Day 206  to 214

January 28th to february 5th,  2008

From Los Cerritos to San Carlos.

<< avant / before

          after /  après >>>

It's now or never! We are nicely set up here in Los Cerritos. Tomorrow we leave and so, this morning, we spoil ourselves! Pancakes with bananas and...Real Maple syrup...FROM QUÉBEC!

Our friends René and Marie sent us a few cans when we were in Richfield, Utah. We carried this one along for... over 4000 miles of trails! To get and idea of the kind of punishement our equipment goes through, click on the picture below...

Cliquez pour voir la boîte! / Click to see the can!

 

From this point on, the challenge is in the endurance of the gear! We had to replace a chair in Cabo, our "toaster" is finished, all our eating utensils are bent and dinged, the pots and pans are worned out, the tent needs 2 ratchet straps to hold it open, our 3rd set of tires is worn 75 to 80%, the steering linkage and front suspension of the machines are showing serious signs of wear, Minnies' box is held in one piece by about half a roll of duct tape, in short, you get the picture...Our gear is looking forward to the end of this...Our gear is, we are'nt...

 


Adios! Los Cerritos!

 

Liked we planned, we'll ride the beach for as long as possible. We must take the tides into account so we can ride real close to the water, just when it withdraws. Or else the sand is way too soft to ride it. It requires incredible efforts from the quad that's hauling the trailer.

The first day, our sync was'nt so great and we had to ride in the soft sand all morning. Result: 55 miles out of a tank full of gas! That's about half what we normally get! If this would have kept up, we would have never made it to the next gas station, even with all our jerrycans full...Fortunately, the next day, we did a lot better.

Yes...Desert beaches still do exist!

Strangely, it is here that the trailer will have been the most of an handicap... Mountains, switchbacks and super rough trails were'nt a problem. But we miscalculated the more important fuel consumption resulting from carrying the excess weight in the dry sand and so, we had to leave the beach ealier than we thought to get some gas so we could make it to San Carlos. We knew it would take more, just not that much more...


We have to wait for low tide...

 

...And sometimes in between 2 waves...

 

To see just one of the reasons why we love this sport so much, Click here.

 

Low tide or not, 4X4 or not, sometimes, it's simply impossible. We have to find an access to climb on the dunes and come back to the beach later.

 

 

Minnie says Hi !!

 

That was definitely one of the highlights of the ride!

 

 

     Polaris Industries - Canada                            Polaris Industries - USA

 

 

We'll have to detour over 25 miles (one way) out of our way to get to El Cien to get some gas. It's over for the beach...

Of course, every now and then during the trip, we had to ask for directions. Normally, a Mexican will answer: No Hay probléma! Muy facil! Left here, right there, etc, etc...But when we asked this guy how to get to El Cien, he said:

OOUUUUHHH!! MUY MALO!!!

 

When a Mexican, who's riding a horse, and who's used to travelling on roads that are'nt roads but rather rough trails, when he tells you the road is "MUY MALO"...It's not very good news...

And guess what? He was right! The road really was very, very "malo"...More sheeps than vehicules use it... At one point, it would have been easier to follow the sheep trail than the road...Anyway, after few hours spent looking for the road, backing up to find a place wide enough for us to get through and manoeuverating between cacti, we finally see Mex. 1. El Cien is'nt that far now.

We get to the small village exhausted and famished only to realize the gas station is...Abandonned!!  Closed! Kapout! Half the pumps is missing!!
We were already tight on gas before this never ending detour!! Aie! Aie! Aie!

Guess this must be the right time to practice our Spanish! We ask a guy if someone sells gas somewhere in town.( Note that the "town" has 6 houses all together, 3 of them being micro convenience stores...). He sends us to another guy, who send us to another one, who sends us to another...There is hope, nobody said no, yet...

Finally, we meet a lady who keeps gas in barrels, in her backyard. 85 cents a liter. Good deal! Heck! $2.00 a liter would have been a deal! We fill everything up! Then, we enjoy quesadillas at her neibourghs' and we hit the "road" back to the ocean.

 

We never go un-noticed in the small villages we go through!

 

We pitch the tent just before dark. France, in particular, appreciates being back to camping in the desert!

 


 

A little sample of some of the things we see on the ride:

Families of pelicans.
A dead sea turtle.
Hum... Crab for dinner!
A flat headed bird!
A tarentula!!
An all you care to eat buffet for Minnie...
A coyote...Those guys, on the other hand, Minnie does'nt really care for...

 

 

Yeah ! Having fun with a condom !!!
Yeah ! See the tricks and infos section at the bottom of the page...
Bof... 70 miles of beach instead of 250...
Bof... The rest of the Todo Santos-San Carlos distance was ridden a little more inland, often with our view of the water blocked by the dunes or the vegetation, on mostly devastated trails...

 


The return of the ''Joshua tree''??

 

 

Hey! We're not the only ones enjoying Baja!

 

Our path back to the Pacific also had it's share of surprises...After riding on one of the nicest gravel roads we'd seen in Baja, we end up in a section of silt, super dusty with ruts over 12 inches (30 cms) deep...

"Come on, come on! There's got to be a better road than this...If I could only get out of this one!"

In four steps:

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

 

Without a trailer, it's even easier! Piece of cake!

 


An hour later...

Aahhh! Here we are!

 

So beautiful....

 

...I think we'll stay here tonight...

 


 

Here's a new side of Baja. On the east coast, we were used to mountains and rocky cliffs. Here, on the Pacific coast, it's more sandy with colorful lagunas.

