I'm using a cellular connection so load times are a relative thing for me (everything stinks). I just changed the site to add more images per page, but I should probably put it back. The image gallery is an amazing piece of freeware. It's PHP and Imagemagic and SQL. I just uploaded the pix http://gallery.menalto.com/
OK, this is a memo for the Nerds, the Internet Geeks out there. For a LONG time I've wanted to geotag my photography "Geotagging" means basically adding the lattitute and longitude info where a picture was taken into the header info of the picture. Some camera's, like the one in the iPhone do this automatically. Most cameras do not. So I've been using various tools to take a GPS track, sync it via the timestamp on the photo's to get pretty close. And I FINALLY seem to have mostly gotten it working on this trip. And I FINALLY got it working usefully on my webserver as well. If you look at geotagged photos on my server, it shows you a google map of where it was taken, which I think is very very cool. Prepare to have your heads explode http://ontheboat.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=map.GoogleEarth&g2_itemId=19185 I'm missing a big chunk in the center but in general this setup seems to be working pretty well now
I turned that off on my iPhone after unknowingly broadcasting some trails I am trying to horde for myself
I finally waded thru the hundreds of photos I took and pared them down to a few that aren't duplicates of everyone else's. You can find them here: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r61/BentAero/Trip to the Tip Baja Mexico 2009 2010/ Unfortunately, Photobucket loads pictures in reverse order from how they were taken, so 'last' is seen first. Gary
The "real" San Franciscuito is an amazing place. It has a nice airstrip Photo by norCalSlowPoke And a beautiful, beautiful beach Photo By Yossarian photo by NorCalSlowPoke photo by NorCalSlowPoke Photo by Yossarian Photo by Yossarian Photo by Yossarian photo by NorCalSlowPoke photo by NorCalSlowPoke We had a great lunch, made a new friend or two and then the staff filled us up photo by SepticSkeptic Here I missed a great shot. BentAero Went nuts started yelling "whoohoo" and gave it a little gas. I noticed one of the guys had dropped his bike, I think it was septic?? and Bentaero roosted the heck out of him. WhooHoo indeed but I totally missed the picture. My idea of a good RV park! There was a nice fifth wheel trailer stashed behind this building, on the beach side. I can think of worse ways to live! We hit the road again, and almost immediately gained a fair bit of altitude. yossarian BentAero Here's a pic of yours truly, man you gotta love that Lynx HID. That's the LOW beam in broad daylight. Photo by BentAero JCH4 Photo by Bentaero Yossarian Came up and was asking if I was thumbs up, or no bueno. I was no Bueno! While we were waiting for food, I beefed up my tail repair with some metal zip ties and beefier zip ties. I hit some more washboard, and felt something hitting me in the rear. My repair held but had put enough pressure on the tail to completely separate the welds on the subframe. This time there was no fixing or reattaching it, The subframe 'fingers' that support the fender had completely come of on both sides. So I gave BentAero my rotopax tank, zip tied my tools to my handlebars, and then used the Rok Straps to Secure the rack to the bike. Seriously, Rok Straps should be mandatory equipment on every motorcycle, they "Rok." We had a long way to go, and I was feeling the delay from having to deal with my Rack so we really jammed for a while and I took no pix. But then the moon came out, and the sun started slipping and even though we still had quite a few miles to go I had to pause once in a while for a shot!
Photo by Yossarian Photo of/by Yossarian The golden light of the sunset made it hard to actually look at the road! I love looking at Cacti, but I fell on one as a kid and I have a real fear of them! Life was good! notice the direction of the shadows on this photo... Photo by SepticSkeptic Then we turned the corner and headed west at the worst possible time! We rode directly into the sun for a long time, and I could not see worth a damn. My little riding off the road into a Cactus phobia was in full overdrive! One thing my ride report really does not show is that we rode at night, quite a bit. No doubt related to our leaving at 10am we rode to 10 or 11pm most days, to put that into perspective, it got dark around 5. BentAero Mike had to stop periodically to make sure we were still in the gang. Word. I wasn't nearly as stoned as I look!! I was injured by looking at the sun for 30 minutes! Photo By SepticSkeptic BentAero doing his hourly fill up Finnaly the sun dipped below the horizon and I again got to play with my new Lynx! I dunno why he was so mad, but yossarian tried to blind poor Lifeinsepia with the flash We stopped for Gas in Vizcaino (I think) and these two guys were running around the gas station loose. The Mexican's have an interesting relationship with their dogs. Either of these guys would be somebody's "child" in the US. On the one hand it's wonderful that they are free and happy but on the other hand it's a little sad that they are not as secure or sure of their next meal. That's shot is not altered, it's a color photo We had to hit the slab for quite a bit, and we rolled into San Ignacio just as they were closing up the town.
