Slow Baja - Mike Spurgin Taco Moto

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

Mike Spurgin of Taco Moto has the best stickers in Baja. In fact, I would venture to say that he may have the best stickers of anyone and any business in the world. While researching Mr. Spurgin, I stumbled across his LinkedIn profile, which I am sharing here without permission. In my opinion, it provides all you need to know about my friend, "Taco Mike."MotoMentor / MotoVenturer. Potentate of good times. Therapist of dirt. Regional manager of awesome. Assistant Branch Manager at Taco Moto CoWing Commander at Baja Taco ToursTitian of Industry at Throw Back Tetherball TechnologiesIf anyone loves your bike more than we do, we’d like to meet them. Lives in Las Vegas, NevadaFollow Taco Moto on InstagramWatch Taco Moto videos on YouTubeLearn more about Taco Moto CoMentioned in this episode: Slow Baja Vintage ExpeditionBenchmark Maps Baja Road and Recreation AtlasSupport the Slow Baja Podcast hereBuy Baja Bound Insurance

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into 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 Slowbaha 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 LongitudeMaps.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 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. Well, thanks for tuning in to today's Slow Baja. My Heaping Dose of Gratitude goes out to all those who came on the slow Baja vintage expedition. It's about 40, about 40 people. But most importantly, I need to single out, Sal Fish, guest of honor. Sal is amazing. 86 years old. He spent so many years in Baja.

We were celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first Baja 1006-mile course in a Volkswagen thing. inch after inch Mickey Thompson flying over our head in a little plane throwing out Coke cans with notes in them down to sell below the Volkswagen. He'd have to figure out what Mickey's saying and go tie those ribbons and drive those stakes and staple on those arrows.

Amazing, amazing. 86 years old and he is still stoked. He's seen so much of Baja and he had a smile on his face every damn day. I also need to single out Kurt LaDuke. Kimmy too, but Kurt LaDuke, man, that guy, he was my sweep and my mechanic, and with Kurt's help, I got to say he put me into the major leagues.

That's right, with Kurt's coaching and sweep skills, I got the call up. Sal said it best, Kurt LaDuke can fix anything, and if he can't, he knows a guy who can. He, you know, on the radio as we're driving, he's regaling us with Baja history going back to the Jesuits and mining history and rancho history. And then he just seamlessly transitions into, oh, in this section on the Baja 2000, 25 years ago, you know, I won my class in that race. And he goes into a story about some craziness that happened when he was driving 120 miles an hour at night on the stretch that we were just driving on at that time. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Well, I could wax poetically about those two guys and the rest of the folks who came on the trip. It really was a truly astonishing trip for me. I didn't think I was able to improve on last year, but it was a definite improvement, and that's why I say I went from AAA to the Biggs. So thanks to Kurt. Thanks to Sal for that. All right, well, today's show is with Mike's. Spurgeon of Taco Moto.

And Mike is such a cool cat. I was delighted to be in his shop last year. When I was at the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame induction, I got an industry impact award for adventure. And while I was there, I reached out to Mike so I could go over to his shop and see what he does there at Taco Moto. You know, I see his stickers all over Baja, and that is a guy. I've got good stickers.

I will say that. But that is a guy that gives me sticker envy. truly he's got the best stickers in Baja. We had a lovely conversation, got in to the deep end immediately. He is a big thinker and a deep thinker and a rich, beautiful human being. And we get into a lot of deep thoughts on that kind of stuff. But we wrap up on his, I'm going to have to figure out a way to use this in the future where he sums me up in one sentence with my lo-fi off-road culture.

I don't quite know what that's all about, but I think it fits me to a T. And I got to say thanks to Mike Spurgeon, Taco Moto for coming up with that. All right, without further ado today on Slow Baja, it's Taco Moto, Mike Spurgeon. I'm with Mike Spurgeon Taco Moto, Taco Mike, and he's balancing it on his belly. My Baja belly. This is my taco storage container right here. I've got one right, too. Containment Unit. I'm going to try and hide my taco containment unit.

This is a lot of tacos La Floresta down in Ensenada. There's a plug. Do you know Tacos LaFlaResta? So I was just going to jump into. Let's talk tacos. Yeah. That's it. There it is.

That's what I got. That's my recommendation. Tacos. La Floresta. The other one is, oh, the name escapes me, but it's down in Camelieu. Is it Camelieu? It's the shack on the right-hand side of the road. It's red.

It's painted red. There's the... Perico. That's it. Yeah, with the white lettering. That's it. Yeah. So I got to that place.

I just saw a friend of ours. Your friend in mine, Eric, just posted a picture from there. And I got there because I went to the Pirates Cave, Pirates Cove. Pirates Cove with a small group, and they were closed. It's a great hotel for a murder. It's fabulous. I've never stayed there, but I was going there for lunch. and I had three vehicles with me, six guys,

and we drive all, you know, we're driving dirt, and we get out there and it's closed. I'm like, geez, come on closed? So I picked. The restaurant or the hotel? The restaurant. Yeah. Tuesdays or whatever.

