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Deane and Norm's Motorcycle Trip to Northwest Territories & Nunavut | |
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September 2 - Raton, NM to Albuquerque, NM - 255 Miles HOME! |
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I arrived home today, Safe and Sound! After an exciting time of 3 1/2 weeks on the road it still felt good to be home. Diane and the cat were waiting for me, and while Diane gave me a good welcome, the cat is upset with me for being gone so long. Today's ride was over familiar ground, down through the plains around Las Vegas, NM, and on through Glorietta Pass northeast of Santa Fe. That pass is always beautiful and rugged, with high walls of mesas or bluffs rising on both sides of the road and Pinon and smaller Ponderosa pines along the route. The most interesting sight of the day was a big buffalo (or bison) herd on a northern New Mexico ranch. This ranch is about 40 miles south of Raton, and I hadn't seen buffalo there before. The size of the herd was really surprising - at least 150, and maybe 200! I stopped and watched with binoculars for a few minutes. Then, equally surprising was another herd of buffalo, maybe 50, just south of Santa Fe. They were in the area of a field and corrals previously used by the NM penitentiary for having convicts work with wild horses, in a program to make both convicts and horses more gentle. Its ironic that after seeing buffalo in several states and Canada, I saw more buffalo, in numbers, here in New Mexico. And these were relatively close to home. Then I rode through the town of Pecos, NM, to see if a restaurant and a Dairy Queen listed there were really there. You see, I am the Ride Coordinator for my Chapter of GWRRA (Gold Wing Road Riders Association), so I check out restaurants before leading a ride. Most of you know the Gold Winger's motto - "Ride to Eat, and Eat to Ride". Then it was on to home. This will be my last report. - Had a great time! I think Norm will send me a wrap-up of his trip getting home, and I will put it on this website. Some of the Statistics for my part of the Ride are: Total days on the ride - 25 Total miles ridden - 6,700 Typical miles ridden per day - 350, Longest - 490, Shortest - 250 Miles flown, to & from Repulse Bay - about 1,800 Average Miles per Gallon by my Gold Wing GL1800 - 44 mpg Highest / Lowest price of gas in Canada - $2.00 US to $2.40 US |
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