Jonesin for a Ride!

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This has been a pain to debug, but I think I’m ready to use it for the trip

It appears my map add-in isn’t working right, but you can follow at SPOT website.

A little video from Shai

Still don’t know which way we are going to head. Shai the teenager likes to sleep in, lol. Anyway, while he was getting ready I ran to the auto parts store to fix my pump for my shocks and to get some double sided tape for a metal plate that came loose on my saddle bag. Fixed both items and now we are getting ready to leave….

Last video for this trip – thanks for everyone for uploading their clips and photos to help put these together.  Some of the files I could not open, but I think we got enough to capture the trip’s flavor.

The San Felipe trip is always a lot of fun to get away and hook up with some friends and enjoy the race – and this one was no different.  Every trip seems to get better.

Now the rest of this post is to document what we did – as now that I’m getting older, i forget… lol  This blog is basically my vacation book that i will look back on and reflect when I get older – like next week……

Thanks for following 🙂

The trip began early for the guys up north, as they got an early start on Friday, loaded some bikes, changed trucks, hooked up a trailer, loaded some up bikes again, drove some more to Santa Cruz to pick up Big Dawg, loaded another bike, then headed to my place in SoCal. The crew arrived Friday night about 9ish where I had a Tri-tip and beer on ice waiting for some hungry boys.

After drinking and catching up, we called it a night. Saturday was food shopping day at Costco, along with fetching some last minute items at the local Yamaha shop. Ben was amazed at Costco as he hasn’t been in one for 15 years. Two cart fulls later we had food and water for 9 of us planned for the week to eat like kings! At the Yamaha shop, Ben and Joseph friended the parts guy as they had common connections with people from their small town up north, like the guys wife…

Since the shop was having a close out sale cause they were moving, the guy ended up giving us 50% off on items! It about two hours for us to get out of there.

Dean arrived in the afternoon to say hi and test ride his load on his truck. He had everything packed and ready to go.

Before it got dark out, Big Dawg was itching to take the hogs out for a ride, so off we went for a Tour-de-San Clemente. Big Dawg rides a Harely like he rides his dirt bike…. Fast and with style and attitude?… Perfect for a Harley rider.

Saturday evening we packed, prepped some food, and I had thrown in some baby back ribs in the smoker earlier in the day, so dinner we had ribs and Mac-n-cheese.

Sunday morning Dean got us out of bed early with a 6:00 am early morning call saying he was on his way down. By 8 a.m. , with three vehicles and two trailers we were all on our way south to Larry’s place. Larry had flown in Saturday evening to prep his bikes in San Diego and get ready for the trip. Oil change, oil filter, check tires, etc.. At 9ish we were at his place to load up the remaining bikes and gear, only to discover his bike quit running when he ran to Starbucks in the morning. Several troubleshooting attempts were made before we said fuck it, lets troubleshoot it in Mexico, and loaded up the remaining bikes at rolled out of dodge.

The trip south and across the border was smooth and quick through Mexicalli, and we arrived at our place south of San Felipe around 4ish in the afternoon.

Unloaded our gear and got comfortable and started some troubleshooting on Larry’s bike. After several beers later, and a carburetor half off, Ben noticed a rag was stuffed in Larry’s carburetor ….. Hugh laughter was heard from the garage as a lightbulb went off in Larry’s head when Ben discovered it. Larry had cleaned the air boxes, and before his filter change, had stuffed the rags down the carb to keep the debris from falling back in while cleaning….

Dinner was another Tri-tip, with rice and salad. Big Ben had brought down several cases of organic wines from his winery up north, so several bottles later, many beers too, and we were done for the night.

The trip had 4 days of full riding, Monday through Thursday, with Friday enjoying the festivities during tech check.

Monday morning began with plenty of starbucks coffee, an egg bake, muffins and fruit. Monday’s ride was a short warmup ride which was a ride out to scout a spot for race day around race mile 240. Of course, we ran into Dead End Ben, a spot we always seem to end up over the years trying to find a short cut between canyons. After numerous attempt, we found ourselves back on old porticituis road, where Big Dawg, Big Ben, Larry and Joseph headed off to Pumkin Rock, and Dean and I headed to Percebu to have a much needed beer to eventually have the latter group meet us there. Then it was back to the house along the beach for 16 miles.

Monday evening Tom and his family arrived, which got us the second house we rented, which had 4 much need bathrooms and 5 additional beds. This was our first trip where everyone had a bed and no one was sleeping out in the living room on a couch, being last to bed, and first to rise. Monday nights dinner was baked chicken, rice, roasted vegetables, salad and Girl Scout cookies.

Tuesday morning was another egg bake, muffins and some fruit. Tuesday ride was to be a ride through Chanate wash and return into Hidden Canyon, with the intent to look for a spot for race day. On the way out, Toms bike stopped only to discover that the oil plug had worked loose and lost all his oil. Dean and I volunteer to ride back and fetch the truck to retreive toms bike and meet the rest of the gang at Percebu later in the day. So off went Larry, Ben, Ryan and Joseph while Tom stayed with the bike and Dean and I headed back for Larry’s truck.

While driving back to fetch Tom, I noticed an usually distinct marking on the sandy road that looked like a oil trail. I remember smelling oil on this while we were riding, just thinking it was someone burning some oil while riding. On our return trip from fetching Toms bike, we stopped and checked it out. Tom found his oil plug!

Once we got back to the house, we unloaded the bikes and we received a call from Larry. Where the Fuck are you he asked. We just got to the house I said. We are in Percebu, get your asses down here… Dean and I road our bikes there, while Tom hoped on his GS that he road down (he had his boys bring his other dirt bikes).