So they're doing some work that they've got a construction crew. I pick the huskiest would be putting it politely. Pick the biggest, chunkiest construction worker. And you asked him where to go? And he said, Tacos El Parico. Yeah, that's the one. Yeah, it's good. If you're on the peninsula, go there.

Camaloo. Yeah, it's in Camaloo. And then the other one, like I said, is Lafrusta in Ensenada. Those two are the only ones that I would recommend to somebody. There's others, but those are the top picks. Well, we jumped right into it here on Slow Baja with Taco Moto Man, tacos. So, yeah, Taco Mike, they call me that because I used to, so I do, I did, I don't anymore, but like Slow Baja motorcycle trips.

And I loved going and exploring a particular area. area for two or three days and not trying to cover a bunch of miles and not trying to like ring the map out and then finding little trails and special spots and going on these taco trips somehow that I just got called Taco Mike and then Taco Moto see they all seem to fit together the universe sort of willed me to do all of that to have all those names associated together and it's been very fun so I love that you and I know each other through our experiences of Baja and so what I don't do at high of a level as you do with your slow Baja trips but my motorcycle trips represented to me anyway an immersive experience into the experience of Baja and

the spirituality of Baja the essence of it is so much more than just being in a place I can ride motorcycles anywhere, but then if I have a specific amount of time dedicated to go on a motorcycle adventure, I will pick Baja. It'll be the top two or three in every instance. It's an anchor to me in my life, and I think I value other people. Maybe that's why you and I are sort of, you know, these, I think we have a mutual respect for each other because I think each season, the other, this experience of extracting. I like the concept of extracting, like running away, running away from the things that, you know,

the backpack of concerns that I carry in my normal life when I can go to Baja and I can just take that off and be free. I think I heard you use the word freedom earlier. And so for me, Baja represents this emotional freedom, spiritual freedom, physical. I do, I exert myself. I love to go to Baja and ride really wicked, gnarly, foolish terrain and just be physically challenged and exert myself at this really kind of ridiculously high level because I love the feeling

of getting to the hotel or getting to the beach camp or wherever and then getting a taco and taking off my boots and just feeling like today I accomplish something extra special. I can do anything in my normal, you know, this fantasy life here that we live in. I can do what I think might be amazing things here, but then they don't measure, they don't satisfy like doing those things, do. Does that make sense? Yeah, I knew we were going to get into the deep end straight away because I've, I appreciate your take on Baja so deeply that it makes.

makes me a little bit giddy and a little bit nervous to be sitting here, no notes, talking to you about this place that's both so special to us, so special to both of us. But I think I heard you say it maybe on one of your, one of the podcasts you were a guest on or maybe in your own, telling your own story on your show Alpha Quorum. But I remember, and I don't remember it exactly, so help me out here. remember you talking about how as a tribe we're wired so our tribes are wired this this time that we spend looking into a campfire in bahas what we are wired for from a millennia before and this time where guys spend you know getting ready for a in my case a slow baha trip or your case a tacomoto trip getting ready for that all the prep all the thought all the all the hubbub of getting, getting this thing, it looms so large in your mind, and then you go do it, and you go do it with your dudes. And it's a little bit, in my opinion, it's a little bit like war without the psychological cost, without the physicality with all that.

But there's some bonding is what I'm getting to. There's a thing that bonds you, and I felt it so strongly on my last trip a couple weeks ago. The people were just amazing. The trucks were amazing. the food was amazing. And I mean, that's something I think you've had that experience in your trips, no? Yeah. Yeah.

So what you're talking about is nothing of my creation. Like I have not invented any of these concepts. These are anthropological facts and realities of like the human experience, the evolution of the human tribe, homo sapiens. You know, in 10,000 years ago when we were in our familiar tribes, familial tribes, our family groups. We were the men. So I am a man, so I only speak for my own experience, and I associate most especially with other dudes

when I have my recreation time. So we would have been in a tribe of 150 or 200, and then inside of that tribe, the men who were active and physically capable, we would have sort of a tribe within that tribe, and we would, when we felt like our group was in a valley that was safe, there was food, water, we had done everything we needed to do to put them in a safe place, the women, children, elderly, all of that was, we felt like that was secure and provided for.

And some of us would have stayed behind too, to maybe we'd take turns. But we would create adventures and experiences that meant we could maybe expand our territory, look for new sources of food. We might need to defend a territory or go, maybe try to conquer a new territory. But we would, and maybe we would do these things because we would, maybe we felt like it was a purpose, but maybe it was just because we were driven

and to go and to do. And I like the, so you brought up sitting around a campfire. You know, there's this thing that humans are drawn to with entertainment. Now we sit around a little glowing screen and we use that light and that light. There's something in our DNA that wants, to stare into a light because our ancient ancestors did it, and it's really wired into us.

