PART 3 – My impression on maps and my current height As I’ve established, there were no Baja maps back then, and the AAA map caused way more pain than not. The small village of Sawmill, aka Aceradero, near Laguna Hanson was still turning out lumber back then and I remember it was one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever seen. It’s just about all gone now, but then, as now, it wa a place to might be able to get gas, so we were determined to find it. The only problem being good ol’ AAA placed it about thirty miles from where it really was. Making it hard to find Sawmill was only part of the problem, because it then put everything else in the wrong place, at least in our minds. Navigating Baja has always been trouble, and AAA did nothing to help. Remember those days, and those places, makes me think more specifically about the trails. They were consistently gnarly, washed out, and if you were lucky a truck or two used these trails. That meant the tires rounded off the nastiest segments just a little. Add to all of that that bike suspension back then wasn’t more than four or five inches. No wonder I am two inches shorter than I used to be.

PART 4- Who needs suspension when you’re young? The old Puertocitos road from San Felipe was about forty miles of continuous whoops and rocks – but it was straight, so we’d fly. Now my friends and I are lazy, so for years now we have used the paved road that parallels the old roads by about one to five miles. One time we had decided to ride on the old road and since my friends had never used it, they really didn’t know what they were getting into. We had gone about three quarters of the way and inevitably someone started bitching, so I led the group left and we picked up the paved road not far away. THEN they were bitching because we had been riding over that nasty old road when the good one was so close. It’s been a good reminder to me of how well youth could offset the lack of suspension. I don’t remember that road being anything but fun and a good challenge, but on this modern day ride we were all eager to get off of it. Keep it tuned for part 5 of these Baja Trips stories.

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