Slow Baja - Travel Talk With Slow Baja Meet Matt Frick Of Camp4Lo Baja Off Road Tours

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

Matt Frick is an old Baja hand who runs the off-road tour company, Camp4Lo. We ran into each other recently at a stop sign in San Felipe. After exchanging greetings, we decided to get tacos on the Malecon.  As we were chatting and eating, the conversation drifted to how we got started traveling to Baja. I mentioned that I worked at Trackside Photo in the mid-'80s and shot the 1986 Baja 500. Trackside Photo was a photographic agency run by Off-Road Hall Of Fame Member Jim Ober. They specialized in covering off-road racing events that required teams of photographers. As a free-lancer, I would travel all over Southern California and Baja to shoot racing for the weekend and return to my college life late Sunday night. Matt looked curiously at me and said that he worked at Trackside too! No wonder he seemed so familiar, small world! Enjoy this rambling conversation and check out Camp4Lo.com

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. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. It's a 72-page large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at Benchmarkmaps.com. All right, well, I can hear me. So this is a podcast machine?

This is where the podcast sausage gets made. Hey, it's Friday. Fortale is a Friday. I'm in San Felipe, and this guy pulled up next to me at a stop sign and said, hey, slow Baja. I'm Matt Frick from Camp Four Low. And here we are. We've had some tacos. This fine gentleman bought me a couple of Alpestero tacos. He probably doesn't even know that's my favorite. And now we're sitting down to do a little quick talk. We've got the music turned down. We've got dogs barking. And Matt, Frick, Camp Four Low, Fiesta, Expeditions. Say hello.

Hello. Well, let's talk. You and I. We've had our paths have crossed in Baja. We're about the same age. We work for the same company in the 80s. no wonder you look familiar that was weird when you said trackside I went what? Yeah yeah just thinking about I'm moving some cords here as we talk

holding on to holding on to my cans underneath my pith helmet and I can't believe that you and I work for the same company in the same time frame and I looked at you and I'm like no he just looks like my high school buddy that's why he looks so familiar well anyways enough about that

Tell me about Camp Forlo. Got your dog with you that you found on Campandre Trail? She's wondering what's up. She's a puppy, so she's not too smart. Or too smart, for that matter. We guide people to Baja on off-road tours, excursions. We do overlanding, rock crawling, fast stuff, private tours, and our signature event is the Forlo Fiesta in San Felipe in October.

And what are the dates for this year for 2021? October 21st through the 24th. So right after the Nora 500, you can just spend the entire month of October hanging around in Baja and doing fun stuff. Like you can do safari class with me in Slow Baja, and then you can go over and do the fiesta with you and maybe spend a couple of weeks or a week in between. Wow. So you've made the move down here. You're here full time. Yeah.

Tell me about that. Man, it's good. It's simple. It's cheap. And there's a lot of things you give up, but there's a lot of things you gain, like low blood pressure. Yeah. And, you know, that low-stress lifestyle is more and more important. As you and I are in our middle 50s, finding those ways to just take a big exhale is maybe much more important than daily mail service that's reliable. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I can't get mail, but I can get some. sunsets and on the beach and it's good for the soul. How did you decide, you were a Southern California guy, how did you decide where you're going to live and how are you going to do it?

Well, I had another house in a similar place around the bend there. And so was that a fun weekend place for you? Yeah, yeah. And it was too remote, and there's nobody there to defend it, and it kept getting broken into, and it got worse and worse over the years. And my kids grew up, and we just kind of left it. So I had been going to Quatrocasses for a while. I've been bringing groups there.

And I just like it. I like the area where I'm at. And I just decided to stay there and put down some roots. Awesome. Awesome. So can you give me like a short version of how that happens for an expat to come and do you rent a place long term? Yeah. They say don't build on rented land, but that's kind of what you've got to do here.

Right. Exactly. You've got to know who you're renting from. you've got to know, you've got to have a relationship with these people. And it could still turn. You never know. You don't invest anymore than you're willing to walk away from. Okay.