Xymotic, when I get the vids posted they contain the ride at night from CoCos to the slab. The vids definitely give a perspective on the riding at night, on the beach, me being passed alot, etc.
John, good hint. I'm sorry I've not been able to get that going yet. I PROMISE I will deal with those ASAP. Boy I've been wanting a countour, but I've learned I'd need a HUGE HD and a new computer, and WAY faster internet, so I'm kinda over it now
When we got to San Ignacio, we'd 'planned' on staying at the main hotel (sorry I don't remember what it was called) But the Hurricane Jimena last August flooded the area pretty badly, and they were closed. It looked unworked on so I'm unsure if they are even re-opening. The one and only time I stayed here, we stayed at a cool place called San Ignacio Springs which is a very nice little resort with 'yurts' and a stellar view of the spring. well, all on his own Mike detoured and went there, I was glad they had space but also a little worried cuz the place was pretty expensive when I went there with my friend. Well, Mike was able to negotiate a significantly better rate. I think they thought we were a couple the first time... Once in town we found a small restaurant right by the Mission and sat outside on the sidewalk for dinner. The weather was much, much nicer now that we got further south!! We immediately made a new friend: Mike Kay and Ed We sort of 'forgot' Zach in the chase truck at the first hotel, Since I sort of knew the town I volunteered to go back and get him. (though it would be hard to get lost) Zach Our new friend worked the whole table looking for some lovin. He was a very friendly and freshly shampooed pooch. Again, I'm a dog guy, and it's a paradoxical relationship they have I really have mixed feelings about it, though mostly positive I have to say. SepticSkeptic Photo by Yossarian The previous day, Mike had spotted a thorn in his tire. He slowly pulled it out and it started hissing. So naturally, he put it back in and rode a 100 miles of dirt on it. The next morning though he discovered his 'fix' was only temporary My little girlie scraped knee was rubbing against my pads and really bugging me. It was also kinda getting infected so I made a bit more effort to deal with it properly. I even convinced Zack to help me shave my leg The Oasis also got severely damaged by the Hurricane. The owner told me the mud was to the wall. They have done an AMAZING job rebuilding, I guess this is like the 4th time in 10 years they have done so. One of the yurts Like I said, you could tell it was different from when I was here in April, but it was truly astonishing how they got back so fast. This is my favorite Picture from my last trip here with SenorPeligro: Unfortunately, that Palm's roots moved and it's under water now. In this photo by yossarian you can see where the mud level was on the palms. If you go to San Ignacio it's worth the splurge to stay at San Ignacio Springs. The Canadian Owners are really nice, and you get to hang out under the date palms drinking beer on the honor system, with Wifi and everything Photo By Yossarian (you also get a FANTASTIC breakfast.) In the daylight I had a chance to inspect the bike a bit better. The Fender/Rack went to the truck, and it's shockingly heavy. Boy I sure am glad I put on that new Super bright Whelan strobe brake light to keep me safe on them dark Mexican roads! Photo By Yossarian Um, it looks worse than it is? :scratch Photo by Yossarian This is a view of the Hotel property from across the way, One of these days I'm going to have to actually spend some time in this here little town!! I think it's my favorite place in Mexico. Barra de navidad is close though...
Thanks again for the report and pics guys. You are helping to make the long Minnesota winter go by a bit quicker...
