Baja del Norte

Ok- we´re back. Coming out of Ensenada I noticed the rear axel on the Rooster was a little loose. I figured it would hold for about another 1000 miles until we got through Baja. It held for about the next 100 feet. Luckily, Ensenada had all the bike shops we needed and outstanding citizens like Mario the BikeMan to help us out. He even let us gander at his souped-up, dog-resistant bicycle which was 6 feet high. So somewhere between going to San Felipe and the axel getting fixed, we decided not to go to San Felipe, but instead headed south down Highway 1. Good move, cause the other way involved going over 150 miles of dirt roads. So for the last few days have spent our nights camping in the desert, eating tortillas and having our ritual morning coffee. The desert has been surreal to say the least. Strange, winding cactus everywhere and a winding road that goes on and on forever, interrupted by the occasional junkyard here, and RV park there. Northern Baja is a strange mixture of beautiful beaches, sprawling desert, and junkyard after junkyard. Kinda like Fat Albert´s paradise. It doesn´t matter where you´re at too, there´s a place to camp. Spent one rainy night in some abandoned house on the side of the road that turned into a nice little home with a fire. We´ve been able to throw a fire up wherever we camp so been able to stay warm through the chilly nights. Ran out of pesos one day and had to choose between a six-pack of beer or some water for the next day´s ride. Damn, we sure were thirsty that next day. But luckily we had some American dinero so was able to rehydrate. The people down here have been great so far also . It looks like the only people who think Mexico is dangerous are the people who haven´t been down here. Coming into one random town we walked into a store to buy some gatorade. Seems we woke up the guy from his 11:30am nap. He didn´t have anything to drink other than 40 cases of beer. Loads of beer in the middle of a desert, not another town for 60 miles and nothing else to survive on?? Hey, at least these Mexicans have their priorities straight. But we really were in the middle of a ride, and beer wasn´t the best thing right then. So now we´ve shacked up in Guerrerro Negro, the beginning of Baja Sur. We´ve got a hotel room, there was a bank and the laundry lady is doing our laundry. Looking forward to getting over to the Sea of Cortez in the next few days for some beach action and hoepfully some diving. So far it´s been a great trip. Lots of hills, but coming down the backside of mountain at 40mph with the desert on one side and the Pacific on the other is an amazing feeling.
Anywayz- hasta luego