All right. And getting back to Camp Forlo, pre-COVID, there's a thing going on. You were guiding people down here. People were having fun. I saw the pictures on the Internet. Yeah, we were. It looked like a damn good time. We were really on an uphill swing and then COVID, and it just put a pause on everything.

Right, right. Well, it's all coming back, hopefully. Yeah, we've got. Yeah, I've got a trip in a week. I've got a private trip. I've got four private trips lined up between now and September. So to break it down for the slow Baja audience, you've got a 4x4. There are lots of people with 4x4s.

You're listening to the podcast, so you do have an affinity for Baja. So tell me about what the Camp 4 Low experience is or the range of offerings. So most of our trips are six to eight people. That's our signature trip. and we do most eight vehicles yes gotcha and we'll do

three nights usually and we'll stay at three different places we'll stay at ranches and hostels I don't like to stay in hotels because everybody seems to split you know and the group divides and so we stay in ranches and hostels and things like that

like ranch or El Coyote you know where that is we stay up there and it's wonderful they feed us family style and we have a big campfire and they have those cabanas and stuff And we just adventure, you know, and the trails aren't, they're, you know, low to medium range trails, nothing super hard, but we do have some challenges for those guys that want to do some things, you know.

So a local and a Dotson B-2-10 with three bald tires down on one cylinder, he could let the air out and motor right through those, right around all those raptor guys? If he's a Mexican, yes. Yes. Just saying, that's a constant refrain on my show that wherever I'm going off road, the local dude in his old Dotson B-2-10 on three-balled tires and down one cylinder can go right by me as I'm white-knuckling it. I've been broken down in the race and been passed by a guy in a granada.

Yeah, exactly. What is going on here? The great off-road granada. I think all the granadas in the world are down here. I think so. All right, so you take groups, and how does the, we were talking a little bit over tacos about the next one, because you told me you had 45 vehicles. Oh, the Fiesta, the Four Low Fiesta.

Yeah, so the next one coming up, people are going to have some choices about what kind of route they're going to run. You're going to break it down into three groups, and then you're going to all Bivwack. Bivouac, is that the right bird? Bivouac, yes, that's a word I don't use very often. You're all going to get together at night for the fiesta. Yes, yes, and we'll have three separate runs. One is the Overland run, and that's just real mellow, and then it's like what we've been doing with the fiesta, and then we're going to have a GP hardcore crawler run,

and that's going to be run by Chris Miller, Trail Jeep on Instagram. He's got the trail to Seema and stuff, and he's got some guys coming. We've got some... They've got some gnarly dudes coming down. We're going to crawl over some stuff. We're going to break some things.

Good. That should be fun. And then we've got a long travel run for the Raptor boys and the Bronco boys. Get out and have some fun, put the hammer down. Yeah, Dave Watts is going to lead that with his Bronco. and they're going to do a rundown through all the whoops down the zoo road and all that stuff. Wow. Wow. That's good.

And then, and that's at Kiki's, is that, is that going to end up there? Yes, that's where the party is afterwards. And we've got, we've got the hotel across the street. And Kikis is in San Felipe for you folks who are following along at home. We've got the Kiki's booked, and that's where the actual party is. And then we're selling tickets, general admission tickets, where you can get your own accommodations, or you can camp somewhere or whatever, and then that ticket gets you the trail run

and the party and the food at the party Saturday night. That sounds like a great time. Yeah, and we're going to have a car show on the Malacom on Friday afternoon, and we've got a couple of things scheduled for Friday as well. Dave's going to lead a run-up to Mikeson back for the long-travel boys, and I'm going to lead a run down to the Portocetus hot springs on Friday, and we're going to go to the cow patty for a beer and a hot dog. And how much time is on dirt, how much time is on pavement?

