It was the second military checkpoint of the day. The soldier in the back of the camper had spotted my gun that I had foolishly left laying out in plain sight. He picked it up, turned toward me with a look of surprise, pointing the gun right at me. I didn't dare move, but Harley dived for cover. I thought I could talk my way out of it, especially since it wasn't loaded, hardly. Then he squeezed the trigger, ... I braced myself, but luckily the waterpistol was out of water and Harley didn't know it. Then he asked if he could have a beer from the fridge. I politely declined his request, smug in the knowledge that in addition to the orange gun he had found, I also had a blue one, a red one, a yellow one and two green ones, hidden in the cab of the truck. I had no choice, they were 6 for a dollar at Walmart, all in one package.
I had spent the night at a sea turtle rehab centre at Bahia de Los Angeles on the gulf coast. Turtles that are caught in fisherman's nets are brought here to recover and I assume to be re-released when healthy. It is a truly beautiful area, but the campground looked like it could have benefited from a hurricane or a tsunami. But at $2.00 a night that no one came to collect, it was not a bad deal at all! It had concrete pads, buildings that may once have held some sort of 'facilities', and was right on the beach. While I was trying to decide what to have for supper, the guy comes by with a huge pail of clams and for the two dollars I saved on the camping fee, I had a feed of more fresh clams than I could eat.
Surprisingly, there was no available wi-fi in the area that I could find, thus the blog got a little bit behind. And the first precipitation of the trip fell during the night and morning, so I decided to keep on truckin. Luckily, the Pemex station in town was open and did have fuel, so it was a good start to the day. Of course, all the gas attendents and soldiers at the checkpoints make a big fuss over Harley, asking his name and the common theme seems to be, "Don't think he's missed many meals, eh"!
The gun, you see, is to handle all unreasonably loud requests for food at 3 AM!
Some really weird cactuses in this area, unlike any others I had ever seen. They are called cirios and are only found here and in one small place in Sonora - no where else in the world.
Driving into San Quintin, I at last found a usable wifi signal, but when I zeroed in on it, it seemed that the local detachment of the Policia Federales was the likely source. At least I don't think the Llanterra (tire shop) next door would be in need of wifi service?
Ah well, what the heck, I was desperate after all. Bitterly cold wind coming off the Pacific tonight - once again I had to consider getting out my heavier sandals! But then I watched the news on TV and saw the weather reports from all across the great white north (minus 20's and 30's) and saw the huge traffic pileups on Ontario and Quebec, I knew I would survive.
Note to self: Let's try to not have any of those accidents in the Lake Louise area. Course, it would be good OT ...
Alan, I saw one lonesome HG pilot headed south today.
Click on some of the nice advertisers now :-).