The Road to Ensenada

Today was yet another non-riding day, but we have finally met up with our guides and support crew, checked out our gear and bikes, and moved the whole circus to Ensenada.  That's where I sit now, typing this post, ready and rarin'  for tomorrow's 7AM start!

Gaslamp Quarter

This morning, we all headed out to check out San Diego a bit.  Jay and Isaac chose to tour the aircraft carrier USS Midway, while the Kraft guys tried to find a place to convert dollars to pesos and then headed over to the famous Gaslamp Quarter to wander around and have lunch.

Around 2pm the Chris Haines trucks showed up and we piled all of our luggage and bodies in for the 80-mile run down to Ensenada.  We crossed into Mexico at the big Tijuana border crossing where the amazingly efficient Mexican border staff (note sarcasm) had us in and out of there with our tourist visas in, oh, about an hour.  Good thing there was hardly anyone else trying to get visas!

Hondas enroute

On the road to Ensenada

After that Keystone Cops routine, we drove south uneventfully for about an hour through some amazingly poor sections of Tijuana and the northern Pacific coast, arriving finally to the relative cleanliness and affluence of the Ensenada tourist district.  We got our rooms at the very nice San Nicolas Hotel and made a beeline for the pool bar for some cold Tecate Lights.  Once all our gear had been stowed in our rooms by the Chris Haines crew, we all headed upstairs to try on the gear and make size swaps to be certain everyone would be dressed and ready to ride at 7AM tomorrow (Thursday.)


Around 7pm, we all got into taxis and took a short ride to an incredible local restaurant, "Mahi-Mahi", where we all overindulged in some delicious, fresh seafood.  I had the lobster tail, which was fantastic, and as  dinner progressed we were able to start to get to know most of our Chris Haines support team:  lead rider Pepe and father and son Arturo and Ramon.  Oscar lives here in Ensenada and wasn't able to join us since he was working his other job, but he will be with us first thing tomorrow.  Anyway, after dinner, everyone was feeling pretty full and mellow.  So we headed down the street to check out the oldest cantina in Baja, the famous "Hussong's".

Jay at Hussong's

Now my brothers and friends, being the very hilarious bunch that they are, decided that, since I put this trip together to celebrate my upcoming 60th birthday, EVERY night of the trip from now on is going to be my birthday.  So, they paid the Mariachi band to sing me a Mexican Happy Birthday song, and a couple of the local drunk chicks got up to sort of try to dance with me. No, it wasn't embarrassing... not much.  I am sure that Peter will send me the pictures and I promise to put them up tomorrow.  For tomorrow night's birthday bash, there was some talk of a huge sombrero.  I can't wait.

That's about it for now.  I am incredibly anxious to get on those nice Honda 450s and start this epic ride at last.  Assuming the internet is working at tomorrow's destination, San Quinton, I should be able to post some pics of our first day on the trail!  Don't forget to check out the SPOT tracker link (to the right at the top of this post) to follow us in real time as we work our way back and forth across the Baja Peninsula - but always heading south.  The journey begins for real in the morning.

Hussong's