CDT17
11th May Thursday: total 424 miles
25 miles
Pie Town and a hot shower, what a treat

It’s another night that I have been cold, the sleeping bag should have kept me warm as it’s a “hand me down” from Ken that he has used on other and colder trails.  I’m thinking that it could have lost it’s effect,  with the  four washes it has received over it’s life.  But either way I need to buy another bag that’s going to keep me warmer when I hit the high altitude and snow in Colorado.

Coffee in the morning

Last night we camped just off the trail about 9 miles  from the main road that will take us into Pie Town.

We arrived at the main road and to get to the store where we needed to resupply our gas canister for cooking, it was a 12 mile walk, so we put our thumbs out and after walking along the national  highway for over an hour, we got a lift.

After getting our gas canister we were driven the final 3 miles into town which consisted of just three shops with only one being open and fortunately it was the pie cafe.  Along the way the driver that picked us us offered us some cannabis which he didn’t want anymore, apparently  it’s legal in this state of New Mexico with shops selling then everywhere from selling the weed itself to chocolates.  We declined.

The department store where bought a gas canister 

Lunch at Pie  Town cafe and along with the meatloaf lunch I had a Apple pie with ice cream , man it was nice.

Making pies  as we walked in

They keep filling up your coffee for no extra charge, we sat there updating our emails, Facebook… for over two hours.


Apple pie

Sure it was nice for the driver to pick up and give us a lift but he just kept  talking, and talking.  We just wanted peace and quiet to do our stuff.  I tried talking and engage in conversation  but I couldn’t get a word in.  We later thought that he had smoked some weed before picking us up as his behaviour wasn’t normal.

Nina house
We made our way over to Nina house,  (Toaster house because of all the toaster hanging on the fence) our resupply box was there waiting for us to carry us for the next 5-6 days. While there we charged our phones, battery  pack and had a hot shower first since leaving Silver City, just in case you are interested, that’s 9 days ago.  Did some washing that needed some urgent attention and then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to order a new sleeping bag, in which I failed miserably.  Unfortunately  there is no mobile  reception  in Pie Town and the internet was really  slow.
So I’ll have to order it while I’m in Grants in 5 days time.

Toasters  on the fence line 

For me to get the internet, there was a campsite next door and if I went to the fence line I could get a faint signal.  However, while there I accidentally  sat on a small cactus and many fine needles went though my shorts and onto my buttcheek.  So I spent the next 10 minutes pulling these fine, hard to see needles out, with my pants down exposing  half of my butt.

It was a cactus just like this one

5;30 in the afternoon we decided to not stay the night which was by donation and moved on and walked 6 miles out of town to a lovely field with flat ground where we struggle  with putting in the tent pegs with wooden beaches  as not a single rock could be found.

On the way out of town I saw  this sign, school or stool bus?