The Beautiful Baja

Baja California has the most beautiful deserts I have ever seen. Huge saguaro cacti grow and form beautiful prickly forests. The dirt roads are very unforgiving but reward you with less traveled beaches and quiet towns. We have found some great beaches on the Sea of Cortez so far and are enjoying the rugged terrain. Where the desert meets the sea makes such a wonderful contradiction.

Ozzie has done some fishing and we lived off of fish tacos for about 3 days. I am enjoying the beach, looking for shells, and just drinking my coffee to the sounds of the sea. Bozeman of course loves the swimming and has finally figured out how not to drink the salt water.

We arrived in a small oasis town a few days ago called San Ignacio. There is a river that runs above ground for short distance here and is surrounded by date palms and lush green grasses. We are camping right on the river. It doesn't feel like we are in the desert anymore even though it is less than a 1/2 mile from our camp. The town square is beautiful and is located in front of a large mission that was built in the 1700's. It is still used to hold church services. People seem happy here in this town. Water is so scarce here on the Baja. It will be difficult for us to leave. We have already spent three nights here and plan on spending a couple more.

Yesterday, the owner of our campground took us on a tour to look at some hieroglyphics that were made about eight to ten thousand years ago. It was interested to see and imagine what the people were trying to communicate with their symbols and pictures. The desert was beautiful as well. However, being the klutz that I am, I was the only one who managed to get stuck by a cactus. I was much more careful walking after that. Our guide knew a lot about the plants and we tasted some different things.


I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. It passed with no ceremony here. Just a chicken dinner at a local restaurant with a fellow traveler we met while we were there. We mentioned in passing, "Isn't it Thanksgiving today?" In which the response was,"I think so." That was the extent of it.

I posted a slide show below of some of the places we have been so far. I didn't include any pictures yet from San Ignacio.

We miss everyone,
Cheers,
Lyndi and Ozzie

Crossing the Border, Baja 1000, and San Felipe

Thursday was the big day. The day to cross into Mexico, finally. The truck was newly remodeled and ready for rough roads and we were ready to take on the Baja. On our 14 mile drive from San Diego to the boarder crossing, I organized any paperwork, passports, copies etc.. of what we would need to cross. Anticipation rose as we saw cars slowing. We drove and drove looking for the border patrol to stop us. Finally, we came to the realization that we did not have to stop. I was pretty much in shock of the anti-climatic crossing. We decided that mostly we could take care of paper work in Ensenada, so we kept going. Later we discovered that because of the free trade agreement, you are allowed to cross without stopping as long as you stay within 25 miles of the border. So on to Ensenada we went.

Driving to Ensenada was a breeze. The road was really nice because it is a toll road. After paying about 8 dollars total, we made it. We knew that the Baja 1000 (a famous off-road race) was going on but we had no idea how big of event it really is. There were people everywhere. As we drove down main street it was packed. Finally finding a place to park, we went to check out what all the excitement was about. We made our way down to the where the race officials were checking out the rigs. The trucks and cars are amazing that race the Baja. Mucho dinero is spent in preparation for this race. We met a team that had 80 people for their support crew.

The next day, we headed to San Felipe. The race had already begun and so as we drove we could see about 5-6 helicopters flying over the desert following the race. Huge plumes of dust could also be seen from the road to mark where the racers were. Once we arrived in San Felipe we found a good place to sleep for the night and then went out to the desert to watch the race.

People lined the track and cheered as racers came through. Mostly we watched some motorcycles stop at the pit. These guys had already been riding for about 7-8 hours and had 5-6 more to go. Crazy! Then the trucks and cars started flying by. They would cruise through at about 70-80 miles per hour. It was quite a site and a bit scary. People were only a few feet off the track, us included, and one of the trucks, if they lost control, would have the potential of taking out 20 or more people. Even more crazy! Ozzie was in heaven of couse and so we stayed for a couple of hours. It was pretty cool to watch.

Today, we walked on the beach and read our books while watching fish jump out of the Sea of Cortez. Very relaxing. Boze had fun too and dug a huge hole and then layed in it. He swam and chased the birds, he was pretty much in dog heaven.
Onward south tomorrow to Puertocitos. We heard it is nice and quiet there with some beautiful beaches.
Hasta luego,
Lyndi

Entramos Mexico!

For the past month, as our excitement grew, we have talked to what seems like hundreds of people about our trip. And in response they have come up with what seems like thousands of ways we will die within just miles of the Mexican border. My response to all of them is hah! We have made it at least 200 miles, as I originally expected, still alive. What a huge build up for nothing, minutes before crossing the boarder (which was unmanned) i realized, What if all these people are wrong?, I haven't made any plans for the rest of my life:) Now I am stuck here in this awful, crook riddled country soaking up rays on one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen with my two best friends with no plans! Looks like aside from possible pulling the fishing gear out for some fresh pesca, we may need a little more leisure to figure out what to do.

