JPFreek - Index

JPFreek - magazine - Index

About five million years ago, the San Andreas Fault which runs
down the center of the Sea of Cortez, had completed its drift,
tearing the Baja from the mainland. The Pacific Ocean rushed in
to fill the resulting area left between, creating the Sea of Cortez.
Much more recently though, the Spaniards sent missionaries to
bring Christianity to the “savages” that inhabited the region.
Communication at that time was difficult at best with Spain, and
life was hard in this desolate region. Cortez and his men
marched along the Sea of Cortez 400+ years ago, and the area in
many places hasn’t changed much since.
The Sea of Cortez area is home to a diverse collection of
wildlife. Whales visit the area yearly and have their calves in the
Sea of Cortez. There are also sea lions, pelicans, cranes, eagles,
rattlesnakes, scorpions, all sorts of lizards, wolves, coyotes,
rabbits, deer, and the list goes on.
The area from El Golfo de Santa Clara, a small and poor fishing
town near the mouth of the Colorado River, and the upper most
town on the northeast side of the Sea of Cortez, was our starting
point. The beaches are clean, nearly deserted, and a great place
to Jeep on. The water seems to be much cleaner than I
remember the water along the New Jersey and Maryland
beaches. This was the perfect spot to begin our newest
Expedition.
Our trip took us from the tip top of the Sea of Cortez, down the
shoreline (about 40 miles as the crow flies) but due to impassible
areas further south, closer to 100 miles when we finished in
Puerto Penasco or Rocky Point as us Gringos call it.
Rocky Point began as a small fishing town that I remember well
from my first trip there six years ago. Today, you can hardly
recognize it as it is growing and now resembles most other
seaside resort towns in Mexico. It has become a haven for people
in Arizona as it is four hours or less from Phoenix. It has also
become a popular hang-out for spring breakers in recent years. I
might mention that gasoline in Mexico is $1 a gallon or so less
than here in the US and diesel is just under $2 a gallon or less
than half of what we currently pay here in the U.S.!
Jeep Expedition, Sea of Cortez, Mexico
Jeep Expeditions had completed six Expeditions since our
beginning, all of them in Arizona, Utah, California or Nevada. It
was time to try Mexico, with plenty of areas to explore that are
rich in terrain and history. With that idea in mind, we tossed
around ideas, did lots of research, and made the plans well in
advance of the actual trip.
On Thursday April 16th, 18 Jeeps and 30+ members and guests
met at the Yuma Cabana Motel in Yuma, AZ for our pre-trip BBQ/
meet and greet. The Yuma Cabana is a 50’s style “neon” motel,
the likes of which dotted and remain on parts of Route 66.
As we sat poolside cooking up burgers, brats and steaks and
enjoying the sides and treats that everyone had brought, we
discussed the next four days of our trip. You could tell the
excitement was high as we still hung out poolside even when
they turned the lights out. After a while, people started to turn in
while others congregated in the parking lot while sipping on
some cold beverages. When I last looked around at midnight,
there were still a few hardy souls in the parking lot enjoying each
others company.
Saturday morning around 7:30, our group started converging
on the parking lot and lining up the Jeeps. We were ready to roll.
At 8:00 as planned, we hit the road for a quick stop at a
convenience store for fresh ice and the McDonalds next door for
a quick hot breakfast. As time approached 8:30, we were lining
up again and preparing to hit the road to San Luis de Colorado
at the Mexican border and our first stop.
When we got to San Luis, things got a little confusing. A lack of
parking and a lack of signs kept us from stopping to get our
tourist visas and to check about temporary import permits for
our vehicles. The Mexican officials seeing us just lined up and
waved us on. We found out later that there is a lot of incorrect
information out there about travel to Mexico, in that we did not
need either of those documents for any of the areas we would
be in.
Like I said, we got a little confused and off the route in San Luis
but I quickly realized it after zooming out on my GPS unit and
seeing we were heading in the wrong direction on the wrong
street. Since we all had CBs and many of us had Ham radios we
relayed all of the information, grouped up again and proceeded
to where the pavement ends in El Golfo de Santa Clara, a tiny
fishing town at the north eastern part where the Sea of Cortez
begins and the Colorado River ends.
After about two hours of driving through the Mexican desert,
passing through rural towns, giving donations to ambulance
clubs at a few “road” blocks, stopping at a Mexican Army
checkpoint only to get waived through (too many Jeeps I
suspect and too much work), and a stop at a Pemex gas station