[Above: DATW sound-man Neil Dana with a Mexican border guard at the Tijuana checkpoint.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

After two years of preparation, a number of last-minute arrangements, and some final strategic planning, the team was finally nearing their first border. Our decision to leave the States was an involved one, as we had to manage some final PR opportunities, gather the remaining equipment that was being shipped to us, and meet up with our first "Take me with you" participant, Mitch Mulanix, in San Diego. The team was eager to get underway, since we were already two days behind schedule.

Border crossings are always a tough call. Despite how easy it theoretically seems to cross a border, the process always takes a long time, and there always seems to be some piece of paper you are missing. Also, we were not thrilled with the idea of crossing the border late at night and then having to drive and find a camping spot. It is always more difficult to camp when you are setting up after dark. I remember during our ‘97 expedition we ended up camping in a garbage dump one time because it was too dark to see where we were really camping.

Anyhow, the paperwork was finally sorted out, and we drove across the border, headed toward Ensenada. Although it is not advisable to drive at night, the road was good and we had some miles to make up. We found a place to camp about 2:00 am, set a morning wake up call for 8:00, popped our tents, and went to sleep.

We woke up the following morning, and found ourselves in a cold rain. We packed up the tents wet, and went off to find breakfast while Nick and Chanda found an Internet café where they could do some work. After changing money and topping the vehicles off with fuel, a decision was made to split up, leaving Nick and Chanda in Ensenda to complete the web site changes while sending the rest of the team to Guerrero Negro to establish a campsite.

We were rolling by 1:00 pm. Baja is beautiful as we drove through the hills. We were traveling under cloud cover, and the storm that had rained on us all the last night seemed to be following us. My vehicle partner Nancy and I sang with Paul Simon and others as day turned into evening and night. We all stopped at a roadside diner with a thatched roof and had burritos for dinner. Although it took awhile to get our food, it was just perfect: Nick and Chanda pulled as we were leaving.

Now back together again we spent the remaining three hours to Guerrero Negro, rolling through the hills and watching for the cows that are said to wander into the road and wreck vehicles.

Logbook for November 11th
Start: Upland, California
Finish: Ensenada, Mexico
Mileage: 205

Logbook for November 12th
Start: Ensenada, Mexico
Finish: Guerrero Negro, Mexico
Mileage: 354

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.