11/23 Day 2 and things went pretty smooth. Saw a military checkpoint just out of Rosarito but they were only stopping people heading north. No police action today even though I was on the toll road for a while. I think bicycles might actually be allowed on the 1-D south of the Rosarito because I didn’t see a single sign all day. At one point I had to ride back a mile because the free road was heading way inland whereas the 1-D stayed along the coast.
The road conditions were much better today. Riding on the 1-D was just as smooth as any highway I’d been on in the US. Even the free road was in pretty good shape.
Before I got to Mexico I read in multiple places that garbage was everywhere. Maybe its further south but so far I haven’t seen any. The only thing I did see which brought back memories were a bunch a plastic bottles filled with pee. I guess its a universal thing.
Right before Ensenada there was another toll booth. I rode up to this one and made like I was going to walk through it using the sidewalk on the far right. This time I got busted. A security guy was standing there and told me to stop. He didn’t speak English so once it was clear that we weren’t going to have a productive conversation he walked over to a nearby office building and talked to a guy inside. After a minute he came over and motioned for me to walk my bike around the gate and keep going. Sweet.
Ensenada is a lot bigger than I thought. I went into the tourist center to ask if there was a bike shop in town and the English-speaking woman drew on a map where it was. Nice. So I rode along after making a couple siteseeing stops. One of the things I saw was the largest flag of Mexico in the entire country. It’s about 328 feet across!
A few miles further on I realized I’d probably gone too far so I turned around and eventually found where the bike shop was supposed to be. No luck though. It just wasn’t there. It was going to be dark soon so I found a nearby motel and checked in for the night. The guy that runs the place is great and he speaks English very well. I told him about the bike shop and he said it had gone out of business a while ago. No tubes for me I guess.
Beer always helps in situations like this so I went over to the bar down the street and hung out there. This turned out to be interesting. The bartender and her 2 girlfriends were the only ones there. This is the first time I really wish I knew Spanish. 
One of them spoke a tiny bit of English but try as we might small talk wasn’t happening. I bid adios and came back to the motel. The owner stopped me with some great news. Someone he knew here said they’d drive me over to a bike shop in the morning. How awesome is that? He also brought over a portable heater for the room since its a bit chilly out.
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