Around midnight, the publishers chose to head north back toward San Diego while we took the diesel Grand Cherokee south on the racecourse toward race mile 519.
SOUTH TO BAY OF L.A.
Driving on the highways in baja can be very dangerous during the day. At night, it can be suicide. Race traffic and chase vehicles were speeding all over the peninsula, the roads were narrow and twisty, and the local tractor-trailer drivers operate as if they owned the road. We were relieved when we made it off Highway 1 and cut over toward the bahia De Los Angeles (bay of L.A.).
The two-lane road to the bay of L.A. was eerily quiet. We drove east into the night for hours and saw almost no traffic. We thought that was odd until we came across a makeshift police checkpoint that was only allowing race traffic to pass through. They waved our Jeep by without even questioning the fact that we didn't have helmets on, or a race number on our vehicle.
SLEEPING IN THE FRONT SEAT
By 1:30 a.m., we'd made it to the bay of L.A. and were ready to crash. We'll pass along one tip we learned while sleeping in our Jeep: Don't go to bed facing the road. If and when you wake up in the middle of the night in the driver seat, it can be a terrifying experience trying to drive the vehicle-until you realize you're not moving.