Denver to Baja and Back--Trip Report (Pic heavy!)

[joetiger]

The first time Samba member Corwyn invited folks down for his Baja whale watching trip, I was dying to go. It sounded like the perfect Vanagon trip. Unfortunately, each year since then, I've haven't been able to make the timing (beginning of February) work with the family's schedule. And, I found out rather quickly that this was not a trip they were going to let me do solo!

During this time, my wife has wanted to take our daughters to Disneyland. I've resisted this idea because I thought it more important for them to see natural wonders than Mickey Mouse. I've always told them that if they grow up and things don't go their way, they are welcome to blame it on the fact that Dad never took them to Disneyland. However, the three of them can be quite relentless..

Family life is full of compromises. In December, I started thinking seriously about Baja, trying to figure out a way to make the trip. Then it struck me: Spring Break. Drive to L.A. and have the girls fly out. Hit Disney for a day, then travel Baja for a week, and drop them off in San Diego so they can fly back. Hopefully the whales wouldn't have left by then.

The plan had a lot of moving parts, but somehow we were able to pull it all together. After going over my van with a fine-tooth comb for months, checking every nut and bolt, fixing anything I could think of that might need a fix, buying new toys for the trip, and hounding anybody and everybody on the Samba, Facebook, and Baja Nomads for information, I was ready to go.

I left on Thursday morning early, crossed the Rockies, and hit Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef (saw one silver Westy in the parking lot,) Grand Staircase Escalante, and Bryce Canyon. I was going to camp at Bryce, but 50 mph winds and blowing snow convinced me to get a room at the Best Western and watch some Sweet Sixteen basketball instead.

The next morning, I headed to Zion National Park. The east side of the park at sunrise was beautiful, tranquil, and empty. After driving through the tunnel, the west side was as crowded as the Grand Canyon.

Coming out of Zion, I had a county sheriff's truck six inches off of my bumper from Springdale almost all the way to I-15. Not sure what the problem was there, but it wouldn't be my last experience of the day with the fuzz...

More to come.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[sanchius]

Great pics, JT, thanks for sharing. We're looking forward to the next installment...
_________________
The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!

[joetiger]

From Zion to Vegas, I decided that I would take a side trip out to see the Hoover Dam. I hit Vegas at about 12:30 and headed out to Lake Meade. It wasn't my best decision. It was Friday afternoon and traffic was terrible; it took me nearly 2 hours to get out there. When I arrived at the security checkpoint, they directed me to pull out of line to be searched. They went through my Yak box, all of my camping gear, and even made me pull out a stand-up paddleboard and show it to them. After they were satisfied, I packed up my gear and headed to the parking garage, where I was informed that because of my jerry cans, I couldn't park inside there. I was directed through the throngs of tourists to the Arizona side, where I drove most of the way up the mountain to a parking lot where I was able to snap one picture:

Adding to the stress, the van had developed a nasty idle problem. Any time I depressed the clutch coming off of speed, it would rev up to 2000 RPM, then stall. I had to continually goose it to keep it running and/or restart it through all of the traffic and lines for the dam. While very frustrating, it was running flawlessly on the highway so I decided to push on to Irvine, CA, to a hotel across the street from John Wayne Airport where I was picking up the girls the next morning.

After another hour and a half of Vegas traffic and a harrowing bumper-to-bumper Friday afternoon 80 MPH death ride from down I-15 (and yes, I listened to U2-The Joshua Tree as I sailed past the Joshua Tree exit) and eventually to Irvine, I was able to exhale and have several beers and a nice dinner at the Hyatt bar. I theorized on the source of my idle problem with an Asian American couple attending a self-help seminar, a bartender from Sinaloa, and a muscled-up dude in sweats, none of whom had any idea as to what I was babbling on about.

If you don't want the nice people at the nice hotel to know that you're working on your well-aged van in the parking lot whilst they're enjoying mimosas and brunch, use the stealth method:

I knew the problem had to be with the IAC valve. Mine had been behaving well for a long time, but several years ago I'd had a similar problem. I took a look and was surprised to find an air gap in the pressure tank--an air bubble.
Could it be that coolant wasn't flowing through the IAC to make it spin? I filled the tank with water and tapped the side of the IAC a couple of times with a wrench, buttoned it up, and hoped for the best.

I picked up the girls from the airport (still no idle,) headed to Anaheim, checked into a hotel across the street from Disneyland, and proceeded to spend twelve hours in The Happiest Place on Earth. I do not have any Vanagon photos of this portion of the trip, but rest assured the girls got their fix. And, honestly, it was a hilariously fun day that we will never forget. "It's a Small World" was super weird and totally worth it.

