Lake Havasu, Arizona - Baja, Mexico part 1

Hello Tombstone's Travels fan(s),  [haha....Ken told me to do the fan(s) thing...]

I'm Mrs. Tombstone (aka Beverly) and I'm going to take on the 

adventure of adding the ride report for this trip.  

My Brother and his wife called us sometime near the end of 2016 and asked if we would like to join them on a ride to Lake Havasu, Az with them in April. We accepted their invitation and planned the trip.  They are from Idaho Falls and arrived in Salt Lake on Friday night.  

We departed Saturday morning following one of Ken's world famous breakfasts.  

Ken planned a route for us so that we would be on the freeway as little as possible.  

We headed out on the west side of Utah Lake, 

West to Eureka and South to 

Delta where we stopped for lunch.

We stayed in St. George the first night.

Next day, Bruce and Kim getting ready for the days ride.

A stop at beautiful Kayenta, Utah

Kayenta is an arts community with a restaurant, 

shops and plenty to see.

It was getting warm so we removed some layers

before heading out again.

We ride South/West from Kayenta 

toward Beaver Dam.

Then into Nevada.

We stop at Sugars Home Plate Restaurant in Overton, Nevada for lunch. Either we were really hungry or it was way good.  

My vote is way good.  

In addition to the good food, it had plenty of sports items to look at.  That is if you are sports fans and Bruce and Kim are definite fans.

We went through Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Beautiful scenery.

A lot of colors.

Very nice rest stop along the way, near Searchlight Nevada.

We arrive in Arizona.

We get into Lake Havasu Sunday, April 23.

You can see the London Bridge in the distance in this picture.  

We have more later on.

We even have individual covered parking.

We spend the evening in and look forward to 
seeing the sights in the morning.

The next day Bruce and Kim decide to go for a walk to the store for supplies.  Ken and I venture out to a couple of shops and then ride  to the light houses. There are 25 1/3 scale replicas of famous lighthouses around Lake Havasu.  See link below for additional information.
https://golakehavasu.com/activities/attractions/lighthouses 

We all got together that afternoon to explore the London Bridge. 

Ken helping to design the bridge.

Nice fountain at the visitors center.

Well it was nice.....its always a (comic) relief to have Ken around. ☺

We went to dinner at a restaurant called "Juicy's, The Place with the Great Food" and it was good.  Ken and I had lunch there and then returned with Bruce and Kim for dinner.

We called it a night and looked forward to our trip to Oatman, Cool Springs and part of Route 66 tomorrow.

Lake Havasu, Arizona - Baja, Mexico part 2

We start the morning with Bruce and Kim cooking us a nice breakfast.

We plan on driving through Oatman going directly to Cool Springs then returning to Oatman for lunch.

When we arrived in Oatman, it was packed with bikers. We went through town directly to Cool Springs. This site was used on one of the episodes of Then Came Bronson. They blew up the building as part of the show. The new owner has rebuilt and continues to improve the place.

Ken enjoying a Route 66 beer..

And part of Route 66.

Loved the road to Cool Springs and back to Oatman.

When we returned to Oatman, we were just in time for the gunfight.

Very friendly burros

We walked through some shops and found a place for a nice lunch.

We left Oatman and headed back to Lake Havasu where we grilled some Salmon, Chicken and corn on the cob for dinner.

Wednesday was a rest day prior to leaving on Thursday.  

This ends the Lake Havasu portion of our trip.  I will turn the Baja portion back over to the master blogger.  Thank you for letting me share in the adventure of the ride report. 

Lake Havasu, Arizona - Baja, Mexico part 3

I'm not the "Master Blogger"...far from it, and I thought Beverly was doing a fine job, but she said she was done and dug her heels in so I'll finish blogging the trip.

Bruce and Kim head north for home, and Beverly and I depart Lake Havasu southbound Thursday morning and take a side trip to see Parker Dam.

The next morning we cross the border with no drama and attempt to ride through Tecate on our way to San Quintin for our first night. 

While the border crossing was no problem, navigating through Tecate was a bit of a trial. We got lost, and had to turn around on the other side of town and ride back through again. Then in a heavily populated part of town, we ran into a blocked road, it had a trench dug across it. 

I could see the road that we needed to be on, but didn't want to get lost again trying to find a way around. So, I jumped a curb and sidewalk, rode the wrong way on a one-way street for a block or so, and turned onto the road we wanted...whew! We were on our way out of town!

Pretty soon we were treated to some beautiful sights of the Pacific Ocean.

Beverly and I both love being on the coast!

After a bit of wandering around in San Quintin, we finally find the hotel, Don Eddies Landing, and have a very delicious dinner in the Don Eddies Restaurant.

Back in the restaurant for breakfast,  while we eat we watch this guy fishing. A little while later he brought his catch into the back of the restaurant and sold it to the owner....fresh fish!

On the road again, we take a brief rest stop in the middle of nowhere...we thought...

 .....then we see this little memorial..

 .....and were surprised to find candles burning inside.

Back on the bike, but we need to stop for road side gasolina at Catavina.

Then several miles down the road we stop for lunch at Chapala.

Chapala is where my compadres and I had dinner during the infamous oil filter incident that happened on my first trip into Baja. It is VERY remote, but they do serve good food.

 This little fella was a bundle of energy, he kept saying, "moto moto" but I couldn't get him to come over to the bike.

 The Chapala restaurant. You don't see any cats, because they are all inside the restaurant in the dining area...

The roads were.....tight!

We make it to Guerrero Negro and stay at the Terra Sal...nice place.

On our way the next morning we stop for 'brunch' at this place. Bev didn't care to much for her omelet because it was covered with shrimp....which turned out good for me as she put them all on my plate. My huevos ranchers were middlin.

Our stopping location for two days, San Ignacio. Originally our plan was to come in February  and do some whale watching here, but then I was called to jury duty on the exact date of our trip. So we had to slip the dates and delay the trip until now. Unfortunately the whale watching season ended the day before we were able to get here. Dang it all!

We still had an enjoyable stay and trip.

I haven't had a sunburn on my legs for quite some time, so I hop into a kayak and paddle upstream to the 'end' of the river, and in the process get some baked legs for my reward...  :)

We go into town and see the San Ignacio Mission - built in 1728 by Jesuit missionary Juan Bautista de Luyando, it is still in use as a church today.

The town square, they were celebrating "Childrens Day". 

Very festive!

And two days later while on our way to Bahia de Los Angeles we make a comfort stop...

....then on to the 'Bay of LA' where we stay in the Villa Vitta hotel. The Villa Vitta was just "ok" but, imho, overpriced for both the room and the food.

More in part 4