So there's this mesmerizing thing that happens when we look at a screen or we look at a fire because that's part of our wiring. And there would be stories. And so that glowing screen represented that it represented entertainment, but then safety, because around the fire, we would have entertained ourselves with stories, at tales of adventure. And so those things are so linked together. And our brain just wants that.

Our brain wants to look at a little glowy thing and be entertained by it. But anciently, we would have entertained ourselves or told stories about our past adventures and conquest and we would plan the next one. And then we would go. And there would be this whole ceremonial lead-up to the trip, to the adventure,

where we would make tools and improve. improved tools. We would look at maps. We would draw maps. We'd look at stars. There'd be so much ceremony amongst the group. And we would kid each other and we'd make fun of each other as we did this. And then we'd go on the adventure. And during the adventure, you know, a bear would eat your leg off and lightning would hit, you know, someone else. And there would be blood and craziness and whatever. And that would all be part of the experience. And we'd want that. We might even put ourselves in situations knowingly that would be high risk because our adrenaline, the testosterone side of us would command us. It would just, we can't, we can't not do it. And then we would have the experience,

we would come back, we'd, you know, repair and lick our wounds and heal and all of that stuff, all the while sitting around that fire, telling stories about that one, adding to the stories of the 50 before, and then daydreaming and thinking about the, next one. It is, it is, it is, it is wired into the DNA of a, of a man to do that. And when we aren't doing that in our lives, we fall into disease, disease. We, I, me, I'm, I'll just be super self-destructive. I will find ways to waste time, money, and resources on asinine things. Because I need to, I need to deploy it in those natural settings. And so I'll, through maladaption, I will, incorrectly do it on the wrong things, the wrong damn thing. So I have learned my rhythms and my cycles.

I know, you know thyself. Like one of the greatest people you can ever meet in life is yourself. When you figure out who you are and how you're wired and you make friends with that and you make peace with all of that. And then you just accept it. Acceptance is just key here. And you just learn. in your life how to operate within the rhythms that work for yourself and who you are. That's peace. That's joy. That's happiness. That's tranquility. And I'm blessed, lucky, whatever, filling the adjective, that I have found that. And I'm in a stage of my life where I'm like just operating in those rhythms. I don't get it right all the time. And it's still, I'm still clunky at it. But I do understand it. I acknowledge it. And I have a framework and a

foundation for that. So where did thine self come to know Baja? How did that fit for you? Good question. Baja came. Oh, it'll make the noise. Okay. How did how did how did how did thine self get to know Baja? Tell me that story. That happened so motorcycles happened to me when I was well BMX so yes we really go back. BMX bikes happened to me and I was probably eight or nine and that represented freedom and adventure and adrenaline and scaring myself and all of that. And then a BMX bike got replaced by a dirt bike. Did the dirt bike run or did you have to fix it to get that free? It was like a barn find.

It was a shed find and I rebuilt it. This is what kids used to do. Yeah. Mom and dad said you can have it, but you need to fix it. You need to figure it out. Exactly. And you need to make the money. I had paper out when I was 14 or 15.

and so I was making money when I was 15 years old and buying part. I basically had a paper out to buy motorcycle parts. I don't know anything about that. Ah, and then, okay, so we're tracking together. And then I had a VW bus. That was my first vehicle. I was 16 or 17.

And then I rebuilt the engine in that. So I've always been a tinkerer. I'm fearless when it comes to, because I have a dad who was a, my dad was an electronics engineer, was a radar engineer in the Air Force, and then my, well, I'm going all over the places. This is great.

Yeah. Take it all over. I'll ask the question again at the end, but go ahead. I remember it, and so I'll dive back to it. So my great-grandpa, he was a patent-holding designer of horse chariot racing equipment, and he had a world-record horse. He set a world record. Wow.

And he made, he built and then innovated different harnesses and bits and bridles and things like that. And so in my DNA is the, I am wired to look at a thing and then, and then not accept it as it's being presented. Tinker it. I can't just accept the thing as it is. I have to. I'm just wired for that to innovate it and to look for improvements on it. And so that's who I am in my wiring. And so I'm obedient to that.

Again, know yourself. Like I know that about me. And so I've created a business out of that, which is quite. so fortunate. And then the BMX bike turned into a dirt bike. And then that turned into, and you use this phrase earlier, a mortgage, a minivan, and what was the three things? Mortgage minivan.

And yeah, can I quote myself here? Yeah, that's mortgage, mortgage, marriage, and minivan. Yeah. Marriage mortgage and minivan. Marriage mortgage and minivan. And so that happened. And it all happened rapidly for me. Yes.

