T- Well it’s time to get this little postie bike show back on the road!





So we said our farewells to mum and dad and started to sort our bikes out for the next leg of the trip. Rosies Lifan has covered over 30 000 hard km’s and was just starting to develop a knock in the clutch/bearing area during idle. Seeing as these little engines are so cheap we figure it’s almost not worth the time, effort and parts to rebuild them. So we ordered a new one for her and some maintenance parts for Mabel. The lovely couple we had stayed with previously in LA, Edward and Alisa, had invited us to stay with them again if we wanted and had also said we could have all our new bits sent to their place!



Waking up bright and early today, well early anyway, we set off to meet Edward at his office at Scorpion motorcycle apparel. We had decided to buy some new lids as Chantelles was 3 years old, and mine had a crack in it from slapping the bitumen during my last crash. We had tried on and really like the new Scorpion AT-950 dual sport modular helmet! Yay new things!



After cruising through rush hour traffic and picking the new helmets up we headed back to Edward and Alisa’s place. We took our time and 30 km’s took us about 2 hours. Sloooowwwww!





C – I knew my Shark helmet was in need of replacement, but I was horrified at how much the inner layers had deteriorated!! Definitely glad the Scorpion guys could help us out with these helmets! I felt a bit sentimental about my Shark helmet, as it once held Charlie Boormans signature (it is now a very faded black mark on the helmet!) so it was a bit sad to ditch it, but riding with a new snug helmet with zero wind noise is very lovely!



T - We pulled into the garage and carted all the new parts out and unwrapped them all. So many shiny things lay spread out all through the garage. First item on the agenda was a cam chain into Mabels engine. She has a bit of chain slap going on so this will fix that. Ed March and Rachel Lasham had both recommended we use Honda chains as they were good quality.



What a pain in the neck that little job was! Four hours, several bruised and bloodied knuckles later on and the chain was in and everything was lined up. I hope I never have to do that again! Though I must say we did do it without taking the head of the motor off...





Then we put new chain and sprockets plush new cush drive rubbers on and Mabel was done! I took her for a spin up the road and she ran sweet and her drive felt smooth and new again! Woohoo! Fingers crossed I did it right!







Then it was Rosies turn. Her old engine was soon sitting on the floor and her new one was lined up and ready to go in. Edward helped out with the electrics and ensured some trouble free motoring by soldering all her new wires in and the covering them with shrinkwrap! Very fancy pants for our little bikes! Usually I just twitch the wires together and wrap some old greasy electrical tape around them!







Once the motor was in, we tightened the bolts up and kicked her in the guts. She fired right up and apart from now needing a carby tune she seemed to be running sweetly. Just her new chain and sprockets to go on, plus a few odds and ends and Rosie shall be ready to rumble down into Mexico.



By this time I was hanging out for a few dozen cold s so I hopped on Mabes and shot off down to the shops. Mabels engine was purring like a kitten and there was no sound of chain slap going on. Though I do think she needs a clutch adjustment and a valve adjustment next. Sigh. It just never ends with these bikes! But we love them anyways!

C – What a day! It felt like we had been going hard all day and I was exhausted. We were both in need of good scrub and the s were a welcome end to the day.

T - After a few s and some amazing smoked pork dinner it was off to bed. I ached all over from laying on the garage floor and I was extremely happy to roll into bed and sleep it off.

Tomorrow I shall finish putting Rosies bits on and then we shall do some last minute bits and pieces before we head out on Saturday. We have an invite to stay down in San Diego and from there we intend to be over into Baja Mexico on Sunday morning.

T – I was up early and ready to go this morning. Generally when I start working on a bike I like to get the job finished and will stay up all night doing so. Last night though I felt like being a social butterfly and really we aren’t in any kind of rush! So into the garage I went this morning to finish putting Rosie back together.





It wasn’t long before she had her crash bars on and her new chain and sprockets fitted. Then all I needed was for Chantelle to crawl out of bed and take Rosie for a test ride.



C – GREAT start to the day!! I slept in, undisturbed, until 9am. Then, after getting coffee, ventured out into the garage, where TADA! Rosie was all finished and put back together!

T - Eventually, at just after 9am, Chantelle ventured out with coffee and we soon had Rosie backed out into the driveway and purring away like a little kitten. So Chantelle jumped on and off she went.

C – For some reason, I was attached to my little grey engine and I was really worried the engine swap was going to effect to Rosies ‘heart’ somehow. I took her for a short spin and she definitely rides differently... but really, she is just the same old Rosie, right???? The engine certainly purred along and I know that I have to be patient and let it run in before passing judgement!!!!

T - She came back a few minutes later and announced all was well and Rosie felt and rode great! Woohoo. Another successful engine swap!

Then it was time to sit in front of the computers and relax. We had to sort out our Mexican auto insurance plus work out where we were going to actually cross and so on.





C – Alisa gave us a great contact to help us decide which bike insurance company to go with, and we managed to get all the administration stuff sorted. We are both VERY excited about getting across the border and trying out our virtually non-existent Spanish skills. I taught Todd one sentence, which he spurts out at random moments ‘el oso bebe leche’.. I wonder how helpful this will be?!?!?!

T - So now we have everything in order plus a list of documents we need to go and print out and have laminated tomorrow. Then, fingers crossed, we should have everything we need!

Once Edward came home we sat around the pool and sunk a few s with him and Alisa and just chatted and shared some laughs. These two are very chilled out and it was so easy to just relax.







Dinner tonight was Korean BBQ! Yum!!! Followed by a sit around a glowing chimnea. Very nice. A good way to end our day.







Tomorrow we are heading south to stay in San Clemente for the night.

T - It was another goodbye today. It was time for us to begin our journey to the border so we packed up our stuff and then ran a few errands with Alisa and Edward. We had heard that it can sometimes be easier to cross borders if you are in possession of copies of your paperwork etc already rather than racing around trying to find a copy shop. So off to Staples we went to do that. Then we had one last scrummy meal at In-N-Out Burger. Boy am I going to miss the US burgers!





