Pie Town or Bust
Yesterday, Mom and Lyn drove out to Pie Town in search of Pie.
To get there, you drive South of Albuquerque about an hour and hang a right at Socorro (not a left at Albuquerque as Bugs advises) and drive straight for another good while. You'll pass the Very Large Array (VLA) and know you still have a ways to go.
Each of those radio telescopes are 80 feet tall and their tracks form a Y that is 13 miles long in each direction from the center. There's not much on the San Augustin plain other than antelope and the VLA installation.
So, you'll keep driving until encounter a gas station, grocery store and cafe all wrapped up in one. Chances are, you'll be in Datil which is 15 miles East of Pie Town. Because you're so far from buildings and have been driving for so long now, you'll stop to confirm this fact with a local to ease the anxiety of your traveling companion who has Alzheimer's. Assured that you're on the right road, you'll strike out from Datil on the last leg of the journey and pull up in front of the Pie-o-neer where you had planned to stop for lunch and, of course, pie.
If you time it just right, like Mom did, you can pull up in town and discover every business, including the cafes closed. It was noon on an early September Thursday and not a person was to be seen or a business open. Well, the Post Office was the only thing open but I don't think that counts as a business. It turns out that Pie Town shuts down for a day or two in preparation for their annual Pie Town Festival which happens on the second Saturday of each September. They all go home to bake pies.
Fortunately, your traveling companion is assured that the cafe back in Datil is open and you turn your car around. They serve pie in Datil too and it is pretty good.
One of these days, Mom will succeed in having pie in Pie Town.
To get there, you drive South of Albuquerque about an hour and hang a right at Socorro (not a left at Albuquerque as Bugs advises) and drive straight for another good while. You'll pass the Very Large Array (VLA) and know you still have a ways to go.
Each of those radio telescopes are 80 feet tall and their tracks form a Y that is 13 miles long in each direction from the center. There's not much on the San Augustin plain other than antelope and the VLA installation.
So, you'll keep driving until encounter a gas station, grocery store and cafe all wrapped up in one. Chances are, you'll be in Datil which is 15 miles East of Pie Town. Because you're so far from buildings and have been driving for so long now, you'll stop to confirm this fact with a local to ease the anxiety of your traveling companion who has Alzheimer's. Assured that you're on the right road, you'll strike out from Datil on the last leg of the journey and pull up in front of the Pie-o-neer where you had planned to stop for lunch and, of course, pie.
If you time it just right, like Mom did, you can pull up in town and discover every business, including the cafes closed. It was noon on an early September Thursday and not a person was to be seen or a business open. Well, the Post Office was the only thing open but I don't think that counts as a business. It turns out that Pie Town shuts down for a day or two in preparation for their annual Pie Town Festival which happens on the second Saturday of each September. They all go home to bake pies.
Fortunately, your traveling companion is assured that the cafe back in Datil is open and you turn your car around. They serve pie in Datil too and it is pretty good.
One of these days, Mom will succeed in having pie in Pie Town.
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