Slow Baja - Hank Morton Sponsor Spotlight: Baja Bound Insurance

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

Hank Morton joined Baja Bound shortly after he graduated from college in the mid-90s. Between jobs, his goal was to teach himself coding while taking his father's small brick-and-mortar Mexico Driving Insurance business online. He singlehandedly made buying Mexican Insurance online easy and affordable. In those days, “getting online” was a big deal; the .com craze was in full swing, and after Hank realized the massive potential of Bajabound.com, he stayed with the business. “Drive-thrus are for burgers, not for insurance,” Morton says. Baja Bound Insurance became the first in the industry to let customers purchase, pay for, and print policies from home. Baja Bound remains devoted to convenience and efficiency, saving its customers valuable time at the border. Their website provides well-researched, vetted, primary-source information on coverage, visas, permits, travel tips, and destinations. It's my go-to site for sharing critical travel information with my Slow Baja Expedition guests.As the biggest (and best) in the industry, Baja Bound’s customer service is legendary. Their small, dedicated employee team is passionate about helping clients solve their problems—during business hours and often after hours and on weekends. Their relationships with the top carriers in the business ensure that their customers receive the absolute best care when dealing with a claim.Since racing the La Carrera Panamericana in 2006, I’ve trusted Baja Bound for all my Mexico driving insurance. They’ve sponsored my Slow Baja Podcast since 2020 and have supported my Slow Baja Adventures since 2023. As a loyal customer and genuine fan, I’m grateful for their partnership. Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at Baja Bound—and thanks to Hank Morton for a great conversation!More on Baja Bound Insurance here.Need Baja Bound Insurance? Click here.Support Slow Baja with a donation here.Join a Slow Baja Adventure here.

Hang on, I want Josiah to turn all the cameras on so that you can deliver the beer on camera, because that's important. We're here at Unamas, getting a taste of Baja, and we're doing, we're having a little fun. Yeah, we are. Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning in to the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Well, if you've been listening to me for a while, you know I'm an absolute minimalist when it comes to Baja travel. But the one thing I never leave home without is a good old paper map.

And my favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful, Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by benchmark maps. It's an oversized 72-page book jam-packed with details, and now you can get it from me at slowbaha.com. That's right. You can get it in the Slow Baja shop, and in fact, you better get two, one for your trip planning at home and one for your Baja rig. And if you love maps and you can't get enough of them like me, let me tell you about two sites I am absolutely obsessed with. Eastview MapLink and Longitude Maps.com. Whatever you're looking for in Maps, it's there. From the entire benchmark collection to Baja Wall Maps to custom maps,

you'll find it all at LongitudeMaps.com or EVMapLink.com. You know I've long said it, ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. Well, if you've been hankering to get down to Slow Baja with me, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at SlowBaha.com. All my trips are there, from my famed fall vintage extravaganza to my winter and summer expeditions, which are open to trucks of any age. You know, on a slow Baja expedition, your meals are always included, which really does take the sting out of camping. And when we get off the trail, let me tell you, we have the happiest of happy hours.

If good dirt roads, private campsites, ranch stays, great food, and great people sounds like you're kind of fun, well, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at slowbaha.com. But don't delay. These trips are small, they're highly immersive, and they will sell out. And folks, just so you know, I am always here for you for your Baja trip planning questions. One question, 100 questions, the easy way to get me is slowbaha.com slash contact. And if you'd like to go to Baja and you don't want to go by yourself, you don't have a vintage vehicle, my winter trip doesn't work out for you, I am happy to talk to you about organizing and leading

a private guided tour. I've done it. I've loved it. The pictures are over there at slowbaha.com slash adventures. And you can check them out. And if you've got some questions, let's talk. From the shield man recording booth at Slow Baja Studios, thanks for tuning in to today's Slow Baja. My heaping dose of gratitude goes out to Josiah Row. Now, Josiah's alumni of his own show way, way, way back in the archives and our paths have been crossing in Baja and around for many years, but Josiah is now running the creative side of Baja Bound. He's bringing great new look to the Baja Bound bulletin, and I can't wait to have him sharing things like this Slow Baja podcast. So thanks, Josiah, for getting this Slow Baja sponsor

spotlight with Hank Morton arranged. That's pretty cool. And Hank and I had a great conversation. Now, Hank's father is a doctor, and he saw all these people driving down to Baja. His office was right down there on the border. He saw all these people driving down to Baja and driving through kiosks and getting their insurance. He said, you know what? I'm going to be retired one day. I need to have something else to do. And he became an insurance broker and founded Baja bound insurance. And back in the 90s, Hank was just out of college, just in between his first job and his next job. And he thought he would take his dad's insurance company online. Like online, you used to to be a thing. Getting it online was a process. And Hank figured it out, wrote all that code,

got the company online, and you know what? There's a lot of opportunity there, and he's been running things ever since. So thanks for making some time for me today, Hank. And I hope you like this podcast. Hank has spent a lot of time in and around Baja, and he brings some real knowledge on things that you need to know. We do a little myth-busting at the end. So without further ado, It's Hank Morton today on Slow Baja. Hank Morton, Baja Bound. Stoke to be here at Unumas with you today in a beautiful day in San Diego.

And having a Punta Baja here, this is my go-to for a little taste of Baja, California when I'm in San Diego, you know, getting ready for a trip or just back from a trip. It's always a delight to come here and see the crew, see Colin behind the bar and see the Donovan boys. And nice to see you here. Cheers, Michael. Yeah, I think that's the idea of this place.

It's like a little window to the south, right? Absolutely. And they've done, I think, a pretty good job at curating a good selection of, I think, almost 100% Baja beers. The food here and not to get to the restaurant review of Unamath. The food is just fantastic. So we can get just a little plug on Unimaz. you're looking for a good selection of Baja beers and some really good, you know, very, like straight out of the valley, the Valle Guayay, the chef is a killer chef.

