Ramona's for Lunch -- 3/5/16

[jawhitmoyer 0]

After the trip to Mike's fell through, I had posted that I was up for a one day ride, but no one seemed to care. No one but Benny that is, and I am kind of glad it worked out that way.

We met at the gas station in Tecate at 7:30am, and we were off by 8:00am. I was riding my new 250 XC-W, and since it had been a long time since I had ridden a two stroke through the border, I didn't exactly know what to expect. I was also worried there might be a cop on the US side, but luck was with me. We crossed without having to go to customs, and headed south on the highway to the turn off for the Old School route to RSV. We took a couple of wrong turns, and I did manage to drop my bike into a rut that was nearly waist deep, but Benny had some tracks from his brother, so we gave up exploring and went for the sure thing.

We passed through RSV to pick up the Compadre Highway, and then took the left at the (dry) river crossing. It was super dusty but the riding was great...if you know this route then you know what I am talking about. We popped out near Laguna Hanson, which is still pretty full, and headed south for Ramona's. Other than Benny nearly getting taken out by a helmet-less 10 year old on a quad, we didn't see any traffic.

At Ramona's, after 96 miles, Benny's 350 EXC took two gallons, and my 250 took three gallons. This was my first Baja ride on "La Puta," and I had no idea what kind of mileage to expect, so I am glad I put a 4.1 gallon tank on her. We then crossed the road for beer and burritos, which are always tasty and cheap. I think we paid $9 for the both of us.

As we were getting geared back up, two guys rolled in for gas (one guy a KTM 525 and the other on a Honda 450). They did report the trail through El Topo is now open, so I will need to explore that the next time as I have always been turned back at the entrance.

Since it was almost 2pm, and we want to be back by dark, we decided to head north, but by a different way. I thought it would be cool to see if we could find a way on the east side of Laguna Hanson, we headed east out of Ramona's. We did find some cool single track, and rode cross country through some stream beds and across some pastures, but eventually everything was fenced off. On a side note, there is shiny new fencing everywhere, so riding areas are being closed off like in the US.

We headed back to the Compadre Highway and went south through the burned out area. There's a cool route I had done earlier this winter I thought Benny would enjoy, so found it and headed north west. We did come to fork in the road, and I went right when last time I went left. We rode up into a dead end canyon, but did some interesting riding through a mud bog, across a stream (three times), and down some cow trails. In that canyon, I figured out why I always get lost -- when I come to fork in the road, I always take the crappier path in hopes of finding something golden -- but you're never really lost in Baja!

The trail meandered through some nice ups and downs, rocky sections, more pasture, another creek crossing, and eventually back onto the Compadre Highway. When we got to the turn for RSV it was after 5pm, so we decided to slab it back to Tecate. Got across the border in record time, and pulled out of the parking lot just as the sun set.

We covered just over 200 miles without incident. Benny and I have very complimentary riding styles, so I am glad none of you goofballs messed up our mojo. Just kidding...a little.

[Dan Diego 40]

Good write up. Just kidding.

No, really, it was kinda cool.

[beniflas 6]

Good riding with you again Jim.

Troy, if you're reading this you need to get down there ASAP!

Saw a couple bikes heading out of town, they pulled off at a Pemex as we continued on.

Only ran into one locked gate...like Jim said I almost ran into a 10 yr old helmet-less kid on a quad but didn't get any video of it.

GoPro didn't catch the 3ft rain rut that tried to swallow Jims 250 but I got some still shots of the log hopping, water crossing good times.

[350thumper 336]

Nice technique on that log hop....kidding.

Thanks for taking the time to post up pics. I'm glad your taking full use of the border , keep it up. Good job.