Traveling South

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Sitting on a deserted beach, I listen to the waves lap agianst the sandy shore as I contemplate our journey thus far. We've traveled several hundred miles to a beach 12 miles south or Loreto in Baja California. The trip is going smoothly so far, we ususally knock off a few hundred miles on driving days and when not driving have been doing a lot of reading, playing chess, playing horsehoes, skim boarding, surfing, spearfishing, relaxing and cooking beans and rice.

The first night we camped beside a dirt road a few miles off HWY 1. The environment was suprisingly lush for Baja due to the ample rain recieved this year. An assortment of orange, yellow and purple flowers dabbled the the green hillsides. Some of the Boojum trees (a strange plant remenicent of a Dr. Sues Story) were in a vibrant yellow bloom. Humming birds, sparrows and numerous other birds zoomed around feeding on the flora and abundance of insects. A horny toad in the middle of the road decided to play dead, allowing us to take some up close pictures. After parking the truck 20ft off the dirt road in a dry creek bed, we grabbed a cold beer and broke in our new horseshoe set. The rest of the night consisted of making a delicouse sundried tomatoe, garlic, onion and olive oil pasta, playing chess and watching the stars. In the morning, while we ate breakfast, a mexican rancher drove by. He was very friendly and luckly didn't mind us camping on his property. He commented on the flora and told us his ranch was a few miles further up the road if we wanted to check it out. We leisurly packed up, played another game of horseshoes and hit the road.

We drove a few hundred more miles south to a deserted beach south of Laguna Ojo de Liebre. We didn't make it all the way to the main Lagun due to tidal waters flowing over the road. We probably could have driven around but were happy with the current beach. The soft, silty sand was full of fosilized shells from the distant days of the past. We saw a red tailed hawk catch a horny toad, a couple of osprey and a dessert iguana.

It's unbelievably nice to be on the road on an awesome adventure. We face hard decicions every day like, which beautiful place should we camp? What to eat? How shall we liesurly pass the time? but I think we will manage.

''On the road agian. Going places that I've never been. Seeing things that I may never see again. I can't wait to be on the road again.'' -Willie Nelson

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