 Thank you, cozy bed. I appreciate it. Looking good. Have fun. This is very cheap to get the purified water. Don't buy the bottled water. This was only 10 pesos total for both of us, which is, you know, 20 pesos to an American dollar. So, oh, yeah. Feels good having pumped up tires. Woohoo! Got some dogs that want to hang out with Mira. Okay, Buenos Dias, John. It's time to sing our song. No crashes. No flatties. No whammies. Hi there. You can stay away. You don't look friendly. Bye. Done. So, this is the main highway here heading south out of Mulahay. And usually riding on roads, there's tons of traffic, but there really isn't all that much traffic on this road. And the great thing is, most Mexican drivers are very cool and they give you a lot of space when they go past you. That being said, though, you still have to be careful. And being on this road, just for this little bit this morning, reminds me why I love riding off-road. It's just a lot more peaceful. There's a big car. That one stinks. There you go, bud. I've got all these spots here with RVs and palapas. I need to remember this for the future when I get older and have an RV. Come park it down here. We've gotten off our bikes here at a secluded area. Not so much for us, but because we think it's time to play a little fetch with our best friend, Mira. Right? You want to play? You want to play, buddy? What do you think, Mira? Look at all these sticks. This is dog heaven right here. Look at them all. I know it's like we're Roman. You don't even know which one to choose. Ready? One, two, brah! It's over there. Oh yeah, I found a chair. This is a good little lunchtime chair. So it's not just beans that I love. I also love peanut butter. And sometimes I put peanut butter in tortillas and it makes a really good treat. And sometimes if I have honey, I put honey in or jelly or even bananas. What are you having for lunch? Beans? Yeah! Mira, you are relentless. You want that stick, don't you? Okay, it is time to learn more about John and his dog and how exactly he carries it because this is not just some regular bicycle. So this year versus last year, last year I had a Bob trailer on a salsa muckluck. So a carbon fat bike with a Bob trailer. It had some some pluses and some minuses. The big one is that it bounces quite a lot when the dog's not in it. And it's quite long and heavy. So I saw Salsa had come out with these bikes. They redid the Blackboro model. So it's basically a fat bike with about eight and a half inch extension fit in between the seat tube and the tire. And then it came with this great rack. I mean it's pretty burly. It's rated for 100 pounds. So I thought to myself, well with a 40 pound dog that gives me lots of room for some gear and a buffer for bouncing around on the Baja. And this is what it looks like when it's all built up. Then you have like your dog pad in here. Yeah, you got it. So there's a pad that comes out to go into the tent at night, protect the tent floor and offered her some insulation and padding. And then this is just from a warehouse supply place. Some padding around the edges for her and the protector that was just whipped together by porcelain rocket. And then it's at a pannier. So you couldn't use a seat bag on here. So some people may like that or not. But it's really easy to pack and nice small ones. And then a little custom bag that fits into the void that would be there. There's mounts for a large water bottle if you want. But this is perfect for dog food. Just open that up. There's your bowl and carry about two kilograms of dog food as a max, which is great because there are some prepackaged bags that size. And you have no problem finding dog food in the middle of Baja? No, it's easy. Lots of shops will bring in a large bag and they break it up or you can scoop it so you can get what you need. You're not committed to a large bag. And there's a variety of kibbles and stuff like that. And I could, you know, I could always go to Karnity, Syria, like a butcher shop and get some stuff for too. So it's been good. How heavy does this whole rig with her in it weigh? So ready to go with several days of food and fuel, not fully loaded in water. This bike was I think 88 pounds. And Mira is probably somewhere between 35 and 40 pounds. So you know, it's a pretty heavy rig like 120 pounds give or take, you know, with less, a little bit less food, a little bit more food. So some days you got to pump out some watts to keep this thing trucking. And this guy rides fast. Like we're not just going slow where he's going as fast as anybody else on the road, faster probably. It's pretty impressive to watch. He's got legs of steel, Canadian steel legs. One of the things that I did modify on the bike are larger brake rotors with, you know, 120 pound rig with dog until you need some stopping power. One more stick. We'll go with the grande size stick. You