Today we made are way out of Texas and into New Mexico and saw some very interesting landscape. Once we reached Brownsfield Tx., as far as the eye could see was nothing but new farmland planted with whatever, but my guess is cotton or corn. Mixed into these fields were oil pumps steady pumping that black gold out of the ground and into our endless need for gasoline. What made me wonder is if the land owners get anything back letting these big time oil companies pump on their property. My guess is no looking at the towns and housing that surrounded all of these pumping fields. I’m sure that all these companies own the mineral rights under the property of all such land owners.
As we crossed into New Mexico I noticed quickly that the Valkyrie seemed to be burning fuel at a higher than normal rate. Sure enough it had dropped to 25 mpg. I was fighting a 20-30 knot head winds all day today plus we were climbing. When I was in New Orleans a few days back, I forgot to mention that I one point my GPS indicated that I was 9 feet below sea level. Today I left Lubbock reading 3400 feet above sea level and I reached the max height of 8000 feet as I crossed the Continental Divide. Lori thought this was a time zone change, which we did cross another today and I’m now 2 hours behind the East Coast, but the Continental Divide separates the direction the water flows out of the Mountains, either Pacific Ocean or Atlantic. This is the first time that the Valkyrie has been this high running at 70-75mph steady pace and I’m thinking the atmosphere combined with head wind is affecting my 6 carburetor system that runs those 6 cylinders. What else do you think happen with that elevation change today? Let me give you a hint, brrrr!!! We stopped more than once on this leg today to change our riding gear to fit the temperatures. I’ll talk more about the temps later.
I had a fear before I left on this trip that sometimes fuel would be a major issue. I had two legs today where the fuel stops where more than 130 miles apart. For the normal vehicle this is not a issue, but when your bike is getting 25mpg and your carrying 6.87 gallons in your fuel tank, that gives you 171 miles burning every drop. My reserve system kicks in when I have burned 5.8 gallons or 145, so I flipped to reserve twice today and twice yesterday and I haven’t even hit the part of the country that I was worried about. That is tomorrow. Now you know why I bought and keep filled those spare tanks in my trailer. That is 4 more gallons or 108 miles getting the worst fuel mileage so far and about 115 using my average.
When we rolled into Roswell, NM., you could see and tell that everything basically was a tourist trap for Alien attractions. Alien Zone that I was going to visit was closed, so we just cruised through town and moseyed on. We should have stopped for lunch early in Roswell, but at 11am, neither of us was hungry. So about an hour out of town, I did a quick search and the next eats was 1.5 to 2 hours out in front of us. Great!! We were once again in the middle of no where and we ate granola snacks for lunch that Lori had packed. Then came Albuquerque, the scenery changed dramatically into rolling hills and lot’s of rocks and red dirt. Very pretty and Lori took lot’s of picture.
We also stopped at El Morro National Monument to look at the Inscriptions and petroglyphs that dated back to the 1450’s from Indians, Spanish, and the new settlers of the land. The rock formation itself was very impressive but it’s real purpose meant so much more to all the travels of those times. It was a major landmark to help navigate the surrounding land and at it’s base was a never ending supply of drinking water that saved many a traveler by foot or horse. We took many pictures of the writings and the formation itself so enjoy.
Remember those temperatures I was speaking of earlier? Well when we crossed the Continental Divide is was cold enough that I even needed to stop. Lori claimed it was hailing, but I was there also, so I can tell you it wasn’t. It was around 45 degrees and it was drizzling which made it feel even colder when your driving at 65mph. Once we rolled into Gallup, Nm the rain was even more steady and I did one short blast on the Interstate trying to beat the big rain coming and didn’t quite make it. Needless to say when we rolled in the Hampton Inn parking lot, Lori was in a full body shake cold. I told her to go inside and leave the suit on and she will warm quickly, which she did. We were both dry, but the outside temperature of 45 combined with moisture and 70 mph wind is not a good combination. So we went from getting smoked yesterday to freezing today. None of this should have happen. Some how, someway, we are missing the one special cord that connects Lori’s heated suit to my bike. I do not know if it got missed placed when we got the tire changed or I just left it home. I will have a chance of getting a new one in San Diego, but until then, I will have to bundle her with some of my gear. Tomorrow morning the forecasted temperature when we leave is 35, plus it might snow. Ugh! I might have to delay our departure time a couple of hours to wait until it hits 45.
Tomorrow, weather permitting we are heading to Page, AZ to setup the next days entry to the Grand Canyon. On the way to Page, we will cross a very large portion of the Navajo Indian Reservation. Inside the reservation we hope to visit the Canyon de Chelly, Mexican Hat, and Monument Valley. Mileage wise, it’s a short 423 miles.
Todays run was 552 miles, and our total is now 3049.
Click here for today’s pictures
Tomorrows route is pictured below:
The Picture below shows what we have completed and what we have left. The Red is complete and the Green is what is left.
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