The next morning, I started the van and the idle problem was gone! Holistic Vanagon healing.

We headed south on I-5 to San Diego, then west on I-8 across the desert to Mexicali. The border crossing going south was empty on this Sunday early afternoon. I had all of my paperwork (Mexican insurance, passports, FMM's) ready to present. A Federale walked up to the Vanagon, took a look in, and said "Have a good trip." I tried to show him paperwork, but he just waved me through.

Mexicali scared me. I can't say precisely why; I just didn't like the vibe. We stopped at a grocery store and got cash and supplies, then headed for San Felipe. It was a beautiful and uneventful drive down. We had read about Kiki's Camp, a somewhat cramped but friendly RV campground, and decided to stay there the first night.

The upstairs wakes up at Kiki's:

Breakfast in San Felipe:

I don't remember the name of the restaurant (it's across the street from Chuy's,) but the waitress was extremely friendly and the food was outstanding. I had a very delicious shrimp omelet in red chili sauce with a side of bacon, fresh squeezed OJ, and coffee.

Kiki's had been good to us for the first night, but we wanted to get a bit more space but still see a bit of San Felipe. We went just south of town to a sort of neighborhood with slab camping along the beach. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was cheap ($15) and effective for a day of paddleboarding, exploring, and hanging out. In this first picture, you can also see a Mexican Navy ship...It went back and forth across the horizon all day; apparently it's there to make sure that fishermen are not using illegal gill nets.

That afternoon, a low-mileage, Fox suspension-equipped, cherry EV camper pulled up. Bill and Paula were from Olympia, and joined us for beers and conversation on the beach, then later we walked down the beach to a restaurant called El Padrino for dinner. They had been in Baja for a month, and were headed north to Arizona. It was great to meet them and pick their brains for info on what lay ahead for us. And, of course, Bill and I talked VW for hours.

Sidenote: El Padrino was excellent. One of the appetizers was shrimp-stuffed chili peppers drizzled with a Soy/Sweet sauce; they were out of this world. And six of us ate like royalty for a total of about $60. This is also the location where my unquenchable fish taco addiction began and has yet to end.

Also, in addition to the naval ship, we saw the Greenpeace Sea Shepherd out on the water that afternoon. Kinda cool to see it in person!

The next morning, we said goodbye to Bill and Paula and headed south. We made plans to see them this summer when we visit the PNW. The people you meet on the road...There's just nothing else like it.

More to come.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[IdahoDoug]

Cool read. I like your writing style and interesting pictures. The muscled up dude in sweats was hilarious.
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[wontfalia]

So far so good!! Keep em coming. Pictures look great and your van!
_________________
Don't break the law when you're breaking the law

[jamin307]

[joetiger]

There were a couple of pieces of advice that really stuck in my head before we made the trip. One was from Samba Elder crazyvwvanman:

Perfection is easy to envision but isn't so easy to find, don't expect it.

That statement is absolutely true regardless of the destination. But perfection can definitely be found in certain instances, such as watching the sun rise over the Sea of Cortez from the lower bunk of a Vanagon.

crazyvwvanman was also right about the low-tide marshy conditions in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez. The tide is very pronounced and leaves behind a silty bottom. The high tide, unfortunately, brings in a bit of trash as well.

After a stop at the grocery store for cash and supplies, we got away from the incoming San Ignacio 250 Baja race crowds and headed south on Mex 5. We had read in a guidebook that there was a restaurant down a sand road that had excellent food and a beach where you could collect sand dollars. We headed out there and parked next to a couple of old VW dune buggies.

The dune buggy crowd, unlike everybody else we met in Baja, was apparently not down with Vanagons. We said hello and were met with scowls and eye rolls from the group. Oh well, f*ck you too. The fish and shrimp tacos were excellent, the Pacifico was cold, and the beach was desolate and beautiful.

After lunch, we headed south to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga. Around Puertecitos, the terrain changed from standard desert to what I can only describe as Moab red rock falling into the sea. It was gorgeous. And of course, I have no photos of it.

The iOverlander app that Samba user Tobias Duncan recommended pointed us towards Campo Beluga, so we stopped off there to check it out.

Heading down a sand road about a half mile, we spotted the camp. I was so excited to see the place that I lost concentration on the road for just a second and promptly sunk. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the other side of the van's rear bumper was touching sand.

The Tred extraction ramps I bought on Ebay were worth their weight in gold. Camp Owner Rafael and I dug, jacked, dug, jacked, pushed, and finally got the Treds under the wheels. My wife was able to get the van out of the sand. Major hats off to both Rafael for his patience and indispensable help, and to Tobias Duncan again, for recommending that I take a good shovel.

