May 08, 2003
Somewhere in Baja, Mexico
~1300 miles

rolling into baja... ennio morricone and the proud-eyed wild horses of his beautiful trumpet solo survey the vista with us.

we are one with the "1" ... can i nominate this for a spot in the top ten list of roads in the world?  this section of baja is pristine, near st. augustin.  in america, this would be a national park, a designated treasure. here, it is simply untouched, unnoticed, inhospitable, uninhabited.  truly natural.

as an american, even one that has traveled, i find it nearly unbelievable... the saguaro and the other cactus are so dense as to be almost lush. you've gotta love the saguaro... looking around its like a million plants all giving you the finger at once. "yeah, fuck you... leave your truck behind and come
out here and fight like a man (cactus?) .... fuck you... fuck you...."

jesse the scout purrs on. she is loving this freedom... finally a chance to show her mettle... she stands firm in the face of the occasional oncoming 18 wheeler... she plays mexican chicken like she was born to it.  we belong here.

looking at this i think, what alien planet could be more bizarre, more magical than our own infinitely varying landscape... 

its 906 miles from tijuana to la paz. most of it like this. it's a good stretch of the whole of mexico. its a shame to just waste it with the gas pedal like this, but hey...