to look closely the paperwork, what a mess. The car had been sold in auction twice, hadn't been registered and wasn't smogged. Oh yeah, I don't even have the guys full name, no receipt. I know I am in trouble. I am not sure what to do so the first thing I do is take the car to my mechanic. I usually take anything I buy to Chris at Central Automotive first. I call Triple A and find out the cost of registering it. I call the police to see if it is stolen, it's not. I contact an SDAR member for advice. He does a quickly google search and finds that that he has sold 8 cars this month, has a web business and a National City address. He said he won't be too hard to find. He suggested I call and ask for money back or tell him we can do it the long way where I call the police for the stolen tags and if he is selling auctioned cars and not paying sales tax then it is fraud. I make the call, say exactly that and he agrees to give me my money back. We agree to meet at the mechanic's that afternoon. He offered to drop the price by $ 400.00 to cover the registration and tells me has another buyer and wants to meet earlier. I tell him there is more wrong with the car then he disclosed and I don't trust him, there is no deal I just my money back. He shows up a $ 100.00 short and offers to come Monday with the money or a check. My mechanics laughs at him. I take the check, I want the contact information off the check. He tries to ask my mechanic what is wrong with the car, Chris tells him come by Monday with $ 80.00 and he will look it over. Had not been for the help of SDAR member, Trophy Hunter I know I would not have gotten my money back. SPECIAL thanks to TH for his advice and help. Beware on CL of a guy selling cars in National City. if you want his name and number, PM I am not comfortable posting it. His initials are G.V. and his number is 619-634-xxxx(see top of text ). I filed a complaint with the DMV in hopes to get this guy stopped. I know I got very very lucky to get my money back.

Great photo!

Arnie, you prompted the post. I didn't sleep that night knowing I gave my money away to a total stranger. The reason I asked GV to do the loan the next day after paying him cash is I wanted to give the money to my sister. Dirt Dame, I am looking to either buy a car from someone I know or get it from Stephanie at Poway Honda, where I bought my last car. I am willing to pay more for that peace of mind and be more objective moving forward.

I bought a plated bike and it had part of a green sticker on the fork that iI removed. I just assumed I didn't need it. Who do I contact about the green sticker fees? or can you tell on the registration if it dual? I had the registration done at Triple A, would they know the fee differences? I did get stopped today in Otay by the Sheriff....ok by a few Sheriffs and they didn't mention the green sticker just that are bikes were plated and we should head out towards the road. We entered an area in Otay that we weren't supposed to.

I won't be here but wish I could make it. Have fun.

Great pics, thanks for sharing! One of the pics reminds me of my finest moments on our ride, note the plural.

Call him, he speaks English. He's not a man of many words until you get to know him. I try to call by Thrusday to catch him before he goes or his daughter answers and gives him the message.

Hey I realized I missed a few posts. If it wasn't mentioned, Mike likes it if you make reservations. It helps him plan. I was there once and watched him turn away lots of guys because he had a big party that rented the place. I got lucky, hegave me his brother's room. # 011 52 (664) 681 5514

I agree with Uncle Champ, leave the worry behind. My theory is Fear breeds Fear, once you have decided to go there is not point in being worried. Prepared is good. My best Baja experience was a solo trip and I broke down leaving Valle T, ended up getting a ride back to Ensenada with a race team, spent an extra night with them, got a ride home in time for work on Monday, had the best time and made new friends. Two weeks later out in Borrego about to head off solo to the Pacific side, I run into one of the racers that helped me. I ended up camping with them and their families for 5 days, drove the chase truck for the 500, had a blast..... Turns out my bike breaking down was my stupid mistake, looking back I would not have traded that experience. I have made many new friends in my Baja travels.

Have fun!!

I leave SF Saturday and return the following Saturday. The plan right now is to Mulege.