Doing the Baja Bounce: San Diego to Ensenada, up and back

Nothing too exciting, just a quick Baja bounce: San Diego to Ensenada and back.

Ryan Popma, a fellow rider from Horizons Unlimited (HUBB), plans to spend 4 months in Mexico before riding into Central America. He plans to work on a farm for a while.

(See that info here: http://www.wwoofmexico.org/profile/RyanPopma)






He asked if I'd be interested in joining him on the start of his adventure. Well, duh!

So I hopped on my trusty KLR and met him in San Diego on Sunday, November 3rd. I saw that his Triumph T100 Bonneville was loaded for the trip!

We headed down to San Ysidro to cross into Mexico where Ryan secured his tourist car at Tijuana's new Chaparral port of entry. He was unable to obtain the temporary vehicle import, though, and will have to get that in La Paz before boarding the ferry.

The ride down the coastal toll road (Mexico 1D) was easy going and well worth the 12 peso ($1.25) toll per stop. We enjoyed little traffic and spectacular views of the ocean almost the entire route.

We stopped along the way to enjoy the view from the Mirador (scenic overlook) before continuing to Ensenada.

We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant (yeah, I know...) before Ryan and I split ways -- he south to camp on the beach and me back to San Diego.

I decided to return via the Otay port of entry and it turned out to be a good choice. The newew Boulevard 2000 led straight to the Otay crossing and there was much less traffic than San Ysidro. I was through immigration in under 6 minutes and back in the USA.

Not too bad for a Sunday ride...