Baja Adventure Ride

Day 9 - Mikes Sky Rancho to Tecate US border crossing (144 miles)

Baja route map The last day of the ride. For this final day, me and Scott agreed to ride together getting an early start. Scott is a fast rider on his KTM 690, but if he was willing, then so was I, knowing there would be limited opportunities to stop for photos.

The plan was to take the more westerly route exiting the Sky Ranch back to the highway, and then pick up the Compadre Trail east of Ensenada, and then backtrack on this same route that we took on the first day into Tecate, and then over the border.

The ride from Mike's was a good one with nice views as you came down out of the mountains. We filled up one last time after hitting the blacktop at the small town of Valle de La Trinidad, when Paul and Dan on their smaller dual sports temporarily caught up to us.

Taking the Compadre Trail back went pretty quick, with the sand tamped down a bit due to more moisture from the morning air.

After getting about 5 miles to the border crossing we pulled over to get our passports handy to show the US Customs folks. Scott also briefed me on how to cross the border most effectively on a motorcycle. He said we will just lane split the line of cars, eventually just riding to the left of everybody, and then cut in just before the last car at the border. To me this sounded a bit incredulous, but I agreed and off we went.

Sure enough, within about a mile of the border the cars on the road came to a crawl. For a regular vehicle, it looked like this crossing would take 2-4 hours. But I just followed Scott as we rode all the way to the front. Even the street vendors selling goods to the folks stuck in the queue moved out of the way for us. Once at the border, I showed my passport, and less than 30 seconds later we were through. Incredible! I felt guilty about the others stuck in the line, but got confirmation that this is the expected procedure for motorcyclists.

After changing what pesos I had left on the US side, gassing up again, we then headed to Kevin's place in Escondido, about 1.5 hours away.

Images (click to select the larger view at bottom)

Intro Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Conclusion

Home Motorcycle Corner