Friday, January 30, 2015

Southern Baja: Part 10

The decision was made to leave with enough time for us to surf on the way back north. We also wanted to have enough days to break up the long drive. So we settled on a three day run which makes for an easy first day, a longer second day and a hell-day for the third and final part of the journey. Admittedly, the trip is faster and easier if you take the western route but I can't stand the stretch of road from San Quentin to Tijuana there's just too much congestion, too many buses and it's just an ugly part of Baja. In the future, I think a four day return trip with a final overnight in San Felipe might be the way to go.

We all said our goodbyes to the point, from here north the water would just get colder and colder.

Luke said his goodbyes too- he and his dad, Matt Wilson and little Vida (see her sitting there?) would leave the day after us and our plan was to meet up at the Sea of Cortez at our favorite campsite. Lucky for Luke, Matt and myself there was a little southern hemisphere swell in the water. That last day of stand up paddlesurfing was a great one for me, I paddled up the point to the little left wedge on the opposite side of the long right hander and snagged some fun, chest-high runners.

I spent the rest of the afternoon getting CON KSO in running mode. We carry a twenty gallon water tank aboard CON KSO and guess who won the honor of filling it up? Yep, that's me, bucket by bucket. Check out the custom funnel. Good thing I had the foresight to drill a fill hole in the bed platform- next time I'll build a filling funnel with a tube that reaches all the way out the door. The girls were thankful, that water feeds our on-demand propane hotwater heater and that means nice hot showers all the way home.

I pulled Rancho Payaso's gate closed and turned on the closed circuit security camera system. The Peanut would be safe and sound. We're already planning our return!

It was a gray day when we drove down our dirt road and really put the rubber to the road.

As we headed north, the weather improved. The small system that had come with the south swell had a high pressure bubble behind it that promised north-east (offshore) winds and blue bird clear skies. We had planned to stop at the big left point but once we got moving, the girls had that "let's get home to endless hot showers" look in their eyes and so I went right past the road in. Bummer- I keep second guessing that decision because from the highway I could see the coast out there looking clean, tranquil and beautiful. Ughhhh- I'll be thinking about that missed opportunity for the next year. Here's our campsite for the night, it's a nice, small spot with a small restaurant serving Baja's best margarita, really.

We missed Matt, Luke and Vida. We thought we might see them in our rearview mirror catching us on the road. When that didn't happen we began to have our doubts that we''d really hook up with him (I thought he would've hit the left point). It was a great and happy surprise then to wake up and see his truck parked next to ours. Matt's my favorite Baja travel partner, he's done the drive so many times and spent so much time down here that he knows all the cool spots for just about anything you'd want: Need some great pancakes? Ask Matt. Need a real cup of coffee? He knows where the good stuff is. Need some birria? You know the answer.
So, with our merry little caravan complete, we decided we would haul ass to the little right point that we scored on the way down south. That was until Matt told us he wanted to go to prison. And so we did.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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