What a Beauty

Heres a handsome photo of my face, battle damaged after the 7 days of desert riding from El Rosario down to where we are now, in Guerrero Negro, which we think has been about 330 km. Click it for a full size glamour shot. Whee! Since then Ive had a shower, eaten junk food, pop, tequila, enjoyed a bed, lots of tacos and tortas, and just now have a belly full of fresh Clams we and our Australian-motel-neighbours bought from a fisherman today. And i look a bit more like myself again.

Ive just arrived at the motel in this picture, and we are all looking forward to a bed, some running water, wahsing some clothes, and a hot shower (my turn is next). Safe to say i smell worse than ever, its been a pretty rough week.

But then i feel absolutely fantastic too.

Theres a LOT of dogs in mexico... wild ones nice ones noisy ones and ones that look like theyll bite your knees off while you sleep. Theres a lot of dead ones too. I gave a patient poor alsatian two slices of bread for being nice, then an hour later he went and stole all my bread and sardines from my tent. OO! A Cyote got me on another night, and crunched my can of highly prized mango juice.

We´ve camped in all sorts of places - behind desert scrub, at a truck stop, in a storm drain under the highway (which was the best i thought - flat ground, good shade, and a real and old cowboy stopped by to say hello on a horse), in a small canyon, on a beach by a big shipwreck and some other places too.

Seeing two children ride a big dark horse inside a swirl of sand and dust nearby your tent makes any morning pretty special.

The heat has been incredible, weve had to work around it. Our "Beat The Heat" strategy has worked and it hasnt. weve been trying to start early, around 6am, but some mornings its just been so cold its impossible to get out of the sleeping bag - it feels like mid winter back in sweden at 5am. then by 11am its been too hot to ride... so pretty confusing weather. We had to each carry 8 litres of water on our longest stretch without supply stops, which made things hard work, but it was pretty obvious after out first sun stroked day we werent going to race through. A helpful man told kept telling us "Drink or Die!" which i never thought id hear, but i think he was talking about water.

I had a cup of tea with Domingo Cruz Martinez here at breakfast in San Quintin, while he grinned and ate whole jalepeno peppers at 8 in the morning. Oh heres a picture of him- we got on like house on fire.



Part of the desert felt like i was in a looney tunes cartoon, road runner wasnt about but im pretty sure there were a lot of cyotes. The birds ive been seeing since southern california, ive since learned are Vultures... probably chasing our stink. Here i am as a Hero On a Rock.

Here is some of the cartoon desert... it felt like a huge soft play area.. only it was very hard rock and it would have hurt. But the feeling of fun and excitement coming off the warm rocks and cacti was overwhelming for everyone and just made me want to run and climb like spiderman.

Theres a lot more pictures you can see my going to http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set11/ and also some better ones here http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set11/more/

My Camera has resurected itself, probably after being baked/frozen/baked7frozen repeatedly in the desert. Curtis has taken some great footage over the last week, and the documentary theyre making should have some great bits in it. Plus me trying to not look stupid and dumbfounded at every occasion.

We have two more nights here in Guerrero Negra, then we set off again into the frying pan, but this time we´re heading south east, and will re-appear in Santa Rosalia on the east coast, and be by the Sea of Cortez, which is all whiote sands and tropical things, where we plan to fish and swim a lot.

Ive just reached 1500 miles on the clock. we just went through a timezone yesterday, so we are one hour closer to england now. Once we are into southern Baja, we´ll cross the Tropic of Cancer, and "towards the bit at the middle of the magnifying glass where you can set ants on fire" as hostel keeper Kyle explained 300 miles ago. I know its November, but hooooeeee it doesnt feel like it at all.

This hill crest made everyone stop at 8am, probably the highlight of the scenery so far for me. Obviously it was much better in life, but you get the impression of it here. You can see the road ahead winding where we were going that day (this was 2 or 3 days ago)

Hot Hot Salsa

I saw my first shooting star zoom overhead last night, and had my first tumble weed bounce across infront of me. That made me happy! And here is a giant Jesus, with a flashing light on his head. We camped on a beach next to a shipwreck, where two dogs came and played with us all night, and were still there in the morning to bite my arm and shake wet sand into the tent. It was a bit of a wet morning, but then ramped up to the usual heat by 10am. The hair on my legs and arms has turned blonde. We got some very good information about the desert stages, which will save our lives. Theres a lot of scorpions, but no snakes, so its ok. Curtis has been filming some things for his documentary, so itll be nice to see all that together when its finished. Theres a very short clip on their website, which is in the post below. I just about managed to upload some more pictures, the tail end of america, san diego. here: www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set9 Oh yes, and my camera is broken now :( it got battered and then mushed in mashed banana, and it doesnt turn on any more. So thats a pain. The rest of the guys are taking loads, so ill be getting those. Burning my mouth on one chilli or another is a daily event. AH! this is working now.. The mexico pictures are in here: www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set10 . Uno Torta porr favor! My god im bad at that.

