Have any Walls been built yet??

North America » Mexico » Baja California » San Felipe
February 13th 2017

Published: March 11th 2017

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itsnoproblem

our new little travel companion.

I think she's COLD

OK......so here we are on way to explore the Baja Peninsula. That is the "little finger" of land that goes south between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez.

We wanted to do this trip and possibly more of Mexico on our "year away" in 2010/2011. Back then it was strongly suggested to us that we not go south of the U.S border because of the drug trade issues. At that time we chose to believe that talk and ended up changing our trip plans. We are not regretful about that change but vowed then, that we would one day complete our trip and drive or motorcycle south of the U.S border.

And here was our opportunity......but as "Murphys law" will have it.......we plan away and sure enough, something happens to make things just a bit more interesting. Our U.S neighbours voted in Donald Trump as the leader of their country and within a week of us leaving, a ton of sanctions were put on different people coming from different countries, talk was about building walls to keep others out of the U.S, especially Mexico. Now don't get me wrong......neither Rene nor I have any affiliation with any

Beautiful Montana

one lane highway in the snow.......

of the said countries but media doing what media does best......began to create a stir of unease and unrest for many, including me. Not Rene so much, but I was a little apprehensive about how people were acting and reacting to what was being said. But being the people that we are and believing in the goodness and kindness of others, we knew that this trip was not going to be cancelled yet again because of fear and uncertainty.

So........Off we go!!

On Feb 06, I patiently wait for Rene at the airport. He is coming in to Edmonton (as he always does) from his job in the Oil Sands north of Fort McMurray. Typically he lands about 12:30 PM. Wouldn't you know it.....this time his flight is delayed. Delayed because of the weather. Snow and Cold and minus 30 degree Celcius weather The first wall we had to break was that of snow and cold and leaving with our van that really only likes summer.! I waited at home for his text to tell me he was ready to fly and then I just couldn't wait any longer and I left with our Marcella. (

Utah

magnificent scenery

Marcella is our 1992 Westfalia, Eurovan) I thought...... I could wait at home staring at the clock or I could wait at the airport and at least feel like I was on my way.

I got to the airport and Rene arrived at 2:00 pm, and we were on our way! Thanks Matt for the encouragement to keep writing about our trips.!!!

Rene jumped in the van and off we went heading south.

Our first stop for the night was in Shelby Montana. We woke up in the morning of Feb 07, 2017 to greet the morning at -26.5 degrees Celcius! That is just plain miserable COLD!!! Rene went out to start the van and........nothing!!! Yup that's what I said.......NOTHING!!! My first reaction was to cry....my second was to pray and beg! Seriously who wants to stay in Shelby Montana when it's 26.5.....wait -32 with the wind!!! For a few minutes I had thougths of soending our month away in Shelby MT....beautiful little toen ,but NO!!!!!!!...Both Rene ans I truly and honestly believe in the power of prayer and we prayed.....along with our prayers, Rene and a hotel employee did some magic and then just

Road Trip Essentials

not sure anything more can fit, but ALL essential items for a long ROAD TRIP

before we were to throw in the towel Rene tried something "one more time", while I prayed and our girl fired up!!! Thank you God!!!

We spent the rest of the day putting the miles behind us.....we stopped a couple of times and each time we stopped we debated about turning off the van and each time......didn't turn it off even for a second! The further south we got without turning the van off was closer to being out of the snow and cold. The second night we found ourselves in Salt Lake City. The temperature said +5 when we stopped. Rene felt quite confident that the problem the night before was the cold and freezing equipment. We both held our breath while he turned it off..........let the breath out again when he turned the key and of course.....away she went!!!

Feb 08, we headed south again and without any mishaps or crazy events we arrived in Mesquite Nevada. Oh the glorious sun and warmth! We went for a walk and ended up at a place called Wedgies, for dinner. There we met and had a cocktail with Ryan. A young man also from Alberta, but what a

Only in Nevada

You can lose all your money while you eat a Big Mac

troubled soul. We wished him him well and left him to his thoughts. We spent the night in Mesquite and woke to a sunny, warm morning.

Feb 09, we headed south again. Our hope was to get close to the Mexican Border. We arrived at Brawley California at about 4 p.m and stopped for the night in the first little trailer park we found. The park was one of those parks where there are only long term folks who have little yards filled with dusty plastic flowers and sidewalks lined with all the beautiful rocks they find. We pulled in and and met Jan the proprietor. She was about 4 feet tall with fingernails that also almost 4 feet long. I guess the nails were making up for the lack of teeth in her mouth. She was a sweet old gal who was more than thrilled that we wanted to stay in her park.

