Almost Ready

Boy the days are flying, but we are getting prepared. Got our taxes done and we are ready to drop them in the mail, and we got all the bills on automatic payment and finally got around to purchasing some travel medical insurance. All we have left to do is send our after the Camino clothes to my friend Iker in San Sebastian, clean the house, get the laptop set up for my mother-in-law so we can Skype with her and drive to NYC and visit with the kids.

The day before yesterday we looked at some lodging possibilities in SJPP. We emailed a few and ultimately took Eva's recommendation and booked where she stayed. We decided we will wing it when we get to Bordeaux. VinoTinto on the Santiago Forum stayed at a Ibis hotel near the train station, so we going to show up and see if they have a room for two nights. Middle of the week in March...shouldn't be a problem.

We got everything for our packs. Palma's pack is around 16 pounds and mine is under 25....just haven't weighed it with my 90 days worth of meds! We have had some decent days to walk and it is becoming easy to walk 8 miles. We have yet to do something longer. Hopefully, the practice we've done will be helpful. Today we walked from Rosslyn to the National Portrait Gallery and back. Beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky in the mid 50's but a bit windy.





Walking on the Fairfax Connector Trail yesterday












Today, walking by the Iwo Jima Memorial
















The Netherland Carillon a gift from the dutch that expresses the gratitude of the Dutch people for American aid received during and after World War II.











More scenes from our walk today

I've been retired now for a little more than 2 weeks and training for the Camino is not going as we had planned. 2 significant snowfalls have put practice hikes out of the question, so we've been going to the gym just about everyday. I can't wait for the snow to disappear so we can get some good practice hikes in. We'll be departing the D.C. area on 10 March - 3 weeks from today! We have all of our gear and right now my pack weighs about 18 lbs. That's a little more than what veteran pilgrims recommend, but I feel like I'm really only bringing necessities. I've been working on my Spanish with the Rosetta Stone and I can say that progress is really slow. Thank goodness Cullen speaks the lingo!

There was a posting on the Camino Forum today which offered some advice to a first time pilgrim:

"put your faith in God, and keep your feet dry".

Simple and practical, just what I like.

Palma