Day 52- Pie Town

We got up fairly early to get a head start towards Pie Town today. Although Grants didn’t live up to expectations, it still was good to get a rest day in our push towards Silver City, which was at least four days away, with minimal to no services. It was also not sure where we could resupply with water. Pie town would have water for sure, but not clear where afterwards. My bike was pretty heavy with all the extra food and water.

The first 30 miles of the route was another detour around a reported muddy section that a retired park ranger told us about. Later another couple who had taken that route confirmed that was still the case. The first part of the route was along the Malpais area which had a volcanic eruption a few thousand years ago. It was a nice road with not much traffic. I have found traffic in general in Mew Mexico to be a lot less than other states, and in most cases more polite drivers too. Maybe not as popular, although we did see a lot of hunters dressed in camouflaged clothing, since elk season had just started. We stopped at the Malpais ranger station, and the “Ventana” national arch which was really neat to see.

”La Ventana” arch

The dirt road was a bit on the washboard side which can really slow you down quite a bit. Other than that all was reasonable good with some steep climbs along the way, and more loose sand than we had seen so far. Pie town is mostly famous for both GDMBR riders and CDT hikers for having a shop that makes these delicious pies, and a place where you can stay called the “Toaster house”. The closing time on Google for the pie shop was 4 pm, which we would unfortunately miss today. Bummer! That is really the only food source in the whole town too.

A bit later in the afternoon we were caught by these two Irish riders who were packed lightly on their bikes. A brother of one of them was taking some of their luggage in his car as a support vehicle. We chatted for a bit and they mentioned they were trying to get to the pie shop before it closed. I yelled after them to get an extra couple of pies for us too.

Later a pickup truck with a volunteer firefighter emblem stopped us and said that we could probably make it to the pie shop before it closed at 5pm. Just a “few” hills in between. What! Did Google lie to us. Still, we were struggling at the end of the day and knew that we couldn’t get there by 5 pm either. We saw a group of horses at the fence beside the road looking curious at us. I had brought a couple apples along and thought it might be a good opportunity to share parts with them. There were two who were not afraid of us and enjoyed some good snout rubs. I broke off a couple pieces of one apple and fed it to them. Initially they were somewhat reluctant like the had never had that before. However, as soon as they tasted it, they obviously wanted more. The other horses suddenly became interested and I gave the other half of the apple to Jess to feed them. It was funny to see them chewing and smacking their lips even after they ate their pieces. Probably because of the sweet juicy taste. I bet those horses will come running to the fence every time they see a cyclist now.

Not long after another driver stopped when we were with the horses letting us know that the pie shop will be open until 6pm since it was Friday before Labor Day weekend. Just past that big hill she said. Well, this time I decided to try to get there, afraid the Irish dudes might not have gotten our pies thinking we could make it there in time. One thing I am beginning to better understand is that when someone from New Mexico says “just beyond that hill”, they really mean hills with a capital “S”. I know it was at least three of them before I reached the store at exactly 5:59. I ran in only to have the nice lady tell me they had shut off the stove and were closing. “What about the pies?” I asked desperately, and still out of breath from the hill sprints. Then she mentioned the Irish guys and that they had bought a couple extra for us. Phew! Ok, now to find the Toaster house with our pies!

The toaster house is named that way because of all the old toasters that are hanging on the fence outside. Don’t ask me why someone(s) would do such a thing, but there it is. The house is pretty rustic, but with a lot of character from all the hikers and bikers that have used it on their trips. It is a completely self serve operation with kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms. The owner only comes occasionally to add more toilet paper, etc. There are several boxes of donated goods and food from others that no longer needed it, or wanted it. I noted that there were a few extra cans of Spam in the pantry.

We had some nice conversations with the Irish guys who live and work in Norway with their families. They also confirmed the PB mud that we had avoided early in the day. Good call on our part. And yes, the pies were delicious! 😋

I picked a spot in the living area on the floor, blew up my mattress and went to bed reasonably early.

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