To Tijuana and Beyond

Hi! right now im sat in a crookety cafe with Matt and Ken, and we are in San Vincente, 50 miles south of Ensenada. Weve been through Tijuana, Rosarito, Ensenada. We havnt managed to camp really yet , but we will be doing that once we get further south and things become quiet.

Terrain has changed wildly now that were are in the sort of place i had imagined mexico to be in my head. The cars sound like lancaster bombers zooming by. The smog in some of the towns has been choking on the road, i wonder what Mexico City might be like.

Grinning Mexicans honk and wave as they pass, i presume they think we are pretty stupid. "you very brave!" one shouted at us, and beautiful kids yell and cheer from the back seats. My bike is like a game of Buckaroo thats going very well, and flexes like a piece of bamboo. The colours here are all new, theres so much of it everywhere- on the walls and in the advertising, in the ground and on the hills. I so wish i could talk to people, thats a shame.

We are in northern Baja, and very soon it will become very sparse and unpopulated. In two days time we will enter a stretch of rocky desert that will take us 3 days to get through without any towns. Water has become very important. Its very hot. Today has really shown us what lies ahead. We wind through rocky canyons, grind up hills and speed downwards through the chocolate dirt. That was poetic wasnt it? Everything has changed.

The towns we've been through seem to take the form of one central strip of tarmaced road, and either side about 10 meters of dirt/dust, and then rows of shops lining that. I wish i could show you some pictures here. Its quite magic. We did a burning 55 miles today, and got cooked.

I think we know the dangers now, and have spoken to as many people as we can about whats ahead.

THis weekend is the 'Baja 1000' rally race, which is a nonstop offroad buggy race the length of Baja, so we've seena lot of things towing offroad vehicles along. One racing guy at the camp ground last night donated $20 to each of us, because he was so amazed! So we are in a motel tonight, complete with cold showers and electricty that works once the suns gone down. So maybe we'll be able to see some racers.

But theres anough to be excited about here.

Im thrilled to be with the guys here, theyre fantastic company and its fun riding in a 5 bike group. They are film makers, sound engineers and photographers. Thyere making a documentary of this whole thing, which im privelidged to be a part of. You can see what theyre doing here: http://www.thebiketrip.nervouscity.com

The food is amazing, and of course everything is super cheap.

Now we're going for some beers and relax, and get back for an early night. A 60 miler tomorrow will take us 40 miles from the desert stretch, where we'll stop for 2 nights and prepare. Its all ok though! Lots of room for food and water.

We are all very sensible, hardy, innocent, gringos.

Arriba!

well well well- i have a new plan, and it s anice one. Here in San Diego ive met 4 nice canadian guys, who are on a cycle trip too. Theyre headed down through mexico, guatamala, Hondura, Nicuragua and Panama. Theyve been nice enough to let me tag along for a bit! Im very happy about this. Its funny the way things work out. So today they will pass back through Ocean Beach, pick me up, and we will all cross the border and find some fun in Mexico. I will be 1st Auxiliary Reserve, 5th Wheel. Ill travel with them for about 4 weeks, down the length of Baja which is 800 miles, cross by ferry onto mainland mexico, and somewhere after that ill turn back on a bus, head through LA and get my rucksack, and shoot on up into Canada mid december.

Ive got some new toys for the bike, and have proper pannier bags now, so at least things shodulnt fall out on the road. Although my water bottle popped out of the bike at a big interesection yesterday. I turned back to fetch it, but then i watched it get run over by 4 cars, right like they were going for it. crunch squish. So i said goodbye, sniffed and continued. I went to get an $8 haircut, but it was $10 if you didnt want it buzzed to a velvety finish with the clippers. Theres a lot of military bases and barracks here.