C – Seriously, In-N-Out Burger is such a fantastic burger joint and it was so fun to share our last USA Burger experience at this place with Alisa and Edward.



T - After a quick trip back to Staples, someone had left our drivers licences still in one of the copy machines, we cruised back to Alisa and Ed's place where we finished our packing and gave the bikes a quick once over and a wash with a pressure cleaner. Then it was really time to say goodbye and head out.

Thanks Alisa and Edward! You pair are such an amazing couple and we have been so lucky to have been able to share some time with you both. It was hard to leave but the adventure must go on! Australia is still a long way away yet!

C – Thanks for all the interesting conversations, amazing food and laughs. It really was a pleasure to spend time with you both and learn about your adventures, past and planned!





T - We set our GPS for an address in San Clemente where we had an offer for a place to stay for the night. We had met our new host, James, when he was cycling across the States and we were temporary neighbours in a camp in Gillette Wyoming.

We seemed to make no headway at all in the crazy traffic. Constantly waiting at red lights for what seemed eternity. The distance we had to ride was just 110 km's, but it took 5 hours to get there. With just one short fuel and drink break. Unreal!



C – I will admit to finding the LA traffic very frustrating today. The endless traffic lights, all red of course, and the endless four way stops. A consequence of avoiding the mass of freeways that seamlessly delivers travellers to their destinations. It really felt like we were making no progress and my itchy feet where not happy with this!



T - Finally though we pulled up in James and Chris' driveway and soon we were settled into our room and had an icy cold in hand to wash away the traffic dirt. Their house is simply gorgeous, with beautiful wood panelling, a penny coin floor, and character up the wahzoo!





James cooked up a feast of ribs for us. Once again we were being spoilt by our hosts! We love it and appreciate it so much every time! We know that once we get back into tenting it that we will be back to our camp food diet. And unfortunately such things as ribs, tri-tip, pancakes, korean BBQ and so many others just wont feature to heavily on our menu!





We had a great evening of chatting and hanging out with these guys and I even had the chance to take a friend of James and Chris', Jakes, 300cc Vespa for a spin around the block! What a fun little bike!





C – Chris’ mum was also there with her beautiful Golden Lab, Marley, and another friend of theirs, Gina. Everyone was super welcoming and it was so interesting to hear everyone stories. I was excited to learn that Gina had been seriously considering getting her motorcycle license, so of course, I did my best to encourage her and told her about all the amazing ADV women out there.

T - Eventually I couldn't stay awake much longer and had to go to bed. It is possibly going to be a big day tomorrow, if we can cross the border and I need my beauty sleep!

T - Well I slept like a log last night. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow I am sure! I was up around 5 am this morning and put it down to the excitement of being through to Mexico today. Hopefully! I tried to wake Chantelle up by continuously poking her in the head and then tapping her on the shoulder. For some reason she didn’t seem to like that...

So eventually when Chantelle decided she had had enough and would get up we wandered out into the kitchen where James greeted us with hot fresh coffee and some tasty breakfast!

We sat for a while and chatted before finally we figured we really should get a wriggle on. It was around 140km’s today for us to get the Otay Mesa border crossing and both of us knew that it would take ages, possibly that we may even decide to not do it today depending on the time we got there.

We said goodbye to James and Chris and kicked our bikes into gear. It was time to get on the road!



C – A big thanks to James and Chris for their amazing hospitality and wonderful conversation. Meeting people like you has became the focus of our trip and we so enjoying hearing about other peoples adventures and life choices.

T - Well, the ride was long. Very long. We ended up stuck on a section of the I5 interstate. Which sucked balls! We rode over on the shoulder for 20 km’s. Dodging bits of tyre, wire, bolts, steel plate, dead animals, and various other pieces of junk. Finally we picked the right place to exit, every other exit had lead us into a Marine Corp base, and soon we were coasting along at a sedate pace along the sea side.



I am still quite surprised at the masses of traffic on the road here in California. The state must never sleep!! So we sat surrounded by hot cars and texting drivers all the way down into downtown San Diego, the GPS having decided we should go that way, and out the other side before coming to the border town of Otay Mesa.



C – The ride was indeed long, with most of our journey once again through streets packed with red lights and stop signs. It did give me a good chance though to run Rosie’s new engine through its paces, up the gears, down the gears, so hopefully it is now well and truly worn in! She is running like a dream and is starting to feel like Rosie again, that ol’ pluckiness coming back in droves!



T - It was quite late by now, 3pm, and we thought it best to wait until the morning before we cross as we weren’t sure how long the paperwork for our visa and bikes might take, plus we also then wanted to ride to Ensenada to a camp we had picked out there. So tonight we hotel it!

Tomorrow we shall hit the border nice and early, hopefully, and get under way. So America, you have to put up with us for one more night!

T - I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited. Mexico was so close that I could have reached out and touched it. I was so keen to be there!

I fidgeted and rolled around this morning and managed to not wake Chantelle up until 630. But then I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to get moving. The lights came on and I threw my clothes on. Chantelle grizzled and glared at me from under the blankets. Clearly she wasn’t in the mood for my energy at that moment.

C – I didnt get too much sleep either and it felt like I had just fallen asleep when Todd decided it was time to wake up! We did want to get going early, in case of any delays at the border or obtaining our vehicle permits, so I did get up as quickly as I could and get moving.

T - Eventually we were ready to go and we packed up our bikes for the last time in the States. Then we had a bite of breakfast, mmm cornflakes were on offer today, before finally we climbed on and headed for Mexico.



We zipped down the road and pulled up in a long line of cars waiting to cross over. We figured that it may take an hour or two, but a car pulled in behind us and beeped at us and the driver waved her arms at us, telling us to cut out of line and just go for it. So we did. And 2 minutes later we were pulled up on the side of the road at the entrance to the highway, in Mexico. Where the hell was the border crossing? No customs? No immigration????? We sat there wondering how we managed to get through the border without even having to stop.

