Ride Report w/ 100's of Photos & Video - 8 States, 2 Countries & 2 Big Surprises

[DK Custom Products]

Ride Report w/ 100's of Photos & Video - 8 States, 2 Countries & 2 Big Surprises

This is a planned 28 day trip, covering 8 States & 2 Countries.

Normally I keep contemporaneous notes and try and post the Ride Reports "real time".

This Ride Report is going to be a bit discombobulated because of an unexpected incident in Mexico.

I will try and keep it rolling as best I can given the circumstances.

Also, this is our 3rd trip traveling a new way. We no longer spend time & $ on Motels or expensive food. We also collapse time frames and increase our riding enjoyment by riding the bike Only on great riding roads. No more spending 10 hours a day, for multiple days, on straight boring interstate, just to get to where we really want to ride.

To see more details on our new way of travel, click HERE.

Day 1 thru 4-

Our plan is to get out to Rosarito, Mexico in five days. We could do it in 2 days, but we have some stops planned along the way.

Our first stop is the Historic Route 66 Campground, at the intersection of Route 66 and 83.

We had a great time here. Enjoyed a sunset, met a fellow biker (Softail), and enjoyed some of the history of the area!

Got some good photos, some good drone shots of us going down Old Route 66.

Day 2 & 3-

We're in Roswell, NM. Nothing to do with riding. We've bypassed stopping here so many times, we decided to see some aliens!

Still Day 3-

Leaving out of Roswell we head down to White Sands National Monument.

No drone flying in this airspace, but we got a ton of Gopro footage and photos as we rode around exploring this amazing place.

Walking up to the top of some of these pristine WHITE dunes was a different experience.

Cloud pic-

Day 4-

A little out of the way, but what a crazy place! Some pretty tight winding roads too.

Saguaro National Park-

We even got some drone footage of us riding along the edge of the National Park!

Days 5-13 coming soon.

Those of you who've read any of our previous Ride Reports (if you haven't you can see some of them HERE) know that we usually post dozens of photos per day.

We did have over 1000 photos and hours of Gopro and Drone footage from these first 4 days....BUT, we were robbed and the thieves got all the thumb drives and other media that the photos and videos were stored on.

5 of the above photos are all that we have left from these 4 days...they were texted, so were still in the "cloud".

SURPRISE #1



Kevin

 

[ol' school]

Again, as has been said before, you and Mary are lucky you got out of that with your own safety!

 

[TonkaDriver]

Walking up to the top of some of these pristine WHITE dunes was a different experience.

I was stationed just north of here at Holloman AFB for 6 years and used to ride my horse in these dunes. A couple of times each summer we would do moonlight rides there. It was very cool.

Kurt

 

[Jack Klarich]

Thanks for taking us along on your trips

Mary's pictures are always so good I feel like I am right there with y'all

 

[DK Custom Products]

Again, as has been said before, you and Mary are lucky you got out of that with your own safety!

Thanks, yes we were most fortunate!


Yeah, I always keep two copies of all photos and video, in case one of the drives fails...never kept the media separate in case of robbery! But it could be fire, water damage, etc. So I will be keeping the copies of the media separate in the future.

I was stationed just north of here at Holloman AFB for 6 years and used to ride my horse in these dunes. A couple of times each summer we would do moonlight rides there. It was very cool.

Kurt

Yeah, we saw some folks on horseback while we were out there. That must have been amazing in the moonlight!

Thanks for taking us along on your trips

Mary's pictures are always so good I feel like I am right there with y'all

Hey Jack! We have a ton of great riding coming up on this trip, I think you're really gonna like it!

Kevin

 

[MDO]

Kevin, I am curious, are you & Mary going to continue to make trips to Mexico for doctor visits?

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, I am curious, are you & Mary going to continue to make trips to Mexico for doctor visits?

Yes. Not on the Tri Glide. There may be some other changes as well.

His office (with secured parking) is very close to the border, and there is really no dangerous area between his office and the border.

