Bye Bye Baja

Sometimes, a few days pass idly by, marching forward as softly as the sands which blanket these roads. During those quotidian spells, I begin to worry that I won't have anything interesting to write about. And then the universe says "hold my cerveza."

After nearly a month in Baja, it was time to take the ferry to the "mainland." As all the sleeper cabins were booked, my seat assignment might as well have said ballast. But before I found a cozy patch of linoleum to call my own, I was treated to the onboard entertainment. Mind you, this is just a passenger ferry, and I think people would have been satisfied with a complimentary towelette, if they expected anything at all. But it was like a flashback to my bar mitzvah party, and for about 30 minutes it actually became some poor girl's impromptu quinceañera. It was fun for a while, but as the cacophony raged into the night, I grew tired. I had been watching this spectacle with another motorcyclist, Luigi (lmao) from Naples, and we agreed to ride together before knocking back a few expired sleeping pills I found in my bag. The disco lights danced like electric freckles on our awestruck faces while we waited for the drugs to kick in. They never did.

Bleary eyed, we made landfall in Mazatlan and began our anabasis. To Durango we opted to take the old highway 40, El Espinazo del Diablo, The Devil's Backbone. It turns out Satan has severe scoliosis, which makes for one hell of a ride.

On the way back, Hobbes started having trouble. American motorcycles are required to have charcoal canisters for emissions purposes, and BMWs' are prone to failure. I scheduled Hobbes for a canisterectomy, but the mechanic said it was just a case of indigestion due to bad fuel. Aaand that there was hole in my exhaust pipe. This explains why Hobbes has such a stentorian growl. Using Google translate, the mechanic turned the phone toward me: "there's nothing to be done but wait until it fails catastrophically." Sweet.

I turned the phone back to him: "I just want you to know that all of my anecdotes are true, but sometimes I embellish a few minor details for dramatic effect." He nodded in comprehension, then vanished into thin air.