We knew we at least had to get some tourist visa’s so Chantelle went off in search of the immigracion building. She returned 5 minutes later grinning. We had indeed missed it. But the extremely helpful Mexican border guards soon had us heading in the right direction and a heap of smiles and $25 later and we each had our tourist visas for the next 180 days. This seemed to easy.

C – When I left Todd with the bikes to go and see if I could find a passport control, I found a guard and said ‘buenas dias’ to which he replied something that I didn’t understand. Not one bit. Not one word. Ok, maybe I didn’t learn enough Spanish?!?!?!?!?!? After a few of these interactions, I found where we meant to stop. The whole Otay Mesa border crossing is under a lot of construction, especially on the Mexican side, hence our confusion! It took us all of five minutes to get our six month visa!



T - We wandered back to the bikes, scratching our heads and grinning at each other. Is this the easiest border crossing in the world or what? Then it was time to sort out the bikes. To ride here legally we need to temporarily import the bikes into Mexico and purchase a permit for them. So armed with some information courtesy of Rachel Lasham of wanderonahonda.com we were soon walking into the correct building in the correct part of town.

We were the only people in there and the lovely man behind the counter soon had us processed and we had our permits in hand plus a $200 deposit paid, which we get back when we leave Mexico, and we were back on our way.



C – Another easy, peasy bureaucratic process done and dusted. Is Mexico really this easy? I have never been in an immigration or government official building which had such a calm feel to it. The staff were relaxed and happy.

We returned to our now legal motorcycles and set the GPS for Ensenada, on the coast. We thought we would have a slow day, travelling less than a 100km, then camping in Ensenada to check it out.



T - I had been led to believe that we needed to ride aggressively in Mexico to ensure we could safely ride on the road here. But the drivers were courteous and allowed us to slot in and change lanes whenever we needed too. The amazing thing with Mexico that we noticed straight away today is how incredibly relaxed the whole place feels. There is no edginess to it here, even in Tijuana!





We set our GPS for the libre, or free, road and soon we were cruising down a stunning coast line towards Ensenada. There was a toll road that ran right beside us for most of the way before we eventually veered inland and crossed a small hilly section. Then it was back to the coast for more stunning scenery before we landed in Ensenada.



Talk about tourist town! There were people everywhere! This place reminds me so much of Phuket in Thailand. It had a similar energy too. So here we changed the last of our USD to Peso’s and did a little shopping, and bought a sim card, before a quick ride around and headed south a little more for a camp site. But first we had to eat. So we headed away from the tourists and found a little Taco shop on a corner. We both ordered some ‘tacos de perscado’, fish tacos. Which were freaking damn amazing by the way! So we had two each!





We have had so many people wave and say hello to us today. It has been a great transition to a new country, a new culture and a new language. People shake our hands, pull up next to us in traffic to exchange a greeting, mostly in Spanish. Just lovely. And every where there is life and smiles. I am ashamed to say that I had already formed an opinion of Mexico and especially Tijuana before I even left the US. And my thinking was wrong. So wrong. This is an amazing place already and I can not wait to see more of it!

C – Leaving Ensenada and the tourist stuff behind, we headed south along highway 1, turning out on to the headland and travelling on the BC23. As we rode, the views were quite sensational, looking back across the bay to Ensenada. We drove right to the end, before turning around to pick one of the many ‘tourist’ camps we had spied along the way.



T - Our camp tonight was out on a headland near Ensenada at a town called La Bufadora. It is costing us $4.50 for the both of us to camp in a ‘palapa’ which is a shelter covered in palm fronds. We were told to drive our bikes right inside where we had access to power and had shelter from the wind. Love it!

So we setup our.. well nothing really as we will just sleep straight on the floor, and sat down for a cup of tea and stared out at the view.







We were in Vietnam a while back and I loved how we could ride our scooters straight into our hotel rooms each night! So now Mabel will be all cosy and can sleep next to me!

Tomorrow we might head south a little more and maybe sleep on a beach.

Enjoying the trip folks, keep it coming

Cheers mate, will do!!!!

T - As the sun peeped over the horizon I crawled out of the tent to welcome our first full day in Mexico. It alternated between freezing cold and bloody hot last night. We were originally going to sleep on the floor of the palapa but as it chilled off over the evening we decided it would be warmer for us if we set the tent up and slept inside it. There was a fair old breeze blowing in off of the ocean and even though we were hidden away inside the little thatched hut, the cold managed to work its way in.

At some time during the night the breeze had dissipated and that’s when it warmed up nicely. We both ended up kicking our sleeping bags off until early this morning when it cooled off again.

C – I was awoken last night by the chattering calls of a number of coyotes. I was laying in the dark, smiling to myself, listening to their amazing noise. Their calls were interspersed by a dog barking, who sounded as though he was either hanging out with coyotes or chasing them. It was really cool to lay there and track their movements by the chattering and barking and I made up a lovely story about how they were all friends and just out having a good ol’ time together!! When I first woke up in the morning light, they were back again, this time with no barking dog, but I surprised to hear them so close to the settlement in the day light.



T - We packed up the tent and stuff while we decided what we might like to do today. Ensenada was a bit touristy for us so we thought we might continue southwards. So we had our breakfast while we stared out at the amazing beach view.



We headed back for the main road. Well the only road really! There seems to be one road that cuts south with side roads coming off of it that head out to the beaches and little towns. There was a little traffic on the road but nothing too bad and people just breezed by us quite happily.



C – I have always enjoyed riding and driving in non western countries. The road rules are similar, but different. The roads in Mexico have been so calm so far. The driving very unaggressive, with drivers picking the best moment to overtake, and then just doing it. The drivers are also giving us a lot of room, sitting well back when they are waiting to pass and passing nice and wide. We didn’t really have this experience in the US of A, when drivers seemed to hesitate on when to pass and then pick the worst possible moment.

