Day 6 – January 10

We awoke and had a leisurely breakfast – I had gone to bed at 5:30 last night and woke at 7:45 assuming I had missed breakfast (but it was still night). Packing a leisurely 12 hour sleep, I woke up amazingly refreshed, without back pain and ready to attack the world. Here is the view out the window:

Roger, Vincent and I spent part of the morning shopping for Helge’s birthday and we’ll have a party for him on the ferry as we cross the Gulf. We had a bountiful collection of presents – first, four pieces of delicious cake with candles; second (as you can see below on the attractive serving girl – who is not included in the gift) a pair of handcuffs, inferring that we never want him to leave our side;


third, a simplified camera – the $15,000 worth of camera gear is not critical – a simple camera will do; fourth, a bag of marbles – in case he loses his (doubtful); fifth, a back-scratcher – in case he needs an extra hand (shouldn’t rely on us); sixth, a compass – so that he doesn’t have to rely on those infernal GPS devices; and the seventh present is unrecognizable to me.

I torked down the spring on my rear shock – but in case this doesn’t work, Marge is bringing along an extra shock with a heavier spring and an additional much heavier spring. This will give me three options for rear suspension on the rest of the trip.

We checked out at 1:00 and headed down to the beach on the other side of the ferry (5 miles away) for lunch and some photo sessions. While waiting for the ferry we had lunch at a beautiful beach spot – one of the few on the Baja.


We loaded our bikes on the second deck of the ferry which was virtually empty.

That evening on the ferry, we threw Helge a birthday party and it was a great success.


He loved the handcuffs, compass and other paraphernalia we had gotten. Since he’s the youngest in the group (somewhere around 55) he had to sit in the baby chair.

Following the ferry ride we have a 600 mile ride to my sister Harriet’s house in San Miguel. A portion of the ride is over “the devil’s backbone” which is a serpentine steep rode over the mountains. The two days it will take to cross the 600 miles will be long given the topography and I don’t expect that we will have e-mail connections until arriving at Harriet’s in San Miguel.

Day 5 – January 9

We had a relatively short trip today (as the crow flies) - - we went south along the coast for a short distance and then turned inland over a mountain range (approximately 1,500 feet) with a lot of twists and turns and steep hills and descents. We reached a straight boring road on a desert plane – lots of cactuses.

Along the way we saw attempts at farming, but it was basically desert land in a low enough spot to be pumped onto the surface.

At the end of the plane we took Route 1 over a small mountain range into La Paz (175,000 people), the largest city south of Tijuana on the Baja Peninsula. The city has an attractive waterfront promenade with roller skating and bicycle riding. The benches along the promenade offer views of the deserted offshore islands and beautiful turquoise water.

We went looking for camping spots but elected to stay in a downtown hotel with a large sign proclaiming “keep all valuables with you - not responsible for lost or stolen articles.”

Tomorrow we will take the ferry from La Paz to Mazatlán – about a 12 hour trip across the Gulf of California. The ferry looks enormous and is largely used for freight (looks as though they will be packing our motorcycles into coat closets).

Evident in La Paz is the financial meltdown – the tourist trade is significantly down and there are frequent examples of “see through” buildings laying half finished waiting for the economy to improve.

Day 4 - January 8

We left Guerrero Negro in the morning amid a pea soup fog and it was difficult to see more than 200 yards ahead. The road was wet and the fog collected on the helmet visor like rain.

We are on way southeast across the Baja peninsula to the Gulf of California traveling from Santa Rosalia to Loreto where we will spend the night. Along the way we did some desert riding while Helge did some more work on his video.


When we arrived at the coast we had lunch at a nice restaurant on the Gulf

and picked some of the cactus quills out of our clothes (they go right through leather).

We made some rather expensive phone calls (over $2.00/minute)

Along the coast there were pockets of beautiful beaches along the bite of small bays.

