Just another day,


We have arrived at the Old Mill with blue sky and no threat of rain only to wake the next morning to a muddy quagmire.... The hiway through the small towns north from San Quintin resemble dirt road because of all of the mud that the vehicles track onto the hiway from the side roads.... The road only becomes clean after everything dries out and a wind storm blows the dirt off of the road.

We are delaying our trip north by one day. California is getting clobbered again by rain, heavy rains. Two years we have been caught in San Quintin, B.C.N. Mexico by rain. Baja turns into one big muddy mess when it rains. There are no paved roads out side of hiway 1 and the major cities. Small towns such as San Quintin only have hiway 1 as their sole pavement. We like to spend the night in San Quintin at the Old Mill campground. The Old Mill is a fishing resort with small hotels, restaurants, and a nice campground. It is three miles off of the main hiway via dirt road. Dirt not gravel, not sand. A very bumpy dirt road with large holes that take days to dry out after a rain storm. We have arrived at the Old Mill with blue sky and no threat of rain only to wake the next morning to a muddy quagmire. The first time was the worse, the main road into the Old Mill was impassible by anyone or any thing. A local gave directions for a different road out to the hiway. A five mile detour of muddy slipping and sliding in four wheel drive. It would have made for great photos, only I was afraid to stop once I had my forward momentum. The second time wasn't quite as bad, the main road in only had mud holes to get around. Still needed four wheel drive to get out. The hiway through the small towns north from San Quintin resembles a dirt road because of all of the mud that the vehicles track onto the hiway from the side roads. The towns are muddy, the shoulders are muddy everything is muddy. Only during the rain is the mud washed away, only to be drag back onto the street again when it stops raining. When the mud starts drying out the main hiway becomes dusty. So dusty you think you were driving on a dirt road. The road only becomes clean after everything dries out and a wind storm blows the dirt off of the road. Only along the beach and away from roads does the rain cleans the air and local environment.

So tomorrow Andy, Kody, and I leave for home. Today is the quiescent Baja Sur kinda day. The morning low was 64 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Looks like I might even be sailing. The winds are light and building, should be on a 5.7 by noon. I have to do a little unpacking to go sailing, no big deal. Tonight we're having 11 people to diner. Willy and Dy, Jim and Cynthia, Catherine, Kathy and her brothers' family, Tim, Kathy, Peter, Sam, and Andy and I.

I hope it blows today, February winds have been shy, really shy. The worst February in the four year I have been sailing here. Only four days out of the last 20. Kiters have been out a few more times, the big boards have been out a couple of time more. It has me thinking about kiting. On the sub 12 mph days the kites are out when nobody else is. Haven't been mountain biking much because the days are warming up too early. There still is dirt biking, we have been out 14 times this month. Every ride is an adventure, new places, new techniques, new riders almost every trip. Baja is a great place to ride, so many places, so many trails. Jerry and I have already been scouting new rides on the map to check out next year. Knowing Jerry, he'll have checked the trails out in advance before I return. Jerry's talking about going in with shovels and brush cutters to open some of the old trails that have been abandoned and have become impassible over the years.













Posted: Mon - February 21, 2005 at 09:26 AM          

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