GDMBR Day 09
Start: Toaster Hostel, Pie Town, NM
Finish: Toaster Hostel, Pie Town, NM
Miles: 0 miles
Odometer: 319.1 miles
Location: https://share.garmin.com/Judice
Highlights:
Today I took a “zero” day at the hostel to rest, relax, and get my bike back in order. The hostel crowd completely cleared out because of the good weather, and seven other hikers and cyclists trickled in during the day to replace them, including Simon and Max who I’ve met two days before. The convivial atmosphere and trail stories made for some happy times.
I went back to the Gathering Place for lunch and sat at a family style table with two other couples, one to my left and one to my right. The gentleman to my left was born and raised in Morgan City, LA and the woman to my right was wearing a brewery hat from Arnaudville, LA. What a coincidence! I ordered the New Mexico state pie made with apples, green chilies, and pinenuts. It was delicious, sweet and spicy. I took a pie back to the hostel.
Back at the hostel, the gang sat around the kitchen table all afternoon as we all put our respective leftover pies on the table and shared with each other. I was able to taste a number of different pies from different local pie makers.
Lowlights:
The crusted dried mud packed into all of the little bits of my bike and was extremely difficult to remove. Simple hosing did not work. I had to take apart my brakes and clean the them by hand. The task took me over two hours. Fortunately the hostel has a very nice bike stand that was donated by the family of a young Great Divide racer that came through town in 2013. He later developed cancer and died and the family donated the bike stand and tools in his honor. Not only did the bike stand make my job a lot easier, the story of the young man reminded me of why I go through a few hardships in life in order to feel like I’m living it fully.