San Somewhere Labor Day, September 7, 2009:

They survived Jimena

"Mark the Neck" and I took off from LAX to Loreto on September 6th with 21 others to Loreto on Alaska Airlines.

We did not go into Loreto, but did get some gas by the new hospital out of Loreto. On the way out , heading to Insurgentes, CFE had brought in a generator and tapped into the sub-station...

...they have brought in many tankers full of fuel to keep the generators going.

The government has also put a lot of effort into getting the roads repaired

CFE is everywhere working to restore power. We were so impressed at the fast response time to get things working here. 

We saw these big power poles and wondered what was up??? Look at the small power poles to the left...those are working. Notice that there are no power poles on the right. They are building a new transmission line from Constitucion to connect to the line that feeds Loreto

This is the problem...

....as well as this. There must be 30-40 of these down. We were driving West towards Insurgentes

Here is the new line. There are men on every pole stringing cable

Signs are down everywhere

It took an act of God to get this sign down by the new PEMEX Station in Insurgentes!

Lots of Gas....power to the gas stations are being supplied by generators

They are working well!

I hope someone was close by to drink all the Cerveza that was inside when this fell over.

The Hardware store was open for "sidewalk business". They were flying the Mexican flag!

Outside one of the stores in Insurgentes

Everywhere you looked there was  something broken, blown away, shattered, etc.

The government was working their way towards La Purisima getting the road open. It was not a bad drive from Loreto to La Purisima.

Nothing was straight

Many of the power poles looked like this

When we arrived at La Purisima River, we were hopeful, as we spoke to some of the heavy equipment operators along the way and they said the road to San Somewhere was open

When we got there, we heard many different stories from the folks at the river's edge...

...I looked at this and say, "No way"

What a great way to spend a Sunday with family and friends!

There is always one brave sole to be the first....

...with a guide in front to mark a path, this Dodge 4x4, just went into the river...I thought he'd get stuck for sure....

...but no, he made it through. We had heard that he'd never make it past Los Burros. I just was not up for this adventure at 6:30 pm in the evening

The guy on the left overheard  Mark and I talking about  what to do. All I heard was, "Barrancas" and remembered "Two Peso" Paul telling me a while ago about coming in that way. I then asked myself how we'd make past the river towards Gregorio. Our new Amigo, "Jose", at that point said...No, mi Panga".

I said, "Sign us up for that ride!"

...so off we went. Loaded the family in the truck and headed back to Barrancas

We knew this was going to be different for sure

We pulled into "Jose's" property, got our stuff out, parked the Xbox and gave Jose money to go get gas for the Panga.

I had a load of Costco stuff that needed to get in the refrigerator...Mark wanted to sleep in his own bed in San Somewhere

Jose rallied five guys to help and within 15 minutes of getting to his  house, had a full crew down to the beach...this is why I love Baja!

He unloaded the traps, attached the battery to the motor...

...and had the Panga towed to the beach

This is the Panga method to launch.

His friend, Angel, came along, Jose pushed the panga into the surfline, and we were off!

Needless to say, we were both very happy!

We had a beautiful, but, "bone jarring" sunset cruise up to Gregorio and then it got dark. ,

The "Fish Patrol'  pulled us over, as they thought we were poachers...a little past Gregorio. They had spotted us on Radar. Once they pulled us over, it was like old home week...everybody, knew everybody. If we had only had some ice cold, Tecate's to give them, it would have been a "Kodak" moment for sure!

We landed right in front of Juan y Juan's. Jaime, Cynthia and Boozie were waiting for us up at JyJ's and had given up, that we would make it. 

Boy, were they surprised when we came walking up the hill. They had seen the Panga come in and said half joking, that, "it was probably Juan"...but they all got a good laugh from the comment and started to close up the place, as they had given up on us coming in by 9:00 pm.

 We ended up getting cold beer for our new friends, welcome Margaritas for us and "Bar b Qued" Chicken Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. Delivered to the door by Jose seen here bring in from the Panga.

I was told by a lot of the folks here, that Mark and I were the first Gringos to come in since the Hurricane...who knows, but it has been a bevy of activity here today!

All in all, another normal day here in San Somewhere (on Monday, September 7th)....but not a normal week for sure! The stories are coming out and I'll try to do another update. For now, they have punched through Los Burros, people are getting out and Chino hopes to be back by dark with fresh eggs, milk, more supplies and of course "mas cerveza". The town is out of beer!

This update is not to be taken all in jest…it’s just what happen to two guys coming in.

Everyone here is pitching in and helping folks who have damage or lost their home. Boozie has raised over $6,000 so far (with Pete Royce’s Company contributing a majority of that!) to help. Clothing, blankets…anything you can bring (if your coming in) will help. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those in Baja who have lost so much. All in all, San Somewhere dodge the big one this time.

Let me know if you need a photo of your house or property.

Have a great Labor Day and be thankful for all our jobs!!!