After we ate and drank at Percebu, Larry rode Tom’s GS back with Dean, while Tom took Larry’s bike and joined us for a ride back along the beach. Tuesday dinner was Tri-tip, salad, rice, roasted vegatables and Girl Scout cookies.

Again, Wednesday morning we had another egg bake and bagels. Every morning when I prepare the egg bake, I throw in last night leftovers-any leftover rice, vegetables and meat, so as the week progresses, the breakfast gets hardier and hardier…. lol.

Wednesday, Larry had a day planned on the northern part of the course. Since we were running short on some functioning bikes (some bikes were having throttle issues) and the ride was a bit further to fetch bikes if they broke down on the trail, along with some of us being soar and not wanting to work too hard for a day, I took Dean, Joseph and Nolan on a ride to Zoo Road and Morrilia Junction on the race course and for a tour of some San Flipe neighborhoods.

Larry and crew had loaded thier bikes on the truck and trailer and parked at the military check point to begin there venture along the north part of the race course. Later that day, we all met back at the house. That evening we went to town to eat and listen to some music. Town was starting to get busier as race day was getting closer.

Thursdays ride was to try some single track down south of Puertecitos along Federal 5 towards Bay of Gonzaga, with a stop in Bay of Gonzaga and a ride out to Cocco’s Corner. This once rough dirt road is now mostly paved to the 50 miles to Bay of Gonzaga. From there it is still dirt, but who knows for how long….

We loaded up the bikes on Tom’s trailer and the back of Larry’s truck and headed south Friday morning (after another egg bake of course). First stop was about 10 miles south of porticituis, called Bill Nichols Rock Trail. We unloaded the bikes and got going. Just when we got to the beginning of it, Deans bike died. I stayed with him to try and get it started as the rest went forward as this was just an out and back ride anyways.

Deans Bike dies on the Trail from Hell

After numerous attempts at kick starting it, we trouble shot deans bike to determine that he had no spark. As we waited for the boys to return, I tried this single track for about 1/2 mile… It was a hellish deep gravel single track with bolders visible and buried! Not much room for error or forgiving…

The rest of the group eventually came back and we fetched Dean’s bike and loaded up the rest of the bikes to continue to Gonzaga Bay. When we arrived it was about 3 p.m. and it was about 40 miles of dirt road to get to Cocco’s Corner, so we unloaded and got going immediately because not all the bikes had lights. Dean made himself comfortable at Alfonsia’s and waited for us while Tom (on his GS) and the rest of us headed to Cocco’s Corner.

Cocco’s Corner is manned by Cocco, who has both leg amputated and mans this stop in the middle of nowhere and is a welcome relief from weary travelers on this dirt road. Along the way out there, Ben and Larry try out a single track they did a year ago called Fred’s Tractor Trail while the rest of us head to Cocco’s.

Cocco’s Corner

A fence at Cocco’s Corner

We arrive at Cocco’s and Tom, Nolan, Peter and myself head back as Nolan has no light on his 125. Big Dawg hangs back for Larry and Ben to arrive at Cocco’s.  We make it back and hook up with Dean and waited. Larry arrives next to inform us that Big Dawg had gotten a flat and they were loading his bike on a truck.  His truck ride back to Gonzaga Bay was epic for Big Dawg.  This guy was just mashing it on the dirt road.

We enjoyed the evening at Alfonsina’s with some tacos and cervezas before heading back to San Felipe.

Inside Alfonsina’s

Thursday night we relaxed and partied it up as we were basically done riding for the trip, as Friday was spent in town durning the race tech inspection, and on Saturday we spent it on the race cource.

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It has been busy since returning from our trip. Work just keep coming… Which is a good thing after all this time.

Another successful trip. No major injuries and plenty of time to catch up with each other. The transition from our trip back to reality is best exhibited by Dean’s comments:

It’s always difficult explaining to my lovely wife the fun I have in San Felipe with you guys. I tell her these gentlemen are high-level financiers, master carpenters/artists, sports professionals, massive property owners and their family members. To make a long story short, she just doesn’t trust me hanging around with that ol’ bachelor JimmyV! She says, I’m not going down there to bail you out of jail!

So you can imagine the transformation from one week in San Felipe MX to Tustin, CA did NOT GO smoothly.

1. No JimmyV monster breakfast! Had to peel off the top of a yogurt cup, make my own K-Cup coffee and when I asked her to get me a breakfast beer it arrived as a sub-sonic projectile aimed at my head.

2. When I naturally and unconsciously made a Larry belch (which echo’s around the house) I was sorely, sorely reprimanded in the most nasty tone.

3. Making call-of-the-wild BIg Dog trophy truck RPM sounds (high frequency Waaaa Waaaa Waaaaaaaaaaaaa Waa) as I sprinted down the hall, I woke up my granddaughter in the middle of her afternoon nap. Geeeez! Busted again!

4. Finally, I got reamed-a-new-one for throwing my butt wipes on the floor (since there was no trash can). She wasn’t that appreciative of the future plumber $aving! She made ME pick them up and clean the floor with bleach!

It’s only 348 days till the 2014 Baja 250!

Still in the process of making some more videos and collecting some more photos and will post a gallery of those pictures, but here are a couple videos for now. The first one are from my videos and pictures. The second one are Big Dawg’s pictures. During one ride, Big Dawg bike came down with a flat front tire. He and his bike received a lift from a local on a truck – you will have to see the video to see what kind of ride he was treated to….

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