Little Leo's Overland Adventure to Baja and Back

[joeyabisa]

Hi everyone! My 4 year old son Leo and I left Maryland on Aug 3. We’re travelling across the United States and down to Baja Mexico. There were a lot of questions about what unknown challenges I’d have to face traveling with a 4 year old as a single parent- how long will he be able to hang in a car seat? Will we have to stop every 3 or 4 hours? I had thoughts of how daunting it will be to single handedly setup camp and break it down for two. I’d have to cook and clean for two, etc, etc. while keeping constant vigilance over him at every moment. Couldn’t think about it too much or it would make me not want to do it. Let’s just get on the road and see what happens…
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I read online that the Mexican government required a notarized letter of consent from the other parent in order to enter into Mexico with a small child as a single parent. I wasn’t sure how Leo’s mom would react to having me bring our son over the border into what the media has spun as a dangerous, lawless place. I didn’t even want to mention that I was going to cross the border into “Mexico” and that Baja was part of California and full of nothing but retired gringos to make it all sound better. Anyway, she didn’t resist and I got my letter of consent. 
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My ex even went shopping for us at Costco to help prepare for our trip. Huge help considering I had so much to do on the truck to get it ready. Make a frame for the safari rack, mount frame, mount the RTT, flip and rotate the tires, tune-up, oil change, wheel alignment, install hi amp alternator, install auxiliary transmission cooler, finish wiring Hella lamps, etc, etc.. I got most of everything done that I needed with the exception of the alternator and the auxiliary trans cooler. I decided to bring them with me thinking I would have time to install them while camped. With a four year old though and no one to keep an eye on him that might never happen.
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So we packed everything up, gathered all paperwork, Mexican auto insurance, passports, etc and threw it all in the travel bag and hit the road. We got sort of a late start that day so I decided that we would camp in Virginia along the Shenandoah River, south of Front Royal.
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The Rig..


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Shehnandoah River near Bentonville, VA
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[PetitFrereArmada]

Looks great. Safe journey and keep up updated with trip report and TONS of pics.

 

[socalctcamper]

Oh yeah

Jealous, have fun and document everything they grow up so fast. I'll keep checking to see pics of travel, your gear and camp set up....

 

[joeyabisa]

The true test of how long we could drive before Leo got bored or fidgety would be the next day. We left Bentonville, VA at 10am. I was able to drive 17 hours that day. We stopped a few times at rest stops to stretch our legs, use the bathroom and eat. This is when I knew we would make it to Texas the following evening. I originally wanted to camp out in the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee but then decided to keep moving on. At this point I just wanted to get west as fast as possible. By the time I was too tired to keep driving, we were in Brinkley, Arkansas. It was 3AM and Leo was sound asleep. As you can imagine it was too late to find somewhere to camp so we ended up in a motel.
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Leo was able to sleep several hours at a time while on the road so I wasn't too worried about him. During the drive Leo would keep himself entertained with games on his ipad or play with toys he'd brought along. He never was a big talker but this trip really started to get him yapping. I think it's because he is strapped into his car seat and the only way he could interact was to talk. We were able to make it to our friend's house in Sweetwater, TX by 7pm the following day. We stayed with our friends for two days then it was time to move westward. Our friends decided to come with us to camp for a couple of days in New Mexico. From Sweetwater we decided to take the small hwy's through Texas and New Mexico.
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We camped one day at Brantley Lake. We wanted the kids to have somewhere to swim but unfortunately the area had some severe storms a few days before and debris and silt had washed into the lake. We talked to a ranger about swimming in it and his exact words were “I wouldn't put my kids in it”. Enough said, there would be no swimming at Brantley. The ranger told us about another lake north of Brantley near Roswell, Bottomless Lakes. He informed us it was super clean and you could see down to the bottom. There it was, we would pack up the next morning and head to Bottomless. The lakes had been formed when subterranean caverns collapsed and the sinkholes eventually filled with water.
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Brantley Lake at sundown

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Tina, Phillippe, Ceiba and Leo

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Bottomless Lake

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Bottomless Lake - In this pic you can really see how clear the water is.

