Table of contents
- Motorcycle tour Baja California and California Change of course
- Next gas station in 318 kilometers
- Mama gray whale with her calf
- Baja and California – the complete opposite?
- Coastal Highway 1 on the Pacific
- Info about the motorcycle trip
Jo Deleker
35 pictures
Jo Deleker
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The man and the sea: the sun rises at seven in the morning from the Gulf of California near Bahia de Los Angeles.
Jo Deleker
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A legend in the Mojave Desert: “Roy’s Cafe” awaits visitors on historic Route 66.
Jo Deleker
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Great cinema: Highway 1 along the Pacific is one of the most exciting coastal roads.
Jo Deleker
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Still life in Shoshone: An old Chevy has been parked in front of the ruins of the local gas station for many years.
Jo Deleker
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Traffic jam-free, but not dust-free: The MEX 1 undulates through the barren Vizcaíno desert in the center of the Baja.
Jo Deleker
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Humble amazement at these sequoia giants.
Jo Deleker
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Wild West: The road through the Mojave Desert goes out of its way to reach the horizon.
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At the bottom: Badwater is America’s lowest point, 85 meters below sea level.
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Bahia Esmeralda – one of those dream places on the Baja.
Jo Deleker
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Desert, vastness, wilderness: two enduros are dusting through the Parque Nacional del Desierto Central de Baja.
Jo Deleker
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Paradise in Mexican: Hundreds of thousands of date palms shade the magical oasis of San Ignacio.
Jo Deleker
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Lawn mower driver in Death Valley – a cool job.
Jo Deleker
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Silence and indulge: in the magical light of the evening in the Sierra San Pedro Mártir.
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Map: MAIRDUMONT / Claudia Werel
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Duration of the trip: four weeks; Distance driven: 5000 kilometers.
Jo Deleker
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A visit to a legend: the Atlantic liner “Queen Mary” has found its final resting place in the port of Long Beach.
Jo Deleker
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Visit to the giants: a gray whale enchants visitors in the Guerrero Negro lagoon.
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to travel
Motorcycle tour Baja California and California
Motorcycle tour Baja California and California
Change of course
Actually, we had planned to tour the American Southwest for four weeks. But what if a stationary storm depression puts California under water? Just change course and head south onto Mexico’s Baja California. And then let’s see.
Joachim Deleker
05.03.2015
Cindy, the young receptionist at our hotel in San Diego, hastily leaves her counter. She rushes outside, her cell phone at the ready, quickly takes a few photos of what’s going on there. A downpour drowns the city, you could kayak on the street, but certainly not motorbikes. Cindy comes back in, presses the button on her MP3 player and grins and chooses Albert Hammond’s song “It Never Rains In Southern California.” Of course. Nature needs rain, but we don’t. Almuth has long since logged into the Internet at the Weather Channel. The weather frog enthusiastically talks about the huge storm “Titan”, which brought Los Angeles more rain within three days than usual in a year. We are less enthusiastic, so we spread the map and quickly agree to flee south to Baja California.
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“Titan” weakens the next morning. The enduros are packed, off to Mexico. We choose the cute Tecate border crossing. Fortunately we are through in 30 minutes, because behind us, “Titan” threatens with black clouds. The cloudless sky of Mexico beckons in the south. Over the curvy MEX 3 we swing through green mountains, fields, meadows and kilometer-long vines, where the grapes for the famous red wine of the Baja ripen, and before Ensenada we reach the MEX 1, which stretches 1700 kilometers through the vastness of the Baja to Cabo San Lucas pulls.
Next gas station in 318 kilometers
The Baja is still not very exciting, a lot of traffic, long streets, gray-green fields, flat land. We cannot resist the branch into the Sierra San Pedro Mártir. The mountains look harmless at first, until the narrow road gradually turns into a cracker. Curves, curves, curves, higher and higher, first between thick round granite marbles, then through a dense pine forest, until a snow field suddenly stops us at an altitude of 2650 meters. Snow on the Baja. A mirage? How was it with heat-shimmering deserts? Let’s get out of this fridge. But we don’t get very far when an insane prospect drops anchor. Countless mountain ranges are staggered in the soft haze down to the Pacific, bathing in the orange light of the setting sun. It’s as quiet as a mouse, only the Suzuki’s exhaust crackles, disturbing the peace. Silence and indulge.
Continue on the MEX 1, Tempo 90, straight ahead, “Easy Rider” country without any appeal. To El Rosario, a dusty nest in the middle of nowhere. At the end of the village, the sign “Next gas station 318 kilometers” announces the infamous “Baja Gas Gap”. Exciting. In wide swings we curve into the mountains and drive into the grandiose solitude of the Parque Nacional del Desierto Central de Baja. Sounds important and promising. It is exactly like that. Thousands of the huge Cardón cacti cluster together to form sparse forests, bizarre elephant trees, they look like mini-baobabs, grow on sandy soil, purple-brown mountain ranges shimmer in the midday heat. As if in a trance, we drive through a real painting of this Mexican desert. There is only one village on the way, Cataviña. The ruins of a Pemex gas station, a hotel that has turned out to be too big, opposite a few scattered little stone houses, a nice cafe made entirely of cactus wood, two donkeys doze in the shadow of a billboard, and far away a coyote trots through the desert. The hustle and bustle was not invented in Cataviña.
