El Rosario, Baja to San Diego

Morning in El Rosario, waking up at Mama Espinoza's wondering what the fuck we're gonna do with Darren's broken down BMW. The hire company refused to do anything to help and just said he had to get it back to the USA before they were interested in talking. Anyway I had the runs and so was hanging round the motel room never too far from the baño when I spot this couple in the motel over from us with a ute truck sorta thing with one bike on it already. I told Malcolm I reckoned they could fit another on and so he went to talk to them.

Like everyone we've 'bumped into' on this trip they turned out to be amazingly helpful, and pretty quick (well quick for us, slow for them!) Darren's bike was on their truck and he was on their bike, a Suzuki DRZ400. The friendly couple were Bruce and Terri, Canadians who spend half their year living in Cabo. Lucky for us they were on their way back to the USA to pick up their motorhome. So we – more or less – convoyed up to the border with them.

Terri and Bruce had booked accom up in the wine area above Ensenada, and we ended up following them to where they were staying to ask about campsites nearby. The dude, Richard, who was there at the gate to meet them said we could camp there, which seemed pretty ideal! They had this amazing house – parts of which they'd rent out to visitors. Richard and Theresa (another Teri) were amazing hosts and made us tag-alongs feel really welcome. We felt a bit stink, well I did, that we were ruining Bruce and Terri's last night in Baja, but that soon passed when Terri busted out some home-made tequila and telling us about how good the strip clubs in British Columbia are. Darren took Bruce to dinner.

This was a significant night/next day for me too as it's a year since Pedro passed away. It was really bloody great then to be surrounded by dogs for the night! They had 5 (or 6?) dogs of various sizes at the house and we had a good ol' session with them around the fire. They then slept around our tents all night and woke us up when they were ready to play again in the morning. I don't think anyone else realized it, but this was super special for me. Sorry to get sentimental, but fuck Pedro was a big part of my life for the last 18 years.

The place was called 'Quinta Maria', and Richard and Theresa are super nice people. I'd highly recommend staying there if you happen to be anywhere near Ensenada.

Anyway, we got up, packed up, had a great breakfast and head for the border at Tecate again.

Where we waited... and waited... and waited. A guy came past and told us bikes could go down the free lane, and so we got through. But then we had to wait for Terry and Darren who were in the truck. I think it took about an hour and a half? Not bad compared to Tijuana where we heard it was 3 hours.

So eventually we got through the border with no hassles at all and headed up the road to San Diego. Darren had organized to leave the BMW at some motorcycle shop, and then we all went to the hire car place where he got a Hyundai for his triumphant return to LA. We can't say thanks enough to Bruce and Terri – THANKS... if you're reading this?

Us boys then headed into town to the Gaslamp district, got a motel room, and hit the town. We had another pretty sweet night out, and then a great day hanging around the San Diego downtown area. I don't think I have any photos at all of our time in San Diego? I was kinda sick of taking photos I guess. The feeling I have to document everything can be a drag.