"The Gatherin Place" located in Pietown, NM
We had to get to Durango for a return visit/house sit by May 9th. We hoped to lay-up in Mesa Verde National Park just before the house sit as it was only about 40 miles west of Durango making it an easy trip on, or just before the house-sit start date. As usual, there takes a bit of planning as to where to stay along the way, weather, how much John wants to drive each day, etc. It’s quite the choreography. But some days, and perhaps Yvette would interject as to my accuracy regarding the frequency of the following, but John tends to throw a wrench into the works from time to time. I know, hard to believe right? And, on our leg to the next stop after Datil Well BLM, I did just that…not once, but twice.
These were baking while we were eating breakfast. Not bad...not bad at all.
We left the Datil Well BLM campground about 10 am and stopped about 30 minutes later in a little town called…Pietown. A very small town center that comprised of a few cafes, post office, etc. As one would expect, the only draw here is the pies. There are a few places that make and sell them, not all of which are open at the same time. Our stop was at the “The Gatherin Place” where we had a nice breakfast while our pies were made. Yes, 3 pies were procured by us. They were small so don’t fret. Okay, you can fret a little. It’s not like we NEED pie right?
We did have a small sample before we hit the road. After all, they were warm!
Off again and John had a plan up his sleeve. Yvette loves anything to do with Wolves. One of her bucket list items is to hear and possibly see them in the wild. And though we were still far from that part of the country, I had found that if I took us on a bit of a detour, we could end up at a Wolf Rescue and Sanctuary not too far off of our route. And just so she couldn't figure out what I was up to, I told her to “take the day off” from navigating and to sit back while I took control. “Just enjoy the scenery today, it’s a pretty straight forward route,” I said. After about 50 miles, I took a right turn down a very remote dirt road and it didn’t take 5 seconds before she started to get suspicious. Since the dirt road was about 20 miles, “I had some explaining to do.”
You would all be proud, I held off till the moment we pulled into the parking lot and as I had hoped, she was pleased as punch. We had a great visit and learned quite a bit about the sanctuary and its mission. We had a great tour guide that took us to visit many of the animals that were under their care. Many, were wolf-dogs that were bred for re-sale and became more than their owners could handle. They are all well cared for though all will probably never see the wild again. It was time to get back on the road.
Off to our nights stay at Lake Cibola State Park. Well, it was going to be a long day and I think we were both looking for a nice meal somewhere and then a place to kick back for the night. As it turned out, when we arrived at Lake Cibola it was cramped and filled to the brim. We headed on towards Farmington hoping
A great little Mexican Food Cafe in Gallup NM.
A quick dinner at Jerry's Cafe in Gallup NM. Off again in search of a spot to spend the night. We found a small BLM property just outside of Farmington that was clean, quiet and free. Tomorrow, we'll push toward Mesa Verde where the ancient ones are waiting for us!