Featured Thanks, Pie Town, For The Great Moto Trip Memories! But No Thanks To Covid.

Damn this virus! I just this morning received a text from a friend in Albuquerque with the news that our beloved Pie-O-Neer Cafe in Pie Town, New Mexico is closing permanently (no) thanks to COVID-19. Another example of how some things will be forever changed. Especially for the owner and her employees.



We LOVE (well, now loved) the Pie-O-Neer! This quaint little place has been a must-stop on nearly all of our major motorcycle trips going anywhere north and northeast out of Tucson. We have even made an 80-mile detour "just" to go there. The last time we were there was several years ago when Mr. Sandi and I rode to Albuquerque to spend time with friends (including the one who sent us the sad news of the cafe's demise) and to ride in northern New Mexico. Kathy, the owner, is a delight, and we always met other patrons who loved the cafe just as much as us or, if they were first-timers, were delighted to have found Pie Town (Population 186).







The first time we went to Pie Town was with our good friends and riding buddies, Kelly and Dena during a 2,000 mile 8-day road trip. We'd heard about Pie Town and about the two pie joints from others who'd discovered them on road trips or motorcycle trips. Here are three of our four bikes in front of the porch--the missing bike is Kelly's GSXR 1000. Yeah, he rode that bike on that road trip. Ouch! I was on my 2012 Harley-Davidson "Switchback" back then--that's my bike on the far left of the photo.





Kathy bought the Pie-O-Neer with her mother back in 1995 and has run it ever since. Here's a great little article in New Mexico Tru magazine if you're curious and care to read more about this gem.

https://www.newmexico.org/things-to-do/cuisine/pie-town/

Here's Kathy showing off her Blueberry Pie with Stars topping. Delicious! But my favorite was her cherry pie. Best I've ever had and cherry is my favorite. Cherry pie was my "birthday cake" of choice as a kid.





The Pie-O-Neer wasn't open every day so when planning multi-day motorcycles trips we'd have to plan around when it was would be open. A couple of times we just couldn't make the dates work and now I wished we'd tried a wee bit harder. "Take--and make--opportunities to do things when we can" is now another of my mottos.

The interior of the cafe was welcoming and cozy with a big wood-burning stove in the center and an old-timey bar along with wooden tables and chairs. Kathy was also an artist as were some of the other 186 residents of Pie Town. So she had a side room off the cafe that was a gallery displaying wonderful local art and jewelry all of which was for sale. We'd always meet and strike up conversations with other patrons as we were having our pie and coffee. We met people from all walks of life. Our last time there we met a couple from England who were touring the U.S starting in Florida to ending in San Francisco. One of the two was a London native. His partner was originally from the U.S. (Ohio) and had moved to England as a teen. They'd discovered Pie Town on the internet while planning their American travels and just had to go there for the "Americana" value.



Here are Mr. Sandi's and my Road King's parked in front of the Pie-O-Neer the very last time we were there. When we pulled up, there was yellow "caution" tape up around some very obvious damage to the porch. Kathy informed us that about half an hour prior to our arrival a woman had plowed right into the porch with her car. She was in her 50's and had just gotten her FIRST driver's license! She accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake. Kathy said they all thought it was an earthquake. Thankfully, there were no casualties other than the porch.



But unfortunately our beloved Pie-O-Neer Cafe is a casualty of the pandemic. So R.I.P. Pie-O-Neer. We shall miss you dearly. Thank goodness for photos. And thank you especially for all of the fond memories and the delicious pie.

 

Unfortunately, Duck, it has gone out of business permanently. Not just “until further notice”. The owner and her partner are pulling up stakes and moving to start a new business elsewhere. We’ll have to keep tabs on her because I’m sure her new business will be as unique and lovely as her pie café was.

 

Thanks, OldNick! Although the Pie-O-Neer café is now closed, there is another place across the road from it called the Pie Town Cafe that as far as I know is still open. We stopped at that one last year on our way home from Sturgis in August because our usual café was closed that day. Pie Town Cafe serves lunch as well as pie. It was good but not quite up to par with Kathy’s place. That said I had a terrific piece of pie that was very New Mexican ingredient inspired. Pear pie with pinon nuts and green chilies. It was delicious!

