When You Fall, You Just Gotta Get Back Up

The training continues for the big walk and I'm happy to say that the boots are in!  John and I took a short camping trip up to Jefferson Lake, about an hour from our place.  We decided to do a road walk from the campground up to the lake which was about 3 miles each way.  It was dusty dirt road and asphalt mixed so we figured it to be a good representation of what we might encounter on parts of the Camino.  All in all it was pretty easy and the Corona's afterward went down pretty nicely with an immediate nap following. 

 

As we walked we saw a sign for the Colorado Trail, which is another epic walk through the entire state of Colorado.  On this sign it had a mile marker for Kenosha Pass, 6 miles away.  We both looked at each other and said "should we?"  That's 12 miles round trip!  Why oh why would I ever subject myself to a hike like that?  Me talking to myself again.  Oh yeah, that is the least of what we will be doing EVERYDAY on the Camino, God willing.  I tossed and turned all night just thinking of it.  Not really, that 6 mile walk really wiped me out.

 

Ok up at 6:30 after telling John that we need at least an hour to wake up and get ready to go.  We imagined the Camino mornings being early and walking even before getting something to eat, hoping to run into a town possibly 5 miles down the road for a sit, cup of coffee and something to eat!  We started out on the trail at about 7:30 to a glorious morning and was I eating up trail!  John said he had never seen me hike that fast.  I knew we had 12 miles in front of us and I wanted to get it OVER WITH!  That fast pace was my downfall.....literally.  I hooked the toe of my boot on a root and face planted in the dirt.  Well thankfully it wasn't my face but I did come down pretty hard on my knee and elbow.  Poor John was helpless to do anything but come to my aid and help me up off the ground.  I was so happy Id worn pants that covered my knee or it would have been uglier.  Only a flesh wound as Monty Python would remind me.  All in all we made it back to the campground by 12:30!  No hotspots on the boots and the socks and liners seem to be doing the job I expected.  Hopefully the clumsiness will not prevail.

 

As a final note on this post, our thoughts and prayers are with the people affected by the train wreck in Santiago recently.  This weekend is the celebration of the St. James Feast Day and there were no doubt many pilgrims on their way for that party.  Our hearts go out to them.  Tomorrow we will be joining the Colorado Front Range Chapter of the American Pilgrims for a potluck picnic in Denver. 



This looks much worse now in the color of black and blue.

The Flow Continues....Or Lack Thereof!

There is a saying in pilgrim circles that your journey has begun when you truly commit to it.  I would say that that is a definite truism here!

I consider myself to be a deeply spiritual person who tries to look at the profundity of everything that happens in my life.  Maybe a simpler word would be, to simply be "aware".  I feel that everything has a meaning for me. Basically a call for a deep examination of how I react to whatever comes my way.  I also try to maintain my sense of humor through it all.  Otherwise Id go nuts completely.

My journey seems to be in full swing with the dilemma of my boots!  We are not very far out from departure and I still don't have boots that are working for me!  This is one of the most important items you should have on this walk!  I bought a pair of Merrill Moab Mid highs which I really do like.  Merrill tends to fit women's feet nicely and I have found that to be true with these being my 4th pair overall.  I wore the Moab's around and around the house and it wasn't until I took a small walk (yes, outside) in them that I realized that they are too small for my, what used to be size 7 foot.  As I have gotten older, my feet have flattened out and gotten bigger! WHAT?! I think swelling is an issue too.  I felt a few hot spots even though I have great wool socks and liners.  This will NOT do.  I hope the store has a half size bigger or possibly a full size.  I have the trust that this will all pan out. I still have a while to wear them as breaking in is really no longer the rule since they are making boots so wonderfully now.

My second dilemma has been that Travelocity, where I bought one of our airline tickets on points reward, sent me an urgent email that British Airways had changed the schedule and one of our connections was no longer valid.....   On the phone to Travelocity, I spent the better part of a morning trying to get through.  Heart pounding....calm down, it will all work out to our benefit somehow.  (me talking to myself)   I know my automatic negative judgments about this situation are creating my anxiety!!!

I learned that on our return to Denver, the Paris/London connection was cancelled and they had put me on a flight that would have me miss my connection back to Denver.  No word from British Airways on John's flight! (thank you Travelocity for the heads up!)  My option was to fly out of Paris (CDG) at 7:00 am and layover in London for 4 hours.  OR fly out of ORLY at 10:00 and only layover for a couple of hours.  Since we don't have plans currently on the return we can be flexible. Awesome! ORLY is basically on the other side of Paris.  We will get there somehow.   Let me call British Airways and make sure I can change John's itinerary so we are on the same flight home!  Maybe after this trip we wont want to be on the same flight, but I am erring on the side of, since this is our anniversary trip, we will be more in love than ever and wont be able to bear it if our flights are different! Really I don't want to be leaving out of two different Paris airports for now.  OK, thank you British Airways and Travelocity for figuring this out for me.... Staying calm, putting into practice my knowing that all is well and all is good, definitely worked to my advantage, AND to the nice people on the other end of the line! Whew!

