I stopped in southern CA on some BLM land for the night. The next morning I decided to explore the surrounding hills. I had been out for a little while when I heard some thunder, but there were very few clouds and none that were storm clouds. I heard it again but it didn’t sound like regular thunder. Upon hearing it the third time I remembered that on the map there was a US military gunnery range nearby. Yes, I was under attack. Ok not really but it was a little eerie to be hearing heavy artillery being fired nearby.
I camped in the truck in front of a motel that had a guard shack out front, in the town of San Felipe, Mexico. The next night when I went back there was a lot of activity out front so I drove around the corner and was going to read in the front of the truck for a while before I tried again. While I was sitting there a man walked by and said hello. After a few seconds he came back and said that if I wanted to camp in the vacant lot across the street (fenced in) he could open the gate. I hesitated and he said he watches the property, for his parents who own it. I must admit for a moment I wondered if this was a wise idea, but what the heck. I pulled in and stayed there for the next two nights.
Driving down the rough dirt road section of the highway on the eastern side of Baja, right in the middle of this stretch of nothing, is Coco’s Corner. Coco moved out here 23 years ago and carved out of the dessert a small campsite and sells beer, water and Coke to the people who drive through here. Most of his customers are ATVers and dirt bikers. Now you might think this doesn’t sound like my kind of place, but I love meeting interesting people from around the world. Coco is a friendly man, speaks decent English, lives out here alone and yet loves to talk when people stop in. Oh yea another thing about him is he has lost both of his legs; he walks around on his knees or drives around on his ATV. Coco loves being out there to help people when the need arises.
The next morning at first light the need arose. A vehicle pulled in, they had just ripped open their oil pan on a large rock in the road. Coco was off on his ATV to get his nearest neighbor to help. When the cavalry showed up it was a whole family that came. While father and son set about working on the van, the mother and daughter were doing a few things to help Coco. It was a good time for me to practice my Spanish, so I started trying to communicate with them. Before long I was invited out to see their home; which is where they process Gold that they mine in the mountains. Turns out it is Fools Gold (they gave me a sample that I had tested), I never knew there was a market for it but there is. I’m not sure if it was a miss understanding with my poor Spanish skills or if the daughter who it was easiest to speak with really thought it was Gold. This was quite the operation, the mica is just specks in rocks and there are numerous stages involved in extracting it. This was truly a family operation, and quite different then the jumbo mines that are the usual of today.
I went out to see the whales again, this time it was peak season. There were an estimated 1400 Grey Whales in the bay and half the females had just given birth to their calves. The young are very curious about the boat full of people so they and their mothers come right up to the boats. I reached over the edge to touch them, a real contrast from their very soft smooth skin to the roughness of the barnacles growing on the adults.
Well that’s the end of another winters travels. I’m back in the US and back to working.