The last stage of our road trip.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada advised all Canadians to return to Canada while the borders were open. We were notified by email, that if we choose to remain in Mexico, we may need to shelter in place for an indeterminate period, and the Canadian Embassy may not be in a position to assist us directly. It was, without any doubt, time to head home.
Day 1 – Los Barilles to Bahia Conception, Mexico.
We double checked that everything was secured in the palapa – all strapped down and boarded up, in preparation for the hurricane season. With checklists complete and heavy hearts, we left Verdugo’s to start our journey home.
As we drove out of Los Barilles onto MEX 1, we encounter the first of many COVID-19 checkpoints. Our details, reason for travel, and temperatures would be taken at every stop. The streets and towns were deserted.
Driving into the southern outskirt of La Paz, we encountered another COVID-19 checkpoint. On the northern outskirts of La Paz, we thought we heard a noise, it went away and I continued driving. Four hours after leaving Los Barilles, we stopped for gas. The pump attendant informed me I was missing a trailer tire on the front passenger side. That was the noise we had briefly heard. With the help of some locals, we managed to remove the shredded tire and damaged rim. One hour later, we back on the road with a full tank of gas.
Suggestion: Install an after market tire pressure monitoring system. We may have saved the tire and definitely saved the rim from severe damage.
The roads were deserted. Our next destination was a campground in Loreto, but when we arrived, the gates were closed and locked.
To avoid the language barrier and stop people from sticking their heads into our vehicle at the military checkpoints, Susan made a hand written sign that she held up against the window. It explained that we had left Los Barriles and were heading to Canada. If they had any questions to call the consulate. It worked really well and we were waived through without any delays and minimized of people contact.
We continued north towards Bahia Conception. As we pulled into the beach camping areas, the roads were barred with large rocks, or roped off, or closed with a locked gate.
The sun was setting. We pulled off the road at km marker 118, and parked in a large pull out. There was no cell service to do a google search. I noticed signs about the Lighthouse Hotel. I off loaded my bicycle and rode down part of the back road to check where it led. The road split in two, one was said beach closed, the other looked promising. I cycled back to Susan, discussed the options and we took a gamble to look for a boondock site down the well used road towards the Lighthouse resort.
We came across a small partially deserted village, and found an awesome spot on a vacant lot between Playa Frambes Lighthouse Resort and Playa Los Naranjos. I checked the lot, and cleared it of debris that could cause tire damage. A local was sitting on their deck watching me. I walked over, introduced myself from a safe distance, and asked if we could use the empty building lot – he said it should be fine for one night.
We walked around the beachfront and received one bar of cell signal. We messaged our family to say we were safe, and gave them them our coordinates. We also messaged other people our GPS coordinates for when they would head north.
Day 2 – Bahia Conception to Guerrero Negro, Mexico.
We had a quiet dark night, a good sleep, and were up early for another day of driving. We pulled away at 8:30am. When we approached Mulege, we were stopped by another COVID-19 check point. They took our details, reasons for travel, photos of our vehicle and trailer plates. They waved us through to continue driving home.
We drove into Guerrero Negro, and discovered all hotels and campgrounds were barricaded and closed to the public. We continued driving out of town, through the agricultural and security checkpoint and entered Baja Norte.
Susan looked for boondocking sites while we were driving, and shortly after leaving town, we noticed a hotel and campground without any barriers. We pulled off the road and made enquiry. They were open, and told us to park anywhere.
We set up for the night, had an early supper, and took advantage of a strong cell signal to research the route north. That evening, Tom and Beth pulled in and stay in the hotel. We discussed the route north, got some good recommendations, then called it a night.
Being close to the pacific coast, the wind blew hard all night, and the feral dogs barked relentlessly at any noise.
Day 3 – Guerrero Negro to San Felipe, Mexico.
We were up early. our only task was shut off the propane, lift the stabilizers, and retract the slide. We hit the road at 8:00am. Susan, not being a morning person, let me know that we were leaving very early. We crossed the Baja Time Change Zone – the vehicle and smart phone time changed to 7:00am. Now she wasn’t impressed because she lost another hour of sleep.
Over the next two hours she was trying to figure out the confusing time change – then blamed it on a lack of sleep.
We were on a very narrow section of road that slowed our progress. We decided to take a different route off the baja, and turned off MEX-1 onto MEX-5. What a pleasant surprise. The road was freshly paved, very wide, and swept through beautiful scenery.
We arrived in San Felipe and stayed at Kikis. Susan noticed another time change on our devises – now she was really confused and I was relentless in my teasing.
We used their dump station, filled up with fresh water, then moved to a site where we could back into without unhooking the trailer.
Day 4 – San Felipe, Mexico to Pahrump, Nevada, USA.
We were awake at 5:50am (gotta love the time change) and Susan saw her first Baja sunrise ever.
All hell broke loose when she couldn’t find one of the passports passport, thinking I left mine in the quad trunk after I had visited the bank just before leaving Los Barilles. Stress levels escalated exponentially when she realized it was her passport that was missing. The sky was about to fall – when all of a sudden, she found it next to the bed where it must have slipped out of our documents folder. What a terrible start to the morning especially before she had her coffee. Who needs caffeine after an adrenalin rush like that.