 

I hope the Ponderosa makes it, chiari1. I’m afraid we may be missing a lot of our old favorites when the dust finally settles from this virus.

 

It's fun to know that you've been in the Pie-O-Neer too, Don, and can picture it and have fond memories of it! That gem of a place will be sorely missed--along with many more to come I'm afraid. Yes, COVID 19 certainly does have a lot to answer for. I hope that the Pie Town Cafe can make it through the pandemic without permanently closing too. That would be a doubly sad deal for Pie Town. Mr. Sandi and I have riding buddies who we've told about Pie Town and the Pie-O-Neer in particular and we had plans to ride there with them in the next year or so. Yet another reminder to not put things off until "some day".

 

It is a wonderful little place, @Tiglet! What I didn't mention is how beautiful it is there. As the Pie Town city sign shows, the elevation is 8000 ft. It is a combination of wooded mountains and big expansive views through meadows. The roads are also a combination--long straights, hills, and curves. Pie Town sits between two other small towns--Quemado (pop. 228) and Magdalena (pop. 880). Well, the tiny crossroads town of Datil is between Pie Town and Magdalena but it is even smaller than Pie Town at pop. 54. The closest "big" towns are Springerville Arizona (pop. 1,892) to the west and Soccorro New Mexico (pop. 8,407) to the west, both about 80 miles away. It is definitely the way out west--wide open spaces!!

 

A Go Fund Me page is something I hadn't thought of, @QuadumphUK! I'm not sure how much business they'd be able to get with pickup orders, though. Pie Town is quite a long way from any towns with a substantial population. It has always seemed like a place where, like us, people go through it on U.S. 60 on the way to someplace else and stop there for pie along the way. If I remember right, Kathy told us once that she'd make 30 or so pies each day, open at 11AM, then close up shop when the pies were all gone.

 

Yes, @Bad Billy, it is a sad day for pie eaters. I figured you were a pie lover, Billy. I mean, you do have a "Powered by Pie" decal on your bike.

Yeah, Trump is a little low on positive press these days, isn't he? But I do NOT tweet. In fact, this forum is the only "social media" thing that I do. I was on FaceBook once about a dozen years ago for about six hours but woke up thinking, "This is a bad idea" and cancelled my account. I've never missed it.

 

Ken, it would be wonderful if someone could resurrect the business! I have no clue how it did financially but it was known far and wide and there was even a little documentary filmed about it (which I've not yet seen but now need to track down).

A feet forward position with floorboards is extremely comfortable for long miles! I don't know that it would be with pegs, however, but my touring bikes have had floorboards. I did a few trips on my first bike, a Harley Street Bob which had pegs but they were mid-mounts. I definitely got my best test ever on the long-range comfort of various aspects of my Road Glide last fall when we rode to Sturgis. We had a couple of 500 +/- days so ample opportunity to notice any little niggling uncomfortable things. The foot position was excellent plus I had highway pegs on my engine guard which gave me another place to rest my boots to stretch out my legs even further when just tooling down a straight highway. The other thing about floorboards is that you can move your boot fore and aft at a fair amount giving you another way to change up your position a bit rather than be locked in to one position for miles and miles. Much as I absolutely love my Speed Triple, it's not a bike I'd do big back-to-back miles on with those ergonomics. Perhaps if I were (a lot) younger?!

 

Thanks for the kind comment on my Pie-O-Neer thread, @Dawsy.

Yeah, I've multiple mottos to live by and one of them is "Live to ride. Ride to eat!" I'm really glad that I'm not "the size of a Winnebago". Yikes, there's a visual for ya. I'm sure that I've been able to keep my svelte figure because of all the clean living I do. Well, ok, it's probably genetics (thank you, Dad) and lots of exercise.

 

All motorcycle trips and rideouts with pie stops matter.