May 23 Day 29 Lost Wallet and Goodbyes - Arrival in Cuba

(Sunrise)

VERY early morning today!  We left camp at 5:15am.  We figured, 5 hours of hiking were necessary at least to do 15 miles.  Scallywag had said the night before that we should plan for at least one break so we should try to leave by 5 or so.  The rest of us looked at each other and didn't say anything to that, knowing that WE wouldn't be taking any breaks.  None of us did in the end and Guy, Bear Claw, and I made it into Cuba BEFORE 10am!  Woah!  What a day! 

And it wasn't all flat and easy, we had some more canyon climbs and elevation gain, but nothing excessive.  It was another gorgeous day. Northern New Mexico is more than I could have expected it to be!

Bearclaw was ahead of me and Guy and flagged us into the nearest Mexican restaurant.  Since we had gotten in early, we had time for an immediate meal!  Huevos Rancheros!  NOMNOMNOM!!! SO good!  Grim had left us early a day or so ago to do bigger miles in order to get to Cuba on Friday. He had a friend who lived nearby and was going to visit with her.

Off to the post office for our resupply boxes!  An adventure at every turn!  First, Guy couldn't get his box because the amazing patient post office employee couldn't find it anywhere!  His mom usually sends his boxes, but in this case his friends had put together a fun resupply box for him as a gift, so he was working on getting in contact with them to see if it had actually arrived.

(Laundry looks)

I took care of my box and was about to send home some extra stuff I didn't need, like the Cabella's tent and some of my clothes (Carol Mumm had gifted me a dress back in Grants that replaced my need for a shirt, skirt, and sports bra), when I couldn't find my wallet!  I unpacked and repacked the boxes, looked through my new tarp tent that had finally arrived and looked all over the post office.  The lovely attendant even went through the garbage cans and looked behind the counters!  My wallet was NOWHERE!  It occured to me that I may have left it unattended while I was reorganizing m stuff and there were many locals who had come in and out.  One of them MUST have swiped it!  On the verge of tears, but trying desperately to hold myself together, I called Bearclaw to see if she had seen it or accidentally grabbed it before heading to the hotel.  She said she had hers but she would check for me.  With a laugh she realized she had hers AND mine!  They are both just money and cards in ziplock bags and she grabbed mine thinking it was hers.  I actually started crying from sheer relief!  That would have really been awful!  Guy was kind enough to cover the costs of my boxes until I got to the hotel and could pay him back.

He made another attempt at collecting his box by giving her a bunch of alternatives to his name, throwing out some ideas, until the attendant finally realized where it might be. It turns out that Guy's friends had written funny variations on Buffalo all over the box, including "Buffy," which caused the attendant to picture a young girl as the owner, not a scruffy hippie boy!  We were finally ALL sorted so we made our way the mile across town to get to the hotel Bear Claw had booked a room at.

It turned out that Bear Claw would be leaving us for a bit too as she was invited to a hiking event in Chama, the next town stop for us up north near the Colorado border.  She found a ride up there from one of the cooks in the restaurant we'd had breakfast at, so after she had already booked a room in the nicest hotel in town, which wasn't saying all that much, she packed up and left.  It is always sad to say goodbye, even for short periods because you never know which way the trail will take you or them.

So it was Guy, Old School, and me in that room.  Scallywag had gotten a room at a nearby motel and Hot Springs had caught up to us in the afternoon and was down the road too.  Time to decompress and get all our chores done so we can head out tomorrow!