Little Leo's Overland Adventure to Baja and Back

joeyabisa

Adventurer
Thanks hansrober and willman! Unfortunately I don't have anymore photos to post. After Arches I took no more photos on the way home. I'm back to the grind in Maryland wishing I were at Overland Expo East. I went camping on the Shenandoah last weekend with Leo but didn't bring the camera. It's the same place we camped at the beginning of our trip and the photos of the spot can be seen at the beginning of this thread.
.
I am in the early stages of planning our return to Baja as well as hitting up some of the spots we had missed through the Southwest and adding new places as well to visit. I'd like to thank everyone who followed along on our humble journey. It wasn't an epic multi-continent journey but being able to travel with my son, creating memories and watching his joy was priceless. I wouldn't replace it for anything in the world. I hope Leo will remember it. As I climb up in age, I feel the need, almost urgency to create as many memories with him.
 

djdirtworks

New member
Okay, on a more serious side. Coco is a nice man. He'd lost his legs to diabetes. He was a retired mechanic from Ensenada, discovered this valley in 1966 with a gringo friend. Tried to acquire the land back then and went back every few years to acquire it and finally did in 1990. If you did a 360 degree turn and looked at the valley and mountains it was beautiful and you could see the appeal. He loves the solitude there and doesn't ever want there to be a main road to lead to his little corner. He seems to enjoy having visitors come see him and he let's you sign and write in his little book of visitors. Leo enjoyed his company and found him entertaining.

Don't know if you have ever seen it, but check out a movie called Dust to Glory. It's a well done documentry about the Baja 1000 and a great story with great cinematography. Coco is in it, and it talks a little about him. He and his little corner is something of an icon with Baja racers.

Nice little adventure you have here, makes me miss Baja...
 

joeyabisa

Adventurer
Don't know if you have ever seen it, but check out a movie called Dust to Glory. It's a well done documentry about the Baja 1000 and a great story with great cinematography. Coco is in it, and it talks a little about him. He and his little corner is something of an icon with Baja racers.

Nice little adventure you have here, makes me miss Baja...

Thanks djdirtworks, yeah, I've been meaning to see that movie for years now. I liked Dana Brown's Step into Liquid and been watching his dad's movies since I was a kid. I didn't know Coco was featured in Dust to Glory. After we arrived home I did some research on Coco and found ton's of movies on Youtube about him.
 

dstn2bdoa

Adventurer
Nice trip. I enjoyed reading about it. Your gonna have to do it again when he's 7, and again when he's 10. Totally different experiences. They get more interesting as they age. My ten year old got to spot me over some obstacles on our last trip. We were both proud.

I realize you're not big on pictures, but do you have any of your trucks set up? Where was your fridge? Where did you put the battery? How did you wire it up? Was everything just thrown in the bed of the truck? Or did you have a system? I've been doing some Mojave trips with my boys, 7 & 10? But we haven't ventured past the 3 1/2 day mark when the ice is done. I'd like to get a fridge and do longer trips, but I'm unconvinced on where and how to set it up.

Any input is appreciated.

Our last trip. BTW he's not a mongrel, the panoramic function on my phone stitch'ed his face funny.

 

joeyabisa

Adventurer
Nice trip. I enjoyed reading about it. Your gonna have to do it again when he's 7, and again when he's 10. Totally different experiences. They get more interesting as they age. My ten year old got to spot me over some obstacles on our last trip. We were both proud.

I realize you're not big on pictures, but do you have any of your trucks set up? Where was your fridge? Where did you put the battery? How did you wire it up? Was everything just thrown in the bed of the truck? Or did you have a system? I've been doing some Mojave trips with my boys, 7 & 10? But we haven't ventured past the 3 1/2 day mark when the ice is done. I'd like to get a fridge and do longer trips, but I'm unconvinced on where and how to set it up.

Any input is appreciated.

Our last trip. BTW he's not a mongrel, the panoramic function on my phone stitch'ed his face funny.


Hi dstn2bdoa,

I never did take any pictures of my setup. It was all kind of thrown in the back and arranged to what was most comfortable which came into being after dealing with it after a few days. My fridge was on the drivers side closest to the tailgate, generator, charger and battery on the right side closest to the tailgate. Dried foods in Rubbermaid roughneck type containers behind fridge. Everything was sort of piled in a U shape where I could crawl through the center from the rear. I also had a small ladder to make getting up, in and out a little easier. As far as wiring, everything was temporary, I'd purchased some 12 volt extensions with outlets from Amazon for the fridge with clamps for the battery. Anytime I charged the battery (every few days) I would disconnect the fridge from the battery and use 120 volt cord and plug into the genny. Basically, all plugs were close to where they needed to go to make plugging and unplugging quick and easy. Pain in the butt at first but got used to it LOL! Hopefully on the next adventure I'll have my off road camper/trailer built.

...

Hahaha.. Didn't even notice your son's face in the pic till you mentioned it. :)
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
185,814
Messages
2,878,489
Members
225,372
Latest member
camshaft700
Top