Another Around the World Tacoma

A few from an overcast evening yesterday, as the sun was beginning to set.

Saguaro by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Down Low - Rear by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

These Arizona sunsets are a thing of beauty

Cloudy Sunset by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

For sure, was a long time ago! But that was my last datapoint, so I like to be accurate so folks do realize, as you did, that it may be different. So, I am probably the same as @MR E30 sounds- cautious but excited! This is one of the reasons I'm so looking forward to his visit, I'd love to boondock through Baja myself, just have a bit of old fears hanging around

I also read all Dan Grec's stuff, just great. And I subscribe to several YouTube folks who overland through Baja. But I am honestly most excited to see Mike and Stacey's visit-- I am building out a TuneM1 on 21 Tacoma 6ft bed, so it seems very similar. Though I am sure I will not match many of his great build items!

I fly into Mexico often for work, several times a month, and spend the night probably every other month or so but all resort stuff-- Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun. And have a limo from airport to a Marriot or Hilton then back. So I do enjoy it and have some in countey experience, but not any recent car travel from the AZ border. Once I got married and had small kids, my memories of the constant stops and corruption while driving, made me afraid to take family there. I'd like to get past that, and recent experience is the way, so THANKS to Michael for posting all this. Super fun and helpful in so many ways!

 

Was hoping to read about Christmas in Baja Hope you are well and all your systems working well! Wondering where your adventure has you for the holidays. Got my wife interested in a catered Baja overland tour, with truck group and guides, as an xmas present. Seemed a decent way to dip toes into Baja as beginners.

 

Great build and photography!

For the past four years, I have spent lots of time in Baja. You all will have a great time. We've gotten lucky and haven't had any problems with police wanting bribes.

Heading back in February after picking up an OVRLND camper. Looking to see the Grey whales.

Great people in Baja. Also great food, and amazing scenery.

 

Baja shared the goods before we even arrived at our first campsite:

Dinner Atop a Saguaro by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I'll share a whole lot more in a week or two, but we have had a great experience thus far.

 

It felt like I had been dropped into an Attenborough documentary. The wildlife was just incredible. Watching birds nosedive into the water for dinner, hearing the 'schmack' as they breached the water, was just awesome.

Diving Bird by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

That's awesome. Great pics. It is the things you see & experience live that move life forward.

 

Nice osprey photo. They are the master fishermen in Baja.

 

This build is incredible! Great pics too!

 

Definitely the truth. Thank you.

 

I appreciate the comment. Thanks!

 

Haha, much appreciated. I try my best. It's still in one piece!

 

Happy New Year @MR E30

 

Awesome!! Happy New Year!! Great build!! Have fun

 

Hey! Just spent a few hours today catching up on your thread. Just a fantastic attention to detail and craftsmanship - the results speak for themselves in this thread. The best upgrade in the thread seems to be having found someone with whom you can share these awesome experiences. Congrats

 

You are so correct with that last statement. I can't imagine doing this by myself anymore. Stacy has brought so much to this experience, so thank you.

I appreciate the other comments as well!

 

Thanks Dino!

 

Thanks Jeff, right back at ya.

 

Time for some housekeeping, and then a Baja trip report. We have made it back to the states and are currently out near Yuma AZ, where we will remain for the next 6 weeks.

Some past events I forgot to post:

Deep in a canyon in Sedona AZ. This one was memorable because you rappel off of a literal knot in a piece of webbing, gently rested into a large crack in the ground. It was ridiculously sketchy. Keeping the knot wedged into the 'hole' kept us on our toes. Since I am posting this, we obviously survived the experience.

Pre and Post Baja by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I also finally set the winch line. Used a small tree/large bush as the anchor point. Slight grade aided in keeping the winch line tight. When you buy a new winch, the manufacturer will tell you that this needs to be done prior to first use, fyi.

Pre and Post Baja by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

In AZ, straight out of the iPhone 13

Pre and Post Baja by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Old mine that we passed on a 13 mile hike

Pre and Post Baja by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Bees are thirsty little things it seems. Definitely wasn't a use case I envisioned when installing the rear spigot, but what are you gonna do? Haha It took the second highest shutter speed that my D500 can achieve in order to stop the bees wings mid-flight. This one took many, many attempts before acheiving a satisfactory result.

Thirsty Bees by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Alright, Baja reflection time:

Let me preface this section by saying a few things:

- When I originally daydreamed about this lifestyle, adventure was high on the list, and work was lower on the list. I only made so much as a single guy, and that level of income meant that certain things were simply out of reach (in a timely enough manner). But since teaming up with Stacy, with the two of us working together, our financial options changed, and we decided to forestall extreme adventure in order to achieve some significant financial goals (to us at least). So when I loosely planned out where I wanted to take the truck, and how quickly I wanted to get it there, I hadn't foreseen how important working would be to us.
- This is why our time in Baja was limited to what it ended up being. Nothing to do with how wonderful Baja is (it is a great place and experience), but everything to do with how we have prioritized our work. We will return to Baja for a much longer length of time in the future, it just wasn't meant to be this time around.
- I also didn't envision how much fun I was going to have by simply walking on trails. Something that we love to do as often as possible (daily often), and something that ended up being scarce in Baja. More on this in the trip report.

