KTMrad 516 Posted July 13, 2006 March 26th....The San Diego Crew met again for a day ride along the US - Mexico Border. We started out at 9:15am at the gas station at the US side of the Tecate Border crossing. 7 bikes showed up, with 8 people. I was on my KTM950, Kevin on his BMW Dakar 650, Mad Mike with his wife Connie on the back of his BMW R100GS Airhead, John (Carguy) on his Honda XR650L, Gregg Wannabe on his KTM950, Tony D on a KTM950, and Tom on his BMW R1150GS. At the meeting point, gettin' ready to rock n' roll.... We rode along the border fence until we could go no further. At the Sportsmans Club, I had gone through it before with no trouble, so we gave it a try this time, only to come to a locked gate on the east side. The guy driving a tractor on the property approached us, and I figured it was time for some public relations. Tom and I talked with him for about 20 minutes. This guy takes care of the gun club property and the adjacent properties. He said the gates will no longer be open due to heavy use of the area by illegals. So, we headed a few miles west to get around a small lake, through some mud puddles and out to pavement on route 94 east. We rode about 5 miles to Jacumba, where we had a good lunch and beverages at the Jacumba Resort/Spa. At lunch....Left to Right - Gregg Wannabe, Tom, Kevin, John, Tony D. L to R - Gregg, Me, TonyD, Kevin, John Kevin had mentioned the Smugglers Cave area earlier, and at lunch Tom asked if anyone wanted to go there....we all decided it was a GO !! After lunch, we rode another few miles on route 94 to the junction with Interstate 8, turned into the dirt and headed up into the rocky hills around Smugglers Cave. On top of one of the mountains by the Repeater Towers These mountains are nothing but boulders, rocks, and more boulders....... Artsy shot with the bikes posing...... Jeep Trail dead-ending at more boulders.... View of the area below to the northeast....The Yuha and Anza Borrego Deserts, and the Plaster City Area. Tony D and John heading up a rocky trail Kevin attacking a section on his Dakar Mad Mike and Connie on the old Airhead Tom on his 1150GS and Tourance tires !! :eek1 Mike and Connie adventurin' along Posers.......Mad Mike and Kevin couldn't figure out which rock to pose on... :huh My 950 ready for some trials ridin' John on his XR650L, wonderin' which way to go next, and Mike's R100GS Here, Tom is explaining to Mike where he missed the nude girls sunbathing.....Mike is thinking, "Huh" ? :evil Tom attacking the steep, rocky trail heading up to Smugglers Cave Breaktime on side of the mountain with an awesome view, near the caves Many trails to explore below in "Valley of the Moon" Two of the caves.....unfortunately, some slobs left their empties behind Another in a series of caves The mouth of this cave is about 30 feet down in the earth Looking deep into another cave Mad Mike looking for dead bodies...... or was it GOLD ?? Spectacular Views from the top..... The San Diego Crew below....... Tom on top, having suicidal tendencies..... Mad Mike showin' us how to do it with Connie on the back of the R100GS Mad Mike has that name for a reason !! The group split up as some had to head home.....Kevin, Mike, Connie and I always have to get as much riding in to make the day worth it, so we stayed to explore some more, trying to find the way into Valley of the Moon......no success this time, but later we found out how to get there from some 4 Wheeler guys. After some awesome, challenging riding, we stopped back in Jacumba for some refreshments before heading back at sunset. Heading west on route 94, they followed me onto some dirt trails I knew of. One had a new fence up with private land we could not get around, once past the new home, we hit more dirt in the dark to the town of Boulevard. From there, it was pavement the rest of the way home. Kevin and I made our usual stop in Potrero. Got home after a long day, it was 11:15pm !! Another fantastic day of riding, exploring new areas with good friends, good people !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KTMrad 516 Posted July 13, 2006 Since we lost previous posts, I'll repost what CARGUY had to say about his first ride with us............ Here's what John (Carguy from San Diego Adventure Riders) had to say about the ride....... Good Ride! We rode the boarder road from Tecate to Bankhead Springs and Old Hwy80 to Jacumba. We actually went to the Sportsman Club where Randy?? ( I am bad with names) thought about joining the club and discussed life with tractor Bob and he(tractor Bob) still would not let us go through the property East to Jacumba and we had to backtrack a little. Some good puddles from the rain near the lake. We took a different route on dirt and came out on Old 80 at Bankhead Springs. We stopped in Jacumba for lunch at the Hot Springs resturant. Food was good, service slow but, they do have BEER! From there we went to, I think it is Smugglers cave or mine. Old Hwy 80 at In-Ko-Pah East towards the repeaters. I have been there before and now hold the record for dumping the bike twice on the same hill. Did I mention I had the lightest bike there and one guy (like I said I am bad with names) Mike, saddeled his wife Connie and still out-rode some of us. Kept it upright for the whole ride. I feel I needed the "depends" or "pampers" for dumping the XR650L twice. I had to cut early and had a good time. We did meet Tony, I remembered one, on the way out. I look foward to future rides. For the interested parties. I thought it would be some guys on big dual sports riding 70 miles down the highway and then pulling into a dirt turnout and calling it off road. There were some big bikes, BMW & KTM. The Honda kept up fine, and the only reason we went on the paved road was the dirt route was fenced or for food & gas. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carguy 1 Posted July 13, 2006 Wow, I am having flashbacks. Randy, Thanks for re-posting that ride! That was fun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
