Winter in the Baja

Lew and Ramone standing in their garden in front of, you won't believe this, their tomato plants. We just about needed a latter to pick a few from the top!

Cerreo trees look like upside down carrots growing out of the rocks along with other cacti.

It is hard to tell which is a bigger piece of junk, the truck or the stuff in the back of it. Maybe they were on the run from the scrap metal man.

Here is the gang out on a bike ride. This year I am just about the youngest however I am in the rear sucking wind...big time!!!

Hortencia and I are out for a paddle in the sit on top ocean kayak, the guys took the easy, streamlined kayak but we still had a smile and a good time paddling in circles.

Well, here we are back in the Baja, a place we have seen many times before and it feel somewhat like home after close to 2 years of travelling and seeing new roads every day. The drive through the states was very relaxing, driving the truck and camper and having our own bed every night, travelling before the winter snow hits hard in the mountains, and stopping along the way to visit friends always makes for a pleasant trip.

We made two stops to visit friends in California, Lew and Ramone in Grass Valley, friends we met on Cocos Beach in the Baja a few years ago, and Mike and Amie a couple of fellow adventure riders we met on our South America trip. We had a great stay with both and really enjoyed talking about recent travels. Mike and Amie had a diner while we were there and invited a couple other people they had met on their trip south and we compared stories, looked at pictures and reminisced bike trips.When got close to the Mexico border near Tecate we started to see the remnants on the last California fires. One fire had burned from San Diego to Potrero and just about got the state park we usually stay in the night before we head across the border into Mexico, that fire had just started on October 21 the ashes were barely cold.

We crossed the border into Mexico on November 22 and for the first time since we have been going to this crossing (usually a very sleepy crossing) we got pulled aside and a small search was done of the camper and trailer. We were on our way in no time at all but within half an hour we were pulled over by some cops that reminded us too much of the not so pleasant cops in Peru. The cops in Tecate told us we were being charged with driving in the left hand lane while driving through town (yes, we were guilty of this charge but who knew it was against the law?). We would have to go downtown to see the judge and pay a fine. We asked how much the fine was and maybe we could pay him instead but then decides maybe we would just take one of our motorbikes out of the back and go see what the judge had to say. Well, when he heard we had a bike in the trailer and would actually go see the judge the cop handed back Ken's licence and registration and told us to drive safe and stay in the right hand lane. I hate to say it but sometimes it sounds better to just be getting pulled over by the RCMP for a speeding ticket at home!

The rest the trip to La Paz was relatively uneventful (except for just about being run of the road by a semi going wide around a corner, thank goodness the roads are a little wider in spots than they were a few years ago) and we are safe and sound at Gene and Elaine's place in Comitan. Here we are already fitting into a regular daily regime with the people who live down here; mountain bike rides on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, horse back rides and of course enjoying getting out for walks every morning before it gets too hot and kayaking in the Paz bay.

Ken is looking forward to doing some fishing for dorado, they run when the waters are warmer now than in January when we have always come down. Tomorrow we are heading down to Cabo San Lucus, Willie and Val are there on vacation, on the way down we will check out Los Cerritos and on the way back the east cape. Boy oh boy I think I may need a siesta, I'm getting tired just thinking of everything we have to do!!!

Cretian Gorges

This gorge runs by a couple of Minoan ruins, it is named for the dead people buried in the caves along the sides of the gorge not for the hikers who have tried to hike it.

Samaria gorge, look up...way up! I was able to lighten up a few pictures taken in Samaria but the gorge is go deep that if you don't time your pictures to high noon or pack a super duper light into the gorge it is hard to get a great picture.

Check out the ledge of the gorge in this hike we did to Lissos, the top of one side is actually overhanging the rock wall on the other side.

A gorge running to the sea, a lot of the gorges on Crete you can only access by boat. This picture was taken from the ferry from the mouth on the Samarian gorge to Sfakion.

Home a little early

Well here we are back in Canada a little earlier than planned! In retrospect, we should have moved this trip up about 2 or 3 weeks and left in the middle of August but...next time we will know better. And there will be a next time. As it turned out the last week of this trip was a little cool but dry and the colors in Germany were even nicer than at the beginning of our trip. We took our time riding up to Weisbaden from Austria taking some very scenic roads and enjoying our last few days on the other side of the Atlantic.

Returning the bike was easy. As I said before, we bought the bike from a dealer in Maines for 6500 euros and when we return (with the bike in good shape) he bought it back from us for 4500 euros. The owner of the shop had the Euros ready for us the day before we left for Canada, the only hitch was that the Canadian dollar has gotten stronger in comparison to the Euro so we will loose a little $ on the exchange back to Canadian dollars. While we returned the bike we visited with Franz and Sabine in Weisbaden again, aways a good time...see you in Canada!

Now back at home 2 weeks early we are back at Mom and Dads place in Glenrosa busy getting the truck, camper, trailer, bikes...all the toys ready for the trip down south to the Baja.

The colors along the Rhine River were absolutely fantastic.

Oberwessel from the vineyards above.

Even in the rural areas the the tank speeds are kept under control so Kimberley don't even think of speeding and forget about the autoban!

Dropping off the Varedaro, another successful leg of journey finished.

16 hours after leaving Frankfurt we arrived home in Kelowna, thanks Air Canada and Avion.