Same. So that happened. And then all of that, all of it, but a considerable amount of that sort of went into the ice storage. And then it was a decade or two later that I got the next sort of my adult life dirt bike, which was another, it was a garage sale find. It was a Honda XR 350, one of my favorite bikes ever. Legendary bike, bought it from a garage sale, was a basket case, rebuilt it, got it going. and that was the first bike in my adulthood, first dirt bike, and then came others, and I was

associated with some people through work who had been going to Baja with Paul Edmonds and the UTMA Group, Utah Trail Machines Association. This is a bunch of guys who for like 25 years had been going to Baja on their dirt bikes in a little fellowship brotherhood experience, and I got invited into that and went a couple of years. and really enjoyed it, and then felt like there was too much of a time structure to that. I wanted something way more free form and loose and unstructured, and so I went on my own, and then over the next many years, kept going back on my own, seeing places, exploring places.

And so Baja, as soon as I encountered some of my great loves, tacos, dirt bikes, beaches, relaxed atmosphere, relaxed people like Baja on a dirt bike, just sort of, it reconfigured my DNA. It just like gears meshed in my brain. The planets aligned. And I thought, I never not want to have this in my life at a pretty high level and consistently. And I have been doing that now for, I don't know, 17 or 18 years, motorcycles in Baja together. Well, if you want to go to Baja, you're going to need insurance if you're driving.

So we're going to take a minute here and hear from our dear sponsor Baja Bound. We'll be right back with Mike Spurgeon from Taco Mike and Taco Moto. Here it's Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruisers 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 Baja Bound.com, serving Mexico traveler since 1990. A 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. And on my last trip, I got to go to the state baseball championships and see some of our alums playing, some recipients of the Baja baseball gear deliveries. And congratulations to Guerrera Negro and Mulej, the Austenaros and the Cardinalitos won silver and bronze at the state championships.

Big stuff. It's really fun to be there and fun to see them. All right, well, please help us continue this vital work. Make your tax-deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja. Click, barbers for Baja.org. 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 Talkie 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 radios, rocky talkie.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved. So, hey, we're back with the Taco Mike. Taco Mike.

I just think of you as Taco Moto. Taco Mike. Hey, we're back with Taco Mike, and we're talking tacos. We're talking Baja. And you were just telling me about when you made that first dive into Baja with the Paul Edmonds trip,

and then you just needed to do it more unstructured. So when you go, slower, you know, slow as pro. When you go, do you have that buddy that you call? Does somebody get the call? And it's Mike calling and you're calling and saying, hey, man, come on. Yeah. Take a week off. Let's go. Yeah. Because I think time is the most precious commodity and getting friends with family, marriage mortgages, minivans themselves, employers, what have you, to come and go to Baja with me, you know, to do this thing that I love that I hold in such reverence. Even now, after 40 years of doing it,

you know, like it's still, I can't wait for the next trip. Yeah. Do you have a short list of people? Do you go by yourself? How does that play out for you? I don't. I never go by myself. I've never been by myself.

Yeah, I didn't think so. There's a little bit of a risk factor. I don't want to scare anybody away from going to Baja. And people do it solo all the time, and I have great friends that do it. I just happen to have a comfort level that says I want people around me. I also want to share the experience. And so I don't not go because of a particular safety reason or safety worry.

It's just that I want to be in a group of dudes. Like I want to, it's boring to sit around at Campfire and one. You want your tribe. I want your tribe. You want your tribe. For sure. So, yes, I have a short list of people. And like you said to your point, it's about time. And the word spend.

So, you know, we say we use that word with money and then time. I want to spend time and spend money. Well, of the two, money is the only one that we can get more of. Money is a, it's a, it's a renewable resource. You can use it and then deploy it as a tool and then go get more of it. You can generate more of it, but there's no such thing as generating more time. And so for me, when I want to go to Bahá, I do want to spend time with my tribe. And so, yeah, I've got Chris and Ben and I have a group of dudes that are going to always be on my short list.

and then it might expand out from there. Yeah, it's a tribe for sure. And your list, I know when I ran into you that time in Catavina, I think that was the Wunderly, Dave Wunderly's trip. Dave Wendley puts on a beatdown, yeah, an annual beat down. And it was a whole group of serious dudes. Yeah, it was like 30 or 40 dudes. And they were, those are men's men.

Those are like motorcyclists, motorcyclists. You understand what I'm saying by that? And there are two there that I won't mention because I think they had some work stuff going on. They weren't supposed to be there. But it was a trip. It was a trip. And it was a trip to see all these guys who were such dudes among dudes. Yeah. Yeah. Those are all, and I feel completely inadequate to be invited to anything that Dave Wonderly is doing. Dave Wonderly is this just badass amongst hardcore. Now, this is hardcore, hardcore, hard indoor, off-road biking, dirt biking at a level that never shies away from any hill, any canyon.