And I highly recommend it. Yeah, well, I've really enjoyed it. And I'm really curious about your childhood, how Baja came into your life. I know you have a famed cousin, Tim Morton, Mr. Motorcycle. Did you guys overlap at all as kids? Were your dad's tight? And did you guys take family trips to Baja? Absolutely.

Yeah, actually, you know, we didn't do, so Tim is a little bit older than me. We knew each other, like at a lot of the family events. I don't think we did that much as kids, like with Baja trip overlapping, mainly because of our age difference. But my dad and my uncle, Tim's dad, they're really close. You know, they have a whole Baja legacy. You know, my uncle actually did, like, in the 50s, he drove all the way to Cabo on the dirt road. Just think about that for a second. Yeah.

Think about that. Totally. Can you, like, the kind of Cajonis for that. Yeah, brutal. Pretty amazing, you know. So really cool. So a lot of family legacy there in terms of Baja, you know, officinados in my family. And you grew up here.

You grew up in San Diego. Yep. And so yeah, grew up in Coronado. So really honestly, always like 10 miles away from the border. Actually, I started early childhood in Imperial Beach. So even that much closer. I lived on the Tijuana Estuary. Our place was kind of right on the ocean in Tijuana Estuary.

So like I could literally walk to, I mean, it was a long walk, but you could walk all the way down to, you know, Boka del Rio. and see the border, like you could, you know, see the bull ring more up close. And so I've always had, I've always been looking at the border kind of my whole life. Growing up that close to the border, what was it like for you as a high schooler? Were you able to just say, hey, mom and dad, I'm going down to, you know, Rosarito or heading over to go surf K-38 or something like that? Yeah, you know, my dad, my parents were, like, quite a bit more permissive now that. I think about it as a dad myself than I am. But yeah, like we did go.

We didn't go that much because we usually went with our parents. Like my dad would take us down, you know, as a high schooler. We did some pretty amazing camping trips all the way down. We would go to San Juanico, Scorpion Bay. That was like the big summer trip. And we did that like probably three summers during high school. Did your dad surf as well? He did.

he started surfing at the age of 50. God, that's, that's, I still have a chance. I mean, 60. We all do. If he can start at 50, we all have a chance, exactly. So that was his claim to fame. And he just loved it. And I think more than anything, it was like, as a dad myself, like it was just that quality of time with your kids.

Right. And so he organized these trips. And we would go with my neighbor, next door neighbor, who was the head life guard at Coronado, Mike Neal. And then there were some other friends, too, some old surfer friends of his that would sometimes come along. A famous guy named Dave Chalmers, D.C., super well-known guy in the Coronado world he's passed on now. But yeah, so I just have vivid memories of me and my high school buddies going with my dad and his buddies on Baja trips. Baja trip. 100%.

Let's go surf. Yeah, pretty amazing. Can I ask a little bit about the vehicles? What were you guys driving in those days? Do you have a suburban or something? No, no. It was a Ford F-250 diesel. Okay.

With a camper shell. And my dad had that truck kind of all throughout growing up. But your dad was a doctor, correct? He was a doctor. Yeah. He was a doctor. Every doctor, I understand, wants to be a mechanic. Is that true?

I don't think, my dad knew a little bit. He probably knew enough to be dangerous, but he wasn't, yeah, he knew how to leave the, like as a doctor, he knew how. how to leave the technical stuff. The specialties. The specialties into the hands of the specialists. Yeah, I got you. So tell me about your dad taking this idea of he was practicing on the borders.

As I understand, as I understand the Baja bound history. Yes. Your dad was practicing as a doctor near the border, saw this traffic heading south all the time and said, I should sell insurance to these people. which is kind of funny for a doctor. Yep. But if I understand it correctly, he did. And in the earliest days, didn't he have his receptionist like doing the work?

Yeah, his nurse. Tell me how this whole thing started. Tell me your dad's big epiphany and then how it all came into fruition. Yeah, my dad was always like interested in crazy little ideas. And towards the end of his career, he, you know, he was the kind of guy. What's my retirement job? What am I going to do? What's my?

retirement job. What am I going to do? Exactly. Yeah. So towards the end of his career, you know, he was, he was always kind of interested in looking for new little things to do. And so he had, he knew about the insurance because we were, we would always go and buy it at kiosk of the border. That's how it was sold. The drive-thrus. Yeah. Since the industry sort of started. And so he, he, he had this really prime location right off the freeway on Coronado Avenue, which is not in Coronado, it's actually in Nestor, California, which is next to IB. So it's four exits north of the border. And he sort of put two and two together.

And he had some friends that knew people in that industry. So he talked to them. He said, hey, you know, I want to create a little drive-through. And I think they sort of were like, okay, that's fine, doctor. A little chuckle. But so he created this little drive-thru. and I think he would sell maybe a couple policies a week. Okay.

So it wasn't 25 a day? No, not at all. It wasn't a big business, but I think it kind of kept in going until he actually eventually did retire, and he retired in the late 90s. And so that was kind of the end of that, but he had a cool name, which was Baja Bound. Yeah.

And so then that's kind of how I got into it. And you were a college kid? I was. And when did you finish? I finished college in 1996. Down on the farm. I was up in the Bay Area. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Up in the Bay Area, we say, down on the farm. On the farm in the Bay Area, yeah. And if I have my research correct, you were the guy who said, you know what, Dad, I think we can put this online. There's this thing called online. Yes, yes. And how did that come around? So, yeah, I was in between jobs. So I had a job out of college working for a biotech firm.

