Category: Other Rides

We’d just finished filling our 2005 Yamaha FJR1300 in Eureka, Nevada located on Highway 50, known as “The Loneliest Road in America” (a name provided by Life magazine in 1986) when the young girl working the station asked if we’ve seen Mormon crickets. Being from Calgary which is as close to bug free as you can get we replied with a cautionary “uhhh no”.  She began regaling us with stories of these enormous smelly, oily, sticky bugs that measure 3 to 4 inches in length, endowed with a long spike on one leg and will be covering the highway as we continue west to Reno.  Stories she told that got my attention include a tractor trailer rig that was unable to get up a hill due to the greasy migrating mass and how the locals spray Pam cooking oil on the front of their cars to help with the removal of the bugs.  What really got my attention was the mention of “several” motorcycle crashes that occur each year mostly at night when the crickets are almost impossible to see.  Then in her southern drawl she casually mentions “sometimes they get so thick the snowplows are sent out to remove them…but I haven’t seen a snowplow today…yet!”   I was “half” convinced that she was teasing us”.

Baja California, Mexico is a dream place with beautiful scenery, fun roads and legendary places. This trip to Baja was to explore more places and make the journey to Coco’s Corner. Places in Baja have mystical names: Mikes Sky Ranch, Coco’s Corner, Mama Espinosa’s and many more.

This was my third trip to Baja. Again, traveling with Alan Hirst and Greg Brenneman. This trip was planned for 5 days. The trip would enter Baja at Tecate, travel Mexico 3 to Ensenada, then Mexico 1 south to Bahia de Los Angeles then back tracking to Mexico 5 north to San Felipe and back to the USA through Mexicali then home.