But in general the shoreline was rocky with beautiful landscapes offshore with islands framed by craggy steep cliffs and sharp volcanic peaks.

We spent the night in a fancy (but empty) Loreto hotel with our bikes parked in front under the watchful eye of the night manager.

Day 3 – January 7 (addendum)

It’s interesting to me that the Orcas (killer whales) that frequent the areas north of the Washington and Oregon coast don’t follow the gray whales south for easy pickings (more fat, bigger families, and the expansion of the herds). Apparently they are satisfied to knock off a few salmon appetizers chased by a seal or sea lion entrée. In our world they wouldn’t make for very good investment bankers and would be considered homebodies.

I had a magnificent birthday party with a fancy cake and birthday song by the entire restaurant (English with some Spanish) along with some fantastic gifts. One of the gifts was “gimme that fork” a fork that extends 3 feet in length to grab a delectable off someone else’s plate (ironically my daughter Halley gave me the same gift several months ago - - perhaps I should change my eating habits).

A second gift was a “Get Out of Jail Free” card from Monopoly - - but I don’t think it will work in Mexico. A third gift was a tube of caviar which we will enjoy on our ferry ride from Baja back to the mainland.

Day 3-January 7

Today is my birthday – although I have received no presents, last night I was allowed to select the best room. We awoke early to go on a whale watch. The whales conjugate in a bay at Guerrero Negro beginning December 15. They arrive to calve generally accompanied by their calves from the previous year. When I was last here we saw hundreds of whales with calves and they would come up to the boat so that you could touch them. They expect around 1,500 whales this year.
This sensitive environmental area is surrounded by the largest salt processing facility in the world. The guide told us it supplies 1/3 of the world’s salt – between 20-26 million tons/year. The process requires no heat and is completed purely by evaporating the brine in successive steps until pure. It sits on 100,000 acres and, as is becoming popular, it is 51% owned by the government.

We had the opportunity to see a number of whales. On the way back we encountered a group of seals on a barge that reminded of the day after a fraternity party – and smelled worse.

More seals on a mooring buoy – not particularly happy to see us:

What I found surprising is watching the seals jump back on to the buoy (approximately 6 feet high):

Vincent, the master at fixing propellers, inspects Mexican quality:

Helge gives his “60 Minutes” treatment to the poor reluctant guide:

The rest of the day was spent fixing and fine tuning motorcycles.

Day 2-January 6

We awoke to a beautiful view out our window:

The hotel was built by the government and sold to a private developer who was in the process of a rehab.
San Quintin started as an ill advised wheat farming investment. A large international land company attracted 100 English colonists to come and share vast agricultural wealth by starting up a large wheat plantation. The project failed as did many other schemes aimed at the Baja peninsula. All that remains are Griswell ruins, a railroad causeway, a locomotive that lays underwater in the bay and an English cemetery. Today it is still and ag area hoping to become a tourist attraction.
Translucent tents covering crops

The question is from where does the moisture come - - there is very little precipitation here except for the dense pea soup fog that rolls in every night.
We spent some time riding on the beach.

The road to Guerrero Negro was again a high speed highway with beautiful ups and downs reminiscent of a roller coaster. We passed boulder fields along with way with some measuring as large as 30-40 feet in diameter.

All of the other riders have brought brand new BMW Adventurers and Helge encounters the first problem - - a clutch that does not work. Helge does not seem worried – but soon the others may have the same problem – they may be worried!
We covered a little less than 300 miles from San Quintin to Guerrero Negro. Along the way we passed a number military check points on the road. The soldiers were in the process of searching cars. It seems clear that Mexico is serious about dealing with the drug problem (more serious than we appear to be about the drug consumption problem).
We found a quaint hotel with a nice restaurant in a city where we assumed the hotels would be of questionable quality.

