Friday, January 14, 2011

San Quintin to Bahia de Los Angeles

We spent another quiet morning on the beach, then packed up and headed south 200 miles to Bahia de Los Angeles (BLA) on the east coast on the Sea of Cortez.  Today’s journey took us thru Catavina, a spectacular area where huge rounded granite boulders lay in heaps as if piled there by giants.

As we continued south of Catavina, we followed Doug and Jill’s class A motor home. The wind was blowing 30 miles an hour, so their large rig was being batted about quite a bit. We saw something begin to flap about at the top of their rig, and it soon became apparent their awning was coming unrolled and was blowing wildly in the wind, banging loudly against the side and threatening to be torn off by the wind.

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This threatened to become a serious problem, as the high wind could rip the hardware out of the side of the vehicle and cause significant damage. We called them on the radio, and miraculously, there was a pull-out within a couple hundred feet. Along much of Mex 1, the main Baja highway, shoulders are largely non existent, and you can go many miles without a place to pull off the road.

All 3 rigs quickly pulled off, and it took all six of us to hold the awning down in the strong winds while Doug got it to roll back up, then managed to secure the awning to avoid it deploying again, though by this time it suffered a long tear.  At one point Cathryn was holding down one rail, and the wind literally picked up the awning and lifted her off the ground. Pretty exciting!

Once the awning was secured we continued on to BLA and settled in at Daggett’s Fish Camp.  We’ve stayed here three times before and quite enjoy this small town on the azure Sea of Cortez. We also love the margaritas and fish tacos next door at Larry and Raquel's Restaurant, which we won’t have an opportunity to enjoy tonight, as Concha, the cook, has already gone home for the day.

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