94 lwb Carlsbad to Cabo & back

[Roverholic]

Wanted to post a quick note w/ all the rrc build talk as of late. I just returned from a 2 week Baja trip putting over 2400 miles on the truck. Lots of washboard & no mechanical issues. I'll try to post a trip report later.
Long live the rrc & viva Baja!

 

[Storz]

Cool, looking forward to the pics

 

[BeachBum]

Yo Paully! How the heck have you been brotha? Just looked at the pic's on your page, I can't believe how big the kids have become! Amazing! Say hi to Pops, Kath and the kids for me.

Schuetz:sombrero:

 

[Series1Rangie]

Nice! How did the "new" kitchen set-up work out? The 3rd row seat looks pretty good too.

Mike and Myles.

ps the bumper took a little bump when a friend was driving it on the white rim, and you can only tell because some of the paint scraped off. Thanks again.

 

[Roverholic]

Damn, world wide! What up Shooie, good to hear from you. Heard you got married, congrats!
Glad to hear the bumper is doing it's job Mike! We modified a pop up so the bumper pantry ended up carrying recovery gear etc.

Now I just need to get the damn trip report posted here!
Cheers,
P

 

[Ronct110]

Roverholic,

Thanks for sharing; read your post; excellent family adventure - very unassumming - love it: http://www.campoverland.com/bajaadventures.html :beer:

I have two boys: 5 and 8 yrs old, and look forward to taking our first Baja trip via our Land Rover (been there via Cruise Ship - not the same).

Anyways, a group of us (6+ Land Rovers) and our familes have been planning a trip to Baja next fall (hopefully). Couple of questions if you don't mind sharing your experience:

- Did you using a GPS? Wondering what off-the-self GPS e.g. Tomtom works in Baja? I have TomTom and there is an option to download maps for Mexico I believe.

- Plans are (we will be leaving from the San Francisco Bay Area) to enter Mexicalli, to San Felipe, perhaps stop in Loreto and hopefully make it all the way to La Paz. Did you enter thru Mexicalli (why vs Tijuana)? Did you buy Mexican car insurance by the way before you crossed or after your crossed?

- What did you use for communication in case of emergencies or need to call out e.g. Sat phone...

- And speaking of emergencies. With bad press and travel warnings: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html - did you feel unsafe during your recent trips or even past trip to Baja? We will be traveling with 6+ LRs (RRC, DI, DII, and even never LR3s) - do you think we will be a magnet for trouble e.g. cops wanting to earn extra pessos? Drug dealers wanting a LR3 - Lol (j/k - or is it?). Reading your blog, didn't seem like there was any problems except for that cop who wanted to earn some extra pesos (smile).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Roverholic]

Roverholic,

Thanks for sharing; read your post; excellent family adventure - very unassumming - love it: http://www.campoverland.com/bajaadventures.html :beer:

I have two boys: 5 and 8 yrs old, and look forward to taking our first Baja trip via our Land Rover (been there via Cruise Ship - not the same).

Anyways, a group of us (6+ Land Rovers) and our familes have been planning a trip to Baja next fall (hopefully). Couple of questions if you don't mind sharing your experience:

- Did you using a GPS? Wondering what off-the-self GPS e.g. Tomtom works in Baja? I have TomTom and there is an option to download maps for Mexico I believe.

- Plans are (we will be leaving from the San Francisco Bay Area) to enter Mexicalli, to San Felipe, perhaps stop in Loreto and hopefully make it all the way to La Paz. Did you enter thru Mexicalli (why vs Tijuana)? Did you buy Mexican car insurance by the way before you crossed or after your crossed?

- What did you use for communication in case of emergencies or need to call out e.g. Sat phone...

- And speaking of emergencies. With bad press and travel warnings: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html - did you feel unsafe during your recent trips or even past trip to Baja? We will be traveling with 6+ LRs (RRC, DI, DII, and even never LR3s) - do you think we will be a magnet for trouble e.g. cops wanting to earn extra pessos? Drug dealers wanting a LR3 - Lol (j/k - or is it?). Reading your blog, didn't seem like there was any problems except for that cop who wanted to earn some extra pesos (smile).

Thanks in advance!