And I had actually, it was interesting because I had I had furthered my exposure to Baja in Mexico because I had raised my hands. They were doing these research trials. It was biotech and they would work in the ag industry. So they had research trials in Mexico. And one of the main regions for that is Baja. As we know, Baja has a pretty big growing region of tomatoes and now strawberries. And anyways, they're like, hey, Hank, do you speak Spanish? And I said, yeah, speaking like not much Spanish, but I raised my hands.

Enough to get this project. I raised my hand. They would send me down. And I had a really interesting time. It was a really interesting moment. We were, I was working on fields down in like San Quintin area. I was just the development of San Quatina. Yes, exactly.

And then every once in a while, I would be sent down to like the Sina Lower area, which is really where the true breadbasket of Mexico is. But it was really interesting job. After a while, like the company was a startup, so they sort of were starting to run out of some money. And my boss at the time, he's like, you know, he could kind of see the writing on the wall. He sort of encouraged me to like take an exit and...

Take a package. I like you, kid. I like you, kid. Take a package and start looking. I took a package. If you heard of LinkedIn? Yes, exactly. You should update your resume.

This was predates LinkedIn. We're going to be out of money in no time. Yeah, quite a few years. And so I was sort of looking for something to do. And in 1999, everybody was trying to have or try to get into the dot-com world in these days, right? Dot com was a thing. It was a huge thing. It still is a huge thing.

Obviously, it's changed all of our lives. But the dot-com world was like, oh, gosh, this is where all of industry is going. and business. So it was really interesting. And I was like, wow, I wonder. And at the time, I knew about, I had known about my dad's project with the, obviously, doing the insurance. And I was like, you know, this could be a good way to teach myself how to develop websites. So I, yeah, so I like, I taught myself by taking this idea online, thinking that this was just a means to another, to like a career in web development. And it turned into a career in helping people go to Baja because I was like, wow, this is actually a business on its own.

And this is really interesting. You know, after the first sale or a few sales, I was like, oh, I guess this is a real business. And so I kept at it and at it and at it. And here we are, what are we at, you know, 27 years later. I say 34 or 40 years. We count. We count with Baja Bound. We count the time that my dad started it.

So that was in 1994. So yeah, exactly. 30 years. 32, yeah. So if you want to go to Mexico, you're going to need Mexican insurance. And for 20 years now, I've exclusively used Baja Bound insurance since 2006. because I've been an exclusive user of Baja Bound. So we're going to take a quick break so that you can hear a word from our sponsors, Baja Bound.

Excellent. Do you want to read the sponsor promo? Well, you know, if you need insurance, you're going down. It is important. Your U.S. insurance doesn't work in Mexico. There's a great site, great resource to enable you to do that. Go to BajaBound.com and also backed by a great team. and we've been doing it for quite a while.

We'll be right back and we'll talk all about that as soon as you hear from Baja Bound. Excellent. Here it's Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at BajaBound.com. That's Bajabound.com serving Mexico travelers since 1994. for. Hey, big thanks to those of you who've contributed to our Baja baseball project. You know, we launched

our gear deliveries on my winter expedition. Michael and Matthew from Barbers for Baja. We're along for the ride and we got to deliver that critically needed baseball gear up and down the peninsula. It was really, truly amazing. All right, well, please help us continue this vital work. Make your tax deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja. Click barbers for Baja.com. click the Baseball in Baja link, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It is so amazingly gratifying to be able to give these kids this chance to keep playing this sport. Keep them on the field, keep them out of trouble.

Please check it out. Baseball in Baja link at barbers for Baja.org. Thank you. I want to tell you about these new Rocky Talky radios that I absolutely love. Heavy duty, beautifully made. easy to program, easy to use. We had 28 people, 15 trucks on the Slow Baja Winter Expedition. You can hand these radios to anybody from a 14-year-old kid to an 80-year-old,

and they'll know how to use it. They are that well-designed. One charge lasted the entire week. We are never out of range. I happen to upgrade to the accessory whip antenna for my radio and for my sweeps radio, the Donovan Brothers. We were never out of contact. I can't say it strongly enough.

Rocky Talky Radio's, rockytalkie.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved. We're back with Hank Morton, chugging a beer here in the beautiful afternoon at Una Moss. And I'm very curious about, we talked a little bit about how you decided

that you were just going to do a project to teach you how to build websites with putting your dad's company online. This thing called, online, 25 years ago, online was just a burgeoning industry. People didn't know anything. We got Ted Donovan over here. He could have owned Mexico.com, but his business partner said, no, we need to call it

Mex Online to tell people that it's online. That's right. That's right. Yeah. And we, by the way, we loved Mex Online in those days. And it was an amazing. It was an amazing portal to tell people all about Mexico. But deciding to take this leap and create this online ability for people to be able to, you know, learn about the company.

I always described it in those days that it was a 24-hour-a-day yellow pages ad. That's the early days in my mind of the Internet. Find all out, find all the information. But could you actually buy a policy in those days and print it out and have it operate? So you could do that with Bob. Absolutely. So that was the huge leap, right? That was sort of, I mean, you know, I think that was the innovation.

You didn't need to stop at a kiosk on the way in. Right. And so that was the idea. And that's what I was. Save time. Save money. Right. I was focused on that part of it. Like, how do you actually digitize this process?

And how do I put that person out of work who's writing those things? Yeah, I mean, because honestly, it was a pain in the butt to, you know, stop at the border. Of course. And we always said, you know, Drive-thrues are for burgers, not for insurance. Exactly. Wow. Yeah. So we, you know, like, hey, let's do this online. You can do it now on your phone, you know, but in those days, like, do it ahead of time, make it super easy.

Literally now you can do it in five minutes on your phone. Yeah. I always tell people that. Bobbound.com, five minutes on your phone. You've got a policy. Yeah. So we've always, like, that's been our, one of our core missions is just to make the process easier and easier. We're always looking for ways to make it easier because that's probably one of our biggest values as a company.

Let's make insurance easy. But make it, you know, and make it work, obviously. So we have to, we steer two, we're between two sides because on one side is we want to make sure that people get the coverage that they need as well. So we want to make sure they're getting taken care of. Right. And so that's an interesting thing again in my world. when I'm recommending Baja Bound for my slow Baja vintage, somebody may have, first of all, to qualify for my vintage, you have to have something 25 years or older to be in the event,

30 years older, or older. So 30 years or older automatically is liability-only policy, not a full coverage. So I always say start the process early. Let me know if you need some help. And Baja Bound is run by Baja Bound. employees that's not contractors, it's not in the Philippines, it's not AI. You can talk to a person and they will be able to actually solve your problem, get back to you in a day or two, to ensure your 1968 Bronco that could be worth $65,000, $85,000. You will figure out a way to make that

happen. I will say in the past, you've found out a way to make that happen. Or if you have a $300,000 dollar sprinter van now, you can also write those policies. Absolutely. Which is amazing. We try our best to meet every need. Like if somebody has something that we think can be done, a lot of the valuations, I mean, our, one of the nice advantages that we have is that we've been working with our companies now for 25 odd years.

And we're like, we're the largest provider for our companies, actually. So when we want something that's something with. then sort of the general ballpark of guidelines, they're usually really good about working with us. And so a lot of it's just raising your hand and saying, hey, can we try to get this coverage? Here's why we think we can do this value. You know, a lot of these specialty type vehicles, like what you're talking about, classic vehicles, it's better if you have an appraisal or things like that. Those are really helpful because it's not like you can go to Blue Book or J.D. Power and just lick up that

value. NADA. Absolutely. Yeah. So those are the big, you know, things that we deal with. And we're also not the type of company that just gives, you know, where you say you have the little text field and you can just type in a value. And then we're like, oh, well, if there's a claim, good luck, you know.

We want to make sure. And this is why we've tried in our process. Again, it's like guiding the customer between ease and comprehensiveness, right? making sure they have a super easy experience, but also make sure they're sufficiently covered. And so, you know, we try to put those alerts, hey, if you've got a specialty vehicle, DIY Sprinter vans, for instance,

you brought at Sprinter vans. Those are always like a really sticky issue because, you know, people have done all their own work. We have to be able to value it, right? So, like we tell customers like, hey. In the event of a total. Yeah, absolutely. Or even in the event of repairs,

We have to be able to justify the value that they put because the insurance is based on that, not necessarily what the value is that they put. And so my default here is that you even brought this up, you guys actually really care. We do. We care a lot. I don't want to say a family-run business still, but there is still family involved. Yeah. It's pretty family-oriented.

And it's a small company. And everybody reports in centrally. and my take is that you do care. We really do. Yeah, you really do care. And you want to solve these problems for people because nobody thinks about their insurance until they have a problem.

100%. And then everybody hates their insurance company. And then it's like, oh, boy, do they think about their insurance? Oh, boy, do they think about their insurance? Absolutely. I had a friend who was on the Nora event as a volunteer. Yep. And he turned on his blinker to make a left-hand turn.

And the guy behind him thought he was turning on his blinker to say it's clear to pass me. And as he made a left-hand turn, that guy swung out to pass him and just sideswiped him. And a very nice overland-built truck not insured with Baja bound because that Nora uses instant. And it was a really difficult, long process to get his truck repaired. took years off of his life. Right, right. And it says, again, nobody, nobody wants to think about their insurance company

until something bad happens. Absolutely. So let's talk about what to know before you go. You guys have been very forward, and one of the things that I really love about Baja Bound is you've provided, you've taken this company stance of providing a lot of information. I send all of my customers to Bajabound.com to see all the things that they need to know. Why do you need an FMM? How do you get an FMM? You know, all that information.

What was it, what was it in your mind that said, not only are we going to sell you insurance, but we're going to educate you in the process of being a good traveler? Right, right. And not just take your money. What is it inside you? Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think a lot of it stemmed from us. When we started, we realized, hey, we were being sort of the first online, you know, people were actually, you know, we had offered some of this initial information, right, basic information. And we realized, oh, wow, you know, people are actually looking to us as a voice of authority on these. How I looked to you guys for 20 years old now. 20 years straight. And so we're like, oh boy, well, we better get this right.

Right. And I think that's inside you. Absolutely. And so we have really focused on that. And it's really been being, it's kind of made Baja Baja Bound's broader mission, really. Like our, the insurance is, is our business. But really our mission is to help people across the border. So like we want to make the, we want to make sure the information that we're delivering is as accurate as possible. And to the, to the degree. Vetted and well research is how I always tell people. Absolutely. Absolutely. So to the. degree where we always look for the primary source information from the Mexican government, including our relationship, our personal relationships that we have with Mexican government officials, things like that, where, you know, we can get sort of like, okay, well, this is the law, but really what's happening on the ground, right? And we can get it from their mouth, you know.

And so, yeah, we've always really been focused on helping with that side of it. How do people cross a border? It's a daunting thing for a lot of folks, especially if it's your first time. You're driving in a foreign country. You're driving across this border that is a big seemingly impenetrable border. And so we understand that. We empathize with that. And so we try to give those tools to make that easy and also make it make sure it's right.

