12 November 2017 – The alarm goes off right at 3:00 a.m. and
I say God, do I really want to get up? I know the earlier I leave the easier the
drive to Tijuana, Mexico will be. Also getting thru the border will be simpler
because of smaller crowds. So off I go. I get dressed and eat breakfast. My
brother asked, why I’m leaving so early and I tell him to get ahead of traffic
and get to the border before lines of vehicles and crowds amass. I get my bike
all loaded up except for the tires. I start putting my tires on and nothing
seems to look right. I finally settle with the front tire on the bottom and
rear tire on top. I tape them together so they're easier to manage. I bungee them
to the top of my box and I’m good to go. The only thing I haven’t completed is
writing anything for my blog. Larry and I had a photo session before I left.
Initially it started out in the dark but before I rolled out his gate it was
daylight, sometime around 6:30 a.m. He took a video of me as I was leaving and
a couple of pictures for myself. I switched the S/D Card in my GPS to the
Mexican GPS Maps. Blanche immediately started dragging me over hill and dale
again. Fortunately, I knew the way to Hwy 57 and eventually Blanche agreed with
me even though she rebelled. As I drove thru cities you can see them come alive
and as the cities woke up the cars on the interstates increased. It’s about 130
miles from my brother’s home to Tijuana, Mexico. I believed I arrived around
10:30 a.m. at Customs and Immigration, Tijuana, Mexico. I made one stop in a rest area to take a
break. I never really traveled very fast somewhere between 55mph / 89kph – 65mph
/ 104kph. I don’t like to run my engine over 5000 Rpm’s. I think it saves wear
and tear on the engine and I need this engine to hold up for another 20,000 mi.
/ 32,258 km.
Well, here we go, I just ran out of road right into Tijuana,
Mexico Custom and Immigration. The Customs Officer asks me where I’m going and
I tell him Cabo San Lucas, the tip of the Baja Peninsula. He tells me the best
bars to check out. He asks me why I have spare tires, then looks at my tires on
the motorcycle and says your tires are in good shape. I’m sure he then realized
I will be traveling much farther. He also tells me I don’t need my passport
stamped if I stay on the Baja Peninsula. I tell him I will be taking the ferry
from La Paz, BC to Mazatlán, Mexico. He said, that I need to get my passport
stamped if I'm travelling to Mazatlán, Mexico. I said ok, where do I go? He pointed
to the building.
I drove over by the building and parked my motorcycle. I
pulled out all my paper work and headed inside. I walk past the x-ray machine
and the lady points me forward so I keep walking. I get to this area where
people are filling out paperwork. A guy hollers at me to fill out this piece
of paper, top and bottom, and points to a wall with a shelf to write on. I fill
out the paper and take it to the lady at the desk behind me. She stamps or does
something with it and gives it back and tells me to go over to another woman
behind the glass. I hand the paperwork to her and she looks at it. I get
charged $27 for something. I show my permit sticker for my motorcycle and
Insurance paperwork that I took care of before I left home. She takes it and looks at it. She checks her computer and
says nothing. Then gives everything back to me. She says to go back and see the lady I just
came from. OK... So I head back to her. She staples the papers together and points to
the same lady behind the glass I was just at. I’m confused so stop at another window. They
look at my paperwork and point to the other lady behind the glass. So I go see
her and she says she is finished and I can go. I now am thoroughly confused and am feeling like a shooting gallery target, walking
back and forth and back and forth. I take a chance and start walking out and walk by the x-ray lady
again thinking she may like to see what in my shopping bag. Nope, she waved me
on by. I continued out the building and back to my motorcycle. I got to my
motorcycle and it dawned on me that I better check and see if my passport was
stamped. I went thru every page before I found the stamp. I breathed a sigh of
relief. When I leave Mexico I’ll for sure will know whether my paperwork was done
correctly.
As I was standing by my motorcycle figuring out which end was up, a large tour bus pulled
up in front of. Apparently I parked in the wrong spot. No
worries, nobody cares. At least the bus driver didn’t get off the bus and start
hollering at me. As I was putting my stuff back several people saw the stickers
on the sides of my saddlebags. They started asking question and it wasn’t long
before I had an audience. I told them about my trip around the world. Some
people stood in pure amazement. Some said "Man, that must have taken planning".
Others said their tour bus trip into the Mexican Vineyards is a pretty wimpy
trip compared to what I was doing. Some of the Chinese wanted to ask questions but couldn't speak enough English
to ask questions. I felt bad for them. I know the feeling. I have got to start remembering to try to use Google Translate. All of the above
probably went on for 30 minutes. As we were talking, people were in real
close and I thought for a second that I’m so distracted somebody could be stealing
my helmet or coat and I wouldn’t even know it. So, I grabbed my helmet and coat
and laid them on my seat in full sight. Precautions... So anyway, the bus left so I finished
putting on my coat and helmet on. I took some pictures but didn’t get any good
ones of the border in to Mexico. You roll up on the border and next thing you
know you’re over it. You can’t back up and re-do it. I’ve got to think better in
the future. So I saddled up my trusty steed and started south to Cabo San Lucas.
I left the border heading South toward Ensenada, BC on Hwy
1. It’s a four-lane toll road (18 Pesos /about $1 for motorcycles) till you enter
Ensenada. I saw some very beautiful home along this stretch of the highway. The
countryside looks mostly desert. I guess there are some agricultural areas where
they grow vegetables. I’m unsure of the area. I don’t know my exact location
but I’m South of San Vicente and before the city of Colonet. I’m in the town or
village of Ejido 27 de Enero, Baja California. I’m presently staying in the
Hotel Sonora. I have found the staff to be helpful and very courteous and the
price is right. At $15 per night, it’s not the brightest or the prettiest but it’s just right for
me.
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