We were staying 20 miles south of his office, with a ton of sketchy areas between his office and the secured facility we were staying.

Most folks who see him from out of the country cross the border everyday...I don't like doing that, but it may come to that. . OR, just don't stop anywhere that is not 100% safe. lol

We'll see.

Kevin

 

[Douglas44]

Wow , so glad you two are ok.

I don't post much on the forum and only check in now and again, but your videos and pictures are something I do look forward to.

Hope things work out and you keep doing the great stuff you do.

Be safe out there.

Best regards, Doug

 

[DK Custom Products]

Wow , so glad you two are ok.

I don't post much on the forum and only check in now and again, but your videos and pictures are something I do look forward to.

Hope things work out and you keep doing the great stuff you do.

Be safe out there.

Best regards, Doug

Thank you! Glad you enjoy them.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 5-

Very few surviving photos of this day.

This first one is after we crossed the border into Mexico.

We are driving along the border, headed west.

You can see Double border walls to the right in this photo. Last year when we were here, there was only one wall there.

After arriving at our home for the next 10 days or so. Popotla RV Park. Right on the ocean.

View from our front door.

We stayed here last year and had a great time. But we did not have the motorcycle last year.

This year we brought the Tri Glide to enjoy riding around Baja California.

Sunset this evening.

This is a beautiful place to stay, and being able to hear the ocean, day and night...it's something Mary really enjoys.

We are looking forward to an even better time than we had last year!

More coming soon.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 9-

Earlier this week we rode along the ocean front...from 10 km south of Rosarito, up to the northern edge of Rosarito. Enjoying the views and doing some sight-seeing. We have no photo's of these days 6-8.

Today we decide to ride up to Tijuana. It's a bit cloudy, but should burn off by afternoon...

The Popotla RV Park has spaces, like we're in, for RV's. But there are also a bunch of "permanent" homes here too.

It is a secure facility, with controlled access, guards patrolling and 40 security cameras being monitored 24/7.

Speed Limit inside is 5 mph, and they do not allow motorcycles. We got an exception, partly based on me not having swapped out the stock exhaust yet.

Riding toward the gated entrance/exit this morning.

Once outside the gate...

...it is less the 1 km to the first Military Checkpoint.

They know us here, that we are staying in Popotla, and usually just wave us thru.

The main road between where we're staying and the Toll Road to Tijuana is the Avenue of the Artisans...

...it is about 5 km long before reaching the southern part of Rosarito. But this is where we get on the Toll Road to TJ.

Once on the Toll Road it is 34 km to Tijuana...

...it is pretty much like an interstate or freeway. Speed limit ranges between 55-66 mph.

This is something you don't see much of. A guy lives here, right on the side of the Toll Road in this Tent/Shack.

Here and there along the coastline are high rise hotel resorts already built, and new ones going up, for the large # of tourists that Baja California gets.

Will post more of Day 9 as time allows.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Thanks, we got a bunch more, some in Mexico, and then a ton in Arizona!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 9 Continued-

Still on the Toll road...

...enjoying the ride up to...

...TJ. They've done a fair amount of work getting a nice road along the coast.

"The Bridge"

"The Exit"

Paying our $ as we exit the Toll road and...

...go thru the second military checkpoint of the day.

Straight ahead, on the hill, those are the double border walls. Later today we'll be riding down to the Tijuana Beach (Playa). Right now we're headed to downtown TJ.

Straight ahead, and to the right is Tijuana, everything to the left is San Diego County, California.

Getting into TJ traffic now.

More in next post.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 9 continued-

Typical TJ traffic...

...there is a unique energy to the organized chaos of the streets.

After getting to our appointment and taking care of business, we get ready to leave the secure parking facility...

...and head back into TJ traffic...

...we want to ride around downtown a bit...

...it has been several decades since I last rode a motorcycle down here. Just like in California, lane splitting is still ok...

But the Military cruising around downtown is sorta new.

This is the old main drag...

...of downtown "tourist" TJ.

Ok, enough of downtown, time to head to the beach.

