There’re a few things that riding with the group that’ve disturbed my carefully de-bugged daily routine. One of them is not having many pictures to download, and this is unlikely to change for another two weeks. These guys ride in a way that’s unlike the slightly touristy I’ve been doing. They don’t stop ten times a day for shots. They’ve been here before, it’s not news. Helge is a terrific photographer, so is Peter. What they do is stop when an extraordinary photo opp comes up, maybe twice a day, and get all super serious about it. You know, the heroic journalist lie-on-the-ground-in the-dirt for the best angle type thing. Kindof the opposite of my little point and shoot random attacks. So to keep the riding style fairly in sync, I stop less, guilt?, no idea, even though I ride alone for the most part. And there just isn’t time to hang around too much. So the visuals are going to be a bit thin for a while
However I’m shooting video with a Contour+ from the helmet and sending the GoPro home. Experimenting with it for now.
Anyway, today I wake up thinking OMG last night was New Year’s Eve! No party… So free of New Year’s black-out anxiety we charge off southwest to Loreto, on the Gulf.
The cactuses are looking roasted, but we’re still cold
And into the town of San Ignatio that appears in an oasis, literally. It’s a Jesuit Mission in a sea of date palms, built in 1728
Although cool, the desert sun is intense and we take shelter in the shade
Heading back into the hills, we come across this recently and perfectly paved road. Great twisties. It seemed incongruous in the middle of the Baja but was fun
Then, a few hours later we descended to the sea
A major first. The Gulf of California.
Then towns. Lucinda gets all excited and wants to take her bags off and jump in skinny. Whoa, easy girl
Further on, our first beach
And into Loreto. A notably cold night – the laundry wouldn’t dry on the clothesline (1/2 tubular webbing – also the tow line, boat tie-down) tied between light fixtures and got bagged wet for the next day. Yuck