T - The road climbed and wound through some lovely hills and soon we came to a cross road. We decided to follow it out to the coast and see where it went, and hopefully to find some more amazing tacos.....

C – We had our first experience of road works in Mexico, cruising through two long stretches where the roads had been completely ripped up, with a temporary dirt road put in for vehicles. We giggled a lot riding down these ‘roads’, bumping and bouncing along with dirt flying everywhere! We got lots of whistles, waves and ‘hola’s as we road through too! Everyone seems so friendly here!!!

T - The road wandered west for around 20km’s throwing a big heap of topes, nasty huge speed bumps like I have never seen before, out in front of us. These behemoths force us back into second gear so we just crawl over them. It is quite easy to see where so many people before us have hit them a bit too hard and there are masses of deep gouges out of them. I hit one on Mabel that was so well camouflaged that the only time I knew it was there was when Mabel and I were flung into the air! Sorry Mabel.



The road petered out and became a rocky, corrugated, sandy mess and we followed that along for a little bit. There was a few signs for a bar at the end of the road and we thought maybe we could get some food there. All along the edge of this road was a small cliff that dropped straight down into the sea. It was so beautiful!



C – It was wonderful to get back on some dirt again, and even more wonderful that not once did I feel any trepidation about this. Sometimes I get some nerves when first getting back onto dirt if I haven’t ridden off road for a while. But I was pleased this wasn’t the case yesterday. I am really starting to feel more confident in my abilities and Rosies too.

T - Well there was no food at the end of this road so we turned tail and headed back for the main road and continued south. We were now getting into more rural Baja and this was the Mexico I was hoping for! Small colourful towns full of people going about their business. Old trucks and cars belching smoke and loaded to the gills. Bliss!



We found a cool little taco stop and sat down for some lunch. The smell of cooking food for the last 10 km’s had been driving us both crazy and we just had to eat! The lady here was obviously used to gringos turning up who didn’t speak much Spanish as she just said ‘Tacos?’ to which we replied ‘Si cuatro tacos por favor!’ See we are learning! The tacos were again just freaking amazing and we scoffed them down! 4 tacos for lunch stuffed full of pork and fresh salsa for $5! It was hard to not have another 2 but we both held back as we were just being greedy!

We continued on. Not knowing where we would end up today. Eventually we decided we had to make a plan as to where we might stop for the night. So we had a google search and found a camp spot another hour up the road where we could pitch our tent for $5. Plus there they had a bar! I feel like a !

We found our camp spot just a short walk from the beach, around 2km’s, and setup our tent in the howling wind. Then we headed over to the bar for a cerveza. We had drunk two s each when we were then invited to a table of Americans. We chatted the night away and they kept buying us s. I’m going to be unwell tomorrow I suspect...





C – I managed to sneak one of my s in front of Todd, so he ended up drinking an extra. Still, I was given a freaking amazing margharita, which was super strong, so I managed to stick that under Tottis nose and so had half of that too!

Finally I couldn’t drink anymore and had to go to bed.

C – But first we did need to eat something, so we quickly whipped up some rice and mushrooms, scoffed and fell into a tipsy slumber.

T - Tomorrow we shall continue on southwards. We are having a dilemma. We think we should stop and enjoy some days off but we are enjoying being back on the bikes. Plus we like to keep moving. There is just too much to see!

T - Alcohol makes for a fast easy sleep. But with it comes weird dreams! So I spent most of the night either deeply asleep or wide eyed awake wondering what the hell was that dream about! But in the end we both woke up as the sun rose feeling nicely refreshed although a little fuzzy brained.

We cooked up a breakfast of porridge and strawberries before packing up and heading out. We had no destination in mind today but we were mindful that we wanted to be off the road by dusk before all the crazy drivers came out.



We stopped and topped up our fuel and had a chat to the lady at the bowser, fuel here comes with service, which gave us a chance to practise our very limited spanglish. Then it was back onto the main road and south!







C – I was so proud of myself this morning, as I managed to say to the lady at the fuel station ‘Good Morning, please fill it up’ and then managed to understand and answer some of her questions in espanol! Woohoo! She was very surprised when I told her ‘yes, it is my motorbike and yes, me and my moto come from Australia’ Success!



T - It was a nice ride to start with and we cruised through a few small towns. At one of them we decided to stop and buy some groceries. So while Chantelle went and looked for ‘proper food’ I went and checked out the selection of sweet treats! And subsequently ended up with a yummy donut like thing covered in cinnamon sugar and a little bottle of chocolate milk! Yummmmmmm!





C – I just love cruising around grocery stores in other countries. So many interesting things!!! The selection of bean mixes was amazing and after selecting a few and some fresh fruit it was time to practice some more Spanish with the checkout lady!!

T - We continued on our southerly course as the road curved further inland and soon the villages stopped and the scenery changed. Gigantic cacti towered above us and the ground was covered in massive smooth boulders. It was oh so beautiful! The road curved up high and some of our views went on forever. We both got excited every time we saw the sign that said ‘Curvas Peligrosa’ because we knew it meant dangerous curves! That can only equal fun on these bikes!







C – The ride was simply stunning. Up, down, around to the left, around to the right. It was perfect riding and perfect riding weather. Very mild and the bikes were loving this cooler weather. The scenery was just spectactular and changed throughout the day from complete nothingness, to forests of cacti and massive rocks as far as you could see. What a road!!!! Highway 1 is in pretty good condition really, on par with most US minor roads really. We had a few moments of wondering which lanes trucks wanted to drive in, as they often drive in the middle when there are no vehicles coming the other way. This makes for a few moments ‘are they going to move’!!









T - We had a couple of military check points that we passed through and the young soldiers were very friendly and we were only stopped for a very short time before we rode onwards.

C – At our second checkpoint, the soldiers asked if they could inspect our bikes. So, we jumped off of the bikes and they began their very cursory search. The gentleman searching my bike asked me to open my pannier which contains my clothes. He spotted my underwear bag and very quickly looked away, indicating that he was satisfied with that pannier!

