You can usually find Michael Emery behind the wheel of his vintage Toyota Land Cruiser. An intrepid adventurer, Emery has been exploring Baja California for over 40 years. He shares the beauty of the people and the place through his Slow Baja Podcast and Slow Baja Adventures.

After an admitted addiction to the fast and dangerous La Carrera Panamericana, Emery sold his race car and bought a family-friendly 1971 Land Cruiser FJ40. He wanted to divorce himself from his addiction to racing before he found himself divorced from his loving wife. It only took a few months of running their three kids to school and sports in the old Toyota before Summer rolled around, and he was off to Baja for his first of many dirt drives.

In 2020, he launched Slow Baja after completing the grueling 3000-mile BajaXL Rally using only a paper map. In 2022, he was honored to host the legendary Big Oly in his Slow Baja Safari Class for NORRA. And in 2023, he launched Slow Baja Adventures to share his passion for slow travel. Michael's motto is, "We go slow and say hello!"

Michael told ORMHOF, "In 2023, I drove over 10,000 miles in Baja in a fifty-year-old patinaed tractor (his 1971 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser) with no power steering and a non-synchronized three-speed while recovering from two broken elbows and a cracked rib. I don't know if that's an achievement or an exercise in idiocracy."

Michael continued, "The year's highlight was when I led a graduation trip for a group of High School Auto Shop kids in 2WD Postal Jeeps that they had rebuilt as a class project. Through 600 miles of Baja Norte's most scenic and challenging dirt, these kids experienced a heaping dose of hands-on learning and problem-solving and, most importantly, learned that our neighbors in Baja are kind and caring people, something they did not expect. It was an intensely gratifying experience, and I would like to expand the project to high school auto shops throughout the Southwest."

"Baja is desolation on our doorstep. Every mile that I drive on a dirt road in Baja makes me younger. I've found the fountain of youth!" -- Michael Emery, Slow Baja

Michael's artistic approach to photojournalism and his Slow Baja podcast interviews celebrate the true wonder and romance of the land, and the people, south of the border.

Michael would like to thank Baja Bound Insurance, Tequila Fortaleza, Benchmark Maps, and Scheel-Mann USA.