June 30, 2000 - Albuquerque, NM to Montrose, CO - 330 miles

The Big Alaska Adventure Starts

Hurrah, Hurrah, the BIG Adventure has finally started, with Deane and Norm heading to Alaska on their Gold Wing motorcycles.

Norm had quite a ride just to start with Deane, having ridden 1900 miles from Vandalia, Ohio to Albuquerque, by way of Brownwood, Texas.

Norm's father-in-law had been hospitalized in Brownwood, and Norm and wife Kay needed to see that Kay's father was progressing, or at least stable.  So, Kay drove the car to Brownwood, and Norm rode his Gold Wing behind Kay, on faith that he would find Kay's father better, and then proceed to join Deane.  That worked out, and Norm rode on to Albuquerque to join Deane.

So, today we rode from Albuquerque to Montrose, Colorado, through Cuba, Bloomfield, and Aztec, New Mexico, and Durango, Silverton and Ouray, Colorado.

Oh, those beautiful Colorado Mountains!  In these lower Rockies, we crossed over three passes over 10,000 feet in elevation, and really enjoyed the beautiful Rockies.  The highest of the three Rocky mountain passes was Red Mountain Pass, at 11,120 feet.  

Not much out of the ordinary to tell about the day, except for a car that just passed us when he had an antifreeze hose blow out.  He covered our motorcycles with droplets of antifreeze.  The car driver got help from another car, and we washed the antifreeze off at the motel.

Back to Alaska Homepage

Back to Trip Index

Next day