Jan 20--Pancho's Beach of Shells

Harry arrived this morning just as we were going to eat breakfast. Nicholas loaded the route onto his Garmin, and showed him how to access it. Harry came into the restaurant and had some orange juice while we ate breakfast. I ate the most breakfast I've had in a very long time. I ordered the avena (oatmeal), and the plata de fruta a temporada (plate of fruit of the season). I also got two pieces of toast. The fruit was great--banana, kiwi, watermelon, apple, and pear. The oatmeal also came with some fruit. I put most of the fruit in the oatmeal. As for the oatmeal, it seemed like more of a cream of oatmeal. It was very soupy, but very filling. I was so full! Then, we got on our bikes--oh my! Well, actually we waited a short bit for Harry's Garmin to be done. Nick also showed me how I can get the route to come up much faster by going to "Where to?" instead of Track Manager. It was a productive lesson!

We still managed to leave a little before 8:00. We were back on the dirt just out of town. The route climbed gently for awhile. Brent and Harry were ahead of me (I think I was busy digesting my huge breakfast!) Harry doesn't have the mount for his Garmin. We rigged it up on his stem with a Velcro strap I've been carrying. He said it worked great.

The road was pretty good today, except for a lot of washboard. We zigged and zagged to try to find the best place to ride. We were not always successful. We had some good downhills, and only a few steeper climbs.

Back to the Sea of Cortez

The place we were headed was San Rafael.

The only inhabitant of San Rafael is Pancho. He lives in a trailer on this white sand beach. He allows camping on the beach and has even built a couple of structures. One is a little shed/shack that we parked our bikes in, and the other is el baño. It's pretty rustic, but does the job.


The beach here is covered in shells. Pancho has a whole bunch of conch shells that either he fishes for, or have washed up on the beach. They are about the size of my fist. He also has Marlin skeletons, and jaws of maybe shark. I walked into the Sea of Cortez. It is cold. It'd have to be a pretty hot day before I would go swimming! Harry and I walked down the beach looking at various shells. I picked up a couple small ones for souvenirs. There are also pelicans, egrets, and a gull type diving bird. It was fun watching the birds dive for fish.

The wind is blowing, but we have set up our tents behind the shack in the hopes of getting a wind block. This time I made sure to really bury my tent stakes, and I put my two sand stakes in as well.

There are some clouds, and it's supposed to rain overnight. The bikes should stay pretty dry, and it's okay if our tents get wet. Just hoping it's not raining when we have to take them down in the morning.

This is an awesome campsite on the beach. We're hoping for a spectacular sunrise.