Baja Escapes

[jtischer]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Hey jtischer- am sure others appreciated reading some of the details as much as I did; thanks for the write up. Was surprised to see it is 2,000 miles from Tecate to Las Barilles.

Rossue
The distance from Los Barriles to Mexicali is about 1,000 miles. 2,000 miles referred to the round trip from where we entered at Tecate, east of San Diego to Los Barriles and back north to Mexicali.
As I mentioned earlier Los Barriles was one of our favorite towns. I would see us returning there perhaps as early as next year for Thanksgiving or Christmas possibly flying in to the international airport at Cabo San Jose, renting a car for the 1 hour drive to Los Barriles. There is a gringo settlement on the south side of town that surely has some air B&B rentals.
A month long stay at Playa Norte RV Haven wouldn’t be too bad if we take our Escape back.
It borders the beach, has great views and shrubbery windbreaks and is also relatively close to town.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by jtischer

Apparently the left turn signal from the vehicle being passed is standard practice in Mexico both for truckers and cars. It does take a bit of getting used to and one wants to be sure and drive defensively, but the system seems to work for the Mexicans from our limited experience.

I know that intellectually but passing when I can't see the road ahead does make me hesitate sometimes.

Ah, the entrance gate into Mulege, one of my favorite towns. Sometimes I'm wandering the streets and I'm the only gringo around. Makes me feel like I'm seeing the "real" Mexico.

What was the whale situation? Did you stop at G.N. to see the Greys? Did you see any whale sharks anywhere?

Ron

[jtischer]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I know that intellectually but passing when I can't see the road ahead does make me hesitate sometimes.

Ah, the entrance gate into Mulege, one of my favorite towns. Sometimes I'm wandering the streets and I'm the only gringo around. Makes me feel like I'm seeing the "real" Mexico.

What was the whale situation? Did you stop at G.N. to see the Greys? Did you see any whale sharks anywhere?

Ron

Ron
Mulege’ was one of our favorites with Santispac and Requison beaches being so close plus a great walk around town and excellent restaurants.
Yes we did stop at Guerro Negro both southbound and northbound. Unfortunately the California gray whales were still in transit so we didn’t see any. Next trip.

Re: Whale sharks
Several of our fellow caravan members took a panga boat ride from Santispac and I think saw some whale sharks. Check with Greg Janke as he was on the panga trip.
Jim

[marsman]

Jim, Hello from Ontario, Canada

This thread has really peaked my interest, sounds like the adventure of a lifetime to me! Unfortunately as has been mentioned already, this year is looking questionable for south of the border travel; I just cancelled all of the RV parks I had booked for January, February.

Hopefully, we'll be in much better shape next year. I'm curious as to cost of this trip, some costs have been kind of discussed; is there a cost for the Wagon master? How does that work? Would you say that overall costs for accommodation and food would be about equal to or more than southern USA? thanks so much for this thread.

[jtischer]

Originally Posted by marsman

Jim, Hello from Ontario, Canada

This thread has really peaked my interest, sounds like the adventure of a lifetime to me! Unfortunately as has been mentioned already, this year is looking questionable for south of the border travel; I just cancelled all of the RV parks I had booked for January, February.

Hopefully, we'll be in much better shape next year. I'm curious as to cost of this trip, some costs have been kind of discussed; is there a cost for the Wagon master? How does that work? Would you say that overall costs for accommodation and food would be about equal to or more than southern USA? thanks so much for this thread.

Hi Marsman
Thanks for your interest. We just spent almost 6 weeks traveling with 6 of your fellow Canadians that were a real joy for us Yanks.

Re: Cost of Baja Amigos Trip
My suggestion is to contact Dan and Lisa Goy, owners of Baja Amigos in BC. They have been going to Mexico since 1985 and have led (along with Wagonmasters) 80+ trips to Baja and Mainland Mexico since 2014.
Our cost was $3,500 but since we were originally booked in 2020 and delayed u til this year because of Covid inflation has caused basic expenses to increase considerably.
The Wagonmasters, RV park fees, several hosted dinners, extended van fees for tours and several other expenses were all covered in our basic fee.
Both Judy& I felt that it was money well spent as all aspects of the trip were 1st class.
We appreciated the level of detail that Goys developed and Dave and Darlene Smith executed.
Don’t hesitate to ask more questions if needed.
Regards
Jim & Judy Tischer
Woodland CA

[marsman]

Oh OK, thx for that info.

Didn't think of that type of a setup; that actually seems quite reasonable. I really hope that we can do something like this in the near future; fingers crossed

I thought because of the very long distance we would have to travel to get to the start we could go to Quartzite first for a stay and then head into the Baja trip just to break it up a bit.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

You don't know how lucky you are being able to use the new Mx-5. The old cow path wanted to bash you every which way.

Which brings up one of the areas where the one piece Escapes excel. Maintaining body integrity after heavy usage on rough roads.

That drive down Mex 5 with you guys and the two other trailers was most definitely memorable. While extremely rough it was interesting to see what we did at 10 kph for a good distance. We definitely saw some neat stuff.

And yes, the trailers held up remarkably well, all things considered.

Our camping spot on the side of the road.



Poor bridge condition, thus the photo of my brother doing the detour.





A few big gouges on both sides of the road.



A slight detour





Then we made it to Mex 1. Just ahead.

[Greggo]

Jim, how'd the trailers and your rearends hold up?? We eyeballed the old Mex 5 from the new one and drove on a half mile or so of the old one.

Greg

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Greggo

Jim, how'd the trailers and your rearends hold up?? We eyeballed the old Mex 5 from the new one and drove on a half mile or so of the old one.

Greg

They held up very well. One trailer had a broken cabinet door hinge. I think that was all. We kept at a reasonable speed.