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Our moon that evening

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We had a nice day of swimming and nice evening watching the moon come up. I don't know the elevation of that area but the temperature that night dipped down to the high 60's. The next day Leo and I went for another dip in the lake, had some breakfast, said our goodbyes and headed west. We traveled west on 380 then on 70 through the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation and Lincoln National Park. It was nice and cool up in the mountains. The temperatures up near Ruidoso almost made me want to stop and camp there for a couple of days but we had to keep going.. Tularosa, Alamogordo.. Wait! White Sands was out here. I've seen pictures and have heard nice things about it. Let's head there!
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White Sands, New Mexico
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<--- Click on picture to get panorama view.
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[joeyabisa]

More pics of White Sands, NM
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White Sands was amazing. There was barely anyone there. Where we were there was no one. The temperature there was in the mid 70's and the sand was cool to the touch. Was nice being able to walk barefoot after being in the truck for hours driving. Leo had a blast, to him it was like a giant sandbox.

 

[joeyabisa]

Looks great. Safe journey and keep up updated with trip report and TONS of pics.

Thanks PetitFrereArmada, I not really good with taking pics. I tend to forget to break out with the camera and take shots but will try.

 

[joeyabisa]

Jealous, have fun and document everything they grow up so fast. I'll keep checking to see pics of travel, your gear and camp set up....

Thanks Socalctcamper, yeah, seems like Leo was just born yesterday. Time is flying. We've pretty much been taking him on a trip every year to hopefully give him and adventurous spirit. One never knows though, he could end up wanting to be a homebody. Will keep posting pics!

 

[sandbag]

Hey! Have a great experience. Your little guy will never forget it.

I applaud you for your love and caring of "the little guy" Good on Ya!

But please don`t take the danger in Baja as something the press has put a "spin" on. It`s real

Have a great time, we always have!

 

[joeyabisa]

Hey! Have a great experience. Your little guy will never forget it.

I applaud you for your love and caring of "the little guy" Good on Ya!

But please don`t take the danger in Baja as something the press has put a "spin" on. It`s real

Have a great time, we always have!

Thank you sandbag! And will take your warning seriously.

 

[joeyabisa]

So in the last week or so I've discovered several things. (1) Leo doesn't mind driving for long periods in the truck. (2) He doesn't like walking very far (I guess most 4 year olds don't like walking very far). So we'll have to forgo some places that require a wee bit of overlanding on foot. I've gotten Leo to walk roughly 200 yards before he asks me to pick him up. Forget about him walking that 200 yards back. Daddy, I'm hot. Are there snakes in the desert? Where are they? (3) 4 year olds love water when it's hot so I'll have to camp near water, be it a stream, river, lake, beach, or pool. And (4) when on the Interstate, they learn that the golden arches on the signs means that McDonalds is coming up and that the Happy Meal comes with a toy, mommy's not around and daddy is a pushover.

 

[joeyabisa]

After White Sands we pushed on westward to Tucson, AZ. We got a motel there for the evening and gave Leo a well needed bath. We would cross the border into Mexicali the next day. The next morning we hit up Walmart first for some supplies. I had forgotten to pack the Viair compressor which I'll need to pump up my tires after airing down in Baja. I was kicking myself about it. How could I forget something so important. Ugh! I also wanted to pick up a blow up raft for us. Anyway, Walmart was sold out of blow up rafts and as for an air compressor all they had were the cheesy slime brand ones that probably had a hard time inflating tires on a bike. Well, it was better than nothing so I purchased the largest one they had. Oh, and a Hot Wheels car for Leo. Okay, back on I10 headed toward California and the border.

 

[jhill15]

Man what an amazing trip so far! I would love to pack the kids up for a trip like this. Safe travels to you and the fam!

