Norte

We left Guerro Negro and crossed into Baja California, the northern state on the Baja Peninsula, essentially retracing our steps from two months ago. Three military checkpoints so far on the way back—we are getting to be old hands at these. At one of them, the soldiers had several dogs; a couple were on leashes and looked all business, but one was in a makeshift doghouse and had about ten of the cutest puppies you’ve ever seen, looking about the right age to take home. Steve had to drag me away.
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We had filled up with gas as we left Guerro Negro because the next Pemex station is several hundred miles away. I had thought we were pretty well empty, and was surprised when the bill was only $45—I had expected $60 or $70. There must have been a bubble in the tank or something, because by the time we hit Catavina, about 2/3 of the way to the next gas stop, we were close to empty, and without a prayer of making it. This must happen fairly frequently, because, lucky for us, there were several different guys with battered 5 gallon gasoline cans in their equally battered pick up trucks, ready and waiting. Hector gladly siphoned off 10 gallons into the Royal Palms, saving the day and only charging us $31, which is not all that much more than the gas station rate. All gas stations in Mexico are owned by the government, and the price is the same at every one, not only within the same city, but also throughout the country. Currently the rate is 65 cents American a liter.

Our next stop after Catavina was Cielito Lina RV Park in San Qunitin, near the beautiful Pacific sand dollar beach called Santa Maria. It was slow going between there and Ensenada because of off-road motorcyclists competing in the dirt hills near several little towns along the way. Lots of trucks with motorcycle trailers, vendors, and observers parked alongside the road. It must have been a very big deal, because when we got to Ensenada, all the campgrounds and RV parks were full, even the crummy ones. So we forged on ahead past Ensenada towards Tecate. We spent an enjoyable evening at a free RV park on the grounds of Rancho Sordo, which is a school for deaf children. The park was apparently built to house visitors and volunteers helping at the school. It had lots of shade, full hook ups, and amazingly, was free! The guidebook said donations were welcomed, but nobody showed up to accept one; we have their mailing address and will send something when we get back.

The border crossing at Tecate was uneventful, other than waiting in line for an hour. The border guard gave us a cursory inspection and waved us through. We are now camped in a free BLM camping area just east of Yuma, AZ. We had planned to stay in the Yuma areas for several days to try and get our broken mirror fixed and get some dental work in Algodones, just over the border into Mexico. However, we just got word that Steve’s 95 year old stepfather died. There’s no way we’ll be able to make it back to Utah in time for his funeral, but we’ll need to hurry things up a little and will no doubt be back by the end of the week.