30 Years on Pilgrimage

Since this trip is being undertaken in the year that we are honoring 30 years of our wedded bliss, it felt only appropriate to spend the actual day celebrating with a 10 mile hike at the new local state park.  More like wedded blis-ter!  This was a real test of our equipment namely for me, shoes.  My broken in Merrels, hiking boots that I have loved thus far, were starting to hurt my right foot in such a way that I knew it was from an old injury I suffered in '07 after stepping off of a darkened back porch in Berkeley California while celebrating John's first,  and so far only,  marathon in San Francisco.  That is another story in and of itself, but suffice it to say, I think I tore ligaments.  It healed on it's own eventually but I can still feel the effects now and again.

We made it through the hike in around 5 hours, stopping to put on rain covers about half way through since it is lately monsoon season here in Colorado.

When we arrived home, sitting in the mailbox were the "Credencials del Peregrino" we had ordered from the office of the American Pilgrims on the Camino in Palo Alto California.  We could not have asked for a better anniversary present!  How cool is that since this is what the trip is for anyway?!  Lately I have not been the most proud American, but the feeling I had receiving my credential from the American Pilgrims gave me such a feeling of connectedness to the people of all nationalities who hopefully undertake this pilgrimage for reasons more in common than their politics.  For once, proud to call myself an American Pilgrim! 

This document, our credential, we will carry with us all along the way to have stamped in each albergue when we register for the night at the end of a long day of walking.  It will be stamped and dated daily in order for us to receive our official Compostela certificate in Santiago at the end of the journey.

The letter that came with the credentials read, and gave me chills: 

We are very happy to provide you with your credencial del peregrine for your upcoming journey on the Camino de Santiago.  The Camino has existed for a thousand years, and you are about to become part of its legacy.

oh my, we are seriously doing this thing!!!!

The credential itself, is presented so lovingly with our names typed out with our hometown and the little box "on foot" checked off next to "by bicycle" and "on horseback".  It truly feels like some kind of baptismal certificate.  I know in my heart it is about to become just that in some kind of way.

When I read the Pilgrims Prayer from Codex Calixtinus - 12 Century,  on the inside I couldn't hold back my tears.

"God, You called your servant Abraham from Ur in Chaldea watching over him in all his wanderings and guided the Hebrew people as they crossed the desert.  Guard these your children who, for love of your Name, make a pilgrimage to Compostela.  Be their companion on the way, their guide at the crossroads, their strength in weariness, their defense in dangers, their shelter on the path, their shade in the heat, their light in the darkness, their comfort in discouragement, and the firmness of their intentions; that through your guidance, they may arrive safely at the end of their journey and, enriched with grace and virture, may return to their homes filled with salutary and lasting joy."

 

 

 

 

This rainbow appeared when we got home.  Our Camino has begun!

It's Official!

After thinking about this for a while, joining the Denver Chapter of the American Pilgrims on various local get together walks, and looking at each other with that look, we have officially begun our Camino. By that I mean, we have purchased our airline tickets! Now the questions begin. Or do they? Now the ‘flow’ begins….. We have decided together that we would like to be open to where and how this amazing journey will take us. We are blessed to be able to have almost two months duration in which to experience the Way of St. James. We are not planning on taking that long but we are happy to have the luxury of time if we need it.

For friends and family who are not familiar, the Camino de Santiago is an ancient pilgrimage walk that stretches across northern Spain from St. Jean Pied de Port in France allllll the way to Santiago nearly 500 miles. This walk has been popularized in recent years by the movie The Way, starring Martin Sheen and his son in real life Emilio Estevez. I highly recommend viewing this movie for a depiction of what might be expected.

We are avid hikers and walkers so we will be in somewhat good shape but we have never attempted to walk 15 or more miles in one day…well at least I (Cayce) haven’t. I am anxious, nervous but more and more excited! There are villages, towns and cities along the way with all levels of accommodations and restaurants that leave other packing, such as tents, cooking utensils, and food as an option only. We are currently getting our kit together (our backpacks) which hopefully will not weigh more than 10% of our body weight. On our local hikes we are scrutinizing our shoes and socks, wondering if they will be the right thing for this arduous walk. In addition, to get ready, we will also be attending a potluck with the Denver Chapter at the end of the month to talk to other potential, planned and returned pilgrims who will no doubt fuel our excitement and answer our unending questions.