For $20, and a $20 tip for the help with digging out the van, we had Campo Beluga completely to ourselves. The girls wanted a beach vacation? How about an entire beach, all ours for the night.

Sunset

Morning cereal and paddleboarding before the next leg.

We packed up, thanked Rafael, and headed for Bahia de Los Angeles.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[SLIKROC]

What a fantastic adventure! I'm very jealous. Looking forward to hearing more in Moab!

[joetiger]

The valley where Campo Beluga lies is traversed by a beautiful two-lane highway with center and side stripes, shoulders (a rarity), and smooth, silky asphalt. As you rise out of the valley, there's a sign and and arrow as the road ends in construction that reads "Desviacion." Detour. We figured we'd have a few hundred yards of extremely rough rocks to bump over, then back to the beautiful highway.

After a few kilometers at 5-10 MPH over sharp rocks through a cactus desert with vultures flying overhead, we realized that this was the road! We'd heard about this rough patch, but I think you have to experience in a Vanagon to know how rough it really can be. We did get a good laugh at additional "Desviacion" signs off of the Desviacion that we were already on. About 30 km down, near the end of this road, we found the world-famous Coco's Corner.

After an ice-cold Coke and a great conversation with Coco, we hit the final stretch of the 5 and met up with Mexico 1.

It's worth noting that Coco tried to give us directions to a shortcut to Bahia de Los Angeles, but he and my wife got into a bit of a back-and-forth. It was pretty funny, a slightly stubborn Mexican gent trying to give directions to a hot-blooded Latina en Espanol...Good stuff. We ended up taking the long way.

Mexico 1

The road to Bahia de Los Angeles (and me out of frame and beaming with pride that my daughters have no fear when it comes to peeing on the side of the road.)

We made Bay of LA around 1 PM and headed for Campo Archelon, another suggestion from iOverlander. Antonio and his mom, the owners, were very gracious hosts. The palapas are very cool, stone with grass roofs.

We pulled up and took a look, paid $20, then went back into town to a restaurant suggested by Antonio.

Restaurant Alejandrinas; the fish tacos, of course, were excellent. They also have very weak, slow, but effective Wifi. My kids were overjoyed.

Back at Campo Archelon, we walked down down the beach a ways and back then decided it was way too windy for paddleboards. We grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and drank Tecate.

Sunset

Sunrise

Antonio walked up right after I took that pic and asked if I had slept well. I said yes, I was on a cot in the palapa and slept very well, but I did hear dogs barking off and on a few times.

"Oh, yes," he replied, "My dogs. They keep the coyotes out of the campo."

Pumping up boards

I should say here that the Viar 400p compressor from Amazon was fantastic for pumping up paddleboards (8 minutes each) and also did a fine job bringing the tires back up after a couple of air-downs. It's quiet, fast, and fits under the back bench like it was made to go there.

The Bahia was like glass that next morning. The girls took the paddleboards out and saw small sharks, stingrays, dolphins, and a host of other creatures.

The view from the Bahia

"You could stop taking pictures and help us pack up."

Next up, Laguna San Ignacio.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[16CVs]

What were yours dates into and out of Mexico?

Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[86scotty]

Most excellent trip report. I badly want to do Baja but it may have to wait until retirement since I'm based out of Tennessee, for now.

I got thoroughly searched as well at the same checkpoint as you. I was in a big Colorado Camper Van Ford pop top and they didn't seem to like me either. I had to open up everything for them.

This forum needs a popcorn emoji.


_________________
86 Vanagon Westfalia 87k
1998 Ford E350 4x4 camper build
Vans flip flops

[vanis13]

What's the story of the Yakima cross bars that are GOLD instead the of typical black?
_________________
83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[joetiger]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm hoping to get some time today to finish up.

[joetiger]

We were having a great time on the Sea of Cortez side and probably could have stayed there for the whole trip; however, I kept thinking about the whole original point of the trip: whales. Gotta see whales. We somewhat reluctantly left Bay of LA and headed back towards Mexico 1 and Guerrero Negro.

Our plan was to hit Laguna Ojo Liebre (near Guerrero Negro) and go out to see the whales, but after reading up in iOverlander and our Baja Guidebook, my navigator/trip commander wife determined that we should go farther south to Laguna San Ignacio.

What I'd thought would be a couple of hours on the road turned into a tiring six hour fight with Mex 1. We passed through San Ignacio, which is difficult to describe...A palm oasis valley in the middle of a sea of cactus desert with a 400 year-old mission in the middle. This is one of those places that we could have spent a lot more time in than just driving through.

From there we climbed out of the valley and down the other side to a whole lot of ocean plain/washboard.

