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Mexico/Baja California Adventure travel 2005
We are in Mexico ! Or Baja Southern California ? The people and the prices make it difficult to discern.
The bike is still heavy and Art's arms are growing to compete with Governor Arnold's. The 110+ pounds of gear, water, and then, me, make for a struggle when the road surface comes and goes, dips and rolls. Baja roads are different than San Diego tarmac.
Lets' catch you up. After San Clemente, we learned of the 10,000 bicyclists riding from Rosarito to Ensenada on Saturday (9/24) so we decided drag our feet a bit and miss the melee. We spent the night a short distance south in Cardiff-by-the-Sea in a hiker/biker site at the state park. This was our first encounter with the huge homeless problem experienced in Southern California . There are 10,0000 homeless persons in San Diego each night per the Tribune and many of them stay in hiker/biker camp sites. To our surprise, we shared it with others who came after the closing hours of 10 pm. They were a noisy and belligerent lot, talking loudly on their cell phones (only in California would the homeless have cell phones?) and really frightened us a bit in the night. We moved our site for the next night and would probably not use a hiker/biker site again, although, it may have been just this particular campground that is experiencing this issue.
From Cardiff and a couple of lovely days in the sun we moved down the coast to Mission Bay in San Diego to stay in a resort campground for a mere $51 (discount to seniors). GULP! The pool and Jacuzzi were very near the dirt site with picnic table, barking dogs and loud families. The ride through La Jolla with its Rolls Royce's, Bentleys, and Porches was a juxtaposition of sleeping with the homeless the previous evenings. One wonders what America is coming to with the huge gap between rich and poor.
We rode around Mission Bay area, seeing the Friday company picnics catered with tents, Bar-B-Q's, beverages of all types, games all set on these lovely park grounds of rolling grass, sand beaches and sunny bay. This area is fairly large (about 15 miles around) encompassing Sea World, Hilton resorts, Marriott resorts. The bay has three islands housing resort or leisure activities. We followed a bike path all around the bay, easily looking into multi-million dollar homes, two feet off the bike path. Almost every beach in Southern California is public. This is so different than many areas of the country where beach or lake front is privately owned.
The ritzy-ness of Mission Bay wore off quickly and we left, moving closer to the Mexican border, our ultimate destination. We found a wonderful KOA in Chula Vista at only $44 per night. Pools were refreshing; the cook pavilion was a delight. Judee cooked up a storm with help from the chef, Art who grilled steaks on a provided B-B-Q. This campground had all of the amenities we had come to appreciate in Europe . It was worth every cent.
Our journey to the border began after an enormous breakfast cooked in that spectacular cook pavilion (on their stoves). We raced to the border (12 miles an hour) to confront how to get a bicycle across the border into Tiajuana. When we arrived, we immediately followed the signs onto the Expressway, Oops - no bicycles allowed! Where do we go from here? We turn around and ask a Mexican lady on the corner and she points the way. Then we follow the young men on bicycles through the fences, blockades, and across the border where we promptly hopped on our bike and rode past the custom station, only to have the taxi driver turn us around to the proper immigration office which is a one room office, totally indiscernible from the multitude of insurance storefronts. We had to pay $20 each to the Bancomer which is a one room bank. And off we go - into Mexico !
We managed to find our way through after negotiating the freeway (which we were not supposed to be on?) and then proceeded to thread our way through downtown Tiajuana, which is a tidy town for a border city. We spent no time here.
The traffic was polite and speedy. The road was a little worn and sometimes missing. The terrain was up - for 8 miles. Then we had the lovely down hill into Rosarito where we pigged out on incredibly huge Tortas, sandwiches with beef and lots of guacamole. We didn't linger. It was a 50 mile day and we wanted to get to our campground.
Oops. The highway the campground is located on is a toll road, no bikes allowed. So we turned ourselves about and found a hotel on the beach for the night. This is not a $50 a day trip, so far. But to conserve, we cooked dinner on the balcony overlooking the ocean. We had too much and watched the sunset. After all, this is retirement. Good night!
