Day 36: to the Toaster House

September 23, 2024

Distance: 149km

Climbing: 1338m

With our rest day yesterday we had time to prepare to roll out early this morning. We started with a breakfast at Denny’s and got on the road just after 7am. We wanted to get to Pie Town as it was an opportunity to stay at a well-known GDMBR destination, but it would be one of our longer days.

Grants wasn’t very bike-friendly or especially pleasant from what I saw. It appeared to be trying to revive itself on renewed interest in historic Route 66 which was a little ironic to me as they were celebrating a bygone car era that had done more damage to Grants than reviving it could repair.

One of Grants’ efforts to capitalize on its location on historic Route 66.

Once we left Grants, however, we entered Zuni Canyon which was a beautiful ride that got us up the biggest climb of the day. The geology of the area is heavily volcanic which was evident everywhere we looked.

Beautiful Zuni Canyon just south of Grants.

The rest of the day was in pleasant terrain with surprisingly little wind and pleasant temperature. Combined with smooth surfaces we cranked out a record distance today and felt pretty good.

Old lava flow. This area is dominated by volcanic features

This might be the first windmill of this style I’ve seen actually working, pumping water into a basin.

Red Harvester Ant mount. These dotted the area in significant numbers.

We arrived in Pie Town at about 5:30pm and settled into the “Toaster House” which is house that allows hikers and bikers to stay, shower, do laundry, cook, etc. There are three other riders and a hiker here today. The owner of the house isn’t always here but was today so we got to hear his story on how this came to be. In many ways it’s very similar to the Llama Ranch although more like a hostel that accepts donations and relies more on visitors looking after it.

There’s power and water, but the kitchen is heated by a big old-fashioned wood stove that can be used for cooking as well, although there’s a hot plate. There’s a pantry and fridge that you can take from or contribute to. Everything is on the honour system and everybody appreciates it so much that it seems to work out. By evening there at least seven people and one or two arrived later.

Thanks to making today a long day we now have five days to complete about 490km. We’d like to make the final day as short as possible so we can arrange the shuttle for earlier in the day to try to get into El Paso earlier. It’s probably a three and a half hour ride from Antelope Wells to the hotel we booked in El Paso.

Today's ride: 149 km (93 miles)
Total: 3,983 km (2,473 miles)

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