Altar 2002 Day 5 06-11-2002

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Visit to Puerto Penasco

After a good night on the bluffs over looking the Mar de Cortez, the sun broke strong and clear.  To the north, we could see the profile of Sierra Pinacate.

To the west, we could see that the tide was out, but has left behind the tidal pools that had impeded our progress less than 12 hours earlier.

Kathleen, one of the late risers in camp, every day, can be seen here with the tidal pools below in the background.

The plan for the day was to break camp, and then head into Puerto Penasco for supplies.  There we would get diesel, beer, ice, camarones, almejas, and breakfast.  During the morning cleanup, we discovered the remnants of the engine block fire the night before.  While less than spectacular, the light was intense and I am sure could be seen from miles away if there was someone looking, which there was not.

When I returned from my morning "nature walk", I discovered the balance of the team hard at work - seating the bead on my front tire.  It seems in the drunken stupor of the night before we (more correctly I ) had forgotten to fully air the tires, resulting in a de-bead at rest.  This was getting quite old.  Many thanks to the team for correcting the issue in my lengthy absence.

We headed back to the railroad and took the dirt track directly in to Puerto Penasco.  We stopped at the first llanteria (tire fixit place) that we saw and gave them Dan's tire.  Below, it can be seen on the ground with the tire team looking at it probably saying "what the f**k is that".

Watching someone else work their ass off was rather fun and called for a few beers in celebration of not having to do it ourselves.

As the breakfast beers settled in, it resulted in a generally jovial mood.  Here, Kathleen struts her custom tee shirt that does a fine job of expressing her sentiments.  The widget on her hat is a headlamp left over from the night before.

After we tired of watching the tire dudes sweat, we headed into town for some breakfast.  We were herded into the parking lot by some fellows at Flavio's Restaurant once they saw the trucks approaching.  The place was clean, had clean restrooms and good food.  Seems that the presence of the mogs caused quite a stir.  And, it attracted additional patrons as well.  Once the staff determined that the mogs were drawing business, the free stuff started flowing - appetizers, beer, shots, etc.  Below, on of the patrons queries me about the 1300, he can be seen in the driver's seat.  Generating good will for all of mogdom.  We ate and ate and ate.  I was totally stuffed.  Still, they wanted us to stay and generate more business.  But, we needed to shop for seafood and get diesel, so we left.

Once the shopping was completed, we headed back to the same spot on the bluff.  The view was good, the wind was light and we proceeded to totally pig out on the clams and shrimp.  While not as spectacular as the previous night, the sunset was still respectable as the sun sinks below the Sierra Juarez on the Baja Peninsula.  Note the tidal flats and the rivers of water waiting to trap trucks.

The balance of the evening was reasonably sedate, no high jinx, just a small fire and plenty of wine and beer.

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