Baja California Motorcycle Trip – Day 3: El Rosario to Santa Rosalia

Previous entry: Day 2: Los Ensenada to Tecate to El Rosario

Total distance for the day: 380 miles, 611 km

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South of El Rosario is a vast desert called Desierto Central, with beautiful and exotic cacti and other vegetation. Everything is more deserted here, very small towns, very few people and cars.

I skipped lunch and just ate the cookies during quick stops since it was going to be a long day of riding. It was much colder than the previous day. I had to wear a down jacket underneath my motorcycle jacket, and the balaclava on my head.

I noticed that there are a lot of roadside memorials for people who have died in car accidents. When you are riding for so many hours everyday, it’s easy to get very relaxed and overconfident on the bike. Seeing these memorials was a constant reality check and wake up call.

I was very close to running out of gas as there is a 220-mile stretch (between El Rosario and Villa Jesus Maria) without any gas stations. Earlier in the day I was going pretty fast (relatively speaking for a Ninja 250) at around 90-95 mph. This of course meant very high RPMs and high fuel consumption. When I realized that I was cutting it close with fuel, I slowed down to conserve. I finally arrived at Villa Jesus Maria where I was able to fill up. My total bill for filling up was $210 pesos, and with gas at $12.30 per liter, that equals to 17 liters, or 4.5 gallons. Since the gas tank total capacity is 4.8 gallons, that means I only had 0.3 gallons left. Speaking of gas stations, the AAA Baja California map is great because it points out all the towns with gas stations.

I rode again in the dark for the last hour before Santa Rosalia. The headlights on my bike are pretty weak, so I was more than happy to stay behind a car on the mountain roads to let it show me the way. Santa Rosalia is a very busy town. The first hotel I tried was full, I settled for Hotel Mis Casas, which is a little bit outside of town. Dinner was carne asada at El Muelle. Also ordered a margarita there which was pretty good. They really know how to make margaritas here, unlike the bars in LA where they usually suck.

380 miles is the longest I’ve ever ridden in a day. But physically I felt OK.

Next entry: Day 4: Santa Rosalia to La Paz