Yeah, and again, I think the making sure it's right in a sea of information that may or may not be well researched or out of date or correct or might not have been correct when it was put on the site in the first place. Absolutely. You guys, in my opinion, again, 20 years of experience now, you really get it right and you strive to get it right. We try. Yeah, we try. We don't always get it right, but we try. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I appreciate that effort. And then next part about it, you tell the story of Baja pretty well. You've got regular writers, David Kier being one of them, Greg Neiman, some legendary folks who are out there, book authors, who are regularly writing about Baja. And what brought that on? Why did you feel like you need to go out and spend money and have people, you know, sharing these stories? sharing the travel stories. Yeah. I think, you know, a lot of it's because we did realize that we are... Progressive isn't doing that for me. So I'm just wondering. What's that? My progressive insurance isn't doing that for me. I think it's the nature of what we do.

You know, we realize, as I was saying, we're more than just sort of an insurance business. Like, we're really helping people cross the border and discover Baja and Mexico. And so when you add that as part of your mission, like that's where, you know, having these great, you know, being privileged enough to work with travel riders like David K and, you know, Greg Neiman and, you know, and some of these other amazing. Sponsoring the Slow Baja podcast. Folks like Michael Emery. Sixth year of sponsoring Slobaha. Who we love because, you know, there's a lot of fast Baja out there, but sometimes we just need to take it slow. If I can do it, you can do it.

Get some insurance and come on down. Yeah, absolutely. So it's been super important to us, you know, to be able to highlight with good. writing and good media, the beauty that is the peninsula. And to give people an excuse to go, right? Because again, going back to kind of our broader mission and our position, you know, kind of online as well. Like, hey, let's, you know, we do have a good vantage point

to promote Baja. So on that vantage point, what keeps you coming from? back. You know, I got you down to Bahia de Los Angeles recently, just invited you, and I was so delighted that you came down and you've got Zalzine walking all over Baja, and I know you brought your mountain bike and got some riding in, but personally, what part of Baja keeps you excited? Yeah. Well, I love, there's so many parts of Baja that I love. But, you know, the truth is I go to Baja all the time because I go to Tijuana all the time. I have business. there. I have a whole friend community in Tijuana. I belong to, like I say, I'm involved with some of

these civic organizations that have presence on both sides of the border. So like I'm down there for meetings all the time. I'm belonging to a business group that's based in Tijuana with a lot of other Mexicans. I'm actually the token American in this group, which I feel really privileged to be. So, no, it's like way more than just like a travel or tourism thing. I love that aspect of it, but I actually have way more of my entire life and career that's based in Mexico and Baja. And it's real. It's totally real. Yeah, it's authentic.

It's in your soul. Yeah, absolutely. It's been in my soul since day one. My parents were huge travelers, especially in Mexico. You know, I was actually, my mom was pregnant with me when my parents took a train. Actually, they took a bus all the way down to Chiapas. Wow. So, you know, me, my heritage, like, we've been doing Mexico like my whole life.

And so it's totally ingrained within me, you know. And correct me if I'm wrong, but you've done some pretty adventurous treks in such across Baja. Yeah? I've done a few. Yeah, like I've tried it in, you know, now. So I've done, I've done the Crucei Baja, which is the walk. Right. That's the really cool.

Let's talk about that for a minute. Yeah. So the Crucei Baja is a 110 kilometer walk that starts on the Pacific side in Playa Altamira, which is right south of the surf break, the wall, right? It's on in the Seven Sisters, south of Santa Rosalaita. Shout out Glenn Horn. Right. There you go.

and the walk is approximately three days. It can be four days. And you basically walk across the peninsula to Bay de Los Angeles. And you go through San Borja. It's a beautiful way to see. I mean, talk about slow Baja. I was going to say. Sounds like it's, you know.

Might have to carry Frank the whole way. Take your thunder there. But yeah, it's, it is a, the walking is the slowest Baja, you know. And anyways, it's a really cool adventure. I highly recommend there's there's a tour operators that kind of will do it in a glamping way. And then there are, there's like an event, actually, every November, I think it is. That actually it's an organized, more organized event where they cross Baja. And were you part of that or did you do it as a small group?

I did it as a small group. Yeah. Yeah, that was supported. Right. By our friends, Marisa Para, actually, lost in Baja. The great Marisa. Yeah, I'll get him on slowball one day. I'll get him on slow one day. I've been to his cafe. I've stayed in his airstream. I like Mauricio. He's got a vintage land rover, but he's a busy boy. He's a busy guy, but he does a great job. Anyways, we have a number of other friends and partners that do equally great tours like that. And I just happen to be with him. Anyways, yeah, and I've done some good bike trips, too. I'm a, I'm a pedalhead. So yeah. And so do you, do you? Do you? do you foresee a future where you're going to ride the Baja divide in its entirety,

or do you just want to take a stage here or a stage there? Yeah, I think it's at this point in my life, I don't think I ever, I don't. You don't have 45 days to do 1,700 miles? I have the time, but there are certain sections of the Baja divide that frankly don't appeal to me. I appreciate that honesty. There's just too grueling on a bike, you know, a bicycle where you have to carry. your water for four days. That part doesn't appeal to me as much,

but I want to do sections of it. I'm really, I love, I love, I love the fact that it was created. It was only created about 10 years ago. Yeah, 2017. I think it's like 2015, 2016. And there was some writers for bike packing magazine. And so, and it's amazing how that kind of sport has grown, the whole bikepacking,

these long-distance tracks that people are doing. And, you know, it's... Well, speaking of treks, you introduced me to Zalzine. Where is she now? She is in Ensenada, I think, right now. But she's prepping for her next phase. She had to pause her walk because it, frankly, you just got too hot.

Yeah. And so she's done a section now of this really amazing through hiking. Yeah, can you tell the slow Baja audience what she's... attempting to do. She's quite a woman. She is an amazing woman. And I am, I'm truly, like, she's been an amazing person to get to know and to help support. Her project is to build the first through hiking trail in Mexico.

