11 December ‘06
Sunday and Monday
Sundays drive took us from Catavina, which is almost directly in the center of Baja Norta, along some of the straightest lengths of highway through the Baja and then with a slight angle we headed out to the Pacific coastline to our next over night destination “Guerrero Negro”. Guerrero Negro is the place that Louise and I stopped twice, 5 years ago. The first time, we took a tour into Laguna Ojo de Liebre, which is one of the locations here in the Baja where the female gray whales give birth to their young. What an amazing place this is…we were in this little 24’ boat with our guide just watching those that were watching us. These whales would come out of the water, roll over on their back, and then splash back with a title wave. Then there was the whale that would come straight up out of the water until their eye could get a clear shot of all around them, and then just hold that position for the longest time. Finally there was the “friendly whale”, this little (about 40 to 50’ long) gal would come over and want her back or tummy scratched. Well, that was then and this is now…no whales here yet, but the food at the campground is way above average and the campground is in the right location for this leg of the trip. I think there were 9 different rigs here last night, 3 from BC, one from Germany, 2 from Seattle, and the rest…? 10am and we were all packed up and heading into town to top off the gas tank. The problem was, we couldn’t get into the pump island, so we made one of our famous “U” turn and headed out onto the highway. We knew or hoped that somewhere out there we would find some petrol. Out of 75 gallons, we had just about half left (or at 7.5 miles to the gallon and 30 plus gallons…). On top of that, we knew we had some heavy mountain roads to work with today so we had better find some before long. A couple of hours later we found our gas station, one that we could fit into. This isn’t normally a problem, but in some of these smaller towns it can be. Our trip today took us back across the Baja once more. We had the flat lands at the beginning, but as the day got past hour 4, we headed into mountains. It was a slow climb in the beginning, but then it got real serious. Just as we saw the Gulf of Mexico, we started our first major decent. Now this is a decent…it was almost like riding one of those roller coasters were you can’t see anything but the top of the hill and then it goes into this void, or straight down…Not only does it go straight down, it goes down while at the same time spinning like a top. Oh yes, remember those narrow roads with those big honking trucks…it’s all still here… Just after coming out off the top of that bluff, we arrived in Santa Roselia, which is located right on the Gulf. Finding a place large enough to pull off the road, we put together a well deserved turkey sandwich. Then, out of nowhere, came this young man. His English was better than my Spanish and I think most of all he was lonely and just wanted to be friendly, but then when Louise came out to tell me that my sandwich was ready, he asked “can I have a sandwich?”…Louise was quick with “Do you like turkey?”…the rest is history… Lunch finished, we headed on down the coast to Mulegé and then onto Bahia Concepción and our next camping spot.
It has really been evident that the Baja has had some heavy and late rain this year. The entire desert is green and blooming. The last time we were here, the palette has changed from the top of the mountains to the edge of the roadways, the colors of the small flowers, the many greens of the bush, cacti, and trees is amazing. Now here in Mulege which is most always green we see a lot of damage from the last hurricane. Fact is, there is still a lot of water coming out of the surrounding hills. Even the little spit that we were going to make our campground is unobtainable to us because of the rough roadway. We tried it first with the Tracker and soon found out that it just wouldn’t be the best idea to try it with the coach. So here we are sitting at the waters edge in front of a small hotel. The spit would have cost us about $6 and this is costing us $20…both with out hook ups. Oh well, it is still absolutely beautiful.
Sunday and Monday
Sundays drive took us from Catavina, which is almost directly in the center of Baja Norta, along some of the straightest lengths of highway through the Baja and then with a slight angle we headed out to the Pacific coastline to our next over night destination “Guerrero Negro”. Guerrero Negro is the place that Louise and I stopped twice, 5 years ago. The first time, we took a tour into Laguna Ojo de Liebre, which is one of the locations here in the Baja where the female gray whales give birth to their young. What an amazing place this is…we were in this little 24’ boat with our guide just watching those that were watching us. These whales would come out of the water, roll over on their back, and then splash back with a title wave. Then there was the whale that would come straight up out of the water until their eye could get a clear shot of all around them, and then just hold that position for the longest time. Finally there was the “friendly whale”, this little (about 40 to 50’ long) gal would come over and want her back or tummy scratched. Well, that was then and this is now…no whales here yet, but the food at the campground is way above average and the campground is in the right location for this leg of the trip. I think there were 9 different rigs here last night, 3 from BC, one from Germany, 2 from Seattle, and the rest…? 10am and we were all packed up and heading into town to top off the gas tank. The problem was, we couldn’t get into the pump island, so we made one of our famous “U” turn and headed out onto the highway. We knew or hoped that somewhere out there we would find some petrol. Out of 75 gallons, we had just about half left (or at 7.5 miles to the gallon and 30 plus gallons…). On top of that, we knew we had some heavy mountain roads to work with today so we had better find some before long. A couple of hours later we found our gas station, one that we could fit into. This isn’t normally a problem, but in some of these smaller towns it can be. Our trip today took us back across the Baja once more. We had the flat lands at the beginning, but as the day got past hour 4, we headed into mountains. It was a slow climb in the beginning, but then it got real serious. Just as we saw the Gulf of Mexico, we started our first major decent. Now this is a decent…it was almost like riding one of those roller coasters were you can’t see anything but the top of the hill and then it goes into this void, or straight down…Not only does it go straight down, it goes down while at the same time spinning like a top. Oh yes, remember those narrow roads with those big honking trucks…it’s all still here… Just after coming out off the top of that bluff, we arrived in Santa Roselia, which is located right on the Gulf. Finding a place large enough to pull off the road, we put together a well deserved turkey sandwich. Then, out of nowhere, came this young man. His English was better than my Spanish and I think most of all he was lonely and just wanted to be friendly, but then when Louise came out to tell me that my sandwich was ready, he asked “can I have a sandwich?”…Louise was quick with “Do you like turkey?”…the rest is history… Lunch finished, we headed on down the coast to Mulegé and then onto Bahia Concepción and our next camping spot.
It has really been evident that the Baja has had some heavy and late rain this year. The entire desert is green and blooming. The last time we were here, the palette has changed from the top of the mountains to the edge of the roadways, the colors of the small flowers, the many greens of the bush, cacti, and trees is amazing. Now here in Mulege which is most always green we see a lot of damage from the last hurricane. Fact is, there is still a lot of water coming out of the surrounding hills. Even the little spit that we were going to make our campground is unobtainable to us because of the rough roadway. We tried it first with the Tracker and soon found out that it just wouldn’t be the best idea to try it with the coach. So here we are sitting at the waters edge in front of a small hotel. The spit would have cost us about $6 and this is costing us $20…both with out hook ups. Oh well, it is still absolutely beautiful.