The Preperation of the Bikes took two full days. The third day we received a few missing mounting parts for the happy-trail pannier boxes and bought our Mexican bike insurance from AAA. The rate for more than 40 days is much cheaper from AAA then from all the other insurers. At the end we took a six-month policy and paid $80 per bike.
Wednesday evening we spend with Ines Cousin in Santa Clarita, about 90 miles north from Corona. There we received some of our sponsored Equipment. The Sonim phones and PacSafe bags.
After packing our bike and taking a good-bye picture with Fred, Victor and Miguel we are on the road towards San Diego. The packed bikes run well on Highways and small roads. After our first 110 miles we camp at a very pricey campground in San Diego. Here we try our Sonim Phones for the first time. They are quite useful to drive the tent nails into the hard ground. As promised they do not break.
The next morning the border is less than 30 miles away. After beeing checked by military, our visas (or travel permits like they call it) are quickly done. For our bike permits we have to drive around the block to a backyard of a customs building. A bit weird. There all bike papers, travel permits and passports have to be photocopied. At first the lady at the bank refuses to give us the vehicle permit. She requests that the customs office authorizes our temporary papers. Although quite unfriendly, the customs officer stamps all copies which seems to make them more oficial. Back at the bank, the lady continues processing our papers. The only major problem is Bjoerns name. In his German passport its written with an ö (Umlaut) on his credit card its an oe and on the bike papers its just an o. After discussing for a few minutes Bjoern has to proof that German is a really strange language by counting from 1 to 10 in German in front of the office manager. After that everything is ok. Both bikes get their permit and we are free to travel within Mexico. The whole procedure took us about two and a half hours. So whatever is said in the HUBB about not beeing able to cross the border with temporary papers is not entirely true. Its definitely possible. The insurance policy was not even needed.
We continue along Highway 1 to a campground in El Sauzal. The next morning we start from there towards San Felipe on Highway 3. Its a nice road winding up the mountains. Around San Felipe there are some beautiful beaches.

After camping at the beach we continue south on a gravel road. It's nice ride along the coast. 200 km offroad take its time.

We reach Highway 1 just before darkness and camp on a car junk yard.

The next day we visit a family in Punto Abreojos. They are friends of Kim, a nice guy we met after our first night in Mexico in San Miguel. Kims trailer is parked herre in Punta Abreojos and we can use it for a night. The family is really nice. As Luis is working on boat to catch crayfish, his wife gives us crayfish for breakfast.
In Santa Rosalia we discover an old copper melting plant. In the small museum to its side we learn something about its operation. It was opened in 1909 and closed in 1985. The ashes of its melting process where freightes by boat into the Gulf of California. This is supposed to be the reason for some of the beaches along the coast having black sand. On Playa Coyote we camp with some hitchhikers from Michigan and some Mexicans. We start early in the morning, as we want to reach the ferry port to the mainland in La Paz. It is a 450 km ride. The prices for the ferrz tickets have risen a lot as the company bought a 32 year old boat from Italy and rerfurbished it. A Motorbike costs about US$120 a person US$100.