Winter In Baja – Part 4

Back in La Paz I posted up in the back of the Maranatha campground to work and clean the rig from the East Cape Road. My time in Baja was winding down and while I needed to start my drive north I kept dragging my feet, pushing back my departure date. Mañana, mañana, mañana. Siempre mañana.

The rest of the Baja Crew, or what was left of us, joined me in La Paz. Rex and Ann set up beside me and when Scott arrived he brought one of our favorite Baja Mexico meals, large pizzas from Little Caesars.

Baja In A Truck Camper Part 4 Film

After a few days in town we packed up and headed out to Tecolote Beach again. It was Semana Santa, the Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday, and we settled in to our sandy spot to enjoy the holiday atmosphere as local families filled the beach cooking up delicious smelling feasts and blasting festive tunes. We had our own Easter Sunday meal together on a camp table looking out over the turquoise blue water, a great reminder that even when I’m not at home with my family, I’m often still with family.

After Easter we joined the mass exodus from the beach and headed back to Maranatha for showers, laundry, and lounging by the pool. Our friends Reece and Sabrina were back in La Paz and had just moved into a downtown AirBNB. Rex, Ann, and I taxied down to the Malecón and celebrated Reece’s birthday with a SpongeBob piñata filled with sex toys and happy hour drinks while watching the sunset over the sea.

The next day Scott came back to town from his overnight boat adventure to an island with the Sailing Songbird and we rallied for another night on the town with Reece and Sabrina. I’d intended to hit the road north the next morning but well, mañana, mañana, mañana.

Rex and Ann along with Scott were heading out for a week in La Ventana, and as one of the few places I’d yet to visit in southern Baja I decided to join them. A hotspot for wind sports because well, it’s windy, I tucked my camper in close behind Rex & Ann’s larger rig and a few trees. Even with the swift breeze it was a fun few days hanging out on the beach, watching the kites fly by, and enjoying fire red sunsets.

Mañana, mañana, mañana can only work so long though and finally it was seriously time for me to leave. Scott, Rex and Ann took me to a really nice fish dinner at a restaurant on the beach and we spent one last evening sharing drinks and laughs late into the night. In the morning I packed up camp, said goodbye to the last of my Baja Crew, and turned Terk the Truck Camper north.

I’d spent 3 months living free in Mexico, rolling with the wind and the Baja breeze, bouncing between karaoke joints and beach bars, but I was finally, begrudgingly, heading back to normal life north of the border and I had a schedule to keep. With only a few days to get back to the United States to work a gig in Southern California I had to pull some long days on the road. My first stop was the Bay of Concepción. I could only spend one night on Playa El Requesón and as I drove out the next day I told myself that I’d be back.

I stopped one more night in San Ignacio and then drove hard past San Felipe, camped in a old tire dump off the road about an hour south of the border, and in the morning I got in line. I inched forward for 3 hours before briefly talking with a US Customs Officer and then bam, just like that I was back in the United States.

I spun north and set up camp in the Painted Canyon near Palm Springs. While I sat alone watching the sun set over the desert landscape I thought back to the last 3 months. The stunning beaches, cheap cervezas, delicious tacos, and warm sunshine were definitely a highlight of the trip, but the real magic was the Baja Crew. A group of strangers from all across the United States and Canada traveling around Mexico for the winter had become more than a group of friends, we were now a family and I looked forward to seeing them all again sometime somewhere soon!