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Chasing Tails Baja Roadtrip 2021

Tundra talon whales Granby

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#1 Chain

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Posted 13 February 2021 - 03:36 PM

2DE32B9F-C067-4B6E-B8D7-B11B942276E1.jpeg Being from the Midwest allows us to explore coast to coast with relative ease. Sure, no oceans or 14ers here, but summertime on the Great Lakes is cool and the Ozarks are also pretty amazing. The Rockies, Blue Ridge, Gulf of Mexico and Lake Superior are all just full days drive away. So yea, we like it here and still love to wander.
Baja has been the destination of choice for 2-3 moto trips per year for the past 12 years. In January 2020 while sipping on a margarita in Todos Santos, we got the bright idea to buy a roof top tent for a Tundra / Buggy trip to the Bighorn Mountains near Buffalo Wyoming. Great trip which lead to another bright idea to spend a couple weeks with the RTT in Moab South BLM (Behind the Rocks). Another great trip with motos and buggies, great campsite and two weeks living in our RTT, which led us to another bright idea... what if we bought a Four Wheel Granby? And down the rabbit hole we went.

Finding a Four Wheel Camper of any size, shape or age in the midst of a global pandemic, turns out is not a simple task, and we needed an 8’ Granby to fit the DCLB Tundra... After making some calls to FWC, I settled into the idea that it was going to possibly take the better part of 2021 to get in line for a new Granby, so, We watched the used adds and continued to research features we’d like if we bought new. Low and behold, FWC posted a Granby for sale, it was at the factory near Sacramento, had most of the features we had chosen, including color, solar, shitter and shower, but near 2,000 miles from our home the Sand Ridge Forest in Central Illinois.

Yep, deeper down the rabbit hole... We made a deposit, and started working on logistics to get the Granby picked up. FWC made it very clear that they really didn’t have room to store it, weren’t interested is shipping it and wouldn’t have any trouble selling it in the pandemic camper market. 

After making a few calls to explore getting the camper shipped to our place, it was becoming very evident that going to the camper was going to be more interesting than having the camper shipped to Illinois.

 

Just so happens that a good friend has a place in Twentynine Palms, and another friend keeps a 1990 Ford 350 diesel there. Ok, see where this is going? Yep I flew commercial to San Diego, road with a buddy to Twentynine Palms, grabbed the Ford, Drove to Sacramento, loaded the Granby, drove to Lake Tahoe in a Whiteout Blizzard, wandered the beautiful 395 back to Twentynine, dropped the Granby in the desert, back to SD and commercial flight home.

Simple enough, right? Did I mention on mountain, at night, in the blizzard, I had another great idea?... What if our Maiden Voyage in the Granby was a whale trip to Baja? After all, Mary had been wanting to make a Baja trip for a few years, but wasn’t interested in riding dirt roads two up on a dirty moto for days on end.

Seemed simple enough, Just drive the Tundra to Twentynine, load the Granby, pick Mary up at San Diego International, and head south.

 

After sharing this brilliant, half baked plan with my wiser half, she thought it might be a good idea to spend a few nights in the Granby before we headed all the way to Cali, then to to Baja, and home, after all it was going to be a 6,000 mile trip if everything went smooth. So, never one to pass an opportunity to go to the desert, I booked two RT tickets on American and away we went, back to Cali to mount the Granby in a borrowed Ford and Wander around Joshua Tree and the Mojave Desert for week while getting the camper dialed in and learning the systems, before we headed to Baja. 

Which brings us to now... 4 days before I depart on a 20-30 day journey to mount the camper on our Tundra, install the Yakima Rack (did I mention the paddle board rabbit hole?), head to Deaver Springs to have Jeff build a set of rear springs, then to SD to scoop Mary at the airport, and if everything goes particularly well, camp at the Mosquito Campground just south of Mexicali for our first night on the way to watch Whales in Guerrero Negro, camp on the beaches of Gonzaga Bay, and Punta Chivato, and ride our buggy in the mountains west of Mulege. 
This is the Trip Planning Forum, Yea?

Comments, questions and unsolicited brilliance all welcome here.

 

more news at 11...

 

Cheers, 

Chain

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#2 steve whiteside

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Posted 13 February 2021 - 03:55 PM

It seems like you have a yen for adventure!  Im looking forward to hearing more!  We towed a buggy down to Baja last summer too and it was great.  Set up camp then it gave us a means to explore up and down the coast!  

 

Steve


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#3 Chain

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Posted 13 February 2021 - 03:57 PM

It seems like you have a yen for adventure!  Im looking forward to hearing more!  We towed a buggy down to Baja last summer too and it was great.  Set up camp then it gave us a means to explore up and down the coast!  

 

Steve

Nice!

Where in Baja Steve?


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#4 smlobx

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Posted 19 February 2021 - 08:07 PM

First off welcome to WTW.

 

I like your thought process, much like mine. I hope you have a great trip and be sure to post pics of the new camper and your adventures South of the Border.


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Eddie
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Travel light. Travel far. Travel safe.


#5 funemployed

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Posted 08 April 2021 - 04:32 AM

Sounds like a great adventure! How did your tundra do with the Granby? I am looking at swapping out my truck for a Tundra!
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