Ive met some really great people here, its a fantastic place and i woduilnt hesitate to stop here again. theres a lot of skateboards, loads of surfers, and best still, theres a ton of beards. I had a go on a long board last night, id like to have one someday. I came close to running into some Llamas on it, i think they were Llamas, they smelled horrible.

I dont know much about where im going, but i think the boys do, and theres safety in numbers. Just ask those heards of Gazelles who dash across crocodile infested rivers. I will keep to the middle of the pack.

Matt has a laptop with him, which may or may not connect with the rest of the world, but he guessed 'every 3 or 4 days'.

Arriba!

PS I should learn more spanish

South to the Border

I had a good haloween in Hollywood, i was dressed as a Zombie, but looked much more like a Tramp. Id bought an old tweed suit jacket and trousers froma charity shop. They do Halloween BIG in Hollywood... but its not very scary. Little Bo Peep, Postmen and Snow White. Theres a photo of me once ive fixed it up. The same Day Mattias took me out for a drive up Mullholland Drive, where you can see the whole of LA and it was quite spectacul;ar. I felt sick almost, being up there and just feelng the humm and immensity of it all. The San Fernando Valley side of LA wasnt there at all 60 years ago, it was apple orchards and we saw some old photos of it. Now its got all the fiml studios, Universal Studios and a good few million people living there. So that all happened fast then.

I got to see the Band i wanted to see which was magic, after we hung out with Arthur, Fernando and Ulysees outside the Laundromat and Liquor shop and drank drinks called Sparks and Stripper.

Ive ridden solo down to Sandiego over the 3 days. I had a half day cycling with Danish Claus, and a terrible nights sleep half way up a bumpy trail where i codulnt find the campsite in the dark and my legs were burning. Something was wandering around my tent at 12:30am... i had my pen knife out in a stupid try for a sense of safety. I imagined it might be a mountain lion which are around here, and thats what i should write here. There were a pack of dogs howling somewhere too. But it was probably a mouse wasnt it.

It was great to be riding alone too, it felt really liberating and free, but its good to be with a friend too.

I met Daisy Sam and Natalie in San Diego, and we went to Tijuana for the day. That was incredible! you can walk accross a bridge, go through a turnstile (no checks on the way in from USA) and in 10 minutes youre in a very different place. It was fantastic. Smiling mexican faces were howling and shouting at us to come over to buy some rubbish or other, and we loved it all. Tijuana isnt the place to 'Have Seen Mexico' at all, but it definitey wasnt America iether. We had 6 tacos each, lots of margharitas, and had a great night in a locals dnacing bar. It was Day of the Dead ont he 2nd November (which is All Souls Day), but we codulnt find much t do with that which i thought was a shame. We listened to Oompa Oompa music, but with fast drums and non stop spanish singing. Either it was the greatest DJ in thw world or the song lasted for 3 hours. I danced like i was in the Jungle Book and we spun around with the Mexicans till we had to go home.

If id met Zsombor from Hungary a few days earlier, we could have driven through mexico in his car, but he had just decided to flay back to Hungary and had bought his ticket.

Now im trying to decide where to go form here, but its all nice so far. Its sad to finish the bike ride, but maybe it will resume soon. Ive another week here yet, and ive got a new book to read, Last Tango in Aberystwyth. How appropriate.

Ive had that Gomez song Tijuana Lady (where did you go / make my way back to San Diego) in my head for days, itd be nice to hear it!

Its ups and downs isnt it. I write all the good stuff, but theres lows inbetween. But theres a lot less of that, and thats fine with me.

I need to buy a notepad, and I want to read some of the book today. Its neary lunchtime but i still feel ill from the pancake breakfast. My appetites still huge though, its all going somewhere i suppose.

PS i went to a photography exhibition titled Migration, which had some incredible heart stopping pictures of mexicans fleeing border patrols, hurling themselves over the border fence, groups running across car riddled freeways led by smugglers, and starving 10 year old kids riding alone ontop of freight trains into America to search for their mothers who had left them to find work. They say 1 Million people cross the border into north america illegally every year. It certainly put a new angle onto our easy Tijuana trip.

Comments!

Please Please Please if you leave a comment, can you write your full name or not do it as anonymous- i dont know whos who! and thats a shame!

Ive made it to San Diego.. but more of that later on. The Library has surfboard on the wall. Radical Awesome Wipe-Out!