Day 10 to Pie Town

"I love pie. I love pie! I love pie..." - John's pie poem

30 miles, 1400 ft climbing

We road this morning with a mission. We all had one thing on our minds. It is almost impossible to get enough calories while riding especially, the calories that you want like fresh fruit or veggies, juicy steaks, or home-baked pie. Our route wove through grassland and pinon juniper forest among ancient lava cones. It looked more like the African Serengeti than NM. We pedaled past the highest point of NM on the actual geographic divide, Allegres Mountain, its summit obscured by smoke from the fires to the west.

After passing through the remains of an old Spanish village, we came upon our first long distance CDT hiker. From Teller County, CO, Bear had started at the Mexican border in May and was glad to have some company. His endeavor, walking from Mexico to Canada, made our ride seem easy. He was the only person we'd seen (in or out of a vehicle) in the past 50 miles. Cassi describes Bear as "an older man with a large belly and huge personality ... lighthearted and funny but at the same time insightful and deep."

Entering Pie Town, we headed straight for the Pie-O-Neer cafe. Meagan was just opening up, took our lunch orders and made us feel right at home. The spunky co-owner, Kathy, brought us the bowl to lick from the chocolate cream pie she'd just made. She explained that we'd have to wait as the pies had just started cooking. No problem, as this was the center of town. Over the next few hours, half the populace of Pie Town came by to talk, eat, or just say "Hi".

That afternoon we wandered over to the Toaster House (see photo below). This home is owned by trail angel extraordinaire- Nita- who now lives outside of town but encourages CDT travelers to stay at the Toaster House (donations accepted). It has beds, a kitchen, running water and even a stocked pantry and fridge. Though the hot water was off due to frozen/cracked pipes this spring, the trailer park next store offered hot showers (donations accepted). We were in heaven.

By 4pm it was time for dinner so back to the Pie-O-Neer. By then Bear had caught up to us and we spent the evening getting the perspective of the great divide via 2 feet rather than 2 wheels.