So, you know, when you're out, any of us are in saner moments when we're thinking with good sound judgment, we'll look at a hill climb, we'll look at a rocky slope, we'll just the sense of sobriety, preservation, all that, that just that stuff in our brain and our lizard brain kicks in and we talk ourselves out of like, oh, no, no, that's not, that's too rough, that's too crazy, whatever. Let's go this other easier way. These are guys who don't have, their brain is,

their brain is they've had enough concussions that that's been switched off. We've all had concussions, all of us. Broken ribs, broken bones, all of us who ride dirt bikes at those levels. So they've just had one more than maybe I have because I still look at a hill that's super sketch and I will want to not do it.

They just go for it. And so when I see their dirt bike or dirt bike, dirt bike dudes, right? They operate at their next level. And I'm completely inadequate. It's a wonder that Dave includes me on any of these. It's crazy. But that group was, there were tribesmen.

We're tribesmen. And like other tribesmen, ancient tribal people, we have our own language that we speak. We have our own clothes that we wear. We do the types, we have created a culture. and all sports people, you with your particular vehicle, the choices that you make, you've identified and carved out a small niche that's a tribe and I've sort of got a tribe. And it's a beautiful thing to create a tribe or to be in a tribe and then to understand what acceptance is.

And then the knowing, here's another big important part of that that you kind of alluded to like with the military illusion. When we go on these trips, there is a big element of danger, and the carmottery is deepened because I survived because you helped me. And then there was a moment or I helped you. And those are like, those become core memories. And then there's a huge trust factor that develops. It's, they're just doing these things work on a, on a level that a subconscious, unconscious level. and I believe that when you find that thing, whether it's snow skiing or mountain biking or dirt biking or land cruisers, whatever it is, like when you find that and then you associate with a group of people that are deeply devoted to that. And it's a wholesome, legitimate thing.

That's as high. That's it. You're there. Yeah. For sure. For sure. Hey, and when you're there, what part of there is the part that you, uh, want to be in in Baja.

People always ask me, like, tell me about your favorite parts in Baja. Tell me about your favorite parts in Baja. I will, and then I'm going to ask you that question back. So my favorite part is the zone around Catavina. So maybe a 100-mile circle around Catavina. Also, on the Pacific coast from, say, I would say this wrong, but Errondaria. Yeah, Arrondera. Err.

So from Arrondera down to, say, El-Rosario, that coastal, section and then you have to kind of leapfrog down to catavina and draw a hundred mile circle around catavina and then maybe jump over to the bay of l.A. and put a circle around that. So that's kind of that western far western zone and then a circle in the middle. That's my zone. How about you? You know, I always say it's the next place that I'm going in bahas. The next is my favorite because I started this whole thing. to really explore the whole slow Baja thing. And for me, getting out in a four-by-four doing gentle ranch roads, dirt roads,

I'm not trying to rock climb. I don't want to have anybody out there spotting me saying, do this, do that. You know, the kind of hairy stuff that you guys are doing on bikes, that's not my jam. I just want to get down to see where this road that I can see goes all the way to the horizon. You know, like I'm looking in the road right now. I'm looking at the old road that goes to Bihia de Los Angeles, San Felipe, I can see those two tracks.

You're looking at it on satellite and you see it there? I'm seeing it in my mind, the satellite in my mind, I'm seeing it there. And I just want to go down and find out where that road goes. And for me, so much of it is just that. And so, what are my favorites? I don't know if I can say what are my favorites, but I got to see now that I'm running these trips, and I'm doing kind of, you know, what's the Japanese philosophy

where you're trying to get 1% better every day? Yeah, I'm trying to get one percent better every day. You're kaisening your Baja trips. Dude, that's... I'm trying to get better and better and better every time. And so I started with a route that I thought was great, but I've been tweaking it and tweaking it and tweaking it and tweaking it. But the thing that I love the most on this trip...

It's a drug. Is rolling into Catavina. And sunset. And when we roll into Catavina and people see those first, you know, coming from the north, they see those first Cardones. And it's so amazing. And then they see the... The rocks.

start to like grow out of the ground. Yeah, and those boojum trees. And then we hang off the highway. We take a left and we go down the dirt road. And then we cross back over the highway and we get into our camp. And then, you know, the Fortuazza rep is there. And the margarita start. And the campfire gets built.

San Jose, right? That's where you guys like to pull in. No, we got another spot. But I get, I get Linda from Santayanes to come out and do a carniazada for us in the cactus, which is just amazing. Oh, so you just bushwhack it out of it. I'm bushwhack it, but we got a beautiful spot, and I've got Linda and Sergio, and I think her guy, Danielle, come out and they do a cactus cookout for it.

And that, again, is a beautiful thing. And this particular trip that was only a couple weeks ago, so it's still fresh in my memory, getting Linda out there after the evening was over and she's packing up all her stuff, and I'm asking her if you can leave this and she can leave that, and I'll drop it off at the ranch the next morning. And she said, yeah, I'm so glad that you. you're not doing the trip tomorrow because right now from here, from my campground, she was going to drive for however many hours it is to Ensenada because she had a

follow up with her doctor the next morning at 9 o'clock in the morning for a timing was spot on. For a cancer screening. And I think like what woman in America would say, you know, I'm going to go out into the cactus and cook for 24 people and then I'm going to get in my truck. Dirty off-roaders. Yeah, I'm going to get in my truck at 8 o'clock at night and drive up. to ensignada on some road that's going to have cows and potholes and whatever.

And I just realized that's the people of Baja, for me, I think, are my favorite. As much as the place, there are so many places that I love in Baja, especially the next one that I'm going to, but the people are amazing. And I think Catavina is an amazing place. If I have a favorite, it's getting close to Catavina. I'm not going to say it's my favorite, but it's an amazing spot. It's a podium finish. So I just had this visualization while you were talking about, you know, all of the things that you just wrap it up in a, like, what's so great about a taco is it's just you just throw a bunch of awesome stuff in a thing that you hold.

And then you can enjoy that. And maybe where you're expressing is like this beautiful representation of the experience as a metaphorical taco. You throw in the people and the scenery and then who you're with and the equipment and the preparation. and then the imagination that it took to even get there in the first place, and all of that together becomes this amazing little taco experience. Not to put too fine a point on it. Yeah, I'm going to take that. That's a pretty good one.

So tell me about we're sitting in your shop here. You've got multiple shops here in this business park. Taco Moto is kind of a thing. You've got these orange bikes right here that you make really sweet for folks. You've got all sorts of parts and stuff. I'm going to give you one minute for blatant self-promotion. We're going to switch it back to Baja. Well, Tocomoto was built around the Baja experience.

Like, I first started discovering like there would be deficiencies in the bike I would take, and how do we fix that? How do we improve that? And you're a tinkerer. Yep. And so how the concept is, I think our entire philosophy is, I have two philosophies. One is how to make that machine as durable and bulletproof as possible,

because I want you to focus on the experience and not the equipment. Don't let, because the equipment is easy. That's an easy. So I guess in my thinking, the equipment is an easy thing to solve. There's a problem that happens when you're dirt biking, and it becomes this like psychological, you obsess and worry. Dirt biking requires so much input of thought energy, balance, risk. It's very high risk. So there's a lot that goes into it and you can,

your game, you can lose the game, the game, metaphorical game of dirt biking when you obsess over some noise or some part of the equipment that's not working right. And then you can crash and get hurt like really bad. And if you crash out in Catavina, you're pretty, you're pretty pretty cooked out there, right? So for me, it's easy to get the bike super sorted so that you can just focus on the immershing yourself in the experience of it. So there's that. And then I guess maybe the second part of our business philosophy is I want to be your motorcycles therapist. And I guess I'm sort of backstopping what I just said. Like I, for me, my motorcycle and Baja and experiencing off-roading is this it's a it's it's my it's my regular routine therapy session and it heals me and does things for my

for my brain and my soul that i don't know how to apply medicine on in any other way like nothing else quite does that and so i know that i'm not that unique or special like dirt bikers are a particularly wickedly broken type of person because of what we do and the risk we take and we are semi-professional criminals and degenerates and we are in the in you two even you off-road guys right we're in the wrong era we should be it should be 150 years ago and we should be train robbers and cattle rustlers and ranchers and miners and loners and desperadoes like that's who we are we're not wearing, you know, we're sitting here in a office under fluorescent lights. Like, this is not who I am or you are.

We have to, we have to conform to this structure and system. But who we really are is cowboys. And when I'm on my dirt bike, I'm a cowboy. And the, I know that other dirt bikers are fed. Their souls are fed by their dirt biking and their experiences. So I want to be your motorcycles therapist so that you have access to a, to a, to a, good machine and the way you like it and the way you want it and then go out into nature, go out and Tabaha and go out and experience that renewal with your motorcycle and I'll work on your

bike and then you can work on yourself. So I want to facilitate. I want to, and I think you're similar too. You're taking people down and you're helping people. You're demystifying the experience and you're breaking down. You're simplifying it and you're making accessible and feel safe. and people want that. And people, our business, I think, has grown because we operate from a couple of basic fundamental principles that are not business-based. At no point did I start Tacomoto thinking,

ooh, I'll make money. I need to eat. These lights cost money. These shelves cost money. But I didn't start Tacomoto thinking, oh, I'll just start putting in imaginary numbers in a spreadsheet. No, I started Tacomoto with, out of a little bit of cash that I had and then just built it from cash flow. So Tacomoto is wholly

owned by us. It's a mom and pop. This is more than two minutes or whatever you gave me. I'll end with this. Tacomoto is a, it's my wife and I own and run Takamoto every day. It is as mom and, we are as mom and pop as you're going to get. We're bigger maybe than some mom and pops, but we are no more big than an actual mom and pop operation. And it gives me so much joy. to hear from our customers and to be friends with our customers and to run into them and to operate on a handshake basis and to look customers in the eye and to know that we're giving them a good deal and a good service and we respect the money that they work hard for it's a it's just a great foundation and i enjoy the hell out of it well we're going to leave it right there mike that was poignant and perfect and i got to say best stickers in the game I don't say that lightly. I feel very confident in my sticker game. You have great stickers.

