Tour Log: Baja - Day 6

Day 6:  Day of Decision.  I woke up to wind before dawn but I waited for the sun to come up.  No great hurry today.  Wind.  Veering off the road.  I made it to Rancho Chapala and had breakfast and looked but no Evan.  Its becoming the where's Richard tour.  I asked about the dirt road to the north and the man said I should have no problems on the bike.  So there it was, my decision, go north.  The south option just got overwhelming....too much to see and do, too many logistics.  Save it for its own proper exploration.  Ride north on dirt.  Test the fork.  Head for home....or back to Ensenada.  All said today was a grind.  Victories were small.  Turning up the dirt I was met with a sustained 20 mph head wind.  20K of this followed by 20K of washboard.  I stopped to change my tires and was reminded of the kindness of people.  A man in a Bummer with his family offered me two beers (which of course I accepted) and looked at my map to figure out where HE was.  Onward.  Grinding away slowly into the peril.  By the end of the day I'd gone 60K on dirt plus the first 20 on pavement.  No sign of Evan.  I made camp on the Sea of Cortez off some maze of dirt roads that found me by the water.  All to myself from sea to shining sea...in two days.  The fork rode marvelously with a load in these conditions...my only worry was the rear rack.  The road however would have its way with my cargo.  At camp I found my spare gallon jug of water was now a murky pool in my water tight pannier.  In the front my cookies had been turned into a pasty dust that stuck to everything else.  I feel like I'm in that old game Oregon Trail...I'm riding along through the unknown, the nothingness, and all of a sudden a message pops onto the screen:  "Grueling pace has wrecked half your food and water supply"