We started the month of February making our way to the coast for an impending Baja trip. We stopped along the way in Oceanside, California to see our friends, Tierney and Cory. Oceanside was the first opportunity we had take our new surfboards out on their maiden voyage. We had a killer time surfing the harbor with Tierney while getting to know the boards. Knowing that the service would be pretty none existent while we were in Baja, we decided to wrap up all of our current projects and take the two weeks off from work. Our last few days before crossing we spent what time was not spent on our boards making a (slightly stressful) push to get all of our work finished!

There was one major problem with our plans for Baja in my eyes (Owen)...we were leaving on February 5th, Super Bowl Sunday. When we made these plans I didn’t think my beloved Falcons had any shot of being in the Super Bowl so it wasn’t a problem. Much to my delight though, they torched everyone in their path and made it to the Super Bowl. So this was great but also a problem...

Our plan was to meet up with our Baja crew, consisting of Matt, Allie, Ben, and Shestin on the morning of the 5th (Super Bowl Sunday) and cross the border together. On the 4th, unfortunately Ben and Shestin had some van issues and were not going to be able to cross until the 6th. Needing to scrap our current plans we decided to watch the Super Bowl in San Diego with Matt and Allie and then cross early in the morning on the 6th.

Note: The Super Bowl was the best thing I’ve ever seen and then it became the worst thing I’ve ever seen. We’ll leave it at that.

The next day we crossed into Mexico at Tijuana and made our way down the coast to San Miguel for a surf day while we waited for Ben and Shestin to catch up with us. Ben and Shestin made it as night settled. We celebrated our group finally being complete and in one piece. In the morning we made our long trek down to the seven sisters for a week of amazing surfing.

Baja absolutely lived up to the hype. We had put in a solid week of surfing when we all became so sore we could hardly paddle. Needing a few rest days we all decided to relocate to calmer waters. Ben and Shestin went south and Matt, Allie, and ourselves made our way east to Bahia De Los Angeles.

On our way to Bahia De Los Angeles we met a guy name Mike who has been traveling to the four corners of the continent on a Honda Ruckus! He has been at it for over 3 years now! We thought we lived small but Mike puts us all to shame. Being that he did not have any major plans he tagged along with us for the next 3 days as we spent our time there swimming, spearfishing, hunting for scallops and eating tacos.

We promise to go into more detail on our expedition down into Baja in a few upcoming blog posts! Keep your eyes peeled for em’!

After leaving Baja we ended back up back in Oceanside for a few more days where we slowly got ourselves back into the workflow and snuck in another surf session. From Oceanside, we made our way to Joshua Tree National Park. Our favorite thing we did in the park was hike through Rattlesnake Canyon (the hike info is linked) with our friends, Thomas & Hanna, who met up with us for the weekend. It’s a hike without a specifically marked trail, you walk, scramble, and climb your way up the slot canyon for as far as you want to go. It’s killer!

Later in our stay in the Joshua Tree area we met Pete and Taylor, and Tom. Pete and Taylor fellow travelers and are actually wrapping up an ebook about their buildout process for their sprinter! Tom is a fellow Vanagon traveller hailing from the Massachusetts.

Pro tip: If you are visiting Joshua Tree National Park during peak season (Fall and Spring) and you are unable to camp in the park, there are some great BLM options just north and south of the park! Totally free and close to everything. Check out our map to guide you! ** As always it is great to support our amazing National Park system by staying in the park when you can**

That wraps up February. Thanks to Tierney and Corey for being the hosts with the most! Hope you all had an equally great February!