T - Then Rosie decided it was time for a flat tyre. So we spent half an hour getting reacquainted with our tyre irons and Rosies rear end. This flat tyre must be putting us close to 20 flats so far. Crazy! The majority of those have been on Rosie. We patched the tiny little pinprick hole in her tube and soon had her back on the road.







There was absolutely nothing out here on this stretch of the road. Just the odd cactus and rolling hills. Absolutely stunning! Every now and then we would pass a ute on the side of the road selling gasolina out of some jerry cans. There hadn’t been a fuel station for a little while.



We decided it was time to start thinking about where to camp. The sun was sinking and the chill was coming up. So we headed for a town called Santa Rosaliita. There was a sign on the main road indicating that there was camping there.



When we rolled into town it looked deserted. And there was clearly no campgrounds here that we could see! So Chantelle went into a shop and in spanglish she managed to ask for camp grounds. The lady in the shop said we could basically camp anywhere we liked in town.

While we were sitting outside wondering if we should chance riding onto the next town or camp in town two cars turned up to say hello. Three young smiling faces greeted us from the VW camper and Toyota Landcruiser. They were also looking for a camp and knew of one up the track a bit and invited us along with them. We were basically right on the end of our fuel range with Chantelle already onto her reserve tank but we thought stuff it and followed them anyway.

C –We are both a little perplexed about Rosies fuel situation... I normally switch to reserve around the 300km mark, but yesterday I had only done 230km. Mabel still has the expected amount of fuel left. We need to investigate and work out why. The concern now is that I usually get at least 150km out of my reserve. Right now, we don’t know what I am going to get out of it and if its less than 120km, I may well run out before we find gas!

T - After a ride down a super rough track and through some beach sand we turned up at a camp with some palapas right on the beach! It was a gorgeous spot and we got to see the sun set over the sea. Bliss!





C - We were really glad to have met these wonderful, three young gentleman from California. They are all adventuring about Mexico, with plans to head to Patagonia. We enjoyed chatting with them immensely, and it was clear that they were super lovely, intelligent guys.. and funny!!! And, thankfully, one of them has extra fuel and has offered to give me some!

T - We sat around and chatted for a while before having dinner and heading to bed.

Tomorrow we might have a shorter day. Guerrero Negro is our next destination and it is only 120 km’s away. Chantelle has about 100k’s of fuel left......

You must be good, even I understood that
Loving the reports and pics guys

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

T - It was lovely sleeping right on the edge of the beach. The sound of the surf helped to send me to sleep. Being an Aussie and having spent 90% of my life living on or near the coast means that I find the sea very soothing and comforting.

We rose just as the sun did and set about making a cuppa and some breaky. The guys next door were also up and we wandered over to chat to them while we ate. They were also leaving the beach today and even though they were heading in the same direction as us they would probably go a little further than we would.







Lucky for us one of them, Josh, very kindly gave us a bit of fuel for Rosie. Which meant we would pretty much make it to the next fuel stop. Thanks Josh!

C – After a very relaxing evening and watching a beautiful sunset over the ocean, it was time to head off again. We were both keen to reach the Sea of Cortez on the eastern side of the Baja California, as everyone kept telling us it was warm and not windy over there. The temperatures had been quite chilly over this side and every time we got near the ocean the wind was strong and gusty.

T - Then we packed up and after some goodbyes we rode down the nasty rough sandy track that bought us all the way in last night.





We made good time and eventually, running on nothing but fumes, we coasted into a Pemex gas stop. Phew. Lesson learnt! Fill up at every available stop! With full tanks we pointed our bikes towards the town of San Ignacio. The road taking us down to a place called Guerrero Negro and then right across the peninsula and onto the coast of Cortez del mar.







C – We passed more military checkpoints, each time being waved past. We seem to be passing through one every day, sometimes they stop and ask us some cursory questions, but mostly we get waved through.

T - We rode through the coastal town of Guerrero Negro (try to say that because we cant) where we contemplated stopping for the day. But it was fairly early on and we decided to have some lunch at a taco stand and then head further on. It was here we were ripped off for the first time! The tacos came to $20MEX each but as we left we saw they were meant to be $15MEX each. Well that’s another lesson learned! As travellers we have come to accept that we will be ripped off occasionally. It’s the nature of the beast. But from now on we will ask for the prices first!

The road from Guerrero Negro to San Ignacio was flat and sandy and pretty much uneventful. We rode and rode for what felt like forever. The kilometres on Mabel’s odometer seemed to be frozen in place!

C – It really felt like we would never reach San Ignacio this afternoon.. the road just kept going and going. I was completely surprised when we rounded a corner and saw a gathering of palm trees amongst the desert.





T - But eventually we were there. Palm trees greeted us in this desert like area and lush greenery was everywhere! It was truly unexpected and very very beautiful to see. So we checked into a hotel that also allowed camping in its grounds. We paid $150MEX which was a tad pricey, but also only equal to about $10 Aussie dollars, which gave us wifi, a pool, showers and power.

C – The Rice and Beans hotel was actually quite nice, and the restaurant/bar smelled like it served pretty good food. The promise of a swim in a cold pool and a hot shower were enough to sell us on paying the $150MEX to pitch our tent!

T - We setup camp and dashed off to the local mercado, market, where we grabbed a each and some chips to enjoy while sticking our feet in the pool. After which I decided I might like to take a nice hot shower to wash some of the road grime off. Well, the first shower room I went into had no hot water tap. I became suspicious immediately of the likelihood of a ‘hot’ shower. The second door was locked shut and finally when I was in the third stall I did in fact discover that the water was hot. Well it would have been if it was in actual fact hot. But it wasn’t. No worries. I had a cold shower which was quite refreshing, even if my nipples were so hard from the cold that they could have cut glass.

I had a giggle to myself as I remembered being in Vietnam and parts of Africa where a hot shower may mean anything but!