A few weeks prior to departure I recieved the following in an email from my uncle. "...Below is a web site for the guy I sold the Suburban to in San Ignasio. He and wife have a cool place on the lagoon and I thought it might be close to where you are staying... http://www.ignaciosprings.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/" I'd forgotten to take a note of the place. After I arrived at his house and showed him the pics, he said "Ahh, so you DID stay at Gary's place." "What?" I responded. "You know the guy I told you about in the email" he says. LOL, I had no idea we'd stayed at the place he'd mentioned. Had I seen the Suburban out there it would have clicked. So yeah, if you haven't already sent that picture off to Gary that he wanted, make sure you mention that the rider with the shaved head who helped him with the yurt roof was the nephew of Dan, the guy from Los Barriles who sold him his Suburban. Small world.
Sorry to interject on the ride report but everyone please check their respective sleeping bag. I ended up with the wrong one (an REI Zero). I had an LL Bean Zero. No big deal but I borrowed from my brother-in-law and I would like to get right one back to him. Thanks.
Mike tried to confess his sins, but they kicked him out (his known associates being the worst offense!) What can you say about San Ignacio? the place is just beautiful! Mission San Ignacio Several local kids came out to check out the bikes BentAero gave them some stickers for their score Baja 1000 bicycles. If it wasn't for the whole getting plastered with mud thang, I actually sort of like the look of my bobtail:thumb The mission is pretty impressive, especially when you realize it's stood since 1786 photo by Yossarian photo by Yossarian photo by Yossarian San ignacio has a very nice town square, sorry this pic just doesn't do it justice. This'n by Yossarian is a little more better! The town is very friendly to riders of all sorts After exploring a bit we hit the long boring road out of San Ignacio We hit a huge bay/dry lake on the pacific side http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-...022,-113.003998&spn=0.63895,1.229095&t=h&z=10 SepticSkeptic and I lagged a little behind cuz we were taking pics PhotobyYossarian The road turned into a hard clay that was very smooth like a clay tenns court. You can see that this road gets fixed often, and it would be WAY EASY to get into trouble going too fast or not paying attention. Photo by Yossarian san Ignacio really is an oasis in the middle of freaking nowhere!! Lots of long straight as an arrow roads. Photo by Yossarian The we hit a bit more of this: About this point, The conversation was something like this NorcalSlowPoke "Didn't you see what the fuel tank did to Xymotic's Subframe?" Xymotic: "I'm not saying I told you so, but..." Septic Skeptic, "Yep, it's broke all right. Hey, Didn't you see what the fuel tank did to Xymotic's Bike?" BentAero "ahhhhhh, Dang, Darn, Doh!" That's Subframe Numero TWO baby! It would be rude to say "I told you so" so I'm not going to say that I said that now, especially because everyone knows what I said at the time, what was so... Plus I told you I wasn't going to say "I told you so" when it broke, Saying "I told you so" now would just be petty and childish. Really though the main reason I never said "I told you so" was that I was laughing too hard.
^ #2 I think my 3 month old PMB rack is going in to the classifieds now. (pm). Even though I couldn't have afforded to go with you guys on this trip, I had thought of possible church/mission stops in Baja, (former Catholic alter boy). I am happy to see pictures. Xymptic, convert that TE to a SM and dont bother fixing that fender. Remove the front fender and I bet you would make the guys on the '70's cb's, bonnies, etc jealous.
THe bike does look strangely cool without the fender. One of the ADV'ers I met in MX has offered to weld it up for me for free, so it's all good. I got a new fender, and I'm REALLY torn. I LIKE the pmb rack. But weight is bad no matter how you slice it. I'm gonna leave my beefy bracket and not put the pmb and see how it goes. I will likely re-drill the fender though.
Thanks to BentAero, the bike made it back to the East Coast and I received it Saturday night. Front valve cover leaked about two teaspoons of oil but other than that the only thing done to it during the entire trip was put in a new air filter and adjust the chain. Not bad for a 17 year old bike. I have to give credit to George at Uptite for spotting that the compression cable was too tight or I may not have made it 50 miles. Thanks George. Great trip and vids to post later.
Half way to Cabo. Are any of ya doing a write up over on ADV or TT or your local riding site or any other site? If so please post the link. Looking forward to the vids and night photo with the Husky scrowl.