WEATHER Blue Sky/ Sun/ low 80's/ lovely breeze off the ocean/ cool evenings
TERRAIN Rolling coastal hills - 8 mile climb out of Tiajuana
10-01 BAJA BUGGY - 200 RACE IN SAN VINCENTE >
The bike is still heavy and Art's arms are growing to compete with Governor Arnold's. The 110+ pounds of gear, water, and then, me, make for a struggle when the road surface comes and goes, dips and rolls. Baja roads are different than San Diego tarmac.
Lets' catch you up. After San Clemente, we learned of the 10,000 bicyclists riding from Rosarito to Ensenada on Saturday (9/24) so we decided drag our feet a bit and miss the melee. We spent the night a short distance south in Cardiff-by-the-Sea in a hiker/biker site at the state park. This was our first encounter with the huge homeless problem experienced in Southern California . There are 10,0000 homeless persons in San Diego each night per the Tribune and many of them stay in hiker/biker camp sites. To our surprise, we shared it with others who came after the closing hours of 10 pm. They were a noisy and belligerent lot, talking loudly on their cell phones (only in California would the homeless have cell phones?) and really frightened us a bit in the night. We moved our site for the next night and would probably not use a hiker/biker site again, although, it may have been just this particular campground that is experiencing this issue.
From Cardiff and a couple of lovely days in the sun we moved down the coast to Mission Bay in San Diego to stay in a resort campground for a mere $51 (discount to seniors). GULP! The pool and Jacuzzi were very near the dirt site with picnic table, barking dogs and loud families. The ride through La Jolla with its Rolls Royce's, Bentleys, and Porches was a juxtaposition of sleeping with the homeless the previous evenings. One wonders what America is coming to with the huge gap between rich and poor.
We rode around Mission Bay area, seeing the Friday company picnics catered with tents, Bar-B-Q's, beverages of all types, games all set on these lovely park grounds of rolling grass, sand beaches and sunny bay. This area is fairly large (about 15 miles around) encompassing Sea World, Hilton resorts, Marriott resorts. The bay has three islands housing resort or leisure activities. We followed a bike path all around the bay, easily looking into multi-million dollar homes, two feet off the bike path. Almost every beach in Southern California is public. This is so different than many areas of the country where beach or lake front is privately owned.
The ritzy-ness of Mission Bay wore off quickly and we left, moving closer to the Mexican border, our ultimate destination. We found a wonderful KOA in Chula Vista at only $44 per night. Pools were refreshing; the cook pavilion was a delight. Judee cooked up a storm with help from the chef, Art who grilled steaks on a provided B-B-Q. This campground had all of the amenities we had come to appreciate in Europe . It was worth every cent.
Our journey to the border began after an enormous breakfast cooked in that spectacular cook pavilion (on their stoves). We raced to the border (12 miles an hour) to confront how to get a bicycle across the border into Tiajuana. When we arrived, we immediately followed the signs onto the Expressway, Oops - no bicycles allowed! Where do we go from here? We turn around and ask a Mexican lady on the corner and she points the way. Then we follow the young men on bicycles through the fences, blockades, and across the border where we promptly hopped on our bike and rode past the custom station, only to have the taxi driver turn us around to the proper immigration office which is a one room office, totally indiscernible from the multitude of insurance storefronts. We had to pay $20 each to the Bancomer which is a one room bank. And off we go - into Mexico !
We managed to find our way through after negotiating the freeway (which we were not supposed to be on?) and then proceeded to thread our way through downtown Tiajuana, which is a tidy town for a border city. We spent no time here.
The traffic was polite and speedy. The road was a little worn and sometimes missing. The terrain was up - for 8 miles. Then we had the lovely down hill into Rosarito where we pigged out on incredibly huge Tortas, sandwiches with beef and lots of guacamole. We didn't linger. It was a 50 mile day and we wanted to get to our campground.
Oops. The highway the campground is located on is a toll road, no bikes allowed. So we turned ourselves about and found a hotel on the beach for the night. This is not a $50 a day trip, so far. But to conserve, we cooked dinner on the balcony overlooking the ocean. We had too much and watched the sunset. After all, this is retirement. Good night!
WEATHER Blue Sky/ Sun/ low 80's/ lovely breeze off the ocean/ cool evenings
TERRAIN Rolling coastal hills - 8 mile climb out of Tiajuana