Introduction and Day 1

The ride from Los Angeles to Tierra del Fuego is step two of a three part ride from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of South America.
The first leg of the journey was completed last summer riding the Continental Divide from Mexico to Canada and was documented earlier on this site.
The LA to Tierra del Fuego part of the journey began by convincing Helge Pedersen, one of the all time greats in adventure motorcycling, to let us join him on a reconnoitering trip of Mexico, Central America and South America (Helge also led us on the Silk Road tour).
We had our initial planning session this fall and poured over the maps and discussed our views of the forthcoming trip for Helge’s video documentation of the trip.
L-R Dan Moore-Vincent Cummings-Helge Pedersen-Roger Hansen

We decided that 70 days was on the long side of being OK – but clearly Helge didn’t feel that was long enough.
Helge – telling us we can make the trip in 70 days.

Roger Hansen is not only a card-carrying jack-booted republican but is also a phenomenal motorcycle rider and construction executive with a dog’s breakfast of fascinating projects.

Vincent Cummings, masquerading here as a camel, runs a fascinating commercial diving business. His organization has the capacity to replace a plate from the bottom of a supertanker that’s run aground without a dry dock. He also works on oil rigs and all sorts of other dangerous activities in addition to his motorcycling adventures.

Both Roger and Vincent are experienced riders and are mechanically adept. We all rode together on the Silk Road tour.
Although I am the oldest (70 years in two days), I am the neophyte of the crowd and eagerly learn from each of my riding companions.
Our bikes were shipped from all points to Irv Seaver motorcycles in LA. Owner Evan Bell has a remarkable collection of vintage BMW motorcycles and was of great help to us prior to beginning our journey. I was having a problem with my HP2 gas tank venting – a vacuum was forming and the motorcycle was stalling. Irv’s shop was able to solve the first of what will be many problems which one expects on a trip such as this.
I am trying a new approach for my motorcycle this trip - - I decided on an HP2 BMW, which is nearly 200 lbs. lighter than the normal bike I would ride - - but it required extensive modifications. I made a new seat for it, lowered the suspension, installed an extra storage tank for gasoline and a variety of other enhancements.
Bike in preparation for journey

Ready to roll

The morning of our departure, during the time when Helge was downloading the route for the trip on our GPS units, I discovered that the GPS unit that I had brought did not have a data card - - so I will go without until I hook up with Marge (who will bring the correct unit) in San Miguel.

We left LA at 11:00 a.m. on the 5th and headed down Route 5 towards the Mexican border.
As we rode down Route 5 towards the Mexican border there were two glorious views – one of Pacific as calm as a mill pond with a beautiful blue-green hue as far as the eye can see.
The second view was the nuclear power station near San Clemente - clean, neat and efficient, producing approximately 2,350 megawatts of nuclear power - - the equivalent of almost 9,000 wind turbines. Wind turbines produce on the average 18% of their rated capacity on a continuous basis.
We arrived in Tijuana and took two hours to clear customs. Roger had a copy of his motorcycle title but not the original – this required considerable discussion, making copies, apologizing, etc. But all of the officials at the border were polite and eager to please. When compared to other countries I’m sure that crossing into Mexico will be the most positive.
Helge snaps a photo of me among the cactus

We headed south on Route 1 in Mexico through Escanaba – a coastal road with magnificent cliffs and rocky beaches. Along the road there were many unfinished luxury apartments with signs in English offering discount prices. The road was excellent, and I discovered that my motorcycle could not travel at high speed without developing a rather distressing front-end shimmy. I am having a new shock absorber system with stiffer springs shipped to San Miguel. I’ll tighten the front steering damper and inflate the tires more to hopefully solve the problem.
Darkness fell about 1.5 hours before reaching San Quintin – we encountered heavy fog that limited visibility and flowed off the wind deflector as if it were rain. With no reservations we were able to get rooms at the Desert Inn, which gave me a flashback to the famous Clevelanders that with the help of the mob established Las Vegas as a gambling Mecca. We covered a little over 300 miles today.