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Mama gray whale with her calf
Continuing on MEX 1, it remains as it is, desert, cacti, loneliness, until we reach Guerrero Negro 250 kilometers later, a city of 12,000 in the desolate coastal plain, blessed with 1.5 millimeters of rain. Per year. It rains twice as much in Wuppertal. Per day. But there is a good reason to stay here: gray whales, which give birth to their offspring in the lukewarm waters of the Laguna Ojo de Liebre. We book a boat tour, want to experience the giants of the seas up close. Early in the morning Jorge hunts with his open boat across the turquoise waters of the lagoon to where it flows into the Pacific. Engine off and wait. Barely five minutes, then Mama Gray Whale appears with her calf right next to us. The two apparently enjoy diving right under the boat, squirting their bubbles precisely over us and lifting their huge heads out of the water so close to us that we can touch them. Enjoy it? Seems so. Stroking whales, what a touching experience. We are less surprised that they are cold and wet, but that their skin is soft as a sponge, I didn’t expect that.
Cold and wet, attributes completely alien to the Vizcaíno Desert. Even the MEX 1 does not like to stay long in this windy wasteland and does without any bend in order to quickly cover the 150 kilometers to San Ignacio. San Ignacio is a paradise, a real oasis in the huge date palm forest, an old colonial town with the plaza shaded by large deciduous trees, where the siesta is a permanent state. What a nice place. But also the turning point for us. California beckons, and “Titan” should be gone by now. We’re heading north, eating kilometers to the Bahia de Los Angeles on the east coast. Camping right by the calm sea, feasting on mussels, fish and red wine in a small beach restaurant in the evening. And experience a sunrise that turns you on even without tequila.
Long-distance travel with the MOTORRAD action team
Baja and California – the complete opposite?
Over a rough track, sometimes stony and hard, sometimes deeply sandy, we sweat on to Bahia Gonzago, float over a brand new tar road along the desert coast of the Cortez Sea to Mexicali, where we can easily enter the USA. The Baja is behind us, a very special piece of Mexico. And now California. The complete opposite? At first yes. Everything is so clean here, neat places, the best streets, reliable signage, a cozy cafe serves warm apple pie with caramel sauce to classical music, Harleys shoot undamped over the curvy 243 through the San Jacinto Mountains, curious Americans scrutinize our Enduros and are delighted with them many stickers from distant countries that stick on the aluminum boxes. Where are you from? Germany. Ohhh. And your trip? From Costa Rica. Ohhhhh. Awesome! One gives us two muesli bars, the next a map. Traveling in this country can be so easy and enjoyable.
But still threatening, like the sandstorm that tried to sweep us off the road the next day. All of a sudden, this yellow-brown and terrifying wall of dust comes out of the Mojave Desert and obscures the view. With difficulty we reach the desolate town of Twentynine Palms and flee to the safety of a motel. 15 hours later, the storm is a thing of the past. The Mojave ensnares us as if nothing had happened, delighted with its deserted expanse, its yellow dunes, ocher-brown mountains and the endless road that never reaches the horizon. The Mojave can easily compete with the Baja.
Break in the legendary “Roy’s Cafe” on Route 66, another long and lonely portion of Mojave, until we finally reach Death Valley. California’s oven, easily 50 degrees hot in summer, now – in March – 28 degrees cool. There is even snow on the 3300 meter high Panamint Mountains. Around Badwater, the lowest point in America at 85.5 meters below sea level, a white salt flat stretches out, framed by bizarrely eroded mountains in all colors between yellow, red, brown and black. Anyone who experiences the warm light of a sunrise here will never forget it. Fascination of the desert. And in the middle, typically USA, a large golf course with a meticulously manicured lawn. Lawnmower operator in Death Valley, what a cool job!
Coastal Highway 1 on the Pacific
We continue into a world that is completely the opposite of the Valley of Death: the Sequoia National Park. The 198 takes on the mountains beyond Three Rivers. 2000 meters of the finest tar, countless perfect curves, the Tenere roars uphill with relish. If I could make a dream road, it would be just like this one. Only high up in the cool air of the Sierra Nevada do the road and motorcycle calm down. But not the driver. Why not? Because trees are now appearing that are so incredibly large that thick German oaks look like bonsai. Sequoias, the most powerful living things on earth. The two-thousand-year-old Grant Tree is ten meters thick and 80 high. The Sherman Tree even has a few feet more in the crown. We stand in silence for a long time and marvel at these giants in awe. Very long.
Jo Deleker
A visit to a legend: the Atlantic liner “Queen Mary” has found its final resting place in the port of Long Beach.
