Grants to Pie Town We got to Grants early enough the previous afternoon to check out the town a little, and find some dinner walking distance from the hotel. I saw enough to decide I didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary in Grants, NM. Unfortunately, the possibility of mud and impassable roads was looming, and Alex decided to stay another day in Grants. I agonized over what to do—partly because I was enjoying riding with Alex, partly because Grants is not a place I would voluntarily stay. I pored over weather forecasts and googled “peanut butter mud” and thought too much. Finally, I made the decision that I would rather walk through 10 miles of mud than stay another day in Grants. I swung by Alex’s hotel to say goodbye and good luck, and I hit the road at 10. Although there were alternates I could take, I decided to ride the full ACA route, if for no other reason than to give Alex some real road condition intel. So began a string of good luck that I am very grateful for. The route proper started north of town and went up a cool canyon called Zuni Canyon. Very scenic road that was supposed to be gravel right out of town. Well, sometime since the last ACA publication, the road was paved! Over 20 miles of quiet, smooth non peanut butter pavement all the way over the high point of the day! Skies were dark and angry looking, but it never rained. I rolled on making proper time. Still, I hadn’t seen any gravel, and that was weighing on my mind as I finally turned off on the first gravel/dirt road of the day. The very first thing I see is a scary sounding sign about road conditions when it’s wet, you’re gonna get stuck, etc. Another decision point, and I decided to go for it. The first thing I notice is the landscape looks much like home!?! Think lava lands visitor center for a few miles, then the badlands out east of town. I mean EXACTLY like it! So, I wasn’t compelled to stop and take pictures every 5 minutes and could just ride. Up to that point I hadnt seen a single dollop of mud, and the road was smooth and fast, with no wind! The first time a took a break for a snack and checked my GPS, I had already done 40 miles. The road remained really good, and I was feeling surprisingly good considering the miles I had put in the past week. At that point I made the decision I would just keep rolling as long as conditions and daylight allowed. Making it to Pie Town (yes, the real name of a town, and yes they have pie) was a real possibility. On I rode, almost magically dodging angry looking thunderstorms. It was amazing! I would see an ugly black thundercloud ahead, and then the road would turn and I would miss it! This happened several times, and I never got a drop of rain on me. So grateful! Eventually I popped out on a paved highway and finally had a bit of bad luck with a robust headwind for a few miles. My spirits were still high given all the good luck I’d had though, so I pedaled through it. Another turn on gravel found the road surface not so great—no mud, but rough gravel with ample washboard sections. Still, at that point I only had about 8 miles to a possible camping spot called TLC ranch. I put my head down and pedaled there. TLC Ranch had an old homestead building that they let cyclists or divide hikers camp around, and water and snacks if you want. I had heard about it and was anxious to see it. On my arrival, sure enough—there was 2 coolers of water there, and a cooler with food! Spaghetti and beans in foil containers! I didn’t know how long the food had been there, but it didn’t have fur growing on it, so I ate some. Besides, the beans were the basic pintos, which I love! It tasted so good, and I had no ill effects from it! I sat there for a few minutes looking at my map and calculating the distance to pie town and remaining daylight. I was starting to get tired at this point, but the roads had changed to “not bad”, and Pie Town was only 17 miles away. Once again I decided to go for it. On I went, racing darkness to Pie Town. I checked my GPS frequently to make sure my blue dot was getting closer to the brown dot. The road was rolling at this point, and the rolling uphillls were starting to hurt a little bit! Then, the road turned coarse gravel and washboard again, which hurt some more! Finally, the intersection with the highway came into view right at dusk. Whew! I found the biker/hiker hostel, called the “toaster house” (more on that in tomorrow’s update) and swung in. I checked my GPS: 94 miles. No wonder I was tired! I parked my bike and walked inside to find 3 other cyclists and the hostel caretaker chatting. They were so kind and showed me around, and pointed out some food that I didnt have to dig into my bag for. I slowly began to feel more human, and relaxed and chatted some more with the people there. After a shower, it was time for bed—everyone else had already turned in—so I found a real bed upstairs and quietly rolled my sleeping bag out on top of the mattress. Heaven! I laid there just for a few minutes reflecting on the day. I was so grateful I didn’t run into mud, that I didn’t get pasted by a thunderstorm, that I had pinto beans at TLC ranch, and that I had made it to Pie Town. And…I wasn’t in Grants anymore!