So similar to the Pacific Trest Trail and the Continental Divide and the Appalachian Trail. She wants to build a trail like that. And what she wants to do is actually extend the Pacific. trail all the way down the Baja Peninsula to the end. She said, you know, maybe it's a 30-year, could be a 50-year project. It could be because, you know, when you look at the history of those trails in the states, those were 100-year projects, really. It's astonishing.

I mean, they had the trail, but then really, when you think about all the lands that have been protected along those trails now because of the trail, frankly. Right. And so you look at all the government, like, you know, the legislation that was. involved and the government leadership that was involved in creating those, it's really impressive. But it started out with one person and one person's dream. And Zalzin is that one person in Mexico. I can tell you, she's an amazing leader and an amazing woman. Yeah, I can't wait to catch up with her and hope to do that in early May. But she, she's a force. And you can see that

in just the brief time that I had with her. Yeah. But I think Mexico needs that. They do. I think Mexico needs that, whether it's, you know, the, in Spain, they have the great. The Camino, Santiago. Camino Santiago. Which has only been around for about a millennia, millennium.

Right. And, you know, we have, in Baja, you have the amazing Camino's as well, the Jesuit trails. And those have been walked, but they haven't been publicized. Right. And there's no support, obviously. Right. You know, and I think that if a trail could be constructed through the Baja Peninsula, I think it would be truly an amazing experience.

Just on that note, you know, building a trail for the Spanish missionaries and their mules is a different trail than a hiking trail. For sure. And, you know, it's interesting to talk to someone, like Zell-Zinn about that. And there's a reason why she has, she's, I think, maybe a little bit she's adopted of the old missionary trails, but really very little, because it's really not appropriate for walking, a lot of that. And so she's building, this trail that she's building is from scratch. Right. She looks at topographic maps and is really just in the process of

exploring it right now. And the exploitation of the church and everything else. There's that. There's some other factors to consider it. Exactly. Sure. But, you know, I think, I think there's a practicality to it. And you know, like, well, in America, we didn't have missionary. Well, we do have missionary trails, but, you know, she's also marrying this as like the U.S. through hiking trails, which are really along the highest peaks of the mountain range. So that's what she's doing as well. Well, I can't wait to connect with her and get her on Slow Baja. But recently, when we saw each other after my Slow Baja Winter Expedition, you had a great one Graham McIntosh with you,

which was just such a delight for my guests to get a chance to say hello to him. I think I read his book into a desert place every year, at least if not every other year. But he truly is an extraordinary fellow. And how did you two, you know, connect? I'm obviously being in Baja bound, I would imagine. Yeah. Tell me about your personal connection to him.

It's always a privilege to see him. I think we've been, you know, we've invited him to some of our social engagement. I think he's done little work for us over the years. And, you know, some of, I think we've had the honor to help maybe publish some of his stuff. But mainly just having him around. We just love what he's done and the books that he's written. What was so special about having him at your expedition a couple months ago was I introduced him to Zelsin. Because, you know, now, Graham, they need to know each other.

They never knew each other. And I really wanted to make that connection. So I thought that was really special because, you know, you've got sort of the original Baja Walker, which was Graham McIntosh, you know, back in the 80s. when he circumnavigated the peninsula. And then you've got the woman that's trying to do the, you know, the first through hiking trail in Mexico. So I think that they really hit it off. And I hope that Graham can be a resource for her, you know, in her endeavors.

Yeah, I hope so too. Yeah. Well, let's wrap it up. Baja Bound, my first sponsor, 20 years now since 2006. What's on the horizon? What's in the future for you? What's, what's, what do we need to know about here with, yeah.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. We're, you know, I think, I think we're just going to keep working on our mission to help people across the border. I mean, sometimes it's easier to cross the border in some, some areas it's not. And there's different perceptions around it. And our perception is we want to keep people crossing to explore this beautiful place that

we call Baja. And so whatever we can do, if we can add maybe new, um, products to our portfolio of, you know, types of insurance that we sell. Those are some of the projects we're working on. One of the big projects we've been working on is doing some more updates to our side and working more on social media. You're telling some good stories now. We're trying to tell stories.

Yeah. And we're trying to, I mean, we've always told stories, but we're trying to really, you know, tell them even better. Yeah, well, I always say, you know, you need a reason to go to Baja. You've got to have a reason. You've got to have a story that's going to make you decide. decide to go down there. You can go anywhere. Ask your doctor if Baja is right for you. As we wrap things up here, Hank, and I'm so grateful for you making some time for me today, tell me just a little

bit about, you know, I only use you, and I'll be honest, I only use you for insuring my now three vehicles that I go to Baja with and occasionally my son's two vehicles, my two sons and their vehicles. What else do you insure? You'll insure boats and ATVs and UTVs. So tell me, about the other thing. Shamedless, shameless self-promotion section here. So yeah, we do all of what you just said. We do all types of vehicles, motorcycles, RVs, Sprinter vans. We do boats too. We don't do boats for full coverage. We do the liability part of the coverage for boats, which is required if you're going into port, into marinas. You need Mexican liability. In case you smash into somebody else's boat or do some damage or whatever.

Yeah, and one of the things that we don't do any of is any insurance that's not based in Mexico. So we don't do anything in the States. We've 100% focused on Mexican coverage and Mexico service. And so, yeah, so a few years ago, we launched a whole homeowners program because there's, frankly, a huge segment of... Got some overlap. Absolutely ex-patriots that live in Baja, more and more, you know. It's appealing to me these days. Yeah, yeah, you're kind of, yeah, you're pretty much there, Mike.

So, yeah, we insure homes, and we actually created a special product with one of our companies, you know, targeted to expatriates. And so kind of considering some of their needs. So those are the main things that we're doing. But we're, you know, we're always looking to expand and we have some other stuff. in the pipeline right now. And can we do five minutes on myth busting? Sure. You tell me what do you need to do to go to Baja legally?