ready? You ready? Hey, Ryan, don't forget your chair. You're carrying a dog basket. I can put this back here. Let's see. I can carry Mira now. Okay, Mira, get in. Get in. Get in. A lot of the roadside restaurants in Baja look pretty beat up. They definitely look like they've had better days. But there's a certain charm to them that I really enjoy. And there's one thing you will always find in the plastic tables, a pile of different hot sauces. So good. I love this. I can eat it all day. Alright, say goodbye to this pavement. We're going back to the dirt. 45 miles on pavement. That was a lot. Although it wasn't easy. It was a lot of up and down for sure. See this right here? This is where we're gonna camp. We're gonna call it good. We've ridden 52.9 miles. And today was definitely our biggest climbing day. We went up 3,550 feet. But first before setting up camp, we got to play a little fetch. Give me the stick. Give me the stick. Give it to me. Give it to me. Here we go. Here we go. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Drop it. Good morning from the desert. Today is the first morning that's actually warm and not cold and I'm not shivering. It's great and there's a beautiful sunrise. Some great colors in the sky. It's like hot pink. Slept really well last night, although I did pop my mattress in the middle of the night. You got to be really careful out here in Baja. There's always some thorns. You got to clear out under your tent and I didn't do that well enough. So about midnight. So I was fussing around with my light and I patched that thing at midnight and slept the rest of the night. Good morning, bud. Hi, did you come up for your morning hug? Did you come up for your morning hug? I was going to film the sunrise, but you're a lot prettier than the sunrise. You don't let me grab the stick. You don't let me grab it. We're going to play the keep away game. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. You're such a goofball guy. I got hold of it. Let go. Let go. Do you want to fetch or not? Why is it that you're always packed up before me? I feel like such a slacker around you. You're like ready to go making coffee. I think it's because I spend so much time traveling down here in the cold weather. It's like I'm just got a pattern going now. How many sticks do you have? You have three sticks? You can spare one of those, I'm sure. Come on here. Give me one. Give me one of these. Give me one of these. All right, Mary, are you ready to ride bikes? Yeah, you're ready to ride bikes? No crashes. No whammy. Yeah, no flatties. Let's do it. Yeah. Beautiful day, ladies and gentlemen. Hey, buddy. Let's go. Let's go. Thanks for the hug. I think dad wants you in the basket. Go. Go in the basket. There you go. This here is fascinating. We are in the total middle of nowhere. We have not seen a car or human in the day and a half we've been on this road and there's a shrine here and the candles are even lit. So, I don't know like when the last time somebody came through here but the candles are lit and you'll see places like this all over the roads of Mexico and towns and stuff and pretty impressive. It's like a little garden here. There's flowers. I've never been much of a traditional religious person. I didn't grow up going to church. I don't go to church now but I do find these places very peaceful and I can see why people are are drawn to places of worship. I think this is pretty much here to to bid travelers well as they drive on the road here. How are you guys? The road today has been really nice. I mean we're going up and down some pretty steep stuff but it's a very rideable terrain which makes me happy. No sand. No big boulders. Just your typical dirt road. I am very impressed with these two right here. These hills are hard. My legs are screaming at me and John's powering up these hills with a very loaded down heavy bike and there's a little mirror just leading the way and it's inspiring me to go faster. Hey buddy. We made it to the top. We did. Oh you're the sweetest dog in the world. You really are. Hi guys. Look at this. Oasis town. You can see the palm trees are back. So beautiful. Wow. So I just asked that guy in place to get food and he started yelling at his tia which is aunt and hopefully this is going to work out. The women here are super friendly and the grandma is so cute. She's like. We're not from here. Nope. So sweet and they have some birdies. Look at these guys. Hi. It's my first time here. I love coming across little gems like this and it's the kind of place where I don't think I'll ever come back through here again unless I happen to do the Baja Divide. I mean we're really out here. It's definitely off the tourist trail and you find a nice family willing to make you food and they're just so sweet and welcoming and it has a really good vibe here. I am a fan of this spot. This right here. This