CDT 2024 - Day 17, moving a short bit north.

Run back to Grant and then position for the next stop.

Sharing the first couple photos below taken by family back home in Shoreline, Washington recently.

Northern Lights, Shoreline, WA (credit: Sandi Cribbs)

Northern Lights, Shoreline, WA (credit: Sandi Cribbs)

Southern Daylight, Armijo Road, Cebolla Wilderness, NM.

Runningbird's section from Pie Town would be slightly over 28 miles to our rendezvous spot. There would be very little water to scavenge along the trail so yesterday morning we had stashed a gallon jug in the bushes along the way just in case. As it turned out, as Runningbird reported, a rancher who lives right where we left the water jug, had also left water, snacks, and fresh fruit in a little shed just inside his gate for hikers. So when Runningbird went by she stayed a bit longer and enjoyed the gift and visited with another hiker.

Meanwhile, Beau and I remained at Pie Town a bit longer and so I did a few more repairs on the T@B. On the dirt road down the rig had vibrated so badly that cabinet hinge screws had stripped out and I had to use toothpicks to rethread them into their holes. While at that job I found the machine screws had come out from under stove burner mounts and the burners were just free floating. Two of the screws I found in the drawers belows and the third was nowhere to be found. They were Allen screws and I didn't just happen to bring along any small Allen wrenches so I got them in snug enough for now with a small flathead screwdriver. Unfortunately I'll have to take the whole thing apart again when I get to a hardware store so I can match the screw. And maybe add some lock washers while I'm at it.

After getting everything secured I drove to the next town town west (Quemado) for gas so I would safely make the trip back up to Grants. Don't need more stress. From Quemado I was able to skip the shorter dirt road route (by only 10 minutes) and was able to drive on a real highway back up to Grants and thus avoid the vibration mode to rig and body. There is a Walmart there so I did more shopping, mostly for fresh fruit and vegetables and a set of small Allen wrenches to fix stove. I'll be waiting until the next time through when I have more time to replace the missing screw. I then found a cute coffee house for a latte' and a cookie. From there I found a propane shop and topped off with fuel. From there we (Beau and I) moved back down the highway to our designated boondock spot that we had scouted out the previous day, stopping along the way for some photos.

It was beautiful country and in the middle of nowhere. It was mostly BLM land and our surroundings were flat, dry, wide open amongst the sagebrush. Good star watching territory. We settled down and put up our "Runningbird" flag and I put together stuff to make pasta with chicken and tofu for the Vegan. The wind had kicked up and the flag was flapping and the tumbleweeds were tumbling. I would see an occasional truck come barreling down the near dirt road at about four times the speed I came down it and they would leave a trail of dust I could see for miles in both directions. I imagined Runningbird breathing that dust while she was road hiking. She said she had spotted the rig from a couple of miles away and showed up about dinner time. She had a few light snacks while I put dinner into high gear. She had a hot bird bath in the trailer shower and then had a lay down. It was a 28-plus mile day for her. She pecked at her dinner in about four sessions into the evening and into bed time. The wind howled.