I want to offer you and the community at large a little information regarding Pie Town. Your call about your experience there caused a bit of concern for the racers behind you as well as for their friends and family. In particular a friend of Jenn's, Minx, has a blog that was echoing your discontent about Pie Town. I have cycled through Pie Town on the GDMBR twice and I have nothing but good things to say about it and the people who live there.
I really don't want to be cantankerous, but I've always enjoyed my stays in Pie Town, New Mexico. On this basis, I beg to differ with some of the recent disparaging reports. If I am not mistaken there are only about 50 people who live there. So, the fact that there are two restaurants is pretty outstanding for such a small population base on a back road.
I am sorry to hear that some racers have had a discrepancy between their expectations and their experiences in Pie Town. There really should be better information available for them in terms of telephone numbers and hours of operation. I provide Mary Collier (aka Siren Mary) on the Tour Divide Blog last night for resources south of Pie Town. I put it in the TD Blog as a Comment under Mary's call-in last night from Grants.
Earlier this summer I was touring northbound on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) with five other cyclists, and we received the red carpet treatment in Pie Town.
Nita Larrande, a resident of Pie Town, was the most recent recipient of the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Trail Angel award. We stayed at her famous “Toaster House.” The only thing she asked of us was to sign her guest book and leave some good vibes and inspiration thoughts behind.
ACA is the organization that researched and developed maps for the GDMBR, on which the Tour Divide (TD) and the GDR ride their races. Nita actually lives a few miles west off NM60 and then a bit south. She lets Continental Divide Trail (CDT) hikers and GDMBR cyclists crash at her Toaster House. It is right on the route.
I'd check with the neighbors, and also try the door on the north side of the house that has the chalkboard by the entrance. I don't know if the front (east) door is ever unlocked? The worse case scenario would be to just sleep outside on the couches on the porches. The only "ones" who are going to possibly disturb your peace are the noisy chickens in the back. They get up quite early, which shouldn’t bother a racer. I hope Jenn has a great meal in Pie Town, and possible a restorative snooze too.
I have a lot of pictures of the New Mexico portion of the GDMBR on my blog and in my public Picasa Web Albums. My blog address is: www.bikerbobonthegdmbr.com and the web address to my Picasa Web Albums is: http://picasaweb.google.com/08GDMBRBob/ . Perhaps by looking at some of these photos and reading the captions it might help you gain an appreciation of what Jenn is seeing in New Mexico. Let’s keep sending her, and the remaining racers on the course, thoughts of health and safety. Cheers.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth about Pie Town. You were either very lucky or smart to leave the SPOT with your bike if you had to ship it separately. I hope we can continue to follow "Cranky" it to wherever he/she/it(?) ends up. This part of the story may actually be as interesting as your own epic adventures. Congratulations and Good Luck!!!
Pie Town
Hi Felix et al,
I want to offer you and the community at large a little information regarding Pie Town. Your call about your experience there caused a bit of concern for the racers behind you as well as for their friends and family. In particular a friend of Jenn's, Minx, has a blog that was echoing your discontent about Pie Town. I have cycled through Pie Town on the GDMBR twice and I have nothing but good things to say about it and the people who live there.
The following is an excerpt from the comment I left on Minx's blog (http://minxcompendium.blogspot.com/) last night:
Howdy from New Mexico,
I really don't want to be cantankerous, but I've always enjoyed my stays in Pie Town, New Mexico. On this basis, I beg to differ with some of the recent disparaging reports. If I am not mistaken there are only about 50 people who live there. So, the fact that there are two restaurants is pretty outstanding for such a small population base on a back road.
I am sorry to hear that some racers have had a discrepancy between their expectations and their experiences in Pie Town. There really should be better information available for them in terms of telephone numbers and hours of operation. I provide Mary Collier (aka Siren Mary) on the Tour Divide Blog last night for resources south of Pie Town. I put it in the TD Blog as a Comment under Mary's call-in last night from Grants.
Earlier this summer I was touring northbound on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) with five other cyclists, and we received the red carpet treatment in Pie Town.
Nita Larrande, a resident of Pie Town, was the most recent recipient of the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Trail Angel award. We stayed at her famous “Toaster House.” The only thing she asked of us was to sign her guest book and leave some good vibes and inspiration thoughts behind.
ACA is the organization that researched and developed maps for the GDMBR, on which the Tour Divide (TD) and the GDR ride their races. Nita actually lives a few miles west off NM60 and then a bit south. She lets Continental Divide Trail (CDT) hikers and GDMBR cyclists crash at her Toaster House. It is right on the route.
I'd check with the neighbors, and also try the door on the north side of the house that has the chalkboard by the entrance. I don't know if the front (east) door is ever unlocked? The worse case scenario would be to just sleep outside on the couches on the porches. The only "ones" who are going to possibly disturb your peace are the noisy chickens in the back. They get up quite early, which shouldn’t bother a racer. I hope Jenn has a great meal in Pie Town, and possible a restorative snooze too.
I have a lot of pictures of the New Mexico portion of the GDMBR on my blog and in my public Picasa Web Albums. My blog address is: www.bikerbobonthegdmbr.com and the web address to my Picasa Web Albums is: http://picasaweb.google.com/08GDMBRBob/ . Perhaps by looking at some of these photos and reading the captions it might help you gain an appreciation of what Jenn is seeing in New Mexico. Let’s keep sending her, and the remaining racers on the course, thoughts of health and safety. Cheers.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth about Pie Town. You were either very lucky or smart to leave the SPOT with your bike if you had to ship it separately. I hope we can continue to follow "Cranky" it to wherever he/she/it(?) ends up. This part of the story may actually be as interesting as your own epic adventures. Congratulations and Good Luck!!!