Pie For Breakfast

We are off to a great start this morning.

Last night we stayed at the Baptist Church of the gigantuan town of Quemado, New Mexico: Population 300 (give or take, I actually don’t have any idea… but it was a small town!). It is so big and high-tech that their only gas station in town had to stop selling gas because their old pumps can’t register $4.00. Gas, groceries, and all basic things one might need can all be found in Springerville, which is “only” 50 miles away.

This church, once again, was beyond amazing and offered remarkable hospitality and generosity. They were SO ready for us, too! As we arrived they were waiting with a brigade of vehicles to take us to the school a few blocks away, where locker rooms were opened to us for some of the most amazing and powerful showers ever. Then we returned to the church where a homemade feast was waiting for us. AWESOME.

As we left this morning, the pastor, who is also the fire chief, escorted us out of town with the fire truck and flashing lights to be sure we made it safely over a dangerous (huge!) hill where a biker was killed a couple years ago.

It is now 9:50am and we are just leaving Pie Town, New Mexico. We made a stop for a second breakfast of pie at Pie Towns Daily Pie Café – “Great Cooking on The Great Divide.” The home of the only real pie chart – a pie chart of the pies they have in stock. The stop brought us the best variety of pies ever – including an apple pie with green chilies and beans in it. It was crazy… and not as terrible as I thought it sounded.

After a quick stop at the Great Divide for pictures, we are well on our way. For taking an hour long break for pie, we are 30 miles into our 110 mile day. The weather is gorgeous, the sun is shinning (but not too hot yet), and Gregg Mwendwa is leading the pack! Clearly, taking a rest the past couple of days (sleeping in the van!) has been good for him, and it is good to see his rested legs working so hard this morning.

The team is in better spirits today, too. I think it helps that we had a great night of rest last night, followed by encouraging words that nearly all of the ride today is going downhill. This is much needed after having spend the last 3 days climbing up the mountains… we knew we’d have to come down eventually, but it sure feels great for the day to have finally arrived!

After today, we will have completed a quarter of our ride. That is so exciting!!! It is also really sad as we realize how quickly time is passing by. It is so hard to believe we met for the first time only two weeks ago today. It feels like we have been together for a couple months (in a good way).