One of the fun suprises for me upon arriving in S.D. was our trip accidentally coincided with the baja 1000. For those who are mentally chanllenged about these things like me, this happens to be a huge dirt race with bikes, trucks, and buggies.
Yesterday after noon, in the desert outside of San Felipe, we pulled dopey up trackside to get a first hand look at the action. It turns out this ain't no pleasue cruise. These machines were flying past us on a straight with woops at maybe 60-80 mph! The awsome noise and excitement was stamped in your memory, nose and eyes with a constant lingering cloud of dust. Seeing something like this on tv will never do again.

Looks like tomorrow we will search for even more beutiful beaches on this placid sea, and try to forget all that plagues us, though that's not too much.

Sorry to disappoint all those pessimists so far.
Sure hope The old USA can cope without us.

ozzie

The Remodel

We have been driving around San Diego for the past few days looking for what we need for the truck. After driving 1300 miles, we have decided to make a few adjustments. We moved our bed to the cab-over to adjust the weight of our stuff to the floor. Ozzie also added and extra leaf spring to our suspension to help with the tippiness. A great guy named Steve, legthened our driveline, and let us camp out out in front of his business and he let us use his shower! It was a great place to be and he even printed out maps and gave advice of where to find things. We were very lucky to find his place. Thanks Steve!
Tomorrow, Ozzie is going to add lights and get our fan working. We just need to pick up a few more things and then we plan on crossing the border early Thursday morning. Our first stop will be in Ensenada. This is where the Baja 1000 race begins on Thursday. We are interested in watching part of this crazy off-road race. Mostly, we just want to take a few days to relax after we cross the boder and plan our route from there. Here are a few more pictures of the camper remodel.

The Redwoods to San Fran

Winding through the Redwoods on the coast of California was an amazing drive. There were so many little towns and beaches tucked away all along the coast. We took our time and explored any spot or beach that interested us.




This beach was in Shelter Cove. A beautiful spot where the King Mountains come straight out of the ocean. We found tons of tidepools and sea creatures. Bozeman played with the crabs until he got pinched on his lip.

Next, we stopped in San Fransisco to visit our friends, Brad and Mary. They have a great place right down town. Parking was a bit sketchy with the big rig. However, people were fairly forgiving of the truck because I think they were trying to figure out what it was we were driving. We had a great time and a taste of the city life.

We found our way out of the city after a couple of days and headed for San Diego. Driving through Monterey, Malibu, Santa Cruz, Laguna Beach and Los Angeles proved to be a tour of mansions, BMW's, Bentleys, Mercedes, and Porches along the highway. We felt a little out of place, but we did still get some thumbs up and smiles along the way.

Next we head to San Diego and then the Baja!
Adios,
Lyndi and Ozzie

Not So Dopey or Tippy Canoe?

We made it to the north coast of California today! We have been driving on some very curvy, bumpy, sunken grade, off camber roads and the truck is super tippy. (Tippy Canoe?) Well I guess we wanted an adventure. Who knew we would find it so soon?
Once we finally swerved our way to the coast, all three of us took a nice long walk on the beach and enjoyed the moment of actually being there. Bozeman had fun on the beach for the first time tasting salt water, playing in the surf, and rolling in some very fine dead animal perfume. He was very tired after and snuggled in for a nap. (after a bath of course)
Last night was our first night camping in the camper. We slept in a church parking lot in Selma, Oregon (see the picture above). I enjoyed cooking on our camp stove for the first time too. Our menu was corkscrew pasta with marinara sauce and chicken tomato sausage with a semi-fresh salad. It was all prepared by the dim light of a headlamp because, we have no working lights in the camper yet.
Next, we will head to San Fransisco to visit some friends. Afterward, we plan on stopping in San Diego before we cross the border to make some modifications and adjustments.:) We want to have everything ready before we hit the Baja.
We are having a great time and will let you know how the rest of the drive goes.
Adios,
Lyndi and Ozzie

Pura Vida

After months of hard work and planning, we are finally ready to begin our adventure! It is a bittersweet moment as we are sad to be leaving our family, friends, and co-workers but; the anticipation of lounging on the beach on the Sea of Cortez is enough to keep us going.
Many people have expressed some concern for our safety on our trip through Mexico and Central America. We are aware of the risks and these things have also been a concern of ours as well. However, Ozzie has put alot of thought in the design of our camper, as it is pretty much indestructible and very safe. We have bars on the windows, a very sturdy metal door, and a "mean" sounding dog.(He's not really, but he sounds mean and growls at stangers who approach us:)
I once read that an adventure was something you enjoyed after the fact. In the moment it sometimes can be scarey, exciting, and dangerous. However, what else is there in life if you don't take risks? What stories would we tell?

My good friend Kim gave this quote to me that I think speaks well to this.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole exprierence it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." ~Helen Keller


Off we go to expose ourselves to the elements of living! Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. You can e-mail Ozzie and I through lyndimay@yahoo.com We will be hopefully checking it weekly and updating our blog as much as possible as well.

Hasta luego,
Lyndi and Ozzie