Of Cache's and Molina Lacey (A Baja Drive 2002) - Page 1

    We left Thursday, January 10, 2002, at 10:30 am, and crossed the border in Tecate, not wanting to deal with neither Tijuana nor Mexicali traffic.  After discussing what to do about obtaining tourist cards, it was decided that Robert S. and I would go get our cards, while Rob E. stayed behind to watch the truck.
    After filling out the cards in the Tecate office, we went across the street to the bank to pay the fee (189 pesos, or US$21).  Well, the man at the bank charged us US$22.  I didn't catch the increase, and my friend Robert thought about it, but he didn't catch it, either.  So, the bank teller got us for US$1 each.
    To make matters worse, while we were at the bank, Rob E. had gone to fill out his card, and he had asked the man at migración if we needed tourist cards.  When the man heard where we were going (just to Gonzaga and back), he said that we didn't need to get the cards!  So, it turns out that Robert and I had paid US$22 for cards that we didn't need, and had contributed US$2 to some bank tellers salary.  That, of course, left us a little upset for a while.
    Back to the trip.  After a short stop between Mexicali and San Felipe, we ended up in San Felipe at about 6 pm, about on our schedule.  We ate fish tacos at the same restaurant where Robert and I had eaten last year -- again, it was excellent.
    Back on the road, and the journey to our campsite was uneventful.  The road is still in the same condition it has been in for the last few years -- OK from San Felipe for about 20 miles or so, then pretty bad going to worse on to Puertecitos.  The road south of Puertecitos was, as always, good but challenging.
    Once we arrived at our campsite (the same abandoned house from last year), and had set up the tent, we took out Robert's new telescope.  The sky was very clear, and the weather was much warmer than last year.
    We were able to see numerous objects, including Jupiter, Saturn, the Andromeda galaxy, and even stars that had been found to have planets orbiting them (this all thanks to the telescopes electronic tracking information).  Robert and I stayed up past midnight looking towards the heavens, enjoying our first night in Baja.
    The next morning, we packed up and prepared for our drive to Gonzaga Bay, our nighttime destination.