Date – 4th March
Distance – 45km
Total distance – 1713km
After a day off in La Paz, we took a 25-hour bus trip back to Tijuana and then rode across the USA/Mexico border and 45km back to where we were staying in San Diego.
The bus trip was the least fun part of the whole experience. One of the bus drivers was corrupt and wanted us to pay an extra $US60 for storing our bikes. I had previously confirmed with the company that there were no extra charges for transporting bicycles, however we’d heard that this may happen. The driver also made us lay the bikes flat across one compartment rather than keep with our plan to stand them up and strap them together (so they would be safer and take less space).
After a lot of negotiation, I said I didn’t have the cash on me but would pay them later when we arrived in Tijuana. We got on the bus very concerned that our bikes would be damaged. About half way through the trip, (at about 2am) the same driver asked again for the money and I again stalled him. Arriving in Tijuana, we quickly got the bikes and all our gear out (undamaged, thank goodness), replaced the wheels and roughly assembled it all. Chris had a bit of an argument with the driver who didn’t speak English. I totally ignored him, not even looking at him. We knew he didn’t have any grounds to charge us and that they had to drive on the Mexicali in a few minutes, so we quickly left the building. They drove off without the cash and we felt very proud of ourselves for not allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of by the corrupt driver. Big win!
Once we found our way to the border, it was all pretty straight forward. We walked our bikes across and pedalled a further 40km back to Bree and Crosby’s place. Importantly, the final 45km pushed up our trip total to 1713km! Chris in particular, really wanted to ensure we ticked over the 1700km mark.
I write as I am in transit, flying to Portland in Maine where I will collect the fourth and final version of my Christini all-wheel drive fat bike. Steve Christini said he’s very happy with the new improvements and I can’t wait to see his work. As with the first two Christini bikes, Philadelphia-based Steve has made the frame and sent it up to Carver Bikes in Woolwich, Maine to be assembled by master mechanic, Zach Pilgrim.
On Thursday I will travel from Boston to Germany to meet with Mike Brailey who will drive and test the support vehicle during our next expedition across Iceland. We will take a day to drive to Denmark where we’ll take the car ferry across the North Sea via the Faroe Islands to eastern Iceland.
By then I will have created a new ExpeNews page in readiness to keep you updated on the next adventure – a complete contrast to the Baja.
If you would like to see more Baja photos, please check out my webpage:
If you missed the ABC 10News story aired last week in San Diego, here’s the link:
We really hope this excellent publicity helps to bring the remaining funds we need for Breaking the Cycle South Pole.
