Southernmost Escape

Oh MY Michael & Debra. I'm sorry for the loss of your possessions and home. But so happy you still have Bess and each other.
 
Life changes on a dime. We took Bess to San Diego recently and last Sunday a fire on a very windy day destroyed most of the RV park including all the trailers. We had just finished building a nice outdoor kitchen, bar and loft bedroom. Everything of ours was lost including a new Polaris 900cc Razor which you can see in the middle of the picture melted down to the frame. Sept.14 we went through a Cat. 3 hurricane with 125+ winds and were just recovering. First Bess escaped a hurricane and now a fire. She is a lucky Escape19.
Hi: escape13... Bess must be a kitten... 2 down and 7 to go!!! Sorry about your predicament. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie;)
 
As of today Bess is sold and will travel to Florida and her new home. She came through 125+ winds and Hurricane Odile in Baja. She then moved to San Diego just before the entire RV park she was in burned to the ground. This morning she will be turned over to her new owner and travel to Florida. Now there's an Escape with a story. Thank you Bess!
 
Michael & Debra, sorry for your losses! This sad event must have really changed your life but you are both safe. It is too bad you sold your Escape 19. We remember showing you ours in San Diego when you were trying to decide on the purchase. A lot has happened since then. Hopefully you will stay connected to your Escape friends. You are most welcome to come by and see us anytime you are in the area. Take care!

Steve & Margarita
 
We are flying to S. Dakota tomorrow to become residents via Americas Mailbox. We will then pack up the handful of stuff in Mexico that didn't burn and put it in storage in San Diego, sell our truck at Carmax and take off for China, Southeast Asia and beyond. We plan to be on the road traveling for at least a year. We have to hurry because grass is growing under our feet. We have lots of lemons so we will have lots of lemonade.
Thank you Steve and Margarita!
 
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these pics sure bring back good memories. have driven from vanouver bc to cabo at least 6 times. everyone you talk to seem to think that you are in danger. i have never experienced any such thing in all my drives down there. the roads are very narrow(12 feet per lane). you definitely have to slow down or preferably stop when a semi approaches. fortunately there weren't that many. however the cattle love the green grass at roadside and can pose a problem. just make sure you have mexican insurance for your vehicles when there. dirt cheap. otherwise with french cival law(mexico) instead of british common law. one is guilty until proven innocent vs innocent until proven guilty. just be careful.
 
hi ruthe the roads when i drove the baja were excellent. just a bit narrow. make sure you don't drive at night. that's when the cattle graze at the side of the road and pose a problem.
 
IThanks for the update -- I'm rethinking the whole Baj trip and thinking about the gulf of mexico
 
the roads are very narrow(12 feet per lane). you definitely have to slow down or preferably stop when a semi approaches.
Twelve feet sounds like a pretty normal highway lane width to me, and according to the this document from the US DoT Federal Highway Administration 12 feet is the normal U.S. highway width. Since any vehicle over 8.5 feet is a "wide load", perhaps those narrow lanes are more like 9 to 10 feet?
 
I took this off this website.

DRIVING THE BAJA HIGHWAY

Basic Arithmetic of the Baja Highway

Width of the pavement: 19 feet
Width of the shoulder: 0 feet
Width of a truck/bus/RV: 8 feet
Added width for mirrors: 1 foot
Width used by two passing trucks/etc: 18 feet
Safety separation used by
two passing trucks/etc: 1 foot
Room left for a bicycler: 0 feet
The highway was constructed to just accommodate two passing 8-foot vehicles, and no more! Many of the roadsides drop off anywhere from a few feet to a few hundred feet (in these extreme cases, there will usually be a low guard rail right at the edge of the pavement). Also, the edge of the pavement will often have chunks broken off or washed away, leaving "edge potholes" which have to be dodged.
 
Thanks Steve - those Baja highway numbers make more sense. Basically it's 9.5 foot lanes, not 12 feet... and yes, that's tight! :eek:

Fortunately, no Escape is as wide as 8 feet, and I don't think anyone's mirrors stick out a foot beyond the trailer side, so there's more room than there would be with the planned 8-foot-wide trucks and buses (or the 8.5-foot "widebody" RVs which are now common and would be really squeezed).

I also note that the (very interesting) linked page is now 18 year out of date... some details may have changed.
 
We were sad to hear about the fire at Kenny's. I'm so glad you and your escape weren't there at the time. We are crossing the border at Tecate on the 2nd or 3rd for another amazing adventure in Baja.

Yes the roads are very narrow and we try not to drive at night due to the cows. When we last went down, 2 years ago, the Mexican military had a new initiative...shoot any cows that weren't behind a fence. I don't know if this still goes on but we saw a pile of dead cows with bullet holes in them. Interesting solution.

Mexico has always been good to us on the rv side of things and I can't wait to get south! 6 days and counting!
 
Hi Ruthe,

We will be posting lots of good stuff on our blog about our time south of the border. Just check my profile for the address. We usually boondock and it can cost anywhere from $5.00 to free! Good times await!
 
As of today Bess is sold and will travel to Florida and her new home. She came through 125+ winds and Hurricane Odile in Baja. She then moved to San Diego just before the entire RV park she was in burned to the ground. This morning she will be turned over to her new owner and travel to Florida. Now there's an Escape with a story. Thank you Bess!
Hi: escape13... We met up with "Bess" and her new owner at Ft. DeSoto park in Florida. Finally heard "The rest of the story". Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie;)
 

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