Travel Day

Hi, I'm Bob's son Mitch, and I'm here to talk about our travel day to get to the start of the Camino. I'm writing this from our hotel in Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port on the French/Spanish border, but getting here was an adventure of its own. Three Flights and a long taxi ride later we're at the starting point of the Camino, and have gotten a little bit of a sneak peak of some of where we'll be walking for the next three days.

The Pyrenees are absolutely gorgeous this time of year, as you can see below:

While we were all exhausted upon arrival, we've been wandering around town some to stay awake so we can better adjust our sleep schedule to Europe. In the process, we got some good food and some pictures of the town, including some of an old citadel that's still standing here:

For now, we're going to get back to staying up at least until dinner, and then crashing to get ready for our first day walking tomorrow. Weather forecast is for a cold, rainy, and even potentially snowy day, so it may make for quite the start to our time walking the Camino.

 Today was our last day in Everett and Our Savior's Lutheran gave us blessings and shells to carry us forward on our trip. Each of us has our rock to carry to Cruz de Ferro - about 75% of the way to Santiago de Compostela. There, it is traditional for each pilgrim to deposit a stone carried from home at the foot of the big iron cross where millions of other pilgrims have left their problems and concerns behind them on their way to the destination. With all the support of family and friends we got a quick selfie so we know we are loved and supported here.

My Path

 Hello. My name is Phil and I’m another member of the Camino walking group. I look forward to the days ahead. My vision for this walk is multifaceted- physical challenge, introspection, nature, spiritual reflection , association with new people and places…

The Journey

 We are 4 pilgrims from Washington state in the United States. We each have our own reasons for undertaking this journey starting in St. Jean Pied de Port, France along the Camino de Compostela and ending (we hope) in Santiago de Compostela, Spain some 5 weeks later. Each of us has our own reasons for attempting this effort, and each of us will write of our personal experiences as we progress.

I am writing this introduction to our story while still safely lodged in Washington and fully anticipating the fulfillment of several years of consideration, planning, saving and preparing to get to the point of departure. My name is Bob. I have lived my life in pursuit of solving puzzles. My career was in engineering, but my passion is puzzle solving. 

I have faith in the existence of God. I've explored many manifestations of God through various religions. I feel that most of those religions teach an ethical  and behavioral approach to loving your neighbor which is buried in dogma that enables the faith to be clothed in guilt. The guilt is used to enable men to direct the religion to their own purpose.

The Camino has been in use for more than 1000 years by pilgrims seeking enlightenment or forgiveness from guilt - which may be the same thing. I'll play this puzzle while examining my own heart as I participate. Oh, I'm a wine maker and there may be good opportunities to learn other approaches there as well.