SUMMARY:  The weather was brewing for nasty right from early morning–dark clouds were moving in.  But we had a wonderful breakfast at the Pie-O-Neer Cafe and when we returned to the Toaster House, the wood stove was crackling and purring, hikers and bikers were organizing their stuff, and all was cozy and cheerful.  Once we were ready, we headed back to the Pie-O-Neer for lunch, and there were so blessed to meet a wonderful Christian family and have a great time with them.  Manuel, the dad, prayed for us, and as it turned out, we sure needed that–we ended up walking in steady rain most of the afternoon, with thunder and lightning nearby.  Then we found ourselves in SNOW, on top of MUD.  Tonight our tent is tucked under a tree, while the rain continues.

DETAILS:  We had a very comfortable night at the Toaster House and slept in till 7:00 am–time to head over to the Pie-O-Neer for breakfast. Brr, it was cold, and there were some seriously nasty-looking clouds moving in.  We had a great breakfast, and equally enjoyable conversation with a couple from Virginia, because at the Pie-O-Neer, you don’t sit at your own table–it’s set up more family-style, with long tables.  The Virginians were really fun–very feisty, outspokenly political conservatives.  “Where we come from, ” they said, “we take care of each other.  Nobody ever goes for a government handout.”  It also turned out that they work with Morgan horses, and we told them about the Morgan Horse Ranch out at Point Reyes National Seashore, where we often go to hike.  The Point Reyes Morgans are being trained as trail horses for rangers to ride.  We sang the praises of Morgans–they are smart, curious, and strong for their size. The Virginians told us some funny stories of the mischief their Morgans got into!  Turned out that the reason they came to Pie Town was that it’s on their “bucket list” of places to visit.  We were glad to have met them!

Stepping out of the Pie-O-Neer, we were into a very cold and very strong wind, so it was wonderful to get back to Toaster House and find the wood stove crackling and purring (thanks to Masshole) and coffee on. Hikers and bikers were making breakfast and organizing their stuff.  Everything was very comfortable and warm, in contrast to the weather outside.  I finished up my journal for yesterday, then Fixit headed to the post office to mail the journal, while I loaded up our food bags for the hike to Grants.  The rest of the hikers were getting ready to go see the “Very Large Array”, which is nearby.  Eventually Fixit got back and we hung out just a bit longer.  Masshole commented, “Looks like dirty weather brewing.”  But Canada was calling, so Fixit and I put our packs back on and headed for one last meal at the Pie-O-Neer.  There were black clouds just to the west, spitting lightning.  Not good.

Back at the Cafe, we ended up sitting by a very nice family–Manuel, Rosa, and their son.  They were very interested in what we were doing, hiking the CDT.  One thing led to another, and we discovered that they were also fellow Christians who know and love and follow the Lord.  After that, we had a wonderful time talking about all the evidence we’d seen along the trail for creation and then destruction (the great Flood in Noah’s time), and the many ways God had already taken care of us.  Before Manuel and the family left, Manuel said, “I want to pray for you guys.”  And he did, right there in the Cafe.  Then before we could stop him, he snatched up our check and took it along with his to the cash register to pay.  We were blown away.  “God bless and keep you,” he and Rosa said as they headed out.

It turned out we were really going to need Manuel’s prayers and blessing. At about 1:45, as we left the Pie-O-Neer, it began to sprinkle rain and the lightning was getting closer.  No problem, we had put on our raingear and I had my umbrella.  I didn’t like the lightning being so close, but oh well.  Less than an hour later, though, the sun came out and I thought, “Yeah, it’s just a passing thunderstorm.”  The clouds looked like they were breaking up, and there were patches of blue sky.  The sun felt good!

But it didn’t last.  The clouds reconsolidated, the rain returned, this time as real rain, not just sprinkles.  We could hear thunder all around us, though we couldn’t see any lightning.  The CDT here is a dirt road, and it was climbing slowly but steadily higher.  Soon we started seeing patches of snow that looked pretty fresh.  “Must have fallen last night,” I said to Fixit.  As the rain continued, the road became muddier and muddier, with more and more snow.  Since we were still quite full from all the good food at Pie Town, we decided to skip supper and just push on through to the Thomas Ranch, 15 miles from Pie Town, where hikers can spend the night under cover.  We figured we could get there by 7:00 if we hiked fast.  But what we didn’t factor in was the mud.  The rain continued, and the road had turned into one big slippery mudhole, which made for very slow going.  By 6:45, we realized we’d never make it to the Thomas’, and began to look for some way to camp.  The problem was, all the properties along the road had very fiercely-worded “No Trespassing or Else!” type signs.

The light was dimming, the rain continuing, all the ground soaking wet and muddy, when we finally spotted a road leading to a housing development.  Even better, there was a grove of small evergreen trees where the ground was covered with pine needles instead of mud.  We managed to pitch the tent up close to the trees for some protection from the rain, but it was still pretty tough.  Our ZPacks tent is not really the best thing in a rain.  The part of the tent where WE are is fine, but the vestibule is not.  I tried to rig my umbrella to cover the gap where rain was coming in, but it didn’t entirely work.  So the best we could do was drape our wet raingear here and there, crawl into our sleeping bags and say, “Goodbye, cruel world!  I’ll see you tomorrow.”  But even that didn’t work.  We realized we were awfully hungry.  So we sat up again and ate some supper in bed before finally lying down.  It’s very cold and maybe it will snow tonight.

But we have the blessing of Manuel’s prayer and the encouragement of knowing that God’s love and light are WAY more awesome than any dark clouds and rain.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow!