Out of Arizona, as I returned to the east side of the Continental Divide, I passed through Pie Town, NM, which consists of a few buildings and two cafes. And like the name may suggest, the town is known for having pie, so I stopped. At both cafes. I enjoyed a piece of New Mexican Apple pie, and a piece of Chocolate Merengue. Full of delicious pie I continued east to NM road 52. The majority of which is gravel and runs south between the San Mateo and the Black mountain ranges. One hundred some miles later I was in Elephant Butte Lake State Park north of Truth or Consequences, NM. I arrived at dusk and had some difficulty finding the tent camping area on the 36,500 acre lake. At one point I took a shortcut through a sandy area, there were lots of tire tracks, and it looked like solid ground, but it was mostly soft sand and I dumped the bike. Noone was around, but I was embarrased and irritated. Finally I found the remote and very empty camping area, set up my tent, built a fire, and slept soundly, despite the below 40•F temperature.
