« Photos from Day 5 | Main | Day 6 - Camalu, BC to Santa Rosalia, BCS »
November 18, 2017
Day 6 - Fuel Planning
Fuel Stops Today:
Trip Meter.........Town
62 miles.......El Rosario - Pemex.
76 miles......Catavina (138 miles total) Guy selling gas on the side of the road.
64 miles......Exit to Bahia de los Angeles (202 miles total) Guy selling gas on the side of the road.
93 miles.....Guerro Negro. (295 miles total) Pemex
137 miles....Mulege (432 miles total)
I awake to the sound of crowing roosters and stray dogs fighing in the streets. Paradise.
Today, I'll cross the Punta Prieta desert alone. I've crossed this desert four times in my life. It's not something you take lightly.
When I was in Rosarito, yesterday, I saw vehciles coming north on Mexico one that had crossed the deserts of Baja. You don't look at them and wonder. You know. These machines that have crossed the desert have not made it by chance. They made it by careful planning. And as they roll north, you see the dust. The countless jugs of gasoline that they carried with them just in case.
The deserts are cruel and unforgiving. In the desert, life is focused around gasoline, water, sunscreen, and chapstick. Without these, there is death and pain.
And I'm watching this parade of madness coming north out of the deserts of Baja. Such an insane parade. Machines of all types. Trucks pulling trailers with buggies that were racing across a thousand miles of deserts last week.
The riders I met yesterday told me of a place they were going, on their motorcycles. THey were going to ride up to the top of a mountain, that would be freezing cold, with ice forming at night, where they could see the pacifica and the sea of cortez.
But I was never clear where they went. I didn't feel like getting off road that far. So I went on.
They are planning to take the ferry at La Paz to Mazatlan also, so I'll ride on today and maybe I'll meet up with them again.
This desert crossing is a serious matter. I've done it many times before, but never without serious consideration. I've seen men stranded in this desert. Women also. And I cannot stop to help them. Because a man in the desert is desperate. He'll do anything to survive, including kill me to take my bike. So you cannot help these people.
And if I cannot help them, then I cannot expect that they would help me.
Now....Into the Punta Prieta Desert. :)
Posted by Rob Kiser on November 18, 2017 at 8:39 AM
Comments