Highway to Hell

"Ew, a puddle of drool... Ew, another one.. Ok, seriously, there's no way I can drool that much and it's flippin cold out." That's what was going through my confused head when I kept woking up in the dessert. Turns out that the fog rolls in there sometimes and everything gets soaking wet at night time in November. Me, my sleeping bag, my boots, my suit, and my bike. I should have put up the tent, and I paid for it. I woke up in the morning as the sun was coming over the hills off to the east and I was a wreck. I had a headache, a cough, my throat felt swollen shut and did I mension everything was wet?

Sleeping outside left me sick which didn't make for good riding. Being sick coupled with wet gear was a real mood breaker but I didn't have too many options. We jumped on the bikes and headed south until we found a place to eat some breakfast. I didn't have any sort of apetite as my stomach hurt as well too now (probably from the machaca) so I stuck with a bottle of water. I decided that I had to keep moving or else I might not make it where I had to get to so I told the guys I'd probably see them later since we planned on camping at the same small beach along the Sea of Cortez just south of Mulege. I felt absolutely terrible and I noticed a fever creeping up on me. I decided to just keep riding it out and drink as much water as possible along the way. I only had about 200 miles to go so I knew I could do it if I kep it up. I went to guerrero negro to refill on money and fuel and headed east to the Sea of Cortez. This was another stretch of nothing and I was careful to take many rest breaks along the side of the road, and even took a few 15-20 minute power naps. I felt terrible but I'd had worse and just had to make it to my camping beach where I could rest up. The road from the west coast to the east coast was a windy road with many elevation changes. Absolutely beautiful riding that I can easily navigate almost instinctually so I just realaxed and tried to take in the view as much as I could. Eventually the Sea of Cortez appeared as I crested a mountain on a section of road that twisted it's way down to Santa Rosalia, just 38 miles north of Mulege. I pulled in for some more water and simply couldnt go on. I fell asleep next to some mexican children playing an arcade game that cost 1 peso per game. You could tell it was their favorite pass time when they could afford it.

I was sleeping with one eye open as to keep an eye on my bike and keep sipping water as I laid there. I snapped out of it when my firefighter buddies rode by and jumped up to get my gear on and catch them. I gave some pesos to the children which they were very thankful for and went on my way. Mulege was only about 30 miles down the road so I caught the guys stopped on the side of the road looking for a place to buy some cold beer. We bought a few supplies and headed out to the beach for some R & R that was MUCH needed.