Another Baja Adventure

I was lucky enough to spend a week riding in Baja California this past December. My bike had been in storage in San Diego and my plan was to cross into Mexico and ride down to La Paz and take the ferry over to Mazatlan on the mainland. My eventual plan was to ride to Cancun a week at a time.  However, after riding for days through the Baja, I ran into a bureaucratic nightmare involving temporary vehicle import permits when I got to La Paz. The bottom line is that I was told I had to go all the way back to Tijuana to get an old permit that expired in 2010 removed from the computer system before a new permit could be issued. A permit is required for mainland Mexico, but not for Baja California. Thus my DRZ400 will remain in storage in Los Barriles in Baja California for the time being.

Oh well it gives me an excuse to head back to Baja at some point in the future to retrieve my bike. I had an awesome time there yet again. I rode down to San Felipe on the sea of Cortez from San Diego. From there I headed for Ricardo’s Rice and Beans, the unofficial stopover of the Baja 1000. On this ride I hit rain, wind, and downright cold weather. It was only about 12 degrees Celcius in the mountains. I stopped at a roadside shack for shelter and was surprised that it was non-other than Coco’s Corner of “From Dusk to Glory” fame. Coco is a 77 year old man with both legs amputated below the knees who has been collecting memorabilia from the Baja 1000 race for decades. I signed his guest book and left him a piece of my motorcycle – my windscreen. It was irritating me always coming loose and now it has a happy home. Coco told me the rain I was sheltering from was the first rain in more than 2 years.

I eventually made my way to Loreto and then Los Barriles where I relaxed in the beautiful Palmas hotel located next to the beach. I ended up flying home from Los Cabos.


Above: Coco’s corner. It is really in the middle of nowhere. It is on a dusty dirt road south of Gonzaga bay.


Coco is 77 years old and he says he thinks he will only keep his place open another 10 years or so before he retires.


I was lucky enough to run into the first rain in 2 years to hit this part of the Baja.


The coastal ride into Los Barriles.


Hotel Palmas de Cortez.

For more photos, please see my complete Baja Adventure collection.

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