After a clear, starry night in a solid, frosted tent, we beg for the warmth of the early sun to caress us. Do that well! Defrosting, making coffee, having breakfast, packing the mopeds and off to the last highlight of the trip, the famous Highway 1 on the Pacific. It gets spectacular south of Monterey. Hwy 1 goes to great lengths to live up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful coastal roads. Cold sea mist still wafts against the Santa Lucia Mountains, and the sun struggles to pierce individual rays through the gray mush. She succeeds more and more often. When we reach a nice cafe in Big Sur, the fog has cleared, our wet jackets are steaming against the XXL cappuccino. Continue south on the West Coast Scenic Highway. Along the steep, rugged coast, through fragrant eucalyptus forests, high above picture-perfect sandy beach bays – a grandiose course of the road with an infinite number of photo stops. Is it nice here?!
But slowly the coast is losing its drama and loneliness, preparing for Los Angeles. We cross this juggernaut on twelve-lane freeways, aim for the port of Long Beach and park there in front of a 310-meter-long legend, the beautiful old Atlantic liner “Queen Mary”, which found its last berth here as a museum and hotel ship. A worthy end to our trip. In the evening at the Mexican’s, the Weather Channel flickers on TV, threatening a new storm low for the next few days. High time to change course. Either on the Baja or home.
Info about the motorcycle trip
Map: MAIRDUMONT / Claudia Werel
Duration of the trip: four weeks; Distance driven: 5000 kilometers.
Two worlds in one trip. As different as Baja California and California are, both regions inspire with their great landscapes and the perfect spring climate. Most of the highlights can be experienced on a four-week round trip.
Getting there: Flights from Frankfurt to Los Angeles or San Diego are available from 650 euros. A passport and the ESTA form are required to enter the USA.
Travel time: There are stark climatic differences between deserts, mountains and coasts. In winter, cold storms can make traveling in California difficult. Often the higher areas like the Sierra Nevada are snow-covered. From March, most of the mountain roads will be open again. The Baja has a semi-arid climate, very pleasant in winter with 20 to 30 degrees, from the end of March the temperature often goes well over 40 degrees. The best time windows for the described trip are in spring and autumn, the Baja and the low regions of California are of course also in winter.
Traveling & Stay: Aside from the metropolitan areas around Mexicali and Tijuana, in California around Los Angeles and San Diego, most of the rest of Baja and California are extremely sparsely populated. Enduro riders will find their paradise on the rough slopes of the Baja, road riders especially on the mountain roads of California. The spontaneous search for accommodation is usually problem-free. There are hotels on the Baja for 20 to 30 euros. In California, prices are significantly higher. Camping outdoors is not a problem on the Baja, but there are also campsites, albeit significantly less than in the USA, where the pitches are much better equipped.
Motorcycle: The crucial question “bring your own motorcycle or rent it on site” mainly depends on the time available. When traveling this side of five weeks, renting is cheaper and easier. Rent a motorcycle in L.A. here: www.motoquest.com. A BMW F800 GS costs 490 euros per week, a Sertão or V-Strom 650 costs 390 euros each. www.eaglerider.com offers Harley Sportster at a weekly price of 590 euros, the Triumph Bonneville is available for 720 euros. at www.usamotorradreisen.de there is a R 1200 GS for 680 euros. The same BMW costs atwww.rental-motor cycle.com 660 euros and at www.bikeworld-travel.de 480 euros. All prices apply to the low season in winter. Summer prices are up to 50 percent higher.
Not all providers allow crossing the border to Mexico and skiing on slopes. So ask carefully before renting. Those who prefer to ride their own motorcycle can choose between air and sea freight. Olaf Kleinknecht offers both variants (Info: ojk@intime-ham.com). The sea freight with a RoRo ship from Bremerhaven to L.A. costs 1175 euros, the return journey in the vehicle collective container is just as expensive. As air freight with Fly and Ride from Air Berlin, the unpacked motorcycle costs 2200 euros. Transporting it in a self-made box is much cheaper. A Yamaha Tenere then flies to Los Angeles in a 190 x 80 x 110 centimeter shed for 1250 euros, a BMW R 1200 GS in a 230 x 108 x 150 centimeter box costs 2000 euros. But for the way back by plane it will be steep. The fat BMW costs 3265 euros. We were on the road with two single cylinders, a Yamaha XT 660 Tenere and a Suzuki DR 650 SE. On almost 20,000 kilometers from Costa Rica to Los Angeles we didn’t have a single breakdown apart from two flat feet. The XT got along with one set of Heidenau K60 tires, the DR with one set of Mitas E07s.
travel Guide & Cards: There is a wide choice for California. The best guides for individual travelers come from the publishers Reise Know-how (USA Southwest for 23.50 euros and California South for 22.50 euros), Iwanowski (California, 25.95 euros) and Stefan Loose (California, 24.95 euros ). For the Baja there are currently only older travel guides. Otherwise, this region is integrated in Mexico guides, for example in the book by Stefan Loose (25 euros). Good maps for both regions
the publishing house offers travel know-how. Openstreetmaps offers maps for navigation systems on its website.
Info:
www.mexico-info.de,
www.visitmexico.com,
www.mexonline.com,
www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico,
www.info-kalifornia.de,
www.visitcalifornia.com,
www.nps.gov/index/htm
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