A Long Drive

Sunset Rock

After the frigid north the weather becomes amenable to camping. Adventures thereof.

Camping is a win-win situation for me because you get to stay in beautiful places for little or no cost. It hearkens back to our primitive nomadic roots where a simple shelter, warm fire, and star-studded sky were more than sufficient to spend a night. Most of my days I am divorced from the outdoors where the schedule is ruled by the cycles of nature, that of the sunrise and sunset, that of the tides and the moon. Spending a night outdoors reminds me that finally everything is ruled by nature and its immutable laws.

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Around catavina

Incredible beauty attracts incredible wealth…Mexican culture is shadowed by rich US invetsors.

“To see Baja properly you need to camp on the beaches”. Shreesh said this while driving through the beautiful and desolate desert scenery of Baja. I have to agree. Although Mexico Highway 1 is beautifully maintained and the most dangerous things we met were cows on the road, it does not hug the coastline like US highway 1 does. You do catch tantalizing glimpses of the coastline through desert scrubland and cactii reaching up towards the blue skies. And you do occasionally touch towns like Loreto nestled on the shores of teh Pacific with amazing coastal scenery.

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After the elk…the palm trees of San Jose del Cabo attack our poor car. (Map this!)

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Sign proclaiming the loneliest road

Just a few days of warm weather causes us to miss the cold - just a little. About the drive on the Loneliest Road. (Map this!)

After waiting six weeks for the car to be done we were hoping for a nice relaxing drive home. Hah! We just happened to pick the worst storm of the season to drive to San Francisco. After dumping nine feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada it moved straight towards us. Luckily we skirted around it but outside Idaho Falls we hit the slipperiest spot on the trip. Going 50mph was fine until I wanted to pull over to take a photo - the FJ scooted forward like a hockey puck upon the most minimal braking.

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Serenity at Las Rosas

A hiatus in the hometown - Our journey South begins.

The hiatus in San Francisco passes by in a flurry of activity. We buy things, we make calls. The Northern trip exposed logistic gaps that we take care of. The FJ goes to one shop to get new lights installed; I go to another to get a haircut. We meet friends. Normal, mundane things of everyday life; mixed in with the unusual enquiries like how long we can keep the car out of the country before it is considered exported. (The answer is as long as we like, as long as it stays registered).

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