I had the pleasure of riding through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona this spring. We had a total overload of fantastic riding. Mountains, desert, plains, you name it, and we did it. The scenery was fantastic. I could not begin to describe here all the beautiful places we rode through. As my riding partners commented, you completely run out of adjectives on a trip like this. You think you have seen the most fantastic place possible, and then a few miles down the road it gets even better! Pretty soon the words "fantastic, awesome, incredible" are all worn out and you just ride around with your mouth hanging open going, "Wow!"

But as I realized several years ago, many of my trips center on great places to eat. Our trip planning sessions would go something like this; "Going on a trip." "Really, where?" "I figured on going over there and back around." "Oh man, if you are going over that way, you have got to stop here, they have the best food!" Well, you get the picture.

So here we are, riding along on the return leg of our trip. We crossed over from Arizona into New Mexico and are on US-60 headed east. It's about 85 degrees out and we are riding on what I would call "high plains" at about 8,000 ft elevation. This is lightly rolling country with lots of sagebrush; "cowboy country". You would not be surprised to see the Lone Ranger come riding over a hill at any time. Anyway, here we are, riding along about 11:00 am. I quickly check the map on my tank bag for a place to take a break and the words "Pie Town" leap out at me. As I am leading the group of three bikes at the moment, I glance at Ron and point ahead. Ron is fond of saying I am into six square meals a day but, in my defense, you have to keep your energy level up on a long trip like this. There is no way we are going to pass a place with the name Pie Town and not stop to eat.
The Old West was a sweet slice of pie!

We almost missed it. Since they told us "if we count the surrounding area, the population is about 75", it would be easy to miss. We rode into town and almost rode out of it. But wasn't about to leave here without stopping to eat, I led the group in a big "U" turn near the city park. (They do have a large park at the side of town where they host the "Pie Town Pie Festival" the second Saturday of September.) We pulled up at the "Pie-O-Neer" restaurant and dismounted.

We looked around. An old dog sleeping in the shade next to the restaurant lifted his head slightly, opened one eye, and peered at us. We must not have impressed him much as he just closed his eye went back to sleep. There was a pickup parked next to the restaurant with a horse trailer attached, and four horses inside all saddled up and ready to go back to work after lunch. Entering the restaurant we found some tables and a few stools at the counter. Two tables were pushed together where the cowboys sat with some others talking. We sat down and ordered ice tea all around and burgers from the menu. I glanced at the window ledges; someone into western memorabilia would have a field day in here. While we were waiting for our burgers, two women came in and talked to the folks at the table. Seems they had a refrigerator on the back of their pickup and needed help to unload it. They recruited the help they needed, sat down at the bar, and our burgers came. Seems this is the main meeting place for the whole town.

The burgers were much larger than anticipated and absolutely excellent. Afterwards, the waitress came over, leaned her head towards us, and asked, "You are going to have some pie, aren't you?" Hey, we were already too full; of course we would have pie! She walked away with one of those knowing smiles that had us glancing at each other wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. The rather large pieces of pie came soon. Already being full from the burger, I picked up my fork, gave a long sigh, and took a bite. Excellent! It took a while, but working in small bites (not my usual custom), I managed to get it all in. What a wonderful break in a hot, dusty afternoon ride!

Kathy Knapp owns the Pie-O-Neer restaurant. I don't know if the words "a piece of real Americana" means anything anymore, but that was my impression. A place with real western atmosphere (because this is the "real west" not just a d‚cor), that has a wonderful community feel that many small towns lost somewhere in the 50s and 60s. A wonderful destination in it's own right, the Pie-O-Neer is worth putting a detour in your plans so you can visit.

Let's see, almost four weeks left until the Pie Festival. Hummmm. 1,700 miles...

Ride safe.

-LC