It was a nice relaxing afternoon lounging about and watching the world go by. We cooked a nice dinner of pasta and beans and then it was time to crawl into the tent for some sleep time.

Tomorrow we head to the town of Santa Rosalia which is on the east coast of the Baja. Both of us are hoping for some more beach camping!

T - The sun on the tent woke us up today. Plus there was some roosters crowing away in the distance. It was a pretty good place to camp and even though we were right on the highway most of the traffic had stopped by about 10pm.



While Chantelle cooked up some breakfast I set about putting our camp away and checking the bikes over. One of Mabel’s valves is a bit noisy so one of these days I will actually tend to that. I had only just checked them a few days ago and her exhaust valve had been way out, but I suspect her intake one also needs looking at again.





We thought we might have a ride into the town before we left and have a look around. I am glad we did. San Ignacio has a beautiful little town square where some young kids were singing softly and playing music. There was a gorgeous old mission there too and we both stuck our heads inside the old sagging wooden doors to have a bo-peep at the beautiful carvings and architecture of the place.







We had a chat, and by we I mean Chantelle, to a couple of lovely gentlemen who were interested in our bikes. They both rode too and one of them proudly showed us his neat little Yamaha XT250. Quite a bit bigger than our little bikes. After our bit of Spanish ran out and we said adios before riding down a few backroads to see what life looked like here. Very beautiful it turned out! Then it was back onto the road and across some mountains before we eventually saw the Sea of Cortez.

C – The ride out of San Ignacio was just as beautiful as the town. The desert turned to green scrub and it seemed to became more lush as we cruised along mountainous roads towards the coast. I was very excited as I began to feel the temperature warm. The slight increase in humidity was very welcome also!





T - The beautiful blue of the ocean looked so striking against the brilliant bright green of the land, even through the smoke of several garbage burning fires.





We had a little ride up and down the streets of Santa Rosalia before I said lets head out for somewhere to camp along the coast. I totally forgot that Chantelle had wanted to spend the night there in town. About 10 km’s up the road I was insisting we go back as I felt pretty guilty about it all. But Chantelle had spied the Bay of Conception a little further up the road and was happy to stay there on a beach for the night.







Along the way we stopped into the town of Mulege to have a bit of a gander and ended up totally confused as we became more and more ensconced into the weird one way traffic system of the town. Lanes would switch from the left hand side of the road to the right and become one way all of a sudden with out warning. At one stage I had to swing a u-turn and go back down the road as I was going the wrong way which in turn meant Chantelle had to swing back suddenly too and almost into the path of an oncoming car. It was mayhem and we soon were racing out of there! Fearful for our lives and our sanity!



C – The roads were very confusing in Mulege indeed, but it was my fault I didn’t see the car behind. It was one of those ‘Oh shit’ moments when I knew I was in the wrong. The poor local lady must of thought ‘bloody tourists’. The town was very beautiful though!

T - Further along the highway we stopped for lunch at a little roadside stall. Today we were determined to try something other than tacos. So Chantelle enquired about the price of a burrito, $16mex, and we tried some of them. I had two fish ones and Chantelle had two pulled beef ones. OMG. They were amazing! So fresh and tasty! I then got a little greedy, and in the poorest spanglish ever asked for two empanadas. The poor lady who bought them to our table was feverishly trying to ask me a question and was using her hands to get her point across. I think she wanted to know if we wanted sugar on them, or if we wanted them warmed up, or if we were Italian racing car drivers, or what our take was on the theory of localisation of global warming in Eastern European nations. In the end I had so say sorry but I am pathetic at speaking Espanol and she grinned and said ‘Ok’ and left me with two very tasty strawberry and apple, we think, empanadas. Nom nom!



After that we continued on and the gorgeous Bay of Conception was soon upon us. Wow. What a glittering magnificent little jewel it was too! And we had our pick of many stunning sheltered beaches with vacant palapa shelters on them. In the end we elected for a beach called Playa de Requeson.

C – We selected this beach because it was the only one without anyone else there. It was beautiful and calm, protected by a small island right across from the beach. The palapas were old and in need of some repair, but we knew it would be a cheap camp for such a beautiful spot.





We selected a palapa to set up our camp in and soon both of us were enjoying a swim in the warm water and little fish were nipping the dead skin off of my hands. Very nice!

We had some company on the beach. A lovely little dog that we named Lola. She was so friendly and happy to have company and it broke both our hearts to have to think about leaving her here alone in the morning.









C – Little Lola was very sweet and was very excited to play with us. She didn’t leave our side all afternoon, even hanging out in the water with us. She did desert us everytime another car pulled in – I suspect this is how she survives, by checking out every tourist that comes by and seeing what treats they have on offer. She certainly didn’t belong to the people who managed the camp area.. poor little lonely Lola!

We were approached by two guys as the sun was setting, trying to sell us a whole range of items, from fresh clams to silver rings, earrings and blankets. We managed to get rid them of them pretty quickly, as one was so intoxicated he could hardly stand. Lola didn’t like them either, barking alot, and Todd asked who she belonged to and they replied ‘Oh, she is the fisher dog’. We weren’t really sure what that meant!





T - So we enjoyed our time on the beach and swam and played with Lola. We were the only people there and I managed to sneak in a quick nudie swim! It was a great way to end the day and by the time the sun had set we were both ready to hit the sack.

T - I cant believe that we had the whole beach to ourselves last night. It was so quiet and I had a great sleep. I did get up in the night to take some photos, or try to, of the stars that were out in force. It was such a brilliantly clear night!



Lola had befriended Chantelle yesterday and slept on Chantelles side of the tent all night, pressed hard up against the fabric in fact. She seems to be a lonely little soul and Chantelle had trouble sleeping all night knowing that we were almost abandoning Lola here today. I felt very sad about it too. I had prepared myself mentally for the animal side of things for places such as this, but it still left me a little broken hearted to see this beautiful dog who just wanted to love someone and be loved back. Chantelle however had not prepared herself at all and I could see that she will struggle greatly on this trip in regards to the animal side of things.