We hit the road in record time with Bullhead as out initial destination. The remaining drive through Mexico was uneventful, the GPS kept us on course, turn after turn through Mexicali and then we arrived at the border.
After all the passport stress, we didn’t need them because we crossed with our NEXUS Cards. The border agent very friendly, welcomed us to the USA, and wished us a safe journey back to Canada.
We continued north through lush California farms, and running ahead of schedule with lots of daylight left. While I was driving, Susan called around looking for another rim and tire for the trailer. Unfortunately, nobody carried the rim or the size tire we wanted. We continued north, then turned off the I-15 before Las Vegas, taking the 160 towards Pahrump. We drove until the evening and pulled off into the Walmart Parking lot.
We were convinced the locals didn’t care about the pandemic. The parking lot was full of shoppers frantically making purchases before Walmart closed at 8:30pm. Given the late hour, we decided to stay and found a level spot. When the dark of night descended over the town, the rednecks came out to play in their trucks, screeching tires and belching black smoke until after midnight.
Day 5 – Pahrump, Nevada to Orovada, Nevada, USA.
No sooner had I slipped into a deep sleep, the cacophony of municipal garbage and recycling trucks shattered the quiet at 3:00am
After we all had a strong coffee, we pulled away at 7:50am and continued north. The back roads were an easy drive, no traffic, few people, occasional mining ghost towns, and cooling temperatures.
We made frequent gas stops as the miles and changing scenery rolled by. Each time, I would pull on disposable latex gloves, then after pumping gas, discard them into the trash container. We used lots of disinfect during the trip. We boondocked in a grassy field at the Orovada Rest Stop. Susan was on a roll and informed me its name was derived from Oregon and Nevada.
Day 6 – Orovada, Nevada to Ephrata, Washington, USA.
OMG, it was cold overnight. The gauge said it was -6oC but the weather report said it felt like -11oC because of the wind chill. Chloe was shivering when she made a very quick potty break.
We pulled away from snow capped mountains. We left Nevada, drove through Oregon, then into Idaho. The time zone changed again.
I had driven the narrow roads in Mexico, and now that we had wider highways with wider medians, and increased speed limits, we took turns driving in shifts. I would start out in the morning, then after an early lunch stop, Susan would drive for five or six hours, then I would drive into the evening until Susan found a boondocking site by sunset.
Our route took us through Idaho and back into Oregon – then the time zone changed back to what it was. By now, Susan had figured it out.
We pushed through Oregon into Washington, past ever changing flora. We boondocked in a remote corner of Walmart in Ephrata, giving us a short drive to reach the Oroville/Osoyoos Border crossing in the morning.
Day 7 – Ephrata, Washington, USA to Penticton, British Columbia, Canada.
We had a very quiet night. Feeling rested, we had breakfast, packed up, and returned to the road by 8:30am. We watched the snowcapped mountains get closer, knowing the palm trees and sandy beached fell further behind us.
We arrived at the Oroville/Osoyoos border crossing at 11:00am. We were stopped along the approach road and questioned by two USA Border Agents. They repeatedly asked us about the duration of our stay in the USA. After explaining we were travelling from Mexico back to Canada and had only stayed in the USA for a few days, they waved us on. We inched along the 50 meters to the Canadian Border post.
We had a red light and stopped. We waited and waited and waited. I lost patience and inched forwards. A head popped out of the booth and told to stop. I stopped and waited some more. Eventually, the agent turned the light from red to green so I inched the 5 meters to the booth.
The agent read the COVID-19 law to us, asked if we understood and agreed to comply, we replied yes. He reviewed and returned our NEXUS cards and listened to our quarantine plan details.
He informed us we would have to stop at the COVID-19 checkpoint and waved us through. We inched along the 25 meters to the COVID-19 checkpoint, where the law was read to us again in case we had forgotten what we had heard. Lucky for us, Susan had made a reservation at Wrights Beach Campground for the full duration of our quarantine period. They took all of the details, then let us pass back into Canada.
We drove from Osoyoos to our quarantine destination at Wrights Beach Campground. After we had hooked up all utilities, drained the tanks, and settled in, we filed our online quarantine plan.
The waiting game started, Susan made a quarantine countdown calendar, and over the next two weeks, we received a number of phone calls from the government, to check in with us about our health. It felt like I played Yahtzee for two weeks while the wind constantly blew of Skaha Lake. In reality, I only played one or two games of Yahtzee.
We had successfully completed our 20,000 kilometer route, and driven a total of 37,000 kilometers with all of the side trips. Our only incident was one missing side marker lens and a damaged rim. We had driven across Canada to the Maritimes, down through Bourbon and Whiskey country, across the southern USA past the wall, down and back up the sunny Baja, then back up the western USA, to our home province of British Columbia. Along the way we made great friends and fond memories. Miraculously, our relationship survived intact while sharing a 200 square foot travel trailer. Without any hesitation – we would do the trip again.