You need insurance for your vehicle if you're driving. Now that is your company name is Baja bound, but you also insure travel to mainland Mexico. Absolutely. So let's just get that out. That's right. And your U.S. coverage does not cover you in mainland Mexico or in Baja, California, which is also Mexico people need to know. Right.

100% correct. And so there are certain U.S. providers that will say they cover to a certain point. And a lot of times, and they will maybe cover like the collision or the theft, but no U.S. companies, no matter what they tell you, and I'm naming State Farm, which is one of the biggest culprits, and I'm not afraid to name them on this podcast. But they always tell their customers, yeah, we cover you up to a certain mileage in Mexico. And that's fine. They might think that they do. But your liability is only legally covered by a Mexican company because it's actually what holds up in Mexican courts.

Gotcha. State Farm does not hold up in Mexican courts if somebody, you know, if you hit somebody else. So, yeah, so that, but in terms of the checklist to be legal in Mexico, well, FMM, obviously. First of all, you need a passport. A lot of people don't even remember that you need to have a passport. So to get your FMM, you have to have a passport or a passport card. Those two things work. Nothing else works. And depending on where you go, if you're going to mainland, you need a vehicle permit as well.

Temporary import permit. That's right. Which we don't need for Baja. We don't need anywhere in Baja, even if you are a permanent resident. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. So the FMM is one of the...

is one of those, it's a, it's a, it's a visa that you pay a fee. You can get a free FMM if you're traveling for seven days or less. Am I correct in that? Correct. And then for seven days and more, there's a fee involved about $40-ish, something $45. It's $983 pesos, if I'm not mistaken, this year. So that equates to almost $60. Okay, so it has gone up.

It's gone up mainly with the exchange rate. Exchange rate. So I will tell my buddy Joel that he didn't get the, he didn't get taken advantage of when he had to pay that $60 fee at the Mexicali Crossing. Right. I said, I think you got a special price because you were from Idaho and they saw your plates. Right, right. Yeah, no, no.

They're not taking advantage of you, Mr. They don't discriminate there. Yeah, it's all, every sort of gringo tourist is, is, is, sort of the same. But yeah, and technically the FMM is actually not a visa. It's just a visitor's visitor fee, basically. But it's it's through immigration. So it is required. And if you don't have it, there are, you know, there are, there can be consequences. Yeah. And so with, um, with driving those consequences can be rather, um, haphazardly enforced in my opinion. Very much so. Uh, with flying, it's not though. With flying, you need to have that. The long you do, I mean,

And yeah, like it's usually with flying, it's just, it's actually embedded into the price of the ticket or you'll have to pay it when you enter Mexico. Like there's no other way not to. And with the driving now, there is always a report of this checkpoint or that checkpoint or this other place where they're actually checking for your FMM. And I always get one and I always have my group get one. And we cross through the San Ysidro crossing because there's parking right. there. So if I have 15 or 18 vehicles with me, you need to be able to do that. So we, we park there in mass and I've got my guy in the immigration office and he takes care of everything because I've sent him the information ahead of time and it's boom, boom, boom.

That's right. And then we're on our way. But let's talk about some of the other things that people may not think about. What other things? Let's dispel another myth for me. Let me think. Myths about, well, can you bring a gun to Mexico? No, you cannot bring a gun to Mexico. Yes. Do you need a gun in Mexico? No, you don't need a gun in Mexico. I've been 42 years in Mexico and I have not needed a gun.

Yeah. Yeah, I would not bring your gun. Yeah. What other things? Drugs, you cannot bring CBD or marijuana products, correct? That's an important one now. Yeah, people think now that it's legal here. It's legal here, California.

No, it is not legal in Mexico. Yeah. Don't leave your gummies at home. Leave your gummies at home. And I have a dog that's been barking here for this podcast, Frankie. What do people need to know about when they bring their dogs? So I think for Mexico, and at best, because I'm actually, off the top of my head, I'm on your website. I don't know all.

Yeah, I would consult our website. There are rules, there are technically rules to come into Mexico, but more of the concern is coming back into the states. And I think for that, I think it's you have to have a, what is it, the chip in the animal. Yeah, well, I will tell you that the U.S. State Department has a online form to fill out. Right. And your animal, your dog needs to be chipped. And in practice, and now traveling back and forth for a year with Frank, there's nothing on either side of the border. Nobody's checking coming in.

Nobody's checking going north. So bring your dog or get one when you're in Mexico. if you don't have one and you want one. Right. And take them to a very good Mexican vet and then bring him north. Right. That's the way to do it. So, Hank, you've sold me.

I've been with you for 20 years exclusively. I have a lot of personal connections and feelings about you and your business. But give me the pitch. What makes Baja bound different? What is the secret sauce behind you and your company? Thank you, man. Yeah. And, you know, you just said it.

You said you had a personal connection with us. Deep, deep, 20-year-long, personal connection. And that's exactly how we run our business. And, you know. And that's honest on my part. Like, literally, sincerely, you guys were the first, I was the first thing that you ever sponsored my Slow Baja, or my, excuse me, my Lucha Libre racing days. I was bringing school supplies to kids.

I reached out to Jeff and said, I, you know, I'm looking for an insurance sponsor, and he did not hesitate. He said, you're taking school supplies to kids in Chiapas. We want to be part of that. Yeah. And, you know, it was so gratifying to me. Like, you know, just making that stuff happen. Here we are 20 years later.

Yeah. Still bringing baseball supplies and all sorts of stuff to kids. But you tell me why Baja about. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so, first of all, you're the biggest. We are the biggest. And we are your biggest advocate when it comes to a claim.

