Our final push began after we crossed back into New Mexico on Highway 53 and entered the Zuni Pueblo. Michele wanted to buy some Zuni bread for lunch sandwiches, but we couldn't find the store she remembered from years ago. We drove around for a while, searching and seeing the pueblo's new-looking hospital and high school, then continued on. We couldn't afford to get to Pie Town too late in the day and find all the pie gone.
El Morro National Monument and its inscribed names? Sacrificed for Pie Town. We sped down deserted desert highway until we arrived at the hamlet of Fence Lake. Possessing neither fences nor a lake, it did have an exciting road sign at the only intersection. Pie Town. Left turn. Oh boy.
We were four happy campers, growing happier by the minute. We put on the "Guys and Dolls" soundtrack CD, and the boys sung along gustily, inserting "pie" liberally in the lyrics.
Forty miles. Thirty miles. We scooted along Highway 36, mouths salivating. Michele and I feared the town's two cafes, The Daily Pie and The Pie-O-Neer Cafe, would be closed or out of pie. Would we arrive in time? It was too dreadful to imagine otherwise.
At the village of Quemado, we pulled onto Highway 60, an interstate by comparison. Only 21 miles remained. They seemed to take forever. Then a roadside Pie-O-Ne'er sign appeared: three miles away. Great chortling erupted in the back seat. Then the official green highway sign came into view.
Pie Town. After 13 days and 3,236 miles, we had made it.
Best of all, The Pie-O-Neer was still open.
No comments:
Post a Comment