This volume is part of a series called Wandering the West that document my annual road-trips and adventures in the American West. I travel in a 4x4 truck with a small camper; the focus is exploring back roads and back-country, camping and hiking, and exploring for prehistoric rock art and cultural oddities. Here's an excerpt:

For the trip into Baja we met at the border town of Tecate to cross into Mexico, and traveled in a convoy of six vehicles for security. My rig was packed for living out of, so of course it was selected for inspection by Mexican authorities. What aroused them most was a large box full of topo maps and files with site information (for rock art locations) which must have looked suspicious. We were not going far into Mexico, about a hundred miles, but the last fifty miles were on rough dirt roads that led up into the Sierra Madre at 5,000 feet elevation, where we stayed at a remote rancho and hired the rancher to guide us to rock art sites in the mountains nearby. Rattling along over the rough roads the first day my truck started missing and the check engine light came on. Breaking down out here is not something you want to do. I was able to park it for three days at the ranch and ride with others, then limped back to Tecate and across the border where US customs agents waved me through without inspection, always a relief.

My truck troubles gradually worsened and I barely made it to Temecula, CA where I spent a week at my in-laws' house while the truck underwent major work at the Toyota dealer—a bummer and big expense but at least I had a nice place to stay and wasn’t stuck in motels. We visited Balboa Park in San Diego, and several pictograph sites near Perris during this time so it was a rather enjoyable interlude altogether.

Back on the road after my week in Temecula, I went camping and exploring in Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave Preserve, but within a few days the truck acted up again and I had to go to another Toyota dealer!