1179 Miles to La Paz
31 December 2007 | Marina Palmira, La Paz
Capt Rich
December 26th started early at 0259hrs when I opened my eyes and looked that the time on the alarm clock. The clock was set for 0300hrs, so the excitement had me moving before the alarm clock went off! Lori was already in the shower so off I went to wake up the kids and started loading the car. By 0340hrs we were rolling out of the driveway and off on our La Paz adventure.
Besides my laughter, the only other sound to be heard in the car was George Norri talking about alien abductions on his after midnight coast to coast talk show. Someone on something called "the wildcard line" was giving a detailed account of how they had been abducted by "the browns" and were then subjected to wild experiments probing orifices, taking samples, and giving him a once over. Thrown in to the mix of wild stories were several cow mutilation stories from callers that have cornered the "kool-aid drinking" movement!
We officially left the USA at 0800hrs and the circus began almost right away! The sun was right in our eyes so seeing the road signs was all but impossible. We were all checking out the giant Indian bronze statue in the center of the "round-a-bout" and failed to notice that we had just missed our turn towards Ensenada. This was the moment of truth; lost in Mexico, would my crew mutiny and start their cries to retreat to the USA before we even arrived at THIRD DAY? This was my chance to show leadership in the eyes of certain disaster! So I smartly made a U-turn and proclaimed, "nobody panic, I've got everything under control". I wasn't a bit offended when the whole car broke out in laughter, leadership carries a heavy burden.
As I was trying to concentrate and lead us back to the safety of Hwy 1, Jason kept shouting "look, there's a stature of Abraham Lincoln!"
"No Jason, there isn't a statue of an American President in Mexico", I must have said several times before I was looking right at a huge statue of Abe Lincoln Himself! I quickly changed the subject as I saw the street sign that we had missed and told the rebellious crew we were back on track!
Day 1 of the drive took us from our house in Bakersfield to a $26/night hotel room in Guerrero Negro and was action packed full of adventure and sights. The pure vast empty nature of Baja California Mexico is spectacular, but then lets talk about the road! Honestly, the much talked about Mexican roads weren't that bad for leg 1 of the trip: Two toll roads that were in good shape, and then lots newly paved two lane highway. Mexico doesn't believe in wasting pavement, so they don't put any to the right of the white line, so if you happen to get your starboard (opps....right) tire off the road, prepare for a 12 inch drop at the minimum, so paying close attention is critical to safe Mexico driving, that's for sure.
I've got a strong suspicion that there are many more alien encounters here in Mexico than back in the USA, because there were dead cows all along the road and many of them look pretty fresh, as witnessed by the large number of vultures both on the cactus and circling around as an aerial landmark. By the time we completed leg two, from Guerrero Negro to La Paz, we counted no less than 8 cows in various stiff poses with varying numbers of vultures on them. I'll be sure to call into George to report the alien activity as soon as we are back in the USA.
We wouldn't have thought it possible, but the second leg of the trip had even more spectacular scenery and even more narrow twisty roads, so I guess you take the good with the bad. Driving through lava fields then rounding a curve to a million dollar views of the Sea of Cortez continued for hours. We continually remarked that if we weren't on a tight driving schedule, we would love to explore more on our way down, and plan to do so on our drive back.
The six armed check points all went smooth and the Mexican soldiers were clean cut and courteous as they asked us in Spanish where we were going. I used my best Spanish to tell them that we were driving to our boat in La Paz and after a quick look in the back seat at the kids got us a quick move along hand wave
We will post some photos and more of our La Paz trip when the excitement slows down!
Regards