August 14 - Cortez, CO to Albuquerque, NM - 360 miles

Well, this was the last day of the Alaska Trip.  Great to be home, but I was still having fun traveling on the Gold Wing.

The 60-mile ride from Cortez to Durango is one of my favorite places to ride or drive in Colorado.  The broad valley is so lush and green in the bottom, with cattle grazing here and there, and the sides of the valley so green with bushes and some trees.  The mesas, such as Mesa Verde, are quite striking as they rise so abruptly from the valley floor.  (From the valley bottom there was no sign of the big fire that had recently burned near Mesa Verde.)  One little town, Mancos, is a pretty little town and one worthy of getting off the main road, just to ride through and admire.

Durango to Pagosa Springs is another pretty stretch.  Just out of Durango isn't so pretty, but from about half way to Pagosa, the steep mountains are heavily forested with pines, and just beautiful.  Pagosa Springs is in a pretty green valley and makes a fitting end to this section of the ride.

Then I came down through forested areas and across the Colorado - New Mexico border.  This is still in the Rockies, which had seen enough rain recently to be quite green.

Blue skies, puffy white clouds and beautiful mountains - it was gorgeous.

Going through Chama and Tierra Amarilla, I couldn't resist going over one more 10,000 ft. pass, so I turned onto NM Highway 64 from Tierra Amarilla to Tres Piedras.

The view from the top of the 10,000 ft. pass is a spectacular panorama.

Because of the elevation changes, this route has many of the same plant life types that we saw clear up into Canada. First pines, then fir, then spruce and white birch.  And this is in New Mexico!

I even came upon a road repair crew working on - what else? - "Chip Seal".  Only here they were using "pea gravel" of a small size, and no dirt and no calcium carbonate dusty stuff that the Canadians use.  Much better surface to ride on, as soon as it is put down!

Chugging on down through Ojo Caliente, Espanola, and Santa Fe was hot as usual at this time of the year.  Then on to home, and while it was hot in Albuquerque also, it was home!  Great to see Diane after being gone six weeks!

For the Wildlife Report, I saw two "plastic" Elk - does that count the same as one live Elk?  I was riding along at about the Colorado - New Mexico border, where indeed there are wild elk, and saw what looked like two bull elk at the edge of a large clearing.  I made an emergency stop, got out the binoculars, and after examination found that they were plastic!  Then I saw a house at the other side of the clearing.  Just as I was about to leave, another man in a car did the same as I - made an emergency stop, parked alongside the road, and made the let-down discovery that the elk were plastic.  They looked quite real.

I'll write a wrap-up report on the trip, including some statistics on distances, gas mileage, special things to be remembered, etc., but for this report on arrival at home, I offer the following:

Time I spent on the trip - 6 1/2 weeks - actually 46 days!

Distance traveled - 10,052 miles on the Gold Wing, plus about 800 miles traveled on ferries; Canadian, Alaskan, and Washington state.  What great fun !!!!

Absolutely wonderful trip - I'd do it again in a minute!  Norm was a great friend to travel with.  Can you imagine two guys riding together every day, eating all their meals together, sleeping in same motel rooms, getting up early every day, riding in rain, mud, dust and construction, and still staying the best of friends after six weeks!

As I send this, Norm is still on his way home to Ohio, and I believe due to get home tomorrow, 8/16/00.  I'm sure he will send out a message to you all when he gets home.

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