More in next post.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 9 continued-

Playas de Tijuana-

On the other side of the multi-colored wall straight ahead is the USA, or more specifically, California.

This is the same area where so many photos of folks climbing the wall end up in news reports.

Lots of tourists here today, taking photo's in front of the sign.

Time to turn around, and ride along the beach. We almost stopped...

...like this couple on their Harley, to take a walk down to the beach...

...but looking down the road, we decided not to. We like the beach where we're staying better.

Headed away from the beach...

...back up to the Cuota (Toll Road, aka the "1D") to where we're staying in Popotla.

More in next post.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 9 concluded-

Here's a video of our ride around TJ today-



Back on the "Scenic Highway"...

...a nice view of the Pacific off to the right.

Back at the Toll Booth-

It really is a nice road along the coast...

The clouds have mostly burned off & we decided to stop at this scenic pull-out...

...it really is quite picturesque...

...time to get some nice footage.

But, it was not to be. If you watched the video at the beginning of this Ride Report, this is when and where it happened.

Last photo of Day 9...sunset back at camp.

Day 10 coming soon.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 10 thru 14-

Limited photo's for these 5 days.

This is a photo from the evening of Day 9. Mary is a trooper!

Day 10 we went to the FRAO (Foreign Residents Attention Office) because we were told they could give us some sort of temporary paperwork to get us across the border, back into the USA.

Fail.

All we did was fill out this form and then they said that we had to go to the embassy in Tijuana to get the paperwork we needed.

After that we went up to our friends office in TJ...

...he has a nice collection of classic cars in the secure parking below his building...

...this is his latest.

When we told him what the FRAO told us, he said the embassy had moved from Tijuana to Otay-Mesa...AND, it is not an embassy, it is the US Consulate.

He called them for us and they let him know it was too late for us to go there today (Friday). They are closed on Saturday and Sunday, so the soonest we can be there is Monday, and we have to be there between 8am-11am for us to get emergency passports that day.

After that his daughter took us to the TelCel store to get a cell phone so we can have a way to call and get internet connection. (and take photos).

Back "home" in Popotla for the evening.

We spent a good part of this evening canceling cards, reporting passports stolen, locking down our stolen phones, etc.

A big thing we did was get ahold of our neighbor and ask her to get on the computer in our home and find some scanned copies of ID to email to our friend in TJ.

Day 11-

We headed back up to our friends office...

***********************​

EVERY trip we are making is taking us thru 3 military checkpoints and 1 police checkpoint.

The risk is that at any one of these we could be handcuffed & detained indefinitely for failing to have any ID. Since we have no way of providing ID, it could literally be hours, or even overnight, before we MIGHT be released.

As hard as it may be to picture, this cloud of stress of needing to travel, but under the constant possibility of being detained, is far greater than the less then 2 minutes of being robbed.

**********************​

...back in his office, he has already printed out the scanned copies of our ID's that our neighbor emailed him.

1 passport for Mary that is expired.

1 drivers license for me that is current

1 Carry permit for each of us that is current

So now, we at least have a little something. Not sure how well any of it will work if we are stopped, but we feel a little better.

On the way back "home" to Popotla, we stop at Walmart...

...yeah, they are everywhere, even in Rosarito.

Notice Mary's new "Purse".

Shaded parking is included...

...but this is the first Walmart I've ever had to pay to park in their parking lot!

More in next post.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 11 continued-

After paying to get out of the Walmart parking lot...

...we went across the street to Home Depot...

...to pick up a couple of things.

Then a couple of km's down the road we stopped at the Office Depot. They did not have anything we needed.

Back "home" for the day, the view out our window.

Day 12-

We hung out in the secure area where we are camped all day today...

...walking around...

...enjoying the views...

...and a relaxing time, with no threat of being detained.

This afternoon we got a bit of video with Kathy & Bruce (Baja RV Couple). They're just two doors down from us and have been a great encouragement and help.

More in next post.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 13-

Today is the big day!

We're going to the US Consulate.

Well, that was a let down.

-No passports.