So if you have a problem. It, you know, the thing about insurance is, It's one of those things people think, oh, yeah, I got to get it. But it's all about what happens when you actually have to use it. When you need it. Yeah, exactly. And that's where I think we've really been able to do whatever we can. And our mission is, listen, our companies are not perfect.

We're frankly not perfect. But we always do whatever we can to make sure that our client gets the best outcome during that claims process. And again, you know, we can be up against a lot of stuff. And nowadays, it's not even so much of our companies. Because as I say, our companies, when we have a request that's within the rules of the insurance itself, they listen to us and they usually give us the benefit of the doubt because we are their largest provider. Which is very important. I have personal relationships with the CEOs of both of our companies. So I know them, I can, I have them in my phone.

If it ever comes to that, and I will say it very rarely does, but it has. And we have fought that hard for a customer where I have to make a phone call to the CEO and say, hey, you guys need to reconsider this. And they listen. So that is really what differentiates us from basically everybody else. because, and we're, we drive hard. Like when it comes to vouching and advocating for our customers, we will keep pushing and pushing. I thought it was interesting at the event that you came to,

just social, we're having drinks. We had dinner, and my volunteer, Joel had been on a trip to Baja with his buddies from Idaho, the same guy who I thought got taken for the $60 FMM fee. But a big rig had knocked off the mirror of one of his buddies on the truck. There are three vehicles had knocked off the mirror of his truck. And all three vehicles were insured by Baja bound. And you said straight up to him like, oh, you need to file that claim.

Yeah, you're already home in Idaho. Yeah, you need to file that claim. Yeah, try to file it. File that claim. See what we can do. Yeah. You know. And you were just straight up about that.

Right. Exactly. Yeah. That's how we, you know, we're like whatever we can do because we want to make sure that we're providing the product that you bought, you know. And so, yeah, so we're really dedicated to that, like making sure that, you know, people get taken care of as best we can. And it's not always like a perfect situation. And, you know, many of our claims actually, we don't even need to get involved with. So that's a nice, you know, thing, which is, which means, you know, our insurance companies know how we do business.

And so we kind of, we try to infect that on them. Gotcha. Look, this is, we're going to be client first. We always love, this is one of the best comments is, yeah, I had a claim in the states and I had a claim here. And your claim was way smoother, the one in Mexico. I'll tell you right now, my 1971 Land Cruiser FJ40, it's insured much better for Mexico, which is where I drive it most often than it is for the state. So we're going to leave it right there.

Hank, I really appreciate you spending a little time with me today here at Una Moss talking about your business, which is so integral to my business and what I do. And I don't think of my business as a business. I mean, you know, I think of it as this thing that overwhelms me, this life. And I couldn't do what I do without you in Baja Bound. So I'm really gratified that you're here and talking about what's behind the curtain. So thank you. You're welcome, Michael. You know, just to say, um,

we love so much to work with people like you, because you're doing Baja, like, in a way that we love, you know? And the way you introduce people to Baja is just an amazing concept, and it's an amazing way, and what you're doing with your expeditions and your tours, and this podcast is just phenomenal. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks. I'm going to say this, and we're going to get out of here.

I read a YouTube comment recently, that I'm the king of slow business. Okay. The king of slow business. So if you want to go slow in Mexico, you need insurance, and that's Baja Bound. Thanks, guys. Cheers. Well, I hope you like that podcast.

Yeah, hope you like that conversation with Hank. Good guy, lots of good information. And, you know, if you're over there at Bajabound.com, they're posting a lot of stuff, and they've got all the trusted information. That is where I go. for my trusted information on Baja. So do what I do. Check them out.

Get your information from the horse's mouth over there at Bajabound.com. Well, if you like what I'm doing, if you like me meeting people where they are, today was Una Mast restaurant in San Diego, my Baja fix. The place I get my Baja fix, we had a couple of Cervas.

It was pretty sunny day, beautiful fish tacos, all that. If you like me being out in the field, and bringing these recordings to you, you got to drop a taco in the tank and help me keep on doing what I'm doing. I've got a big summer road trip plan. Need those tacos.

I think you know that it's a lot more expensive to fill your tank today. So drop a taco in the tank, head over to slowbaha.com. Check out the merch. We've got some good stuff in the store. It's always good to represent Slow Baja. It always leads to a great conversation

when you're wearing a Slow Baja hat or a slow Baja tea, or if you've got a slow Baja sticker on your Baja truck, all that stuff is going to have you meeting the right people and good convos will be coming your way. Well, I've got one last thing to tell you about. My old pal, Mary McGee, you know, off-road Motorsports Hall of Famer, she had a friend. I'm sure she had some good convos with Steve McQueen because, you know, Steve loved Baja. He really did. Spent a lot of time down there.

Drove the Baja boot, road motorcycles with the Ekinsburg. brothers. Well, Steve said, you know, Mary, Baja is life. Everything that comes before it or after is just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to slow Baja? Without a doubt, it's my Shielman seats. You know, Toby at Shielman USA could not be easier to work with. He recommended a Vero F for me and Averio F XXL from my navigator, Ted. His Ted's kind of a big guy. And Toby was absolutely right. The seats are great and they fit both of us perfectly. And let me tell you, after driving around Baja for over a year on these seats, I could not be happier. Shieldman, slow Baja approve, learn more and get yours at shieldman.com.

You know, I'm all about keeping things simple, traveling light, and finding the really good stuff. And that's why I've been wearing iron and resin for years. It's not just clothes. It's geared that holds up in the dust, the salt, the spilled tacos, and still looks good when you're rolling into town. Made in small batches by folks who care, no flash, no fast fashion, just the kind of stuff that gets better, the more you wear. Check them out at iron and resin.com and pick up something that'll last the next thousand miles.