We left Grants a bit slowly- anytime we camp in towns, we always end up with lots of people to chat with and questions to answer. We also found an incredible Route 66 drive-thru photo op that we certainly had to take advantage of. We had made a plan to stop at the last convenience store out of town so we could stock up for the 200 miles till the next resupply- this would be our longest stretch without a store, and food planning was mildly stressful. We managed to pull it off (definitely racking up my biggest convenience store total ever) and then were finally on our way. We again chose the paved alternate to avoid caliche, which took us through the surprisingly beautiful El Malpais National Monument. The sandstone cliffs and features would make world-class climbing if it were open to such activities. We made our turn onto gravel at Pie Town Road which started out good quality and got a little rough in the middle. We noticed a storm that would cross our path, so we decided to book it into town as fast as we could. It wasn’t fast enough, unfortunately, and I got caught in a downpour. The road was more sand than clay so it was still rideable, even as it was turning into a small river. I hopped back on my bike and went for it rather than cower in the rain and be cold. It was pretty damn fun and I rode out of the storm fairly quickly. My drivetrain was unhappy but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a little cleaning and chain lube. I made it to Pie Town and rolled up to the cyclist/camper hostel Toaster House, our destination for the night. The pie shop was already closed but we decided that we’d hit it for breakfast- can’t leave Pie Town without having pie!