My friend and I headed to Baja on Saturday for a few days to make sure my new suspension, RTT, and fridge all worked properly before I took the 
to Cabo next week. The trip was a blast and had some interesting challenges.
The drive to San Felipe was pretty much uneventful. We found a place to camp next to the malecon and stuffed our faces properly. The evening was spent with some snow birds around their camp fire and mooching off their steamed clams.
We had just filled up with fuel and were about to head to Gonzaga bay when I saw a large pool of coolant under the truck. Uh oh.... PHH was toast. We were going to fix it ourselves and had memories of the 4 hours we spent doing it on my last cruiser. Since we didn't really want to do it unless we had to, it was time to ask for some help. My Spanish is limited and the lady at the PEMEX's English was even worse. Finding a mechanic on a Sunday wasn't going to be easy. Luckily an ex pat gringo came over and took me to a mechanic she had used and trusts.
2 hours, $20, and a beer later and we were on our way. I love Mexico. Whatever happens always seems to work itself out. Anyway, on to Gonzaga.
The paved road is now about 25 miles past Puertocitos but the dirt road is still miserable.
We got to Alphonsinas at about 3 for some
and some food and the stress of the breakdown and that awful road were starting to fade away.
We decided to camp at Papa Fernandez since we stayed at Rancho Grande last year. It was extremely secluded and we had the whole place to ourselves.
We spent the afternoon hiking before firing up the grill for some tasty boca burgers (my friend is a vegan so when he cooks I'm vegan by default).
$20 for the grill at a church yard sale. Even came with a full propane canister and a kit to hook it to a full size tank.
The next morning it was time to head to Bahia de Los Angeles. I've never been there so it was all new for us. Stopped off to see Coco but he's been in the hospital for the last 7 weeks so that was disappointing. Let's hope he makes a complete recovery.
After about 50 more miles of that awful road it was a couple short hours to get to our destination and the view itself was worth the trip and the hassle.
We got there pretty early and since it was empty we didn't have much to do so we started hiking. We camped at La Gringa and there were only 2 other groups in the entire place.
Some final thoughts/observations:
1. The RTT is the single best camping purchase I have ever made. I've never slept so well outside of my own home. Amazing.
2. My new ARB 63qt fridge is a close second. I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. We would park for 16-18 hours and have the radio on the entire time and the battery never even got close to draining (Die Hard Platinum PM-2).
3. My stock height OME kit and Bilstein shocks rode amazing but with all the weight I think I need some trim spacers in the rear for a bit more up travel. Any suggestions?
4. $2.85 for PEMEX Magna is awesome.
Thanks for reading!
to Cabo next week. The trip was a blast and had some interesting challenges. The drive to San Felipe was pretty much uneventful. We found a place to camp next to the malecon and stuffed our faces properly. The evening was spent with some snow birds around their camp fire and mooching off their steamed clams.
We had just filled up with fuel and were about to head to Gonzaga bay when I saw a large pool of coolant under the truck. Uh oh.... PHH was toast. We were going to fix it ourselves and had memories of the 4 hours we spent doing it on my last cruiser. Since we didn't really want to do it unless we had to, it was time to ask for some help. My Spanish is limited and the lady at the PEMEX's English was even worse. Finding a mechanic on a Sunday wasn't going to be easy. Luckily an ex pat gringo came over and took me to a mechanic she had used and trusts.
2 hours, $20, and a beer later and we were on our way. I love Mexico. Whatever happens always seems to work itself out. Anyway, on to Gonzaga.
The paved road is now about 25 miles past Puertocitos but the dirt road is still miserable.
We got to Alphonsinas at about 3 for some
and some food and the stress of the breakdown and that awful road were starting to fade away.
We decided to camp at Papa Fernandez since we stayed at Rancho Grande last year. It was extremely secluded and we had the whole place to ourselves.
We spent the afternoon hiking before firing up the grill for some tasty boca burgers (my friend is a vegan so when he cooks I'm vegan by default).
$20 for the grill at a church yard sale. Even came with a full propane canister and a kit to hook it to a full size tank.
The next morning it was time to head to Bahia de Los Angeles. I've never been there so it was all new for us. Stopped off to see Coco but he's been in the hospital for the last 7 weeks so that was disappointing. Let's hope he makes a complete recovery.
After about 50 more miles of that awful road it was a couple short hours to get to our destination and the view itself was worth the trip and the hassle.
We got there pretty early and since it was empty we didn't have much to do so we started hiking. We camped at La Gringa and there were only 2 other groups in the entire place.
Some final thoughts/observations:
1. The RTT is the single best camping purchase I have ever made. I've never slept so well outside of my own home. Amazing.
2. My new ARB 63qt fridge is a close second. I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. We would park for 16-18 hours and have the radio on the entire time and the battery never even got close to draining (Die Hard Platinum PM-2).
3. My stock height OME kit and Bilstein shocks rode amazing but with all the weight I think I need some trim spacers in the rear for a bit more up travel. Any suggestions?
4. $2.85 for PEMEX Magna is awesome.
Thanks for reading!
