Taking the baja down the Baja: Day Two

Note: This is day two of our adventures driving a ’68 bug from Sacramento, California to Sayulita, Mexico.  If you missed day one, you can read that recap here. 

We woke up to find a thief had been at the bug and gone again, and the only thing he or she wanted was the “travelsurfyoga.com” tape on our window.  Sometimes even a cheap marketing ploy gets recognized for its value.  With a shake of our heads we piled back into the bug and set our sights on Sunset Cliffs, the birthplace of the fish surfboard.

Sunset Cliffs is beautiful.  Pictures don’t do it justice, but I’ll give it my best attempt.  Something about the clear blue water juxtaposed with the rocks and sky… I couldn’t stop saying how lovely it all was.

As we drove through town, we spotted two gentlemen and a golden retriever lounging outside a surf shop.  The guys smiled at our rig, and we swung into a parking spot.  Mark and his friend shook our hands and we checked out their boards for sale.  They told us about the nearby surf spot, not working that day unfortunately, and we chatted about a couple of places we planned to see on our way down the coast.  Mark told us about Richard, a local surfer and VW enthusiast, who was selling coffee out of a bus down by the water.  “It’s a blue VW bus, and he’s a surfer guy with long blonde hair.  Stop by and see him,” they encouraged us several times.  We promised we would and took our leave.

Sure enough, we stumbled upon Richard and his buses down by the shore.  He gave us a nod and his permission to park the bug next to his green VW bus for sale.  (It’s priced at 30k, in case you have the interest and a little pocket change.)  We ordered coffees and stretched our legs, and after a little chat decided to get back on the road.

Except, the bug wasn’t ready to move.  We pressed the button, and it wouldn’t start.  Hmmm.  Tried again.  Richard had ideas and so did his buddy, and we all got out to talk them through.  The buddy grabbed a can of starting fluid and gave it a go.  Still nothing.  After a little more tinkering, we discovered a loose wire in the ignition system.  Richard’s friend grabbed a crimping tool and viola!  It worked.  While it was running, we threw out one more question.  The first day the bug stayed in gear just fine, but on day two it was wanting to jump out of fourth, especially when pulling uphill.  Richard said it sounded like we needed to check the transmission fluid, and we drove off with that mission in mind, and directions to the nearest Auto Zone.

We pulled into a side lot to add the fluid, check the oil and tighten whatever we could access and turn, even just a smidge. When we went to fill the bug with transmission fluid, the fill port was only hand tight, so the fluid suggestion turned out to be a good one.  It didn’t cure the popping out of gear part, but the bug drank a bottle of the stuff and we certainly wouldn’t want to run it dry.

Back on the road, we decided we should adjust our original plan, and cross the border the next morning.  Our mechanic stop was well worth it, but it did cost us some daylight, and night time is not the best time to get into Mexico and get paperwork sorted.  We pinpointed the best place to stay just this side of the border, in a town called Chula Vista.  The El Primo Hotel had a confident name and a friendly manager/owner, who professed to be 79 years old “plus tax”.

I didn’t catch his name, but he was willing to share about his journey from the Philippines to the states when he was just 19 years old.  He joined the navy right away, and volunteered for submarine duty.  He told us he could see the sides of the hallways down below, begin to curve under the pressure at 3200 feet.  We could have swapped stories with him all evening, but we were hungry and not the only guests, so we said good night and walked down the street to an Italian restaurant, with 200 more miles under our belts.

On Day Three we required the services of Smack it with a Hammer Mechanics, and found out beach hotels that appear abandoned sometimes offer the best accommodations.  Stay tuned…