 it is cold it is so cold I need that sun to come up we have the moon up but that's not providing any warmth forgot how cold the desert can be mmm but the moon last night wow it was like daylight I had to sleep with a jacket over my head it was so bright oh there's some sunlight look what I found the footprints of the mythical beast called a chupacabra I knew I heard something out here last night you know I didn't forget this oh yeah I call it desert smooth whenever I leave a camp spot a beautiful one like this I usually just kind of wave thank you appreciate it I'll probably never sleep on this little plot of land again in my life so you know you got to give some respect to the tierra madre tierra today I'm going to a town called San Ignacio it's an oasis town I've actually been here before when I rode my bike down Baja in 2010 and I'm excited to check it out again there's an old Spanish mission it's a cool little town and there's some fresh water to jump in it's an oasis let's do it no crashes no whammies no flatties it is a beautiful Saturday morning here in Baja and you know I'm just sitting here I'm a bike thinking like I always do and I was thinking about Saturday morning cartoons and how much my week revolved around Saturdays when I was a kid I loved cartoons I'd wake up super early and watch as many as I could before we went and played soccer that's a fun memory right there so what I've noticed so far that's different from the last time I was at Baja and I don't want to jinx myself but the roads are sandy for sure you can see sand but it's not as deep and soft and silty and I think that's because last time we followed directly behind the Baja 1000 car race and a lot of areas and I think those cars just tore it up and we were just right behind it in the soft sand and not going anywhere I don't think the Baja 1000 was on this route and it's been raining a lot so things are packed down I know I'm gonna deal with some deeper sand later but so far this pedaling is much easier than pretty much anything we had last time it's pretty cool I had to get off my bike there's a sign for a little run show here and they still have the Christmas decorations up check it out I appreciate desert Christmas decorations that's awesome he's not just a snowman he's a snowman driving in a cool Barbie car type thing the Christmas spirit is still live out here on January 10th I found some of the slow-going road I'm going about five miles an hour that's about as fast as you can go it's essentially like riding your bike in a riverbed and you're bouncing from rock to rock and bumbling around and that tailwind I had yesterday is now a headwind things change fast in Baja for a bean break better than an energy bar right Sandy Sandy Sandy here we go our first big hill here let's see if we can get this started again it's always hard to start mid-hill I think it's hard quick I think I can I think I can nope maybe not I think I can I think you can this probably doesn't look as hard on camera as it does in real life but trust me this is hard come on my first tough push of 2020 I'm gonna walk this section here it's a little tough let's try riding let's see if this is even possible nope oh yeah we're cruising come on come on you got it you got it bud yeah I found the deep sand last time fighting through it and riding doesn't get you anywhere yeah it'd be nice to have a fat bike right here but for the most part that bikes in general are just a lot slower you find some weird things in the desert I found this Tweety bird just off the side of this road it says con mucho cariño para ti with lots of love for you like what is this little sign that hangs on the outside of a house or something I'm actually gonna set this up so the next rider that sees it gets a little love from Tweety bird this is some sketchy riding so beautiful in here so this is pretty exciting these palm trees right behind me are date palms in this whole area is known for for the date palms because of the the natural water spring water it's an oasis it's crazy it's also just nice to stand here and listen to the breeze blow through the palm trees that's the sound that I I don't get in Boulder it's one of those tropical sounds when you dream of going somewhere warm that's the sound just laying on the beach listening to that all day as hard as it might be right now I'm not freezing my butt off in Boulder that's a good thing and zoom into some dates for you there's some of the famous dates hanging from that tree I have made it out of the date palm sand and loose rock gauntlet have a nice paved road into town wow it's incredible that this town just pops out of nowhere there's a beautiful old mission right there I spent Mexican independence day here in 2010 there were lots of fireworks going off this is pretty cool I've never had this type of information before but I went 21.8 miles I was riding for three hours and 17 minutes my average speed was six miles an hour max was nineteen point nine twelve hundred feet climbing and nine fifty five descending that's pretty cool last time I came here I did not have time to go in the mission so I'm gonna go in here this time impressive and to think this exists in the middle of the Baja Peninsula this place totally feels like it belongs somewhere in Europe really well preserved it's so quiet like Baja is already like a really quiet place but being inside of here you just have a extra feeling of solitude I bet on a warm hot summer day this would be a good place to go and escape the heat check it out it's one of those places when you come and confess your sins so old-school I love it I've been a good boy thank you nothing to confess well I ate too many beans last night good thing I wasn't camping with anybody I'm reading this here right now this was built in 1732 to 1759 this is really interesting up here in the corners here there's these faces they look like indigenous faces it might be a mix of you know who was here first and then of course we have all the the typical things you'd see in a Christian church with Jesus and the disciples but this is very curious these little faces right here as you walk in right outside of the mission there's a teeny orchard it looks like they're growing lemons and they've also decorated it for Christmas what a beautiful spot duck fart these ducks make fart noises there is a beautiful river in the middle of this town hey farting duck stop it and I don't get to swim in rivers very often back home in Colorado in January so I'm gonna take advantage of this first plunge of 2020 usually I do a polar plunge on New Year's Day in Boulder and it's freezing this isn't that cold but it still is pretty cold water just rejuvenates the soul you know you can be having a tough day and kind of feeling out of it and water bam just wakes you up this is some deluxe camping I have my own bench right here to look at the water that's what I'm talking about that's what 75 pesos gets you all right so here I am getting ready to set up my tent in this nice friendly feller with a Canadian accent rides up and it's this guy how's it going good right how are you doing great you don't have the typical ring this is a little heavier hey buddy who's this yeah that's Mira yeah this rigs about 40 pounds heavier than everyone else's bike set up and you're doing the right yeah that's right yeah it's second time actually did it last year with Mira a different setup we had a trailer a bob trailer then really and this actually said the setups better for sure but no it's good fun like you you got to adjust your days you adjust your pace but I mean I just stopped at the grocery store for a couple of snacks and you know people are stopping they're smiling they're they're petting you're they you know they want to talk so you never get lonely no I mean the conversations are one sided most of time but yeah no that's great and she doesn't mind getting bounced around all in the back she doesn't seem to complain yeah she has a good life I think she doesn't have a good life yeah oh you're so sweet she's such a people person yeah yeah and you started where yeah well just outside of Banff Alberta in Canmore how long ago yeah I'll I'm in about a week I'll be three months and how far are you going a long way I think yeah I love it yeah I'll take some breaks for work I need to fly back to Canada and other places but I'll keep going south until I have to go north that's that that's what this trip is yeah dude yeah I'm so glad I met you yeah me too inspiration this is an incredible story no yeah it's funny right because for those that didn't see me just show up here I've just come into this campsite to meet some other people that I met on on the on the road and watching YouTube like you do even when you're traveling I'd followed Ryan's story from two years ago yeah two years ago right and and it was great to see that happening while I was preparing my trip and and and I was disappointed like a lot of the viewers you know when you didn't finish but you know you could understand right sorry yeah and then excited that you are gonna complete it yeah and so I come in here I recognize the rack on the back of the bike your hair color the helmet you can say gray you can say gray hey yeah great pride yeah and so I was like hey Ryan and the answer to it so yeah it's a small world I love this world of bike packers youtubers all this other random stuff and you like the bar how do you love the bar how do you do you just like traveling by bike how old is she she's about two and a half now yeah well traveled she's done this will be her second time on the divide and and she's been all around Spain and wow she's tired yeah she's like you guys are boring stop talking okay thank you Baja for another beautiful day we will see you in the morning Buenos noches so slippery and I just hit the deck that was so fast