The Walking Plan

I was doing some yard work today, wanting to make sure things were in order before I left on the trip.  As I raked, I was playing some music through my phone - songs I had loaded on it quite a while ago.  One of my favorite artists came up, a band called "33 Miles", and the song is entitled "One Life to Love".  The words from the chorus caught my attention yet again:

"You only get just one time around

You only get one shot at this

One chance to find out

The one thing that you don't wanna miss

One day when it's all said and done

I hope you see that it was enough

This one ride, one try, one life to love"

Pretty deep words from a group of young guys.  I guess what strikes me about this is that I'm not sure we take enough time to reflect on the relationships around us.  The people in our lives right now.  The people who may have slipped out of regular contact; or the people with whom we have been out of touch for a long while.  I don't believe that the people that move in and out of our circumstances are by accident.  Every interaction has a purpose.  A meaning.  A reason.  Take the time today to tell the people close to you how important they are and how much you love or appreciate them.  

With that in mind - for those of you that know me, you will understand that "family" is one of my values.  Given that I'm going to be away for three weeks - this is going to put a stress on this value for me.  I ask that you keep both my family and me in your prayers.  As much as I'm looking forward to the trek - I know there will be difficult family moments.  My prayer is that they will be brief.

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Ok - here is the walking plan as it exists today.  I've included a few days of flex just in case there is some kind of delay during the trek.  I'd sure like to take in the pilgrims church service at the end (Happens at 12:00 noon each day) and get my Camino Compostela Certificate showing that I completed a walk.  That will all depend of weather or not I can stick to the schedule.  As you will notice, there are a few longer days and a few shorter ones.  This was done , in part, to help allow for the terrain, and to allow for really inclement days or maybe any minor injuries or the like.  I also had to pre-book my train ride from Santiago de Compostela to Barcelona because it's a rather busy route.  This is a 12 hour journey across the country (basically from one coast to the other).  I did this so I would have an opportunity to see a little more of Spain while I was there.  My departure flight is from Barcelona, so as you can see in the schedule, I planned for one day of travel, one full day in Barcelona, and then I leave for home the next day.  If any of you have been to Barcelona and have some suggestions on what I should do/see while there on that day, please drop them in the comments section of this post.  

Stopped in at MEC today to pick up a few small things that I needed to round out my limited supplies.  I think I'm close to having everything I need.  

I had ordered three Camino Passports from an American place about 2 months before my travel date.  They have not shown up yet.  I e-mailed the organization and they indicated that they were sent a couple weeks ago.  Let's hope Canada Post comes through before Friday!  

My travel companions left today and are spending a few days in Frankfurt before heading to Porto where we will meet up on Saturday. 

Couple of days and I'll be off.  I'm so pumped!

Buen Camino 

Curt