Tour Divide Day 22.

222km. Pueblo Pintado to Pie Town.
Total time: 16 hours.

Last night, I stored my macdonalds crispy chicken sandwich with me in my bivy so that the dog wouldn't get it. This morning, I woke up with it all over my jersey. Add that to the smells that thing has collected over the past three weeks.

Camping out at a gas station means that you get to eat your gas station grand slam breakfast (pizza pocket, boxed donuts and milk) in the VIP section of the patio.

I made it to Grants in time for lunch. As I was inhaling a milkshake and burger, two self-proclaimed wanderers, Jim and Chuck, sat at a table next to me and chatted me up. I observed that we had a few things in common, the need a shower and washing machine being the most obvious. I carry our my bedroom apartment, kitchen and wardrobe around on my bike. They carry theirs in a shopping cart.

It was the first interaction that I've had with homeless people in which our social inequality wasn't an inescapable factor in setting the tone. Jim offered to let me use his deodorant, which was really rather sweet. I'll admit that I had so many flies around me that, if you took a long exposure picture, I was a dead ringer for Pigpen from the Charlie Brown comics. I politely declined. There is no earthly substance that can mask the stench of 2300 miles of sweat and tears and the grease of a macdonalds crispy chicken club.

After Grants, the road wound through El Malpais National Monument. Gorgeous! It was a furnace, without a speck of shade. This was probably the more appropriate setting for the picture of the day, but I'm guessing that someone out there has taken some nicer shots of the park than I can capture from my camera phone.

I took my time after the park. Given my pleasant experience with night riding yesterday, I thought it better to have more of that, rather than battling out the epic heat. I didn't account for the offroad washboard and sandy mayhem. It was a mix of riding over a long stretch of rumble strips and then trying to ride on the beach. But I wanted to make it to Pie Town tonight. I had a feeling that I might catch JP and his gang here. I didn't make it until 1130, but maybe I can catch them tomorrow morning.

Rolling into Pie Town was like rolling on to the set of a Tarantino movie. The fact that the ride in was on a road that most normal people might deem impassable was one part of that. The next was was the style of the homes. I'm staying inside the toaster house. I don't know anything about it except that it has a bunch of toasters on the gate out front, there was a note on the door saying welcome, and there were some other cyclists there. Although the owner was not home, they have made the place available for bikers, hikers and others travelling the divide route. Pretty cool.
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