Ok, you’re finally getting a short one today.  Promise.  Totally cereal this time.

I got up after an astounding night’s sleep (in a good way) thinking I would just have a nice 5-hour ride to La Paz cruising along Hwy 1.  Then I looked at the map and found a certain dirt road that would carry me over the mountains and through a little town called La Purisma that I’d never heard of.  Why not?  I mean, other than the fact that Garmin couldn’t find this road AT ALL, porque no?  Garmin would have a hard time finding the ocean from the beach in Mexico…

I left a little later than I’d liked, but Elena made me granola with orange juice poured over it instead of milk.  I know – it sounded wicked gross to me too, but it was actually pretty stellar.  Why hadn’t I ever thought of that?  Crazy Russians.  Besides, isn’t it weird that we have milk in our cereal and then drink OJ – the thought of those two mixing in our guts is gnarly.

I got on the road and enjoyed the scenic overlook onto the beaches and beautiful waters that the high road allowed and started to look for my dirt road.  Seeing as how Garmin couldn’t find it, I was going old school with paper maps and instinct (thank god for paper maps).  I stopped by the El Coyote beach to say hello to Mark and Anita before heading out, and we talked about hooking up on my route back up.

Keep in mind, I could stand under the bottom branches of this monster.

The dirt road I was looking for was supposed to start right after a town called El Rosarita.  Basically, if the founding fathers of a Mexican town couldn’t agree upon a name, they just chalked it up as some variation of Rosarita, Rosarito Rosario, etc.  In this case, there wasn’t really a town, but rather some broken down buildings between two signs saying there’s a town, and then nothing.  Fortunately, that’s all I needed.  There appeared a dirt road just after the town with a sign pointing towards “San Isidro.”  I looked it up on GPS, and it found a San Isidro that was about 100 miles in a different direction.  Fuck it.  I’m going with the sign.  At this point I trust the Mexican road signs more than Garmin anyway.  So, I started down this mystery dirt road.  According to Google, this route to La Paz would take 8.5 hours compared to the 5.5 by taking Hwy 1, so I didn’t want to pick the wrong road, but then again, you can only get so lost in Baja until you run into water.  It’s not like fighting a land war in Asia.  More like playing Marco Pollo in a hot tub.  If you get my drift.

Where I'm going.

Where I came from.

I was immediately met with the joys of a washboard surface.  Easy to negotiate, but pounding on both me and La Gigante – but I’m sure worse on her, and she doesn’t complain as much as me…  If you’re not familiar with washboard think ribbed, but not for pleasure.  You’ve seen the sand under shallow water on a small lake – almost ripples in ground that feel funky underfoot.  Not so funky on a bike for 3 hours.

Giving La Gigante a much-deserved break. Next time, try not to park the tires behind huge rocks. It doesn't look like much, but it took all the muscle I had to get this thing over that in the sand.

After finding the rhythm, it wasn’t too bad though.  It was easier riding than the other day, but there was definitely some more technical riding mixed in.  In some spots, the two tire tracks (it’s a one-lane road mostly) were worn 2-3 feet down in trenches with deep, loose gravel in the middle and quite the drop-off on either side.  It seemed like this only happened at hairpin switchbacks going downhill.  Sort of like riding on a curving, rounded-off balance beam.  Not a lot of margin for error and requires second-by-second concentration.  At one point I allowed myself to drift mentally, and the next thing I knew, I was going downhill in neutral!  Around a bend!  Yikes!

I'd like to complain about Garmin, but then, I do enjoy this: "Cannot calculate the route. No roads near the starting point." Yaous. I'm officially out there.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you do it.  You MUST be in gear as you go downhill to control your decent – especially in a steep grade with rocks, gravel, and who knows what else.  In neutral, you have no control and pick up speed exponentially as you go.  I slammed on my rear break and stated to fish tail all over the place since I’d turned my ABS off, which is a necessity on dirt.  Luckily, I was able to pound it back into gear and control my decent before my lame off-road skills punished me for daydreaming.  Dumbass.  Pay.  Attention.

The silence of the desert is almost overwhelming.  It’s almost loud.  I stopped to devour some nuts and just sit in the sand for a while, and tried to listen to the emptiness until my brain hurt.  It’s quite an experience.

Such an awesome road. I passed that Jeep about ten minutes later. Always nice to see another car out there. Even if it is once every hour.

And of course, the views were spectacular, and there was NO ONE out there.  Pretty awesome.  There was the occasional encampment of a couple shacks with fences holding back some goats and the typical random abandoned car, but other than that, nothing.  I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell those people were doing out there in a land that is literally good for nothing other than, apparently, raising goats, but they were attempting to make a go of it.  I wish them best of luck.

Taking a breather. before setting out again.

Just cause I like the effect.

After about 40 miles of that great riding surrounded by brown upon brown, I pulled into La Purisma – another oasis town.  Such an unreal sight.  Out of nowhere, a small river-like body of water appears, and around it is all lush and green and even jungle.   And with it, a small “town.”  I have no clue what life must be like there but they have managed to develop a school along with a couple ambulances, the typical tiendre (small shop selling crap), and some other run-down buildings.  As it happens, I arrived just as the grade school was letting out for the day, and kids were swarming the street.  The town appears to have 10 kids per adult resident, and they were ALL happy to see me.  I was met with smiles and kids waving and making arm signals I didn’t recognize.  All I could see was pint-sized happiness.  It was like the circus was coming to town and I was carrying all the free tickets and cotton candy.  So awesome.  I keep forgetting to carry small gifts for the kids – next trip I have to remember that.

I wish I could do justice to the intense green surrounded by the brown. So amazing.

After pulling through the impromptu jungle, I reconnected with a paved road, and the straight shot to Ciudad Consitucion started.  And I mean straight shot.  Like a 100-mile long line drawn with a freaking ruler.  I knew it was coming, and I was prepared, but I don’t think I gave it the credit it deserves.  Literally (am I using that word too much?), there was not so much as a slight bend in the road for 100 miles.  Scientists can calibrate their satellites with this line.  It makes the freeway through South Dakota look like a Formula One race track on acid.  Seriously brutal.  I can ride all day on this bike, but with a straightaway like this, every ten miles feels like 50.  At one point, I thought I was going backwards.

I pulled into La Paz around 18:00 and made my way through the city to my hotel on the far end of town.  I had found it online at a coffee shop in Ciudad Constitucion, and although it was a bit out of town, it was way discounted, and really nice.  And, it was RIGHT on the ocean.  Perfect after a long day of riding.  I’d have liked to have had more time to see the city, but perhaps I’ll be able to check it out in the morning.  That’s the thing about covering so much ground with limited time on the bike – there is almost never enough time to fully check out a town.  But, like I said, if I waited until I had the two months to fully explore Baja, I might never go.

The night ended at the ocean-side restaurant with fried bananas topped with feta (yea! yum! who knew?) served alongside chicken covered in mole with homemade tortillas.  Wow.  I hope no one was bothered by my moaning as I slathered my whole body in the dark, rich, chocolaty mole.  Is that wrong?  Seriously, I’d have ordered a second dish if they’d have been open for another ten minutes.

Another day is done.  Another incredible day of riding, sights, and experiencing the wonders of Baja.

So, this was a bit shorter, wasn’t it?  Come on, I tried.  Tomorrow will be shorter for sure.  Trust me.  Would I lie?  And hey, I actually fully caught up – like I’m in La Paz right now writing this before jumping on my bike!  Hasta luego…

And, of course, my updated route: