Early morning start, on the road by 7 am. The sun was just coming over the horizon so we stopped at an outlook to admire the view and snap a few photos. I took this one right away.

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The place reminded me of pictures of the Dalmation Coast along the Adriatic Sea. I’ve never been there but this peaceful scene made me think of it. As Roar set up his tripod for a romantic picture of the two of us, three locals sauntered on up to us to strike up a conversation. All three had Tecates in their hands and I knew that they had been drinking all night. They were friendly as can be and asked us about the trip we were taking and wanted to know about the motorcycles. I decided to take this one of Roar and his new buddies.

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They didn’t leave right away so the moment was lost and we didn’t get to have our romantic picture together.

Highway One, the main north-south highway in Baja zig zags from coast to coast as you travel south. It starts off at the west coast with Tijuana and Ensenada, cuts inland, makes it to the Sea of Cortez at Santa Rosalia, hugs that coast to Loreto, then heads west. As we left the sea we were greeted by fun twisties and beautiful scenery. Roar calls them “forests of cactus.” It was a great start to the morning but I knew we had some long, boring straightaways ahead.

Every hour or so we stop for a break. We stretch our legs, drink some water, have some snacks. And inevitably, after about five minutes a stray dog would show up out of nowhere. These are the kind that are timid and shy because they are used to being beaten. Some just want a little bit of affection but others are like this guys here. Skin and bones and starving. This guy scooped up every strawberry fig newton I gave him.

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One last set of twisties before we would arrive near La Paz. We were on a schedule. The ferry to Mazatlan left once a day around 3 pm and we didn’t want to miss it. We fought the wind again, which left us even more fatigued. With all the riding we were doing the tiredness seemed to build up upon the previous day’s fatigue. It didn’t seem like we gained as much energy in our down time as we used up riding.

We rolled into La Paz around noon and headed straight to the ferry. We passed the popular waterfront area which looked like a lot of fun. Not this time….

The ferry ride cost us $80 and the bikes were another $116. All the ferries I’ve been on have been the nice kind with cabins if you wanted to pay a little bit extra, some bars or restaurants, or at the very least some nice areas to hang out in. One ferry from Norway to Denmark even had a nightclub on it.

I started to wonder when the dock looked incredibly commercial. Just truck drivers and guys working the docks and the ship. It looked primitive from the outside and I told Roar it was a bad sign when we bought our tickets that they didn’t have any cabins.

We waited at the dock for about half an hour while they stuffed the ship’s belly with trucks and trailers. I figured that they would load all the heavy stuff first and save us for last. As we sat waiting, three adventure motorcyclists pulled up. Two on Suzuki dirtbikes and another on a loaded down BMW F650 (the bike I initially wanted to get for the trip). We had just enough time to introduce ourselves when it was our turn to load up.

I figured that we would have plenty of time to get to know one another during the 15 hour ferry ride….