Baja 800 - Day 3 (Mike's back to HSV)

Sunday, Oct 19, 2008 - We woke up to another beautiful and clear day in Baja. We had breakfast at 7:30 am along with the same bunch of guests. After breakfast we settled our bill ($60 per person for room and meals plus booze), packed our gear, inspected our bikes, and then headed out via the goat trail behind Mike's towards VDT at 8:35 and 342 miles from HSV.

You can see the beginning of the goat trail behind the blue Mike's sign in these pictures. The first hour or so of this trail was by far the most challenging part of our ride. It began as a moderately steep, narrow, rocky, and curvy path up a ridge. Jim and Harry made it to the top OK. Charlie twice took some bad bounces off rocks and almost went off the cliff. He had to stop his bike, move it back on the trail, restart the bike and continue. The trail got even more challenging as we continued with combinations of rocks, steep up and down slopes, and curves. Harry and Jim made good progress while Charlie took his time slowly navigating the obstacle course. This route would be a trials rider's dream! The goat trail eventually merged into a more typical dirt road and then with the same road that we took into Mikes from VDT. We returned to VDT at 11:00 to refuel at 377 miles from HSV.

We continued up Hwy 3 to Independencia where we filled up our tanks, drank some fluids, and bought some snacks at 11:25 am and 395 from HSV. We continued up Hwy to the Pino Real turnoff towards Laguna Hanson and Rancho El Alacran at 12:10 and 418 miles from HSV. At 12:30 and 429 miles from HSV we stopped at a stream, ate our snacks, and rested for 15 minutes.

We returned to Hacienda Santa Veronica at 2:10 and 472 total miles. We arrived before most of the other riders even though we took the slower more challenging route out of Mike's. We had a wonderful ride with no breakdowns or injuries. Harry was a great tour guide and kept us on the right paths. Harry and Jim generally rode at a faster pace than Charlie and patiently waited for him at all major intersections and break points.

We loaded up the bikes, paid our parking fee ($5/day), changed into our street clothes, and headed back at around 3:00. There was a 35 minute wait at the Tecate border crossing and then smooth driving home. We stopped at Philippe's in Jamul for a nice Italian dinner from 4:00-5:00. We then returned to Harry's house, and unloaded the bikes & trailer. Jim and Charlie left Harry's house at about 7:30. Charlie returned to his home in Thousand Oaks at 9:45 pm and 540 miles round trip in the Ridgeline.