A photojournalistic motorcycle trip from Nanaimo BC to Mexico. 30% of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to MS research.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Day 10 & My 2 wheels made it in 2 Tijuana Mexico today!!

Just crossed the border out of TJ, that was an experience, I'm travelling alone, the road signs in Mexico are lacking at best, so you can imagine how I felt when I took my first wrong turn into the REALLY bad part of town, cops with M16's in balaclavas, oh ya I made a good choice, 2 Wheels 2 freakin San Diego sounded pretty good right about then!

Got directions from some cops not modelling the latest in cold weather headgear fashions, I then tried to take a photo of Mr Balaclava but quickly learned he did not allow photos, which was made VERY clear by the quick back & forth movement of the M16's barrel pointing just a wee bit too close to my head for comfort, the message was further reinforced by whatever he was loudly yelling in Spanish…. The other cops, who gave directions spoke a bit of english & told me he said “no pictures” those two were pretty cool dudes & even posed for a pic! I couldn’t get outa there quick enough though & finally navigated to the touristy part where I decided to walk around. Everyone is selling something & the english is quite good there. Most were friendly but everyone there was also SELLING HARD! Barter & negotiation is alive & well in TJ.

It was hot & I was getting tired & was faced with the looooooong nasty border lines, except when I was waiting to merge a Mexican border guy told me to lane split, Oh Ya! & to boot people actually moved to make space! The 2 hour car line took me about 15 minutes & I was across, the US border guard did a serious double take when he looked at my plate & said WTF, you came all the way down here on a bike, by yourself?? Well yes I did & it’s been cool, but to be frank, it was a bit scary down there with the shootings & legendary banditos, but everyone (except balaclava man) was very friendly, thanks for a real experience TJ! Off to El Cajon (san diego).

Got back chilled out, hung with the dogs at the pool, was awesome, just had dinner, packing for tomorrow. I’m heading up the coast to Big Sur & getting back on the interstate around Carmel, got about 2500kms to go, I’m targeting Saturday to be home, how’s the weather up there?