We were tired and worn out at this point. We stopped at Antonio's Ecotours, which is on the water and came highly recommended, and were told that a single individual had rented out the entire establishment so they had no spots to offer.

We're in the middle of freaking nowhere, it's 5:45 PM, and I'm starting to get twitchy: The whales. Surely they can't stop us from seeing whales. We're so close. And we have no place to go.

Thankfully, Ecotourisma Kuyima was right next door.

This place was the crown jewel of the trip. So great, in fact, that I'll post their website:

http://www.kuyima.com/eindex.html

A guy in a Kuyima sweatshirt walks up to my van as we're pulling up to their main area and says, "I really like your van! Camping? We have a spot for you. What would you like for dinner? We have fresh fish, or scallops that were in the water this morning. We can get you on a boat out to see the ballenas first thing tomorrow."

To say we were overjoyed...There are very few moments in life that can lift up your soul like that.

We had dinner with the other campers (one couple who owned a Syncro in Reno) and the staff, a couple of Pacificos, and walked back to the van, stars shining, water calm.

It was a chilly night, so the girls all wanted to sleep downstairs and gave me the penthouse.

Sasquatch and Shakespeare

I drifted off to sleep, and BAM! The poptop tent was slapping and the van was rocking from side to side. It was 12:30 AM and the wind had picked up, to put it mildly, and the tide had come in. I would have thought I was out on the water in a storm. I did unzip the front flap to make sure we weren't drifting away, but no, we were safe on our point. I drifted off.

At 8 AM, after a breakfast of Juevos Mexicana and coffee, we boarded boats and took a fifteen minute ride to the calving grounds.

All four of us got to touch grey whales.

The whole thing was very reverent and powerful; one guy on our boat was sobbing. Surprisingly, it wasn't me.

We went back to the camp after 90 minutes with the whales, said our goodbyes to our new friends at Kuyima, and started the long trek north.

One more wrap-up post to go.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[campism]

Man, what a great trip!
_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[joetiger]

We cruised back through San Ignacio, got some gas and had a very nice lady at the grocery store give us a credit card exchange deal on Pesos; for some reason our cards wouldn't work at Bancomer branches in BC Sur.

At a Pemex north of Guerrero Negro, we met Bryce and Beatrice and their flawless Vanagon. This was only the second one we'd seen to this point.

They had been in Laguna Ojo Liebre the day before to see whales, and said that while they'd seen a couple, their trip out was a bit disappointing. While we were certainly empathetic, I was happy that I'd trusted my wife and driven the extra miles to Laguna San Ignacio.

We drove all afternoon on Mexico 1, hoping to make El Rosario before sundown.

Many sections of the road were in atrocious condition. Giant potholes and oncoming traffic made me sure we were going to have a blowout, but luckily the Yoko Geolandars held up.

Around 5 PM, I started getting nervous. We looked at mileage and realized that there was no way we'd make it to El Rosario, or any town near the coast, before dark. And there didn't appear to be any place anywhere near where we were (the middle of the desert) to stop. We couldn't drive at night, and we couldn't stop on the side of Mex 1 and camp alone on a Friday night. We had no good choices. I was not feeling like a responsible dad and husband at this point.

We checked iOverlander and our guidebook, and found that there was an RV campground (condition unknown) 30 km's up, and a motel just past there. As the sun was setting, we checked out the campground. OK, but not great. We decided to check the motel. I was not expecting much.

I was wrong!

The Mision Catavina Hotel is gorgeous. Big rooms, decent restaurant, friendly staff, convenience store...All in the middle of nowhere and for around $50/night. Truthfully, I would have paid anything. We got a room, had a nice dinner, and got some much-needed sleep. Judging by the BMW and KTM motorcycles and several overland vehicles, we were not the only ones who needed a place to rest.

After a great sleep, we went north through some beautiful desert and oceanside country. We saw a nice Titian Red Syncro Westy, a guy and his daughter, stopped at a fruit stand on the side of the road. We gave them a honk, and got a wave in return. In Ensenada, we stopped and had lunch and re-adjusted to heavy traffic.

Below I'm trying to show the bug death zone that was the front of the van, but didn't get a very good shot apparently.

We made Tijuana at 3:30 that afternoon, then sat in line for three hours.

The vendors that walk up and down the lines were selling all kinds of great stuff. In my crew, they found willing and enthusiastic patrons. While we didn't buy a puppy (much to the chagrin of my younger daughter,) we did buy the following:

1 bag churros
1 ice cold Coke
1 miniature guitar (E string broke on first tuning attempt.)
1 purple and black Mexican wrestling mask (no LSU purple and gold, unfortunately.)
1 life-sized ceramic chihuahua
1 8'x8' throw rug depicting an Aztec warrior cradling sacrificial virgin
1 large ceramic Picachu piggy bank

In other words, we threw $50 around and had a great time.