 

Sandy trails are nice and smooth. But, often, when the trail is well travelled, it becomes covered with whoops. Since the Baja 1000 race was here before, there's been a lot of traffic here and there's now a lot of whoops!

Kinda like giant washboard. 4 foot deep and 8 foot across...For over 40 miles...   At 10m/h maximum...

It went on all day...

From morning 'till evening...Wing..wing..wing..wing. Up, down, up, down, up, down...

Marc felt like crying..."Aahh Man! We'll never make it to San Carlos! This is taking for ever-er-er-errrrrr!!!"

France: "Just take your time, one after the other, one mile at a time...What other choices do we have?"

Fortunately, we made a small routing mistake that brought us to Puerto Argudin around lunch time.

What a beautiful place! We got here by mistake! We should'nt even have seen this place!

 

By looking at all those flowers, you'd think we're back in Québec (in the springtime, of course...).

 

Puerto Argudin!

 


Thank God, at the very end of the day, the trail became "ridable" again because the race had taken another direction. It was about time! Everybody had enough of that!

"I'm beat!!!"

 

Minnie sleeps sitting on the seat...

Not all fun and games, the life of a trail dog...

 

Tiny fishermens' village. Typical.

)

 

San Carlos, straight ahead...

 


A few funny pics took in San Carlos and El Pescadero.

The corner garage.

 

This one is experienced!

If it could only talk...

Think you can say what brand and model it is?

 

In Mexico, everything comes with lime...

 

Modern art...

 

 

Éric, this one's for you !

 

They're still working!!!

 

Thanks again for your help with the blinkers!!

 

 


There's nothing like a condom to avoid all risks of contamination!

When you need it, you need it! When you just got to have some, you got to have some! When it just can't wait any longer but you still don't want to take any chances... Especially since you only met the person a few minutes ago...It can be a real life saver!

When you need gas, you need gas! Often we get it where we can. And those who sell it to us keep it where they can. Steel drums rust with time and those debris can clough up a fuel filter real fast!

A piece of silk:

-Light.
-Lets gas thru easily but holds the debris.
-Dries instantly.

Thanks to 2 dirtbike riders from Mexico City for this trick and for the piece of silk. A life saver!

 

The condom trick !!!

 

Pour voir la liste de
tous les trucs,
cliquez ici

to see all the
tricks and infos
click here

 

...À suivre...

<< avant / before

           after /  après >>


Vue d'ensemble/
general view

cliquez pour agrandir
>> Cliquez pour agrandir /
>> Click to enlarge

 

 

carte  détaillée/
detailed map/

>> Cliquez pour agrandir /
>> Click to enlarge


 

 

 

 

                 GPS

Au / At    San Carlos
Date        5 fev. / Feb. 5th
Lat    N    24 47 35.9
Long  W   112 06 41.1
Elevation  30 pieds/feet

 


 

 

 

 

 
50C   122F
     
  40C   104F
     
30C   86F
     
20C   68F
     
10C   50F
     
0C   32F
     
-5C   23F
     
-10C   14F
soleilnuage.gif (1330 octets)

Stable.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Facile

Moyen

Difficile 

Easy

Moderate

Difficult 

Not really physically difficult. It's more mentally...

 

 

 

 


Les statistiques

Total 9 jours / 9 days

337 Miles
7407 Miles: à date/to date
$192 Resto
$82 Épicerie/Food
$117 Essence/fuel
$195 Motel
$65 Divers/Misc.
$651 Total


 

 

 

 

                

Dû à la très faible disponibilité de bouffe fraîche, et aussi dans le but de pouvoir goûter les mets Mexicains locaux, nous avons décidé, pour la durée de notre séjour à Baja, de manger plus souvent au resto.

Si nous découvrons quelque chose d'extra-ordinaire, nous vous en ferons part.


Due to the very limited availability of fresh food and also to enjoy local Mexican food, we decided to eat at restaurants more often for the duration of our stay in Baja.

If we discover something worth mentionning,we'll let you know.


Aujourd'hui /Today:

The Spam tacos.

Simply put 2 pieces of sun warmed Spam on a soon-to-be-out-dated tortilla and roll everything up!
No comments...

Tomorrow, for a change, we'll add mustard!

Kinda makes you feel like travelling, unh!

 


 

 

 

 

Les Oscars-The Oscars:
...et le gagnant est... LA CHOSE LA PLUS APPRECIÉE:

 

THE MOST APPRECIATED THING:

Minnie feels safe and away from the coyotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nous sommes fiers de vous présenter nos partenaires.
Ils nous ont fourni un soutien important afin de nous aider à réaliser cette aventure. MERCI À TOUS
 

 

 

We are proud to introduce you to our partners.
Their precious collaboration helped us live this fabulous adventure.

THANKS TO ALL.

Polaris Industries - Canada
Polaris Industries - USA



RM Motosport


lbmaps_navigator.gif (31852 octets)






Durocher Transirt









Cellutron




 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Infolettre
Abonnez-vous à notre Infolettre électronique afin de recevoir nos dernières nouvelles !

Votre courriel svp:

N.B.: Nous ne redistribuons pas les adresses obtenues à de tierces parties.


 

 

 

 

 


Get periodic updates of France's and Marc's situation.
Sign in to our newsletter, enter your email address here.

Your email, please:

N.B.: We never divulge the email addresses we get to a third party..

Top of PAGE