Day 8 - The End

at the very first sign of daylight, we were dressed, packed and loaded. during the night this motel had received quite a few more customers and the parking lot was full. there was a huge contingent of dirt bikers. there was no water. shocking. couldn't even flush the toilet. i think ye left them a calling card. ;-)

adios catavina!

but before we could arrive in el rosario, ye pulls off the road and says his bike doesn't feel right. when he checks the pressure in the rear tire, it has 5 lbs. in it. we pulled over and he aired it up. we plugged it in el rosario.

we stopped to check in on a few friends that we'd met on previous visits. this little church stuck on the hillside and it's members have become like family to us. last time we visited we left them with some money.

this is their simple cucina or kitchen. it had received a fresh coat of paint. last time we visited it was bare cement block.

this is the two room school. it also received a fresh coat of paint. it used to be bright blue.


this is one of our dear friends in el rosario, emilio. the curtains are new.

it didn't take emilio more than 3 minutes to come down the hill with they key to the church in hand. he was very excited to show us their upgrades.


the front of their very modest church.


they bought a new 13" tv/vcr combo. their conference is very large and the pastor is in san quentin. he only visits every 7th week. so with the bulk of the money that we gave them, they bought this:

Parabolica!

a satellite dish to receive their sermons and spanish programming all through the week. i wept, emilio wept with me. i was so touched.


north we rode. our destination was colonet for the 2nd best fish tacos on the planet.

our waitress was lupita. lupita's papa was the owner/cook. we visited with lupita all during our meal and then asked her if we could take a picture of her and her father. they each reached inside their very small store and brought out the family.

this is papa, roberto, lupita and lupita's daughter, angeles. such a wholesome family!

this trip has been all about the friends we've made. the lives that have touched ours.

but wait, the worst is yet to come!

grape vines. also known as, the calm before the storm. i remember ye turning to me right after he lowered the pressure in our tires saying "this is going to be fun!" uh-huh.

okay, so the next 5 miles was really fun, then, i came upon a pickup truck with quite possibly 10 people inside, in the bed and hanging off every inch of that truck. when i pulled up behind them, they jumped off, stopped the truck and laughed at me as i went by.

"well, you rude, SOBs" i thought to myself. "i'll show you!"

yeah, i showed them! about 3 miles down the road after 3 ft. tall sand whoops that were about equal distant apart, ruts in each and every corner that were obviously caused by the trophy trucks of the baja 1k, i was pulling to the side of the road, stripping off my rain pants that were now holding about 4 gallons of sweat on my riding pants. wow it was cold taking those babies off and it felt soooooo good.

now, back to hell. . .every stinking time i'd think "that *had* to be the worst of it" my tremors would subside and then another bout of ruts and whoops would hit. hot dang this was awful!

and the only thing i could see was ye smiling at me back at the grape vines saying "this is going to be fun!" mostly because i hadn't seen him since then and was convinced that i was going to spend the rest of my life on that road.

and yes, boys and girls, it had all been my idea. and to think i was worried about the 2 water crossings that pedro had taken us through just 2 short years before. water crossings? gone. i now know what the planet would look like after thermonuclear war!

and finally the road evened out a bit and we managed to find the pemex station in valle de trinidad.

after that it was pavement all the way home! the back up from the military checkpoint going to san felipe stretched for quite a bit and it was heavy traffic all the way to mexicali. once we got there, we thought we would face huge lines for the border. that didn't materialize, in fact, mexicali was almost deserted and we were back across to the US in short order.

we showered and slept at home that night. no one was expecting us until sunday. we didn't let anyone know until late saturday.

so a special thanks to our new and old friends, ralph, the older couple in the microbus, mike with the dirt bike gang, beautiful donita and her brother and sister, loreto, leon, clarita, cleopatra, ricardo, juan, roberto, luis, carla, emilio, lupita, her papa, roberto and angeles! thanks to our special angel in la paz. and last but not least, thanks to my husband for creating even more memories to cherish!

and if you are thinking it, do it!