-Did not even get in the door.

-Waited in line, outside, for 45 minutes to talk through a bulletproof window to someone that English was not their first language.

-Was told to go try and cross the border with no paperwork, and if they rejected us, to come back the next day.

My pre-conceived idea that as a US Citizen I could go to a US Embassy or US Consulate and be treated with some sort of caring or recognition that they wanted to help a fellow citizen...well that notion was totally squashed.

See the video below for more on the fiasco.

So back "home" again.

Day 14-

We are going to hook up...

...load up...

...and try and cross the border with no ID.

Two hours later, still in line.

No cameras allowed at the actual border crossing.

Mary is one happy camper!

After 15 minutes, the Border Agent let us back into the USA. A huge load of stress gone!

Less than an hour later we are in the San Diego, California, USA Walmart parking lot!

We're here to do some shopping, and go to the Verizon store to get our stolen phones replaced.

We got the groceries, but not the phones. Even though we had all our passwords and could answer all the security questions. They could not replace them without ID, which we still don't have. lol

That's ok. We have enough cash to get enough gas to get us to Bagdad, Arizona, where we are meeting Kurt to do some riding!

On the road we go! Drove til the Golden Acorn Casino, about halfway between Alpine and El Centro, Cali.

Tomorrow we will be in Arizona!

Here's a video with some of what we went thru trying to get out of Mexico-



Arizona and Riding in the USA coming soon!!!

Kevin

 

[ol' school]

It was good to see the pics and video of you and Mary back in the U.S.A.!!! What an ordeal!

 

[paws]

I too am shocked that the U.S. Embassy, Consulate...whatever... was of no real help.

I thought that was the American’s “go-to” in an emergency like this.

Did I understand you to say the neighbor emailed you copies of your carry permits... wouldn’t that have been a good ID to present in the absence of your drivers license?

My Texas carry card is almost identical to my drivers license, picture and all - in fact I have accidentally pulled it out to present as ID instead of my DL. Just curious.

Dang! So glad you two made it through this mess.

 

[DK Custom Products]

It was good to see the pics and video of you and Mary back in the U.S.A.!!! What an ordeal!

Yeah, that was an "adventure" we have NO desire to repeat!!!


Yes, was an indescribable load off the stress-meter to get back into the USA.

I too am shocked that the U.S. Embassy, Consulate...whatever... was of no real help.

I thought that was the American’s “go-to” in an emergency like this.

Did I understand you to say the neighbor emailed you copies of your carry permits... wouldn’t that have been a good ID to present in the absence of your drivers license?

My Texas carry card is almost identical to my drivers license, picture and all - in fact I have accidentally pulled it out to present as ID instead of my DL. Just curious.

Dang! So glad you two made it through this mess.

I always had the impression/fantasy that the Embassy or Consulate was US territory in a foreign country, where we, as US citizens would be welcomed, assisted...basically a "safe haven" for us.

At this Consulate, we were the only US citizens we saw. Everyone in line was a non-US citizen, looking to get into the USA. The security guards were Mexicans that spoke broken English. The 4 different employees, behind the bullet-proof glass, they were all Mexican citizens, with English being their second language.

We were never allowed into the Consulate. Perhaps there were US Citizens inside, we never saw or spoke with one.

I just read this ARTICLE on the Consulate. It paints a picture similar to what we experienced, no real help.

Yes, our neighbor emailed copies of our Carry Permits, as well as a few other ID's. But these were just printed out copies of scans of these cards. They hold no actual ID value. The only value they hold is to give someone a starting place to look in official records to see if we are in a computer somewhere...and I do believe they did help the Border Agent when looking us up in the computer.

With Mexican authorities, the Carry Permits would have probably caused more problems than they solved. Firearms are illegal for us to have in Mexico, and showing them would have probably intensified their desire to search every nook and cranny to see if we had a firearm or any ammo.

We are BACK!!! And we have no plans to leave the USA anytime soon!

Kevin

 

[bikerbillone]

Great post Fuzz.....