After giving us the keys to the washroom (that closed at 8 pm.) we pulled into the one empty spot beside George. George couldn't wait to get out and meet us! First on the agenda for George was to take us on a tour

Glamis California

huge sand dunes as far as the eye can see

of the park......all 3 lanes! Along the way we were introduced to the various folks sitting out side with thier plastic flowers, thier dogs and thier beer! During our tour of the trailer park we talked about dinner. George was adamant that we buy some meat and use his "Barby" Not just once did he mention it, rather at least 5 times. If we moved he moved. He certainly seemed a very lonely man. We didn't use his "Barby" for dinner, but we visited with him on and off all eveving and when we woke in the morning there he was again. We needed water in the van and he INSISTED that we use his hose. Of course we obliged, wished him well and off we went. As a going away gift, he gave us 6 fresh grapefruits and abut 15 Walmart reusable shopping bags! We had "GEORGE BAGS" for our whole month away!!!

We got to the International Border at Mexicalli Mexico about 10:30 am on Feb 10. A border guard stopped us and although we had Mexican car insurance he insisted that we needed a Visa. Into the office I went and after purchasing our Visas we

Brawley California

our first stop in the van......hangin with the folk with the dusty plastic flowers.

continued off with not a problem. No walls to stop anyone here!!! Kind, helpful, smiling folk. The first item on our agenda was to stop and have a street taco. 10 minutes into being in Mexico we veered off the road to a little taco stand and "ohhhed and ahhed" while we relished our first 2 street tacos! We had no pesos, had no idea what the exchange rate was, but after some Spanish/English charades, we paid for our tacos with our American cash!

Back on the road and we were headed for San Felipe. The highway was great! No problems at all. The only thing that made us pause was the fact that there seemed to be so few people on the highway with us!

We arrived in San Felipel about 2:00 pm. With the help of a couple locals we found Campo San Felipe., sitting right on the beach of the Sea of Cortez. It was beautiful. We pulled in and sure enough there was a spot just for us! All the trailers and fifth wheeles were........yup, Canadians and Americans. Still no walls......just fun loving, helpful people.

Earlier in the day we are told there

George

insisted we fill up our water with his hose......gave us 6 fresh grapefruit and about 15 reusable bags from Walmart........such a sweet lonely man

was a big motorcycle rally happening in San Felipe. How fitting for us! We walked on the Malacon ( the beach front street) and checked out the 100's of bikes and bikers! Our campground was very close to downtown town which was great for getting to the heart of stuff, but little did we know that the bike rally would be LOUD and PROUD all day and NIGHT as well!!!

We had a great couple of days checking out the town, the bike rally and laying in the sun!

On the morning of Feb 12th we packed up and hit the road heading south on Highway 5. The highway was pretty good but Rene had to keep his wits about him to avoid the deep potholes. We stopped for a quick look at a little place called Cow Patty, a quaint little resturant with lots of junk piled everywhere. The drive is incredibly beautiful! There are mountains and high desert on one side and the beautiful Sea of Cortez on the other side. So many different varities of cacti along the way! Fascinating! The weather was overcast and cool all morning. It was not so easy to just

Border at Mexicali Mexico

easy crossing and no sign of any walls.......yet!?

stop and take a picture as the road is very narrow and very winding.

We stopped for the day at a beach called Bahia Gonzaga! A line up of about 15 palapas right on the beach and across the road a opposing row of outhouses. One outhouse for each palapa! We were outside for just a short while and the sky's let loose with rain. It rained most of the afternoon so it was a great day to catch up on reading and writing.

We met up with Max and Lexi again ( young couple we met in San Felipe). We also met Tim who was from Washington State and riding his bike down the Baja to meet up with a friend in the south. Earlier in the day, Rene met another fellow who told us about this great place to eat, called El Sacrificio. We decided to check it out and invited Max and Lexi and Tim to join us! It finally stopped raining and the 5 of us jumped in our van and off we went to find El Sacrificio! We turned down the dirt road and proceeded to spend the next 5 km rumbling down

Mexicalli

our first street tacos 10 minutes in to Mexico

a "full on" washboard road. It was only 5 km, but oh my it felt like 100. It was so rough and dark!! It was quite and adventure we were on. Dark and Dusty road, going somewhere new and with Strangers!?!?! Tim jumped out at a closed dark gate and in we went. The resturant was all cleaned up and the folk looked like they were ready to leave for the night, but agreed to feed us. We each had a couple great little quesidillas and a couple of burritos and then back onto the dusty washboard road and back to camp.

We invited our new friends to join us for a night cap and after a couple hours of visiting and sharing eachothers lives we called it a night!

Blessed beyond measure

Rene and Crystal

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