The Wild and Crazy Drive

After 2 months of agonizing over throwing away, giving away, selling or taking every single object in our lives, we celebrated a couple big birthdays at our Skyline home (Sally’s house). Then the next day we hopped in the tremendously overpacked truck and headed south. To illustrate how overpacked our truck was, I will tell you I put my feet in a big basin and kept them there for 5 days so I could get that basin to LB. (By the way, so many have asked me if I feel liberated and “light” after getting rid of so many “objects”. I do not. I feel done—so that is good.) And so glad I have my big blue basin!

We have been so lucky with weather, until this trip. Our brave friend drove the U-haul packed with half theirs and half ours of our most important “stuff”. It is very difficult to decide what your most important stuff is, and it is a boring discussion but once you realize how tough it is to find simple things like rugs, fertilizer, sheets, bowls, etc, one becomes very appreciative of every inch of space! On the plus side, when your vehicle is this heavy it is far less likely to hydroplane.

Regardless, the 3 drivers were remarkably calm and competent (Brant, Alison and Mark/Lonnie). If we did not have a date to meet someone in San Diego to get our stuff out of the U-haul to take to LB, I think we would have checked into a hotel while the storm passed. The storm followed us all the way to Mexico where the weather was perfect. We drove through 2 days of flash flooding. I have never seen so many accidents—15 or 20? I will have to make margaritas on request for the rest of my life for the 3 drivers.

When we finally arrived at the meet up point to transfer our “goods” to the Tiajuana bound trailer, we were a bit too giddy with relief to truly process the fact we were meeting under an overpass south of San Diego (overpass to give protection from rain), giving the keys of the U-haul to someone we didn’t know who transferred our stuff to another trailer then brought the truck to restaurant we were having lunch at. We then dropped that U-haul off at the back of a pet store because the actual U-haul store was too flooded. This took a great deal of time because they were trying to decide whether of not some big lizard was dead or not at the pet store. Apparently you are supposed to put your finger in it’s mouth to see if it bites, which makes me question why the pet would be entertaining if it’s this hard to figure out if it’s dead, but that is another story.

This is our 5th drive down the Baja. I would say we are becoming experts but so many here have done it 40 plus times. Plus, so many have done the drive on dirt roads for years that it dims our accomplishments. We had no issues at the border crossing. The agents were pleasant–if not mildly disgusted by our truck which could not be searched without causing 5 other objects to fall out. We promised we had no weapons and they let us go. I guess they figured we would never be able to find them even if we did.

Previously we did the trip in hot summer, with many jugs of water stashed away, but this time it was pleasantly cool. We were surprised how few people were at our favorite beach hotel, Alfonsina’s at Bahia de Gonzaga. As in prior trips, good food (actually excellent food this time), good drinks, good enough rooms and a spectacular beach and lagoon. The hotel has been built in a way that really embraces the beauty of the surroundings. If you fly small air craft, I think it’s a quick hours flight from San Diego to their sandy runway. This is the last and pretty much only place to stay before crossing the mountain range to the Pacific side, a several hours drive away.

While the roads are good, they are narrow and curvy and shared with big trucks. There is tremendous beauty with ever changing landscapes. It is a long drive with some unnerving stretches of road but mainly it is beautiful and unique. Everyone should do it once……

The temperature abruptly drops after you reach the Pacific Coast where the whales are raising their babies in the big lagoon. Looking forward to that trip someday! Then we head back toward the Sea of Cortez stopping to spend the night at the oasis of San Ignacio. It’s a beautiful small town, settled in the 1500s when a Spanish mission was built. There is a pretty plaza with more good food and drink. A perfect place to rest…..

Once again we headed back to the Sea of Cortez (renamed Gulf of California?), drove through the town of Santa Rosalia (interesting history) where we stopped for some nice pastries. Then down through the beautiful Bahia de Concepcion and past Loreto before arriving at a new stop for us, Hotel Tripui. A beautiful hotel near a very fancy marina. Someone told us it was rustic. Very odd, the place had radiant heat–how can this be rustic?

Once again on the home stretch to LB! Once again struck by the change to greener even more beautiful mountains. And interestingly, it feels like we are coming home…because we are….

It feels even more like home after this truck brings our pallets of “stuff”. A very exciting day—-we never doubted it would happen for a minute!

I am trying to create this blog so Brant and I can better remember our adventures, but with all the bad press Mexico gets, it is nice to show a different side to the story. We have met so many kind, helpful, knowledgeable people along the way. But mostly we have had fun exploring beautiful beach and dessert—–oh and of course, many excellent tacos and margaritas!