Is ANYONE Still Interested In Traveling In Baja???

[latinoguy]

[quote=Boston Mangler;3463537]Whats your username over there, i havent seen anything posted. Link? quote]


Expedition Portal Forums

Thinking last week of August...
Kinda of want to follow your tracks on the first couple of days for the trip you did a few months back... 1 day at Mike's Sky Ranch, Day 2 over to the Observatory (thru dirt road...)
Remaining days camping, fishing and surfing somewhere..
Thinking Punta San Jose?

[Boston Mangler]

Originally Posted by Bluetribal

Well from the looks of this thread you might have to appoint a second leader for a second caravan of 5....

Maybe 2 DIFFERENT trips all together though, one to the gulf and another to the mountains.

FYI, i am VERY set on the # of rigs i travel with, so lets not turn this into a "Why is Mangler an A-Hole And Will Only Let 5 Rigs Travel With Him Thread", ok?

[boydmick]

Originally Posted by Boston Mangler

"Why is Mangler an A-Hole And Will Only Let 5 Rigs Travel With Him Thread", ok?

What a jerk! Who is this Mangler guy anyway?!

[Boston Mangler]

Originally Posted by boydmick

Who is this Mangler guy anyway?!

Some A-Hole

[gon2srf]

Originally Posted by Boston Mangler

Maybe 2 DIFFERENT trips all together though, one to the gulf and another to the mountains.

FYI, i am VERY set on the # of rigs i travel with, so lets not turn this into a "Why is Mangler an A-Hole And Will Only Let 5 Rigs Travel With Him Thread", ok?

5 rigs was/is perfect for camping, traveling, parking. Any more and you get too spread out, etc.
P.S. I like the idea of mandatory 2m's on all rigs that really helps with the coms.

Reminder of good times past...




















Some More:

[gon2srf]

[gon2srf]

Lining up at Kevin's house in San Diego. 7:00am Friday morning.





The Boston Mangler being himself.


Rolling through San Diego


Tecate/USA border


Waiting for the guys who got inspected at the border.


Rolling through Tecate


Typical monument


Nice and clean. Quick stop in La Rumarosa before we hit the muddy trails.


Fully loaded down and prepared for anything, well almost anything.


Kevin from Baja Overland leads the way.

[gon2srf]

Nearing Laguna Hanson


Our campsite


Boyd brought these mini marshmallow guns, pretty fun! Boyd and Stan's son Jeff Smith getting ready to blast us.


Steve (619Toy) and Chris with Steve's dobie relaxing near the fire.


Some locals; David and Alfredo let me ride there horse around and sold us a truck load of Ponderosa pine to add to stash of wood. In the morning everything left out was frozen.

Airing up for some highway time.




Boyd, lost his pants somewhere?


This is a pretty famous stretch of road for photographers of the Baja 1000. Straight, up hill, haulin as*. Go Stan go.


Steve (619Toy)


Right turn to Mike's Sky Ranch


Stan....Steve...Boyd






Rolling into Mikes.


Mike's Sky Ranch. Cervasa's, Carne Asada burritos, relaxation.






Boyd about to throw Garrett in, not. The water was about 50'!

[gon2srf]

In Mikes.


This little guy was in the back of a truck. We left him some water and said goodbye to Mike and thanked him for a great lunch.


On the way to the National Park, Parque Nacional San Pedro Martir and the Observatory.














Local coyotes


Mt. Diablo. The highest point in Baja California


The National Observatory, largest of three on the mountain.


We lucked out and got a full blown tour of the telescope and observatory. Climbing the stair case.


Our rigs from the catwalk.


Garrett with Mt. Diablo in the background.


Pacific Ocean from the observatory.



Group running down the mountain.


The mountain is comprised of mainly granite which is constantly decomposing. Lot's of debris.

[gon2srf]

Baja California
On the road to Colonet










In Colonet we decided to head to the beach for lunch. On the road to Erindera.





Lunch stop just north of Erindera.








Boyd and Lightning (aka Bubba)


Setting up for lunch. Stan que'd some marinated Carne Asada. Oh man that was good.


This is the El Palomar Restaurant and store in Santo Tomas. A classic stop for gas, beer and ice for over 30 years.


In line at the border stop in Tecate.


Hope you guys don't mind all the pic's.

[Dan2722]

Nice pics. Those last few shots of the bay just north of Erindira is the area I will be Sept 19-22. Hopefully the surf will be better than those shots.

[Brentbba]

Nice revisit on all those pics! I'd be interested, job etc willing.

[gon2srf]

Originally Posted by Dan2722

Nice pics. Those last few shots of the bay just north of Erindira is the area I will be Sept 19-22. Hopefully the surf will be better than those shots.

The surf was actually big but it was February and a west was moving through and those shots were late afternoon with some wind chop. That small bay has a left that works better on a south as you probably know. Hope you get it good!

[Boston Mangler]

Originally Posted by gon2srf

5 rigs was/is perfect for camping, traveling, parking. Any more and you get too spread out, etc.

