I met up with Brian Miracle again in San Ignacio. It was a slough from Vizcaino to get there, same as all the other days because that’s what I made of them. I think it was 80 miles of sand and boulder between Vizcaino (a highway town) and San Ignacio. And moreover, it was probably 250 miles from Bay of LA to San Ignacio. So a three day roll from there to S.I. and I was finely cooked by these days of overall riding. The final day to S.I from Vizcaino was especially challenging, set in a far outcast desert full of decayed ranches and sand; a loop primarily routed to avoid the highway (many often opt for the highway in fact). My motivation was to get through it, so I smashed pedals all day.
These episodes of overindulgence in pain and distance resulted in craving mass amounts of time off the bike and in this way the tour began to feel right, and it began to stretch as I lounged in the various villages between bouts of riding. It seemed perfect but it was also costly. The arrival of San Ignacio was supreme and as dusk was coming on I initially scoured for a place to camp only to resort to a room later in the evening just at the highway turnoff. San ignacio is a lagoon in the desert, full of culture and food and so much amenity, It was easy to stay albeit keeping an eye on the budget with the luxury of food and lodging. I would wait out a storm for a few days there. if not for the cost, I would have become a resident same as in Bahia de los Angeles. But where BdLA was a mind melding desert village, San Ignacio was a quiet paradise that, while immersed in it, one would never realize that a desert surrounds it out to the horizons.
It was maybe day three that Brian left again, he was impatient and departed in light rain after a primary storm had blown through. I was way too uncertain and would wait it out further to avoid any deathmud scenarios. Brian later told me over text that he was submerging his bike throughout the day as he went across the salt flats. That would be the end of our paths crossing. He would stay ahead of me but later succumb to drivetrain failure in La Paz and from there, eject back into the United States.