is the plate I dream of when I'm starving anywhere in the world. The simple Mexican platotipico except for the salchicha. She didn't get the note that I'm a vegetarian but I'll give it to my man from Canada. Yeah, I'll manage. Cheers, buddy. Muchísimas gracias. Bueno, nos vemos hasta la próxima vez. You ready to go now? Yeah, you're ready. You're ready to go. That's a big hill. Look at that. Mira, why aren't you running? Come on, Mira. You got it, girl. It's a big hill. It's definitely the biggest hill that I've ridden on this trip in the Baja Divide so far. Oh, there you are. Come on, Mira. Come on, Mira. Let's go, bud. We're not even close to done. There's a lot more up. There you go. Today's been pretty tough with the up and the down but we're totally being aided by the fact that it's like 70 degrees. My bike computer says 71. There are some things in life that just put a smile on my face like a pair of shoes hanging off a power line in the middle of nowhere. You know, I expect to see that in cities or in college areas of small towns but you can even find it in the desert here. Hi there, everybody. Hello. It's raining now. Oh, warm me up, please. Yeah, warm me up. Quick visit to the cemetery. It's a cool place to rest for eternity, right? Many, many years ago when I was riding my bike from Honduras to Colorado, I went through Mexico and I was there on day of the dead and on day of the dead, the families come out to the cemeteries and bring all the things that their loved ones loved in life so it might be beer or special treats or whatever and they make little altars around each little gravestone and they a lot of times spend the night out here with them and I like how the Mexicans view death. It's not so much like it's the worst thing in the world. It's just a natural part of life and everybody's going to die and we might as well, you know, honor those who have been with us throughout their lives by just, you know, bringing them a little treat once a year and if you've seen the movie Coco, you know, all about what I'm saying and I just really enjoy el día de los muertos. Whenever I die, hopefully, not anytime soon, you know what I want on my altar. At least one thing for sure, frijoles. That's going to be our spot for tonight. San Jose, another oasis town. Yeah, feels good to be here. We've gone 50 miles. It's been a hard day. My legs are definitely tired. I think I've been riding what, six straight days now? Free TVs! Buenas tardes. I asked this lady about dinner and then about camping and she's walking us over to the huerta, which means orchard. So we have been taken to the little storehouse it looks like. He says this is where they process sugarcane and make sugarcane juice. What do you think about this spot? You like this spot? High five, bud. Oh, yeah. Amazing. Good day. Definitely landed on our feet today. Yeah, we did. Yeah, two amazing towns and friendly people. It's crazy like how this guy just like, yeah, we'll take him over here and I'll rearrange all my stuff and boom, just take it over. The level of generosity of the people here, it just doesn't get shared enough with others. Sure, maybe they'll take a few pesos for a meal or for a spot to camp. But that's not the vibe you're getting from these people. They're generally looking to take care of you. The hospitality is amazing. And let me show you the best part, maybe not the best part, but a very cool part. There's actually power. Look at this. So we can charge up all of our stuff. Here's a bathtub for you. Yeah. Get in, bud. There's a lot going on here. It's not just sugarcane. They also have grapes. And the young guy, Haciel, said that there is a wine festival here once a year and it becomes quite the party, he said. I can only imagine all the people surrounding towns come into this little village, getting hammered on some good wine. And here is the sugarcane. Did you ever know where sugar comes from? Well, this kind of sugar. There's also beet sugar. But this is cane sugar. And I just found a bunch of pressed sugarcane. So they've taken this through the press over there and squeezed out all the goodness. And this is the remnants. And at least in Honduras, they burn all this stuff. And there's a time of year in Honduras, probably lots of Latin American countries, where the sky is so polluted with sugarcane fields on fire. And then, of course, all these tall palm trees around here are date palms. So they're producing a lot of good stuff. Who taught you your manners? I thought Canadians were supposed to be really well-mannered. All right, John, it's seven o'clock. Time for bed. We go to bed early in Baja because it gets dark early. And we're burning a lot of calories. And the days are very tiring, but so full. Today was an incredible day. We both had a wonderful time exploring this beautiful land. So here we go. There's where I'm getting all cozy tonight.