:subscribed:

 

[joeyabisa]

Man what an amazing trip so far! I would love to pack the kids up for a trip like this. Safe travels to you and the fam!

:subscribed:

Thanks jhill! Pack em up and go for it. When my vacation was several months away, I thought of a route that would fit in mine and Leo's timeline. I got myself excited about it and got Leo excited about it and off we went. I know it's more complicated than that, planning, coming up with scenarios, and planning some more helped me in thinking it was do-able.

 

[joeyabisa]

Once we got to I8 excitement started to set in. We were close, we'll be in Baja soon. To my surprise there was a border crossing just as we crossed the state line into California. The sign read &#8220;Mexico&#8221;. Okay, why not cross here? BTW, where are we? No clue but let's go for it. With no maps, no maps on GPS of Baja we went for it. Los Algodones is where we were. No lines, no frills, just straight into the thick of it as they say. I looked over to the left on the other side of the road and saw the booths for entering the States and thought I'm leaving the comfort of my country. I felt a little apprehension as we crossed the line and I was headed for the 3 Mexican military looking guards with probably Spanish made HK G3's, all standing under a big shade tree. I slowed down hoping they would just wave me through. No, they waved me over to the side for an inspection.

 

[joeyabisa]

I rolled down all my windows and with a big stupid smile I said, Hola! They started speaking to me in Spanish. Had to think fast. As usual with me I never brush up on the local language before I go. I had no idea what he just asked me. &#8220;Ummm&#8230; I no parla espanol. Only pocito&#8221; Dammit, I'm mixing Italian with Spanish. This guard must think I'm a real moron. I felt a little bit ashamed that I didn't know or learn more Spanish. I felt like I was being disrespectful that I was coming into their country and not knowing how to communicate. The guard just smiled and said, &#8220;Where are you going?&#8221; More silence&#8230; Come on Joey, spit it out. Umm.. San Felipe! There! I was proud of myself for getting something out. After that it was all broken English and Spanish and a lot of sign language.
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They wanted to see what was under the rectangular covered thing on my roof rack. Of course I didn't know how to say tent in Spanish. Tent, Tent! For noche, and sign language for sleeping. I pulled out the ladder out of the back and set it up so they could see what else I had up there. They unzipped the tent, felt around, looked to see what was in the rooftop bag, looked in the cab, moved a couple of things around, looked in the back, moved a couple of items around, then said, &#8220;finish!&#8221; and waved me to proceed.
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I had no idea which way to go now. There were no signs to route 5. I asked them about it but they didn't seem to understand what I was asking. They finally waved someone from across the street who was working at what looked like a cell phone store. The man came over, they said some things to him and he in turn looked at me and asked, where do you want to go? Ahh.. someone I could understand. I was apologizing that I couldn't speak Spanish. He told me, don't worry about it. I asked him how do I get to route 5 toward San Filipe. He pointed me in the right direction. I thanked him profusely and went on my way. All I had to do was turn right at the intersection and I saw signs for San Felipe.
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I looked at the GPS. There were no street names of course because now I was no longer on US territory and I didn't pay for a Baja map. Although, the larger streets showed up on the screen but didn't have names. Major routes had numbers. I figured I would follow the streets that did show up and hopefully they would coincide with the signs for San Felipe. Well, I followed the signs first but I must have missed a turn because now I was driving through town in what seemed like a dusty alley between homes. Okay, turn back toward where I think the street is. After doing this a bunch of times I finally ended up on a street that seemed to coincide with what was showing up on GPS. I followed that for awhile but it was slow going. I realized after going from small town to small town that I needed to get over to route 5. On a side note, you learn fast to slow down when it looked like you were reaching a little town because each town had speed bumps that could take out your suspension or something important down there.
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This is about when I thought I should have crossed the border at Mexicali where I could have gotten on route 5 easily. I would have been farther along. Too late now. By luck I ran into route 2 which headed to Mexicali. Unfortunately, Mexicali was northwest of my present position which means I would almost be back tracking.