The one thing we did NOT get was a velvet painting of a skeleton wearing a cowboy hat holding a red rooster. I am kicking myself for not buying it.

The US border guard's mom had a Vanagon camper when he was a kid, so he spent very little time searching and a lot of time talking about how awesome our van was.

As a reward for a great trip, we headed to the Marriott on Coronado island, ordered fish tacos from room service, and fell asleep. The next day, the girls went to the pool before their afternoon flight while I hit the road at 6 AM.

The drive from San Diego to Grand Junction (and to Denver the next morning) was uneventful. I did get a photo of the solar mirror farm on i-15...What an interesting contraption. The light in the towers is otherworldly.

Vail Pass took its usual pound of flesh.

Safe and sound back at home, Tatanka looking like he'd just come out of a Mad Max movie.

Best trip ever for us, just not long enough. We can't wait to go back.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[wontfalia]

Heck yeah! That's a great trip report. Someday maybe...someday.

Thanks for posting. I'll read that a few more times for sure.

Wontfalia
_________________
Don't break the law when you're breaking the law

[joetiger]

I thought it might be a good idea to do an appendix, just a list of some of the stuff we took down with us. What worked, what didn't, what helped, so that when others are doing research on a trip, it might be of some help.

Guides/Maps:

Camping Mexico's Baja from Amazon. While it's a bit outdated (2012,) it gave us a few good ideas for stops along the way and had great information for border crossings, dealing with military checkpoints, getting gas, etc.

National Geographic Baja Map Pack:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597752231/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Probably not detailed enough for backroads/trails/overlander types, but these were absolutely crucial for us.

The iOverlander app--Can't thank Tobias Duncan enough. We used it constantly; it didn't require cell service and gave us great overviews into some of the places we travelled.

Additional Gear

--Viar 400p air compressor: Quiet, powerful, fast, and fits under the rear bench perfectly.

--TRED extraction ramps: I felt like a bit of a poser buying these, but they came in VERY handy when we got stuck in the sand. Glad I had them, as well as a good shovel.

--Coleman Stratus Light Sleeping bags: These are basically zip-up fleece blankets, but they pack tight, take up very little space, and are absolutely perfect for anything about 50 degrees.

--ARB Awning Room with floor (813104): Apparently I bought the wrong size; it was about a foot too long extending outward. It flapped mercilessly in the wind. But I did keep two inflated paddleboards in it safely overnight in San Felipe, so it still did its job.

--GoWesty Eclipse Sun Shade: This is a must-have, Baja or not. It was so nice to just pull the thing together and velcro it for privacy and sun mitigation.

--Jerry cans: We took a 5 gallon gas can mounted on the Paulchen rack and definitely used it (and helped out two college kids at Mision Catavina with a bit of gas to get far enough north) and two 7-gallon water jerry cans. We used about 10 gallons of water. It's not hard to find purified water in towns all over Baja, but I was happy to travel with our own.

Plus, having 7 gallons of water riding over the engine (in addition to the Blazecut system) gave me a little extra peace of mind.

One other thing: Formerly I was a big proponent of the solar panel in luggage rack and had a 60 watt mounted there. To make up for lost roof storage, i mounted a Yakima basketcase next to our Yak Box on the roof bars. On our trip to Canada last summer, I found that the roof was just too heavy all loaded up, even with assist shocks. So, I mounted a 100 watt panel on the yak bars, got my front luggage rack back, and saved some weight on the poptop. I'm very glad I did; the front luggage rack is so much more convenient and the 100 watt panel is a great upgrade.

I also took spare air and fuel filters, ignition switch, one CV joint, electrical bits, headlight switch, emergency tape, duct tape, towing strap, jumper cables, a full compact set of tools, manuals...And didn't use any of it. Glad I had it, though.

This thread was a big help:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=668791&highlight=baja++2wd

And this thread was a big motivator:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=673110&highlight=baja++solstice

BajaInsider, BajaNomads, and several Facebook Baja groups.

And again, thanks, Corwyn, for putting the idea in our heads several years ago.

_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[Paulbeard]

[Tobias Duncan]

Great trip report!
ioverlander is great. Anytime I was getting sick of a beach and needed a change I would just do some research on the ioverlander map while laying in bed at night and discover a new place further south to drive to in the morning.

The trick to the Bancommer ATM is to choose withdraw from savings even if you are using your checking account.
Forgot to mention that tip, I had meant to.