I agree 100%!

Damn Scotty, those pics bring back some great memories man, i wish i was there!

Originally Posted by gon2srf

P.S. I like the idea of mandatory 2m's on all rigs that really helps with the coms.

Yeah, if nothing else, its a safety thing.

At the speeds we travel down there (quite fast as most of you have seen), we do get spread out quite a bit, CBs will not work in these situations, plain and simple. On our awesome febuary trip, there was just WAYYYY too much relaying going on from one person to another that got out of range, etc.... It got just plain annoying and way to distracting from the amazing stuff we were doing!

CBs are basically only good for small group tight nit trips where everyone is close together, rocking and rolling in Baja is not that at all!

Yeah, i think that might be the new (enforced) rule to any trips i lead down south.

Kinda surpises me how many folks look at comms as one of their last mods, when in reality, it should be one of the first!

[hawkeye]

I want to go to Baja. I've been wanting to plan a route that follows one cost down and the other cost back up. But I think it would be best to start small. I still need to get set up with a 2m.

[Dan2722]

Originally Posted by gon2srf

That small bay has a left that works better on a south as you probably know. Hope you get it good!

I love surfing Baja in the fall when the kids are back in school and the south swell is still running. I've surfed this place when it is good and it is a blast. The water can be freezing though with the upwelling currents even in summer.

I may have some slots opening as I get closer to the trip if anyone is interested. As of right now it is filled up but I always seem to have a few drop. I am also trying to keep this to only 4-5 rigs.

Originally Posted by Boston Mangler

I agree 100%!


CBs are basically only good for small group tight nit trips where everyone is close together, rocking and rolling in Baja is not that at all!

This thread has inspired me to get my technician license and a 2M pronto. I ordered a study guide this week and will be looking for a test site in SD.

[Boston Mangler]

Originally Posted by hawkeye

I want to go to Baja. I've been wanting to plan a route that follows one cost down and the other cost back up.

I got a great loop for that, but its only 1/2 way down and then back up, easily doable on a 4 day weekend

Originally Posted by hawkeye

I still need to get set up with a 2m.

Yes, as mentioned above, its damn near mandatory if you are traveling in a group

[Boston Mangler]

Originally Posted by Dan2722

This thread has inspired me to get my technician license and a 2M pronto. I ordered a study guide this week and will be looking for a test site in SD.

Thats all fine and dandy, but

A) the license isnt valid in Mex
B) we all modify our radios (super easy 2 second mod) to work on race freqs so the license isnt even needed anyway, that way you get all the 2m quality without any legal shenanigans in the US or in Mex!

Thats my .02

[e9999]

Originally Posted by Boston Mangler

Thats all fine and dandy, but

A) the license isnt valid in Mex
B) we all modify our radios (super easy 2 second mod) to work on race freqs so the license isnt even needed anyway, that way you get all the 2m quality without any legal shenanigans in the US or in Mex!

Thats my .02

you sure about that not being valid? cuz I remember reading about reciprocity and all that...

[Boston Mangler]

Originally Posted by e9999

you sure about that not being valid? cuz I remember reading about reciprocity and all that...

Nope, not 100% sure, but remember reading that in a few different places and figured that since i mainly only travel to Baja i thought getting the license was a moot point.

Also, i havent found anyone in the history of traveling Baja (i read A LOT of stories and blogs about Mex)that has been asked for their 2m Mex license!

[blupaddler]

I am still interested in traveling to Baja. In fact I have been jonesing to get back there lately. It has been a year since we went down last.


That being said, our solo trips are over and we will definitely be traveling in a group from now on. I am trying to possibly work out a trip in mid/late september.

[TemeculaTim]

Originally Posted by Boston Mangler

Also, i havent found anyone in the history of traveling Baja (i read A LOT of stories and blogs about Mex)that has been asked for their 2m Mex license!

I got pulled over one time in Mexicali by a Federale who told me the tags on my trailer were expired. I thought he was joking and asked him if he was serious. He said Mexico enforces US DMV laws. I knew that was BS and after I stopped laughing, I explained that I had paid and was waiting for the tags to show up. One of my buddies then told the cop to call in and check it out- since they were enforcing US laws- they should be able to verify it. The cop got pissed because we did not cave in and pay him off and told us he was going to just give us a warning.

Had many other run ins, but nothing as bad as what has been going on in the last few years. The advice given about traveling in groups and avoiding night travel is well worth listening to. I always have also found that if I got pulled over and I was not doing anything wrong- agreeing to follow the cop back to the station to pay the fine resulted in warnings 90% of the time. Just don't be an ass- If the cop has to go down to the station- he does not make a profit and the fines are ususally way smaller if you are speeding or run a red light.

It's sad that things down south are not as they used to be.

Tim

[Brentbba]

Mexico DOES have an agreement with the US regarding amatuer radio use. Here's the link to the ARRL site showing all the contries that do have a reciprocal agreeement.
ARRLWeb: Reciprocal Operating Countries List

Doing my studying now and looked it up because it had been discussed in this thread!