Alright, let's get started:

Day 1 - Border Crossing and Extreme Rain

We did an almost full load out in Yuma, AZ prior to heading towards the San Luis Rio Colorado border crossing. The only thing we didn't stock up on was food, as I was really excited about going grocery shopping in Mexico.

The entire day it rained steadily and heavily, with only minor breaks.

Baja - 2023 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Border crossings can be interesting, but as an American citizen, traveling into Mexico, it is about as routine as it gets.

Baja - 2023 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

The change of pace of driving started to occur even before crossing the border though. A truck driver thought he was in a P50 or something, as he was just working his way through the stand still traffic with some vigor.

At the gate on the Mexico side, unsurprisingly, we were singled out for a secondary inspection. I naively thought that the guards who worked the border would be bilingual, but no dice. This is true for the reverse as well, the US border agents are not fluent in Spanish.

Thankfully I know enough Spanish to conduct ourselves in a satisfactory manner. In fact, my most common phrase the entire trip was "Lo siento, mi espanol es no bueno, pero...." I basically led with that, after getting through the pleasantries, with everyone we met and talked to.

Crossing into Mexico only took ~30 minutes. No challenge at all. The secondary inspection was easy. No opening of anything, no ruthless searching. Just questions about where we were going, why all of the stuff on the truck, any cervezas, etc.

We chose the border crossing that we took because it was the one in Yuma AZ. This worked initially, but next time we will travel to Mexicali East before crossing in. The benefit of that crossing is that it spits you out onto Mexico 5, whereas the San Luis crossing has you drive through a lot of agricultural land before you make it onto a proper freeway/highway.

There is limited life on the US side of the border, but the Mexico side is teaming with activity. There is no gradual warm up. Nope, it just goes straight to it's own unique driving style immediately.

The weirdest thing was that we simply did not see a speed limit sign for hours. At least two. Just no idea on how fast to legally go. We obviously wanted to play it safe to avoid being ticketed on our first day, and we were still driving cautiously. The road would feel like 40 mph was satisfactory, but then someone would pass us at ~80 mph, and that certainly was too fast.

As we neared Mexico 5, the GPS just had us driving right through peoples front yards. Everything that wasn't a main artery/roadway was just dirt. I was having a great time, despite the horrendous rain.

We eventually made it to Mexico 5, problem free I might add. The rain was still relentless and the desert flooded.

Baja - 2023 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Baja - 2023 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Crappy photos (my apologies), but that is not a lake, at least not usually. This heavy rain would cause a couple of painful issues later in the trip.

Our destination was just south of San Felipe, along Shell Island, a semi popular first nights camp for folks crossing the border on the east side of the peninsula.

I use Gaia almost exclusively to determine where to travel, and how to get there. It works great in the US, and it works pretty decently in Baja. I had the pin for this campsite, right on the beach, but no track from the freeway to that site. No worries, it appears to just be dirt and sand, nothing to worry about. The weather had even cleared up, and the sun was shining.

Yep. We find a dirt track off the 5 towards the beach. It opens up to a large flat, sandy area, a few hundred yards from the actual beach. That's where I captured the photo of the feasting bird:

Dinner Atop a Saguaro by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Working his way through the head, all while keeping an eye on me.

Dinner Atop a Saguaro - II by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

You can see the lighter sand in the distance, our desired camping spot. So close, and yet so far.

Baja - 2023 by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

After putting away the camera after taking photos of the feasting bird, we decided we wanted to find our way to the beach. There were several trails off this area and towards the south, so we decided to follow these.

We didn't know, but the rains had flooded this entire area earlier that day. As we were driving along, we would have to stop and wait as thousands and thousands of small crabs, the ones with just the one large claw, would scurry out of our way, fleeing for their lives. It was only something that I had ever seen on television.

The wonder quickly wore off though. The truck was sinking into the ground, and even in 4wd we were struggling. Alright, we need to take the next trail to on our right and head back inland, this must not be the way to the beach.

And then forward movement was no more. Yep, middle of a sparsely populated area, stuck in the muddy sand. Great start.

Out come the Staun's, and down to 18 psi we go. Yeah, let's go a bit lower. 12 psi here we come.

And that was enough to get us free. Thankfully. It was still a fight, but the Tacoma and the Coopers were able to set us free with just a bit of struggle.

We would learn, a few days later, that someone else ended up stuck very near to where we were, but their setup was inefficient to free them. They simply had to set up camp right in the mud and wait two days until some sandrails came and pulled them out.

We decided to consider ourselves lucky and we simply went back to that open area to camp for the night. The day was coming to a close, and we would hike around the next day to find the way to the beach.

We opened our tent and decided to walk to the beach. A great idea this turned out to be. I didn't carry my camera the first night, but the wildlife was in extreme abundance. I don't even have words for it, but it was spectacular. Thousands and thousands of birds just living their lives, existing as they have existed for a long, long time. The circle of life, all of that. Each of them an individual entity, with desires, feelings, thoughts. All together, out there on the beach and in the ocean, doing their thing.

If you can't tell, I just love animals. They are so damn cool, and marvelously complex. Spending time just watching them is one of my happy places.

I will continue this in a few segments it seems. I'll work on the next few days here shortly.

 

Great report, and that sunset AZ photo is amazing!