I feel very confident in my sticker game, but there is one guy that I come to to say, hey, man, you've got the best stickers in the game. Can you turn me on to your printer? So thank you for that. And they are the greatest sticker printers, handshake deal, did the whole thing, send it to me, and then sent me a bill like weeks later.

Like, oh, here, I forgot to send you this. Yeah, Blake. Here's the extras. It's like getting that milkshake, you know, the can with the extra milk shake. Yeah, Blake is great. So, Mike, wrap it up. Where's the best place for people to find out about these amazing things that you make for these KTMs and whatever else you're doing on the motorcycle thing?

Blight and self-promotion. One more minute. Where do people find out about that? Probably just on the YouTube's and the Instagrams. We're on the interweb. So if you just Google Taco Moto, I'm sure we'll pop up. Taco Moto, and it will be in the show notes, folks, Taco Moto. personal adventures do you still do anything out there that shows you personally used to be at hobo

moped or something i remember following you in the day that was that was your personal instagram what are you doing there you doing anything there nothing that's kind of asleep because any i sort of run our social media program and uh you know you look you do this and and you know what it takes to sort of maintain a uh online presence or whatever and so um this the social media thing here's let me let me let me I'm going to ask you a question. Detour away. Okay. All right.

So just a few minutes ago, you're going to watch an episode with Joey Evans and it's going to be before this one or after this one. Hopefully I'm after because I'm way less, my story is way less interesting than Joe's. Joey's amazing. Joey's fantastic. And so hopefully you've listened to Joey and now you're listening to me, blah, blah. What Joey represents, he has a compelling personal story that so exceeds mine. probably not yours but mine for sure yeah so well his story exceeds mine for sure and that's amazing

anyways he just talk about for a second because people you know there's going to be some time between these shows okay joey evans from uh para to decar from paralyzed from paralyzed from paralyzing a wheelchair to the decar racer yeah to car rally and then he uh is here at our shop because we're prepping out a bike for him to go an iron man the baha 1000 which is a huge buckalish accomplishment for anybody, especially for somebody who a couple years ago was in a wheelchair. Astonishing, frankly. Frankly astonishing.

It's immense. Amends. So what this guy's doing is incredible. He lives a public profile. He's out there. He puts himself out there. He has his book. It's fantastic. I'm about three quarters of the way through it.

Go get it. Go buy it. He chooses to live a public persona, public profile that represents an inspiring. story that can motivate somebody to change their existing current life circumstances for the better. And that can look like whatever it looks like. You're doing that because what you represent to what I perceive as your, how you come across to an audience is I am just a dude wearing a blue denim shirt,

driving an old rickety car. It's a very accessible concept. You intentionally, I believe it's intentional, have cultivated a persona, a image that says, I'm doing extraordinary things in an unextradinary way. And I'm traveling and I'm experiencing and I'm just lavishing in. I'm just drinking deep from the well of life's experiences. And it happens to be, you and I, this is our touchstone. We both believe that the deepest experiences are in Baja, Mexico, and other people would

counter that and say, no, they're in Hawaii or they're in my backyard. They're in Zion. That's all great. Like, it just happens to be Baja works for me. It does for you, too. So you have demystified and then leveled it out to a very accessible, you know, anybody can buy an old rig and throw a chain around the bumper and throw some tools in the back and off you go.

You don't need the latest high-tech, polar tech, like I believe that you have done this in a very, in a very conscientious way, and I absolutely love it. Because there's probably people out there who think, oh, I can't adventure because I don't have $100,000 to sink into the latest Jeep thing and get all the REI gear. And you're like, no, you don't need any of that.

you need an old you just just go for it and i am impressed and admire that about what so joj so i think here's what i'm saying joey is inspiring people through his story your personal story and what you're doing is inspiring i hope that in some tiny way i'm inspiring someone who thinks motorcycling is their thing um and to in our social media it's sort of aspirational right it's like i'm at personally me i'm out doing these really fun, you know, and I explained why I do it. But I would love to inspire somebody either to go to that level if you want, but don't. Just get a little dirt bike and go out and go right over a mountain, right? What's on the other side of that mountain?