The Friday run will be mostly pavement. Yeah, that's why I was asking. The Overlander guys. Okay, makes sense. But Saturday is all dirt. It's a six-hour trip. Perfect. That's what we try and make it take six hours.

So you get back in time to clean up a little bit, get a cold one in your hand? Yep. And tell me about your Baja journey. How'd you start coming down here? I was 17, and I worked in a Volkswagen shop, and next door was a guy that was a class one racer, and he just came over and asked me if I wanted to,

I'd go pre-run the Baja 500. Just like you live in Southern California, that stuff just happens. Hey, high school kid. Yep. What are you doing? So I had to get permission for my mom. Right. Thank God.

She said yes. And then it just all. First rides for free. Yep. Yeah. And then you're hooked. Now we've got a lifetime of radness. All right.

And so we talked about the fame Jim Ober, trackside photo. Jim Ober, the owner of trackside photo, who we both worked for at the same time. He's in the off-road motorsports. Hall of Fame. Hello, Barbara Rainia, I hope you're listening. And he was an interesting dude. He was. He seemed like, was he, was he a Vietnam veteran? No, but he was a military guy. He was in the guard. He just had lots of organizational skills and a military precision sort of approach.

Right. And I think I was 19, 20 years old when I was working for him. So I was just a, you know, college kid trying to make as a photographer. But he was a guy who was like, he gave you orders. And I hopped and said how high and okay, yes, sir. And, and, you know, Yep. Did it. Yep. He's the one that taught me, he taught me how to read a topo map.

Okay. You know, he taught me how to camouflage because in the late 80s, there was a big problem with the BLM not letting us take pictures because they didn't want us to step on a tortoise or something.

And he gave me, well, that's right, when he painted all of his vehicles, desert tan. And he showed me how to camouflage the vehicle. And I, I was at the mint one time,

and I was, I had the vehicle camouflage. I was sitting in at my photo spot and a BLM guy drove right by me. and never even saw me. Like, okay, I guess this stuff works. It works. Yeah.

Yeah, well, he's a guy that I still need to jump in and get him with a microphone in his hand. You know, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser down to Baja, and when we go, we go with Baja bound insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Baja Bound insurance serving Mexico travelers since 1994. Hey, do you have a 4x4? You love off-road racing.

You've got to join Slow Baja in the Nora 500. It's Ensenada to Ensenada three great days, October 7th through 10th. Kurt LaDuke, Off-road Hall of Famer, leads the class. If we can do it in our old truck, you can do it. Get your street legal four-by-four, get into the safari class, and I'll see you in Ensenada. More info at nora.com. That's www.n-n-n-R-R-A-com or on Slow Baja. So you've been in the car as a navigator.

You've pre-run, and you've been, you know, there in the dirt trying to make photos of it. And then you've been in the dark room making 250 press prints in an afternoon to FedEx out before the FedEx deadline. Probably had to go sailing over to your FedEx local office on a motorcycle or something to get those things in there hot so they could get to Ohio the next morning. Just throw out a couple crazy stories for me. I had it. One time I was broke down in the Baja bug in the trackside Baja bug.

I was out by Laguna Hanson. And I tried to get on the radio and the radio wasn't working. And I was like, oh man, I'm out here. I broke down. And I noticed that the light on the speaker was coming on every so often. I'm like, oh, so something's going on,

but I can't hear it. I can't hear it. And so I said, you know, click the microphone three times if you're, you know, and I, if you hear me, and then the speaker, you know, the light on the speaker went three times, like, okay, so I'm broke down at this place at Luganahansen, you know, and tell me, you know, this is where I'm at. And that back then, you couldn't send GPS, really, coordinates. Right. You know, and I just said, I'm past, you know, race mile 62 or whatever I was. And I clicked three times if you got that, you know, and sure enough,

and some guy showed up about an hour later and towed me out. Well, we were having some fond reminiscences about the Volkswagen thing, but that 86 Baja 500, I had been to a party, college party the night before, somehow slept through my alarm, and I needed to be at the hotel just north of Encinano Papagayo. Had to be there at 8 a.m. and I woke up in my house at San Diego State at 6.35 a.m. That's pushing it.