We had a very fond and prolonged goodbye to Lola and rode away. We had poured all of our water into a bowl for her as there was none around that we could see. She ran after us down the beach and along the road for a little and I had to tell Chantelle not to look in the mirror. Bye Lola. If we could take you we would.







C – It broke my heart to leave her like that. She has injured herself at some point and struggles badly with her hips and one her back legs. I was so sad that I couldn’t get her fixed and make sure she had a home where she was loved every night. I had a few tears as we rode away, knowing she was trying to chase us down the beach with her injured hind legs.

We did think we discovered why the guys called her the ‘fisher dog’. We watched this morning as she excitedly dug a deep hole, then flicked out a crab and munched it down. She then stood dead still in the water and was just using her peripheral vision to watch the numerous fish swimming by. Maybe she survives on fish?!?!?

T - The road wound from our little beach up into some mountains that could have been lifted straight out of Jurassic Park. There were some wisps of clouds clinging to the highest slopes and the whole picture was stunning. The east coast of the Baja kicks the west coasts ass!







We wound along a heap of sharp curves, dodging oncoming traffic and zipped through clouds of butterflies! The things were everywhere! Bright yellows and golds, they filled the bushes and unfortunately some of them tried to fill my helmet. But they only got as far as my visor. It was quite incredible to see so many of them fluttering across the road.





C – We rode through the stunning scenery into the town of Loreto. The town looked more American than a lot we have seen and it was then noticed it was a very popular town with tourists. We did some grocery shopping, got some fuel and topped up our phone credit. The town had a seediness to it though. It felt like a town where you wouldn’t get away without being ripped off at least once. It was certainly not a place I wanted to stay, so we pushed on, thinking we would ride a further 120km to Ciudad Insurgente.



We climbed more mountains, thoroughly enjoying the curvey, mountain road as we climbed in elevation to 350mtrs. Soon enough, we were cruising into Ciudad Insurgente. We stopped for lunch and then decided to push onto Ciudad Constitucion.





T - We decided to stop for the day and get a hotel in the town of Cuidad Constitucion. We are both in need of a laundry and a shower. It’s quite warm out at the moment and I have been sweating up a storm. So we shall do our laundry and by some oil for our bikes while we are stopped for the day.



Then tomorrow we shall probably get to La Paz. There are some bikers behind us that we have had some contact with on the internet and we are hoping to catch up with them before they get onto the ferry to Mazatlan.

T - The hotel was really quite busy last night. By the time we woke up today the carpark was totally full. We sat on the floor of our room and ate some tortillas smeared with peanut butter. We didn’t want to start up our camping stove in our room in case we set of a fire alarm, so instead we settled on the tortillas.

We left the hotel and headed further south. Our next port of call today was in La Paz. It was only a short 210km ride away.

C – I thought a lot about Lola again last night. The instant connection I had with her was really intense and a little weird. She is such a special little dog... really, there is something magical about that dog.

T - The road there was fairly straight and not terribly exciting though. Plus it was quite warm. We were both starting to feel quite bored as we rode along and then Chantelle did something stupid! She asked Rosie to give her some entertainment as she was bored. So Rosie did exactly that. Less that 30 seconds later.



C – Seriously... Rosie obeyed me instantly the little witch. I realise it was my fault for tempting fate but the ride was really, really boring! I started to feel the now VERY familiar sway in the back end.....



T - Another flat tyre. Sigh. We pulled off the road and put another patched tube in. We are getting to the point where we need new tubes now. Hopefully we can find some in La Paz. After fixing Rosies tyre under a baking hot sun we set off again. For 2 more km. Then Rosie had another flat. I was fuming now. This wasn’t fun any more.





C – Thats it, I declared! That devil tube is going in the bin. The tube we put in after the first flat this morning has let us down every single time we have used it. We find the leaks and patch it, but the damn thing still lets us down every time. We re-test it, re-patch it, but next time it does the exact same thing. DEVIL tube!

T - I pulled off the wheel and put another tube in. Not even bothering to fix the one that was in there. Eventually, soaked in sweat, we had Rosie back on the road. However my socket ratchet had fallen apart into the dirt, probably from overuse, so I hope we don’t get any more flats between here and La Paz.





C – By this time it was heading on for 1pm, we were both hot, hot, hot and sweating buckets. I day dreamed about lunch and icy cold water for the rest of the ride.



T - We rode through masses of roadworks. The sandy dusty roads throwing up huge clouds of fine dust as trucks rumbled along it. The dust stuck to us and it managed to get into everything. So much for having been clean and freshly laundered!

Finally we made it into La Paz. We wanted to stay in a hotel again. Both of us were exhausted. We need some new tubes, some new tools and to do some bike maintenance. Mabel has been making a tapping noise on startup for the couple of months and at first I suspected the cam chain. But upon replacing that it still is there. Only when she is cold though. Not when she is warm. I suspect some piston slap. We will see.

C – As we rolled into town, we saw the dreaded Walmart. We quickly stopped, as we able to park in the shade. Looking like something a dust storm had spewed up, we dragged ourselves into the air conditioning and found sushi, icy cold beverages and even some flan! We sat in the shade next to the bikes and slowly began to perk up whilst we downed our lunch. We also managed to provide entertainment for numerous families as they went about their Walmart experience. Perhaps we will be the ‘people of Walmart’ in Mexico!

We found a cheap hotel on line and set the GPS. The hotel turned out to be really lovely, with a super lovely gentleman behind the desk. I was excited by the prospect of a nice shower and had a giggle to myself. At last nights cheap hotel, we had hot showers but the wifi didnt actually work. Tonight, we get great wifi, but cold showers!





