Woke early to catch the 9:15am. I rolled my legs out once more with a Nalgene bottle, ate some leftover dinner, then went to the bus back to Ghost Ranch. Amy Jane & Scavenger drove me to the bus. I thanked Amy for the hospitality and told Scavenger I'd see him up the trail. On the Santa Fe 200, a blue bus, I met a hiker from Israel named Inbar. He seemed like he was having a harder time with the trail, not physically, but with more of the mental aspect. I found that he likes to sleep in later and hasn't hiked much with others. I suggested getting up early and taking a nap mid day if he wanted.
We had to make a transfer in Espanola, NM (apparently the Heroine capital of the US) and found leaving for Ghost Ranch from here was harder than I thought. An older fella was trying to enter onto the bus with trimmed down bull whip claiming that he used it to till his garden... After a few radio calls, the bus driver allowed him on. Almost as soon as Inbar started talking about Israel to me a crazy old man sitting in the front seat overheard and started talking only to him. He introduced himself with, "Shalom" followed by a over enthusiastic handshake. We weren't supposed to tell anyone, but he claimed that he used to work for a secret sub faction of the government and apparently knows over 30 languages. Right then and there I knew this was going to be a long ride for Inbar, especially coming from a man who seems to carry all his belongings in two ripped up black trash bags.
Once dropped off at the Ranch I found Franklinstein, Flyballz, and Knock Knock they were heading into Santa Fe as well. I guess they were going to the REI to find some new shoes. I didn't spend much time at the Ranch. I hydrated ate some snacks and was heading for the hills by noon, and solo. I camped about 15 miles out in an aspen forest campsite on a hill, complete with a fire pit and tons of dry wood. I happily made a fire and watched as the sun went down through the trees.
The only thing that threw things off a bit were cows mooing nearby sounding like they were in some kind of frenzy.
