By Bill Banks
This adventure in the desert grew out of a scheduled Sierra Club trip in April 1976 led by the late, great Ron Fracisco. The plan was to meet in San Felipe & car caravan the 4WD route along the Sea of Cortez to Cabo San Lucas. All went well with our 10 car caravan until the clutch cable broke on my 10 year old VW Bug outside Guerro Negro. Fortunately there was a VW mechanic in the town and after a days delay ,I rejoined the group 100 miles south. Finally when we reached Land's End at the Cape, we had a party & barbecue & for me things became too tame & socially predictable, i.e boring.
Caravaning back to L.A. on the paved highway was not my idea of adventure and besides, I was really suffering from "social disease". For me to be around other people for more than a day or two is all I can tolerate without severe misanthropic depression and irritability.
I announced my solo departure at 3 the next morning for a nonstop drive back along the Gulf. About 6:30 am on a desolate stretch between Loreto & Los Cruceros my engine literally exploded. My trouble was a thrown tie rod, seized pistons and other terminal conditions that all other VWs are predisposed to.
While eating my fruit cocktail breakfast & contemplating my course of action, a short dark, powerfully built man emerged from a culvert underneath the roadway. As I was 60 miles from nowhere this strange looking man's sudden appearance was all the more frightening. It was obvious that I was helpless.
After a brief conversation about the terminal condition of my car, I offered to share what food & water I had for however long it would take us to get a ride north. Instead, he had a plan for both of us which he let me know was not open to cOntradiction.
In brief, it entailed travelling cross country in a northerly direction to a rendezvous with his confederates. The tale unwound slowly during, the next two days with Juan Carlos. He'd escaped a week earlier from a maximum security block for murders in the Acapulco Federal Penitentiary!
He was the leader of a gang of 50 to 80 thugs whose enterprises included prostitution, drugs & extortion. He'd also spent time in Levenworth and other U.S jail and penitentiaries. He'd already contacted his gang and we were on our way to the rendezvous 80 miles away.