Travelling by Motorcycle to Baja California Sur

What to Pack, What Not to Pack

Planning for our Adventure of a Lifetime has kept me occupied for the past 4 weeks. Even for me, a detail-oriented (Vern says, obsessive) planner, organizing what to take and how to pack was surprisingly difficult. I was given a limit to what I could take on this “Adventure of a Lifetime” and it all depended on weight.

When travelling by motorcycle it is important not to exceed the weight maximum for the bike. It is also important to distribute the weight evenly on the back of the bike. If there is too much weight on one side of the motorcycle it could easily tip over when getting on or off. Even if the kick stand sinks into soft earth or sand that can be enough for the bike to fall. When tipped over, a 1200 CC BMW motorcycle, fully loaded, is very heavy to lift, even for two people.

Personal Items for Hotel Room

We do not plan to stay in five star hotels while travelling the Baja peninsula. We would rather stay in inexpensive accommodations and have a longer trip. But we still like to have a cup of coffee and a smoothie in the morning and fruit and healthy snacks later in the day.

Vern knows of a number of places to stay along the routes we will take. The accommodations he chooses are not only cheap but safe and perfectly clean. He knows the people who run the little hotels, motels and private homes and has stayed there often. This will allow us to take a few items to help make us more comfortable in these homey establishments, such as:

• Small butane stove on which we can use a medium sized pot or fry pan.
• A small French press coffee make with aluminum thermos.
• Our Bullitt smoothie maker with one attachment.
• Compact kit with a pot and lid; two bowls that can be used as mugs with lids, sturdy knives, forks and spoons.
• A medium sized cutting and chopping knife and a small chopping board.
• Fruit and vegetable peeler.
• Set of plastic containers for salt, pepper, condiments and spices.
• A number of zip-lock baggies of different sizes in which we can keep, at least for a short time, items that don’t require refrigeration.
• We will purchase a small sized, light weight cooler for cold items while in Mexico and probably leave it behind when returning to Vancouver.

Items for the Beach

Because we both love swimming and snorkeling and spending as much time walking the beach as possible, I will pack items that we will use during most days, such as:

• A small beach umbrella that can be taken apart and folded up small enough to carry on the back of the motorcycle. Even with a large sun hat, the umbrella is nice to have if you tend to burn easily.
• A large-sized beach towel that can be folded into its own carrying bag. This can also be used as a spare blanket if a night or two is a little cooler than we are used to.
• Two bathing suits or swimming clothes for both of us—shorts and T-shirts are good as bathing suits.
• Aqua shoes for both of us—the beach can be rocky.
• Snorkeling mask, breathing tube, etc., for both of us.
• A brightly colored ball cap for both of us when swimming—to ensure we can be seen by boaters near the shore.
• A sun shade hat for me (able to be crushed when packing.)
• Long sleeved, light weight cover-up for me.
• Sunscreen for both of us.
• Sunglasses for both of us.

Clothes for Exploring

Because we both love swimming and snorkeling and spending as much time walking the beach as possible, I will pack items that we will use during most days, such as:

• Comfortable walking shoes.
• Shorts or long pants that are cool to wear and protect from sun, if needed.
• Short-sleeved shirts and one or two long sleeved shirts.
• Sun hats, ball caps etc.

I like to wear clothes with pockets to carry cash, keys, and sun protection. We also like to wear or carry our GoPro Hero 3 for instant photo and video opportunities.

Cold and Wet Weather Gear for Riding to the Mexican Border

We will not pack the following items, we will be wearing them on the first leg of our trip. But we will need to leave room in our bags for these clothes once we reach California and certainly by the time we reach northern Mexico. Riding a motorcycle during cold and rainy weather takes more focused energy and warm, rain-proof clothes. This is what I will wear:

• Long, thermal underwear.
• At least two pairs of warm socks.
• Tights over the thermal underwear.
• Warm sweater, with turtle-neck.
• Heated vest (plugged into passenger seat of bike).
• Padded winter jacket.
• Warm sweat pants over tights.
• Wet-weather, rain-proof pants over everything and wet-weather, rain-proof jacket over everything on top. The rain-proof gear is closed with zippers and then Velcro fasteners.

We both wear four or five layers and we both look extremely bulky. Vern not so much because he is tall. I, however, look like a black polar bear!

Our waterproof bags

We purchased these water-proof bags just before leaving Vancouver. These will be tied to the paniers (hard metal luggage boxes on the sides and back of motorcycle) and will carry our clothes.

We purchased three of these, one for each side and one across the back top box.

The yellow colour will stand out and the silver on the ends of the bags will also stand out. We want to be seen easily and not have these bags cover our tail lights or our turn indicators. The top bag will remain fairly empty so we may use it to carry our cold-weather clothes and boots when we reach the Baja Peninsula.

Next: Our Route to the Mexican Border