After freshening up and chilling out for a while, we ventured further into the city to find some dinner. We found a roadside cafe where we had our first taste of tostadas with carne asada. AMAZING. I think I enjoyed these more than anything else I have eaten in Mexico! YUM YUM! Dinner cost us the massive sum of $97MEX (which is about $5US).











Today felt like a massive day for me, I don’t think I drank enough water. I was very glad when it was time to snuggle down into bed and get to sleep!

T - Tomorrow we are going to head down towards Cabo San Lucas on the southern point of the Baja.

T - Today we were heading for the very bottom of the Baja. Cabo San Lucas. I had a vision in my head of it looking very much like Phuket. Full of westerners and towering resort blocks. But we both want to do the loop down and check out the ride.

Firstly though we had to buy some bibs and bobs in town. So off to the Honda shop we went. It is time for us to buy some new tubes as ours are patched like mad. Getting flats is a way of life when you spend 90% of your time riding on the shoulder!

It was already warming up by the time we had the bikes packed up and were heading into town. It promised to be a warm one! If we stopped in traffic for any length of time I would break out into an awesome sweat. We found the Honda shop but unfortunately they didn’t have any tubes in the size we needed. So they sent us a few blocks away where we would get some.

On the way there we took wrong turns, rode the wrong way down one way streets, stopped at traffic lights halfway across intersections and generally just stuffed it all up. The roads and signals here were so confusing. But nobody seemed to pay us any attention. Bloody tourists hey!

Tubes in hand we again made a mess of our riding as we headed to Walmart to grab some bananas for lunch and a heap of water to carry on our bikes. Water is the one thing we are always careful to carry. Living in Australia does that to us!

C – The most surprising thing about this visit to Walmart was that we went in a different entrance to last time and noticed they sell motorbikes!! What??!?!? We had a chat to a guy who said they are Chinese manufactured bikes, but assembled in Mexico, and yep, sold by Walmart! Weird! After spending the whopping sum of $77MEX (about $5AUD) on six litres of water, six bananas, two fresh rolls and a empanada (for Todd of course!!) we ventured back out into the warm day.



T - We headed out of the city and after getting lost a few times and riding in circles we were finally free of La Paz, for now. We were going to be back possibly tomorrow as we want to get ready to catch the ferry over to mainland Mexico.



The ride down to Cabo was pretty, but damn it was hot! Riding into some of the valleys was like riding into a furnace and we made sure to stop and give our bikes a chance to cool down. We had a pit stop for lunch in a partially abandoned Pemex station where we ate an amazing banana sandwich. Mmmmm mmm! Fresh sliced banana into a freshly baked roll! So good!!



As we cruised along a bit further we hit a big heap of curves. We raced around them, laying the bikes over. So much fun! The road was beating heat back up at us and the slight wind had also warmed right up. Then it was Mabels turn. I rounded a corner and her bum slid out. Not because I was going too fast, or because there was crap on the road. She had a flat. We had nowhere to fix it on the side of the road as there was no shoulder at that particular point. Now Mabel generally has a reason for her flats. Three inch nails, wood staples, you know, that kind of stuff.

C – We ended up having to ride down a vegetated embankment to get off the road in order to suss out Mabels tyre. I am sure cars going past where wondering how on earth we ended up down there! There was a few choice words said when we realised Mabel had a flat. No shade, in the heat, with nowhere to stop. Completely Mabels style! She always picks the busiest road with the least amount of shoulder to play silly games!!! Although I couldn’t be too tough on her after Rosies little episode yesterday!



T - When we pulled the tube out I could barely hang onto it. The tube was red hot to touch. The leak was from an old patch on the tube that had come apart. It looked as though the glue had just melted off! Not to worry though, we had new tubes and I put one straight back in.

Eventually we hit suburbia. It got really really busy. Then we started to see the resorts. Oh no. There were so many new hotels being built that I lost count. And we weren’t even in Cabo proper yet! The resorts lined the beachside and soon we could see three massive cruise ships laying at anchor just off of the coast. We were in Cabo.



C – We were sure Cabo San Lucas was not what we were looking for in our Mexico experience, but I also didn't want to leave the Baja without at least seeing it. I had planned to camp up before or after we reached Cabo, to avoid staying in the most expensive town on the Baja. The coast was stunning and I can see why so many tourists are attracted to visiting San Juan del Cabo, Los Cabos and Cabo San Lucas. There is an abundance of hotels, beautiful beaches and lots of western oriented shops and experiences. The ride actually reminded me a lot of the drive between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles on Highway 1.

T - It didn’t seem like our kind of place so we skirted the city centre and headed for the next town along. A place called Todos Santos. Which was about halfway back to La Paz. We pulled into a gas station to use the phone and see if we could find some where to camp between Cabo and Todos. There was a surf camp which looked pretty good but after seeing they charged $10US per person to pitch a tent we decided to hotel it instead. We found a cheap hotel in Cabo that came with a pool and breakfast so that’s where we ended up.

C – We decided if we were going to pay $20US to pitch a tent, another hour up the road, we might as well pay an extra $10US and stay in a hotel in Cabo. It was already 5.30pm and it didn't take much to convince me once I found out breakfast and parking was included for the price!





T - We had a short, very short, wander around the neighbourhood while we looked for some dinner. We found a cheaper place that sold 3 tacos and a for $8US. Ouch! But it was the best we could find. The food was very ho hum and I missed the fresh tasty stuff we had been eating from the roadside stalls.



C – I had read about restaurants in Cabo charging US prices for meals, but most of the places we wandered past in the short distance were all charging $30US or more for a meal. Wow! This was more than I had seen in mid range restaurants in the US. Not that we really frequented anything other than diners. I was amazed to see food and was significantly more experience in Cabo than the US. It surprised me a lot. I couldn’t help but wonder if the high prices charged for everything in Cabo equated to higher wages for the locals who work in these businesses.

T - We like to do the resort thing in Phuket, but this trip wasn’t about coming to Mexico to do that, so we shall head back to La Paz tomorrow where we have booked our ferry across to the mainland for Thursday.