Baja Adventure Ride

Day 6 - La Paz to Loreto (232 miles)

Baja route map day 6 Leaving La Paz in the morning, we hit the highway heading northwest for the first 150 miles, avoiding the more difficult red route. But the second half of this ride on the blue was one of the more memorable of the trip. This time I rode with Asen on his 1200GS (see photos 2 and 3 below), while some of the others took the same route in a different group. From the highway north of Ciudad Insurgentes, the route is dirt for about 45 miles to the San Javier Mission back toward the east. It is relatively sandy, with it being quite deep in some segments, and probably about 15 ~ 20 water crossings. To keep from eating each other's dust, we tried mostly to ride more parallel and slightly staggered, occasionally switching off the point position. Although a lot of work and grueling in a few places, with some backtracking after losing the route in the deeper sand, it was a lot of fun, and some of the most scenic country in Baja. Riding into the valley of the San Javier Mission looked like a small piece of paradise, untouched by modern civilization.

After another excellent lunch at a small cafe next to the mission, and a quick explorations of the grounds, we headed out to the day's destination at Loreto, back along the Sea of Corez. During the last water crossing, with this one being paved, Asen had a bit too much speed. His bike ended up hydroplaning and getting too far sideways, and then high-siding. After helping Asen back up, he felt like he may have broken his collarbone, but wasn't sure. He was still healthy enough to ride and in not too much pain, and given the rest of the way into town was pavement, he chose to ride to the hotel, and then seek out a doctor in Loreto to look at it further.

By dinner, Asen was back from the doctor with his arm in a sling, a smile on his face from the pain meds, an X-ray on his smartphone confirming a small fracture of his collarbone, and a bill for about $80 for the doctor's efforts. "Holy crap!" was the only thing I could exclaim after learning how quick they treated him, and the low cost. If this was an emergency room back in Sacramento, I would probably be there all night and out of pocket $3000 after the deductible from my so-called health insurance. It just confirmed how badly we are getting ripped off in the US for lousy and more expensive medical care. In my original trip planning I mulled over the option of getting medical evacuation insurance, but now I am thinking if it would be possible to do the reverse if I get injured in the states?

Meanwhile, after this crash, Asen decided to fly home the next day out of a small airport at Loreto, and Keith would switch to his 1200GS, while putting the WR250 inside the support van for the rest of the trip. Since Asen had trailered his bike down with his truck from Oakland to Kevin's place at Escondido, while I had ridden my bike down from Sacramento, I volunteered at the end of the trip to haul his bike back to Oakland on his rig with my bike on his trailer as well, and then ride from there back home. This ended up being a win-win, given it was a nice break from having to do the 580 mile superslab back up I-5 from the border to Sacramento.

Images (click to select the larger view at bottom)

Intro Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Conclusion

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