Baja day 5

Nice warm night and no visitors. So quiet, just the little brook babbling nearby and the occasional coyote yip in the distance. I woke up early to enjoy the water and picnic table, such luxuries!

I put on shorts instead of pants and when the first pickup truck went by me, the driver blew kissy noises at me. Gross. This happened a couple more times and I guess I’ll be wearing my one pair of pants from now on.

I went by some tiny towns, one strand of electrical wire to power a few small houses. Then a bigger one. I followed an old cowboy on a beautiful gray spotted horse through the rutted roads to the store. I bought some mango juice, chips, and a nice donut. That donut was not long for this world. Next door to the store was a flock of chickens and one funny turkey. I threw chips over the fence and watched the chickens chase each other. A swirl of tiny dogs came to investigate. When I climbed back on my bike, the dogs ran along next to me, barking their little heads off.

Those town roads were kind of awful. Still dirt, extra wide, weirdly sandy and rutted out at the same time. It’s impossible to find the smooth spot. Bouncing over the ruts is bone rattling and skewing around in the sand is a special brand of wasted effort and lost momentum. Passing cars are all moving fast, so they can fly over the ruts and sand.

I got to Ojos Negros, the first real town. There was a nice looking campground with a pool outside of town. yeah, maybe…. I rode a little farther and then spotted the sign for a hotel. That’s what I was looking for. Barely lunchtime but it seemed okay to be done for the day. I survived my first section of back country riding, only fell a little, didn’t run out of water, no major disasters! Taco Time!