Hey Ron,
No GPS, just old fashion maps. I even forgot my Baja Almanac at home! Let me know how many days you have to spend down there and I'd be happy to help you map out a good route. If you can't find an Almanac, you're welcome to use mine for the trip. Stoked to hear you're taking the kids, it'll be a trip of a lifetime for them.
I personally don't think you need a Sat phone for emergencies but a week rental may help out some folks at ease. I think it would be more of a security blanket:ylsmoke:
If you're headed to San Felipe first, I would actually recommend entering at Tecate, but Mexicali isn't bad either.

As I'm sure you've read on this forum and others, there are many different opinions about travel in Baja and safety. My personal opinion is that you will be fine as long as everyone is minding their P's & Q's.

We always us www.bajabound.com for insurance. A few years back a friend rolled his 95 Classic down there and they paid out faster than State Farm!

You might also check out www.bajanomad.com as these folks post regularly about road conditions, trip reports etc.

Let me know when you're going, we may join ya!:sombrero:

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Ronct110]

Hey Ron,
No GPS, just old fashion maps. I even forgot my Baja Almanac at home! Let me know how many days you have to spend down there and I'd be happy to help you map out a good route. If you can't find an Almanac, you're welcome to use mine for the trip. Stoked to hear you're taking the kids, it'll be a trip of a lifetime for them.
I personally don't think you need a Sat phone for emergencies but a week rental may help out some folks at ease. I think it would be more of a security blanket:ylsmoke:
If you're headed to San Felipe first, I would actually recommend entering at Tecate, but Mexicali isn't bad either.

As I'm sure you've read on this forum and others, there are many different opinions about travel in Baja and safety. My personal opinion is that you will be fine as long as everyone is minding their P's & Q's.

We always us www.bajabound.com for insurance. A few years back a friend rolled his 95 Classic down there and they paid out faster than State Farm!

You might also check out www.bajanomad.com as these folks post regularly about road conditions, trip reports etc.

Let me know when you're going, we may join ya!:sombrero:

Cheers,
Paul

Thanks Paul for info and sharing tips; we might take your offer up - always glad to be w/good company who enjoys family oriented or kid friendly trips, and another fella LR holic to join the adventure. Will post my questions and trip details when the time comes.

And also ditto on thanking Roverdude - very helpful and resourceful guy. He was the one who helped me find my 1990 RRC last year. I had it trailered from S. Cal to N. Cal, fixed it up and now I am happy as a clam. Since acq the RRC, completed the Rubicon trail last year, Dusy Irshim this year (much harder then the Rubicon), and now planning to take it to Baja next year (which is more of my taste - just wanted to hit the hard trails first to get it out my system ).

Thanks again! Hope to meet up with you :beer:

 

[Ronct110]

Hey Paul, our LR club decided to hit Baja in Oct this year; 1 weeks w/back to back wknd giving us about 10 days including using Fri to depart from San Francisco Bay Area (initial plan is to camp somewhere on the US border side Friday and get us an early start crossing the border on Sat). Not enough time for Cabo but perhaps to Loreto and back.

We want to camp along the way and take our time (some will be bringing their Kayaks); it will be a family oriented trip with kids/wife. So far we have several LR owners interested including classics, Discos, Range Rover Sport, and LR3/LR4.

We also want to stop by a Mission and drop off canned goods/donation - our way of giving back.

We will have fridge full of Pacificos if you can join us, or help with the trip planning.:sombrero:

And we have a chef (two in fact) coming with us - they own Mexxis in San Ramon. Last trip to the Oregon trail, we ate like Kings and Queens. :chef:

Hope you can join!

 

[Dave Legacy]

I knew I recognized this RRC! I saw it when I was at John's shop a couple months back and had a conversation with the tech about the color choice. Nice truck, dude!

 

[tpatching]

Great post. I'm trying to gather info to make a trip like this.

 

[repete]

What an adventure! I clicked on your website, and I love your bumper and
3rd seat idea! I have a 93 lwb same color and wheels as yours, (before your paint work) up here in Alaska. Small world, I was born and raised in Carlsbad (Kelly Dr. near the country store on El Camino Real). Not sure if your familier with the area. Great looking Rover!