Yeah. So grabbed a jug of water. I'd pre-stage that. And I don't know what. I pack of like a pack of animal crackers or something. And that was it, you know. And threw it in my Dodson 510 and drove literally flat out from my house down to the border and had the drive of my life, complete Zen, you know,

four-wheel drift through every turn from Tijuana down to Ensenada and got there. I just wish I could remember the trackside Stafford's name who looked at me when I got out of the car. He's like, you all right, dude? But jumped out of my 5-10 into the thing, like, you know, no problem, took my camera bag, and I had this big 600 because I was shooting baseball at the same time for All-Sport. And Jim, every time he saw it, said, what the heck you got that thing for? I told you, you only need a 135. You got, you know, like, anyway.

So I'm into the Volkswagen thing, and he just dropped me off 25 miles from. nowhere. I mean, it was nothing as far as I could see, not a single person out there, and there was a jump. So he had pre-run it to the extent of he knew there was a jump there. And then I just stood there for the whole day by myself, no radio, no nothing. He said when that 55 Chevy goes by, start looking for us. We'll, you know, we'll be driving along after that thing. That was it then. There was no, there's no radio. If something happened to Jim and, you know, he got hit or somebody was going to come by and pick me up. It was all him. Yep. And it just, you know, Walker Evans and maybe it was Rod Hall. I'm blanking now, but the racers saw me while I was standing out there, so they'd slow down and not go flying over this jump. So I thought I would lie down with my 600 and, you know, do a stealth photography thing. And it was Walker was too abreast. I think it was with Rod Hall and drove over my little camp. So blew up my folding beach chair, blew up my plastic jug of water and my measly bag of animal crass.

from the bulk section of the grocery store, my 79 cents worth of animal crackers. And, you know, you just stay out there the whole day. It wasn't hot. So that was good. And, you know, eventually Jim came by in the old thing. And, you know, I was on to tacos and everything was okay, you know. He, he, my first time shooting for him was the 85 fireworks 250. And he took me out and gave me a camera bag.

I hadn't even ever taken pictures before. and he kind of gave me the crash course and what to do and dumped me off and said, yeah, when you see this class, you know, it was like the nine class or something, I'll be back along. And I always thought, there he was. I always thought, you know, because I was really trying to make it as a photographer and a sports photographer and I loved auto racing and had done auto racing photography in high school for Sears Point Raceway. And I always thought had Jim been able to train a chimpanzee with a mum.

motor drive, that's what he would have done. He would have had a fleet. It would have been his stick. He would have had a fleet of trained chimpanzees with Nikon EMS with motor drives. They get three races and he throws them away. Yeah. We used to shoot with a dual camera bracket. Exactly.

The color and black and white dual camera bracket. Yeah. Now, he kind of left me alone for just do my thing. I had my own gear and all that. But yes, I saw the dual camera brackets and the guys all had them. But yeah, all right. Well, Matt, I told you I was going to get 15 minutes out of you. We're a little bit past that.

But if people want to find out about Camp Furlow, if they want to get in on the October event, give me the deeds. Campforloat.com. Okay. Instagram. Yep. Facebook. Camp Forlow, Instagram. All the socials.

Yeah, you're there. Our website has the details. We're selling out. It's getting down to the wire. Yeah, it's happening. So people need to act. They need to act if you want to get in. I'll get this podcast.

up quick. And if people want to get in touch with you, it's straight through the messaging, direct message. You're the guy behind the web on all that stuff. Info at Camp Forlo.com. Terrific. We'll get you there. Well, funny to run into you. Yeah, it was awesome. All right. Well, thanks for spending a few minutes with Slow Baja, and I appreciate the tacos. Thanks. All right, cheers. Slow Baja's wardrobe is provided by Taylor Stitch. Responsibly built for the long haul,

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