As we move into the final days of preparation for our departure for Spain 5 days from now, it's amazing how much stuff has to be done. Leaving home for two months is not the same as going on a two week holiday, we're finding out. Our list includes:
- Arranging for police surveillance of our property
- Taking care of lawn mowing & fall cleanup
- Selecting the right overseas medical insurance for our travels (hint: it's a lot cheaper to get it when you're 20 than it is at 70 - a lot!)
- Notifying the Visa card and our local bank that we'll be overseas -so they won't shut the cards down when a charge appears from France or Spain
- Pre-paying for our utilities and car loan so that we don't damage our credit scores.
We've been getting all sorts of wonderful send-off "gifts" (remember my "GIRLS" discussion in the last post?) from our friends,family and neighbors in Arundel, Our neighbors threw a BBQ party for us last Friday and even the weather co-operated - it was gorgeous and mild all day. Here's a shot of the T-shirts they gave us, along with lots of best wishes, support & love!
If you can't make it out, it says: "We're with you all The Way from Arundel". The beautiful model for the shirt is Joan, of course.
Joan & I have both been going through our final packing and repacking to try to get the weight of our backpacks down to below 15 pounds. We're both using lightweight 33 liter Osprey Talon backpacks and then sub-dividing our stuff by function into small 2 & 4 liter Sea to Summit & Eagle Creek bags. Here's a photo of whats going in my pack.
The book on the right is our James Briererly guide book to the Camino, and the puppy dog is in honor of our recently departed Golden Retriever pack-mate, Ceili. For 14 years she always loved to go with us for walks in our fields and swimming in the rivers & ocean,
so it seems fitting that we bring her along with us on our long walk to
the sea. I'm carrying a few ounces of her ashes to give to the Atlantic when we reach Finisterre, an isolated point of land about 60 miles northeast of Santiago, a place which in ancient days literally was believed to be the end of the earth - beyond Finisterre, in the vast and unknown sea, the maps warned that "here there be monsters!".
So our next posting should be we get to Pamplona or maybe from St. Jean Port a Pied in France, where we start UP for two days crossing the Pyrenees Mountains. Wish us "Buen Camino!
As many of our followers know, Joan & I are doing this pilgrimage with a goal of raising $5,000 in donations to the Merrimack Valley Hospice House. Joan was the driving force and inspiration for creating, financing, building and licensing this incredible 21 bed facility in Haverhill, MA during her final years as CEO of the Home Health Foundation. Their hospice service was an extraordinarily calming & caring presence for my mother during her last days and we continue to support the Hospice with our own annual gifts and donations. As Joan & I thought more about why we were doing this pilgrimage, we both realized that our purpose had to be something greater than just a nice long walk in Spain. So just "click" on the link between this blog and the Home Health & Hospice Foundation website; it's located on the right hand corner of the blog banner. It's 100% secure and your charitable donation (tax-deductible, of course) would mean a great deal to us and the wonderful people at the Hospice House. So, please come "walk with us" by helping out with a donation. We'll occasionally keep reminding folks as we blog along the way over the next two months. Back in the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar and other church orders founded and ran many hospital facilities along the route to Santiago to house and care for the injured, sick and even dying pilgrims who passed along the way. In many respects, this was the genesis of today's hospice movement.
Joan & I have both been going through our final packing and repacking to try to get the weight of our backpacks down to below 15 pounds. We're both using lightweight 33 liter Osprey Talon backpacks and then sub-dividing our stuff by function into small 2 & 4 liter Sea to Summit & Eagle Creek bags. Here's a photo of whats going in my pack.
So our next posting should be we get to Pamplona or maybe from St. Jean Port a Pied in France, where we start UP for two days crossing the Pyrenees Mountains. Wish us "Buen Camino!