 

[Douglas44]

Glad to learn you made it back to the USA safely. Hope this episode and all you have endured is a wake up call to all of us who travel .

In my own travel during my international business career I only had one bad experience in 20 years.

I was leaving Honduras , the Honduran exit guy at the airport confiscated my passport. They then arrested me and took me back to the hotel I had been stating at in San Pedro Sula.

I had free run of the hotel and the grounds and rear garden but could not leave the premises .



It took a few day's to get it all straightened out , seems I didn't have the correct departure stamp from when I had left Panama ( who knew??)

I went back to Honduras several times and never had any more problems.

Also got stopped by the police one time in Warsaw , Poland.

After a bunch of this and that, I flat out asked the guy what the problem was and why he stopped me.( I had licence plates of an Expat and he saw an opportunity to maybe make a few $$ ). his response was , that he stopped me just because he could .

I gave him a few $$ and drove off. Fookin cops .

 

[DK Custom Products]

Glad to learn you made it back to the USA safely. Hope this episode and all you have endured is a wake up call to all of us who travel .

In my own travel during my international business career I only had one bad experience in 20 years.

I was leaving Honduras , the Honduran exit guy at the airport confiscated my passport. They then arrested me and took me back to the hotel I had been stating at in San Pedro Sula.

I had free run of the hotel and the grounds and rear garden but could not leave the premises .



It took a few day's to get it all straightened out , seems I didn't have the correct departure stamp from when I had left Panama ( who knew??)

I went back to Honduras several times and never had any more problems.

Also got stopped by the police one time in Warsaw , Poland.

After a bunch of this and that, I flat out asked the guy what the problem was and why he stopped me.( I had licence plates of an Expat and he saw an opportunity to maybe make a few $$ ). his response was , that he stopped me just because he could .

I gave him a few $$ and drove off. Fookin cops .

It certainly served as a wake-up call for us! ...AND an appreciation of what we have in the USA.

Couple of interesting experiences you've had. We have a friend who experienced a similar problem with Panama...they did not even stamp his passport when he left.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 15-

This morning we woke up in the USA.

In the Casino parking lot this morning...

...today we are going from the hills outside of San Diego, CA up to the hills, a bit west of Prescott, AZ.

Stopped in Yuma, AZ. We still do not have any way to get internet, or even data for GPS or texts. We want to get a USA sim card from T-Mobile to put in our Chinese Huawei phone that we bought in Mexico...

They will not sell us a sim card without ID...which we don't have.

So, off we go. Lot's of desert and straight long roads...

...til we start getting close to Bagdad, AZ. The last 14 mile stretch before getting to the outskirts of Bagdad is twisty and hilly.

I'm looking forward to riding this on the Harley!

We meet up with Kurt (aka TonkaDriver), and he has made arrangements for us to stay in a camping area about 11 miles outside of Bagdad...

After unloading...

...we enjoyed a nice sunset...

...and then rode into town and had a nice meal with Kurt and his wife Sally.

A BIG THANK YOU from Mary and I to Kurt and Sally!!!

After the last 5 days, their hospitality, and helping us out, have really put us back on track to enjoying this trip.

Not only did Kurt have a place all permitted for us to stay at. He also lent me a firearm to have while in AZ, lent us his tablet with a hot-spot so that we could have internet access, he lent Mary his camera to take photo's with, tomorrow he is going to accept some money from the shop with his ID so that we have $ for gas and food, but most of all, both of them have welcomed us and...it is hard to put into words, but we are back on an even keel now, thanks to their help, friendship and hospitality.

I should mention, about 4-5 months ago, Kurt rode out to the shop in Red Banks, MS. We toured the shop and then talked for a few hours, bikes, roads and many other subjects.

He informed me that AZ had twisty roads, mountains & woods- a selection of great riding. I admit I was ignorant. Mary and I have always just passed thru AZ, never realizing that there was anything other than straight roads, desert, and the Grand Canyon.

That is the reason we are out here. The next couple of days he is going to show us around some great riding in AZ.

Kevin