Go find out. Get a dirt bike and go experience it and see what that does for you. That was a side, that meandered around when you asked about hobo moped. So I put a lot of effort into Taco Motor because I want. people to be inspired. Well, I find it inspirational, and I appreciate the kind words that you said about me. At the end of the day, Mike, if I can do it, if I can do it in my 50-year-old truck that I don't know how to fix, like if I can do it, dressed in a flipping Pith helmet, you know, like,

if I can do it, what's your barrier? You know, if you have that desire, you should do it. You should do it. And again, as people always say, especially at Overland Expo or what have you, oh, as soon as I get my triple locked 37s, you know, the light bar, the this, I need those things to do that. And I will always say, hey, listen, if we see another single vehicle out where we're going, it's going to be a rancher and a 30-year-old clapped out. F-150.

Or Ford Ranger on three bald tires, you know, no lights at all or broken lights, leaking some fluids. That's the Baja vehicle right there. Three people up front and four people in the back. And somebody holding a goat. Yeah. And that's it. And that guy doesn't have anything from the ARB catalog on his truck.

That's a million percent right. It's a million percent right. You have essentially created this lo-fi, off-road culture that I think is fabulous. May it never end. Well, we're really going to leave it right there, folks, with that lo-fi culture. All right, man. We did it. Thanks, Mike.

Thank you, man. Go out, get some adventure. Hey, well, I hope you like that conversation with Mike Spurgeon, Taco Moto. I really need to hang out with that guy much more often. Man, alive, he's the best. And he referenced Joey Evans, and that is a podcast. I'm going to bring you very shortly. Joey's an amazing guy who I met at Mike's shop and recorded half a podcast with him

because he was off to ride the Baja 1000 to Iron Man the Baja 1,000. And Joey has a remarkable story from being in a motorcycle accident in a race, getting paralyzed, fighting through that to regain some movement in his body and all the medical stuff that comes with it, to being able to walk with help and ride a motorcycle and race again and ride and finish the Perry Dakar, or the Dakar rally now. Anyhow, I'll be bringing you that one soon. Stay tuned for that. and I hope you enjoyed this conversation, and I do need to say thanks for a few more things on the Slow Baja vintage.

I had some sponsors that were truly amazing. Sal Fish got to pour Fortaleza tequila. If you love Fortaleza tequila, if you've been hearing me wax about Forteilaza tequila since I started this podcast, you know how hard it is to find a bottle at retail, especially a bottle at retail at the retail price, not marked up 200 or 300 percent. But we had tequila, Fortaleza supplied us with tequila for this trip. And because they knew it was such a big trip, they actually reached out to their neighbors in tequila, the distillery down the road, Arete. And Arretee for some tequila to help us with our margaritas.

And Arete came through with five flippin cases of Blanco. Beautiful Blanco, thank you, Arete. And they helped us batch up the margaritas. And Cambio, Cambo, Tequila. again, one of my new favorites when I can't find Fortaleza. I've been drinking a lot of combio, and I like it. If you see it, buy it. But I was pouring combio around the campfire as well.

Again, we had 40 people between the, we had a few people who came in and came out, but 40 people total. So we needed a few bottles of tequila to share. And Sal was a great poorer and a delightful storyteller. And again, thanks to Field Van, Johnny, and his dad, Alan Feld, who, came down to provide a sleep pod for Sal, you know, a couple of field vans. I don't know, they were about 300k a piece, and they just rolled those babies down there, took a week off work, founder of the company, and his son, who's president of the company, and they came to Baja with me, and they were just amazing.

And they, one night we set up, and they screened, we screened, Dust to Glory in Cattavina. And that was just the coolest moment I've ever had in Baja. Sal's watching. It was a huge surprise. And I got to say thanks to Johnny and Alan for making that happen. Okay, well, again, if you like what I'm doing, if you like these heartfelt podcasts, these deep thinking podcasts, drop a taco in the tank. You can do that at slowbaha.com slash donations. Drop a taco, drop a few tacos. I need to help. I need to keep on, keeping on. Didn't get you bringing you too many podcasts this year. Hope to bring you a few more next year.

So please, if you've got tacos jingling in your pockets, drop one in the tank. Also, if you're over there at slowbaha.com, please check out the shop. I always love getting those notes after somebody buys a hat or a tea or puts a sticker on their Baja rig, and that leads to a great conversation. It really does warm my heart because, you know,

it is a small community, it's a tight community, and I appreciate you Rep and Slow Baja. So winter's here and that means it's Baja travel season. Get out and rep Slow Baja.com. Okay, well, it's time with the show where I could tell you about Slow Baja alum, Off Road Motorsports Hall of Famer, Mary McGee.

You know, Mary had a pal, Steve McQueen, and Steve loved Baja. And he got Mary out there riding in the dirt. You know, Steve said it. Mary, Baja's life. Anything that happens before or after? It's 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 Sheelman seats. You know, Toby at Shield Man USA could not be easier to work with. He recommended Averio F for me and Averio F XXL for 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 approved, learn more and get yours at shielman.com. You know, I'm all about keeping things simple, travel and 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 gear that holds up in the dust, the salt, the spilled tacos, and still looks good when you're roll 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.