April 19, 2012 in Limogne-en-Qercy

We have come 300.5 km since we started walking from Le Puy in April 1st! Weather continues to be less than optimal - raining on and off most days and/or windy - but it could be much worse. We were already settled into our wonderful gite d'etape Les Gloriettes this afternoon when the hail storm hit. Great news: 2011 Camino friends Anke and Peer have joined us for a few days. Sad news: We plan to reach Cahors on thr 21st. Marie will stay behind and begin her journey back to Lyon and then back to Sitka. Ever since Conques we have been saying good-bye to familiar faces as people "time out" and return to their homes and regular lives. Some we only knew by sight or first names. Others we have exchanged email addresses with and hope to see again. And then there are the new familiar faces that we look for on the road, at our new gite or around town. And such is the way of the Camino/ Chemin.

April 14, 2012 in Conques

We reached Conques yesterday. Today was a day of rest and exploration in this beautiful medieval town. Tomorrow we climb out of the valley and on to Decazeville. This is uncharted territory for me as last year we skipped the 205 km between Conques and Moissac. I wish I could attach photos so you can see for yourself that a treasure Conques is.

April11, 2012 In Estaing

We are on track with last year and are in Estaing. Tomorrow we will stay at Golinhac. Friday and Saturday we will be in Conques. Weather has been challenging and the trail is tougher than much of the trail in Spain. By the time I reach my gite (hostel) for the night I feel a great sense of accomplishment! We are eating dinner at a bar with wifi. Wifi has been spotty and today is the first day I could remember my gmail Password thus allowing me to send this quick update. Hopefully I can write more from Conques.

In Sitka but heading back to France

I can't believe that I last wrote in September, 2011.  Here it is almost the end of March, 2012.  Much has happened but I'll have to tell you about it when I see you in person.  Suffice it to say that I have been back in Sitka for the month of March and that I head off again tomorrow morning, Sunday, March 25.  I am returning to France to walk for (only) six weeks.  Same trail but different friends.  Remember when I told you that "whenever you are ready to go just let me know and I'll go with you?"  Well two Sitka friends took me up on that.

We are starting from Le Puy (again) on April 1st (again).  74-year-old Sitka friend Marie heads home after three weeks and college friend Julien and I will continue for another three weeks.  I can't go the full distance this time because I need to get back to Sitka so I can take off again on May 23 - for Thailand with nephew Justin for his 16th birthday trip.

So, we will walk as far as we can go in six weeks.  Santiago and God willing fellow 2011 pilgrims Heike, Anke and husband Peer will join us for a few days.  And hopefully Julien and I will be able to visit Marie-Helene when we reach Moissac.

I already know that I will be walking April, 2013 with cousin Denise to celebrate her 60th birthday.  (You see I really am serious when I tell you to let me know when you can go and I will join you.)  Denise hasn't decided whether she wants to walk the Camino Frances or the Camino del Norte.  Next year what I hope to do, before Denise gets to Spain, is return to where Julien and I stop this year and walk to the place where Denise is able to start.

Think about joining us.

No promises about being a better blogger.  Now that I am off to France again I will try. . .

Karen

September 25, 2011 Back in Mexico!

It was wonderful to spend an entire month in Sitka.  But, it is equally wonderful to be traveling again - and to be outside the United States even if it is "just" Mexico.  I'm back at Mom's place in San Antonio Tlayacapan on Lake Chapala in the state of Jalisco.

I head back to Sitka on September 30.  From there I head to Anchorage on October 5 and then up to Barrow the following week.  It will be great to get back in Barrow for the first time since I left in February.  I'll return to Sitka on October 30.

Mom is here as well.  We have an easy routine.  I head off walking and exploring for most of the day but we get together in the evening for dinner and then a movie from her vast collection of VHS tapes.  Tonight we watched Chariots of Fire, last night we watched Lillies of the Field. 

Mom has a good circle of friends here that she is re-connected with.  And her former students still remember her.  Marcela came over today bringing flowers and home-made flan.  The first time we met Marcela she was entering middle school.  Cousin Denise and I were visiting Mom when Marcela and her mother came over to meet Mom.  The person who was supposed to translate didn't show up for some reason so I ended up translating.  I can still picture us - tiny Marcela, her mom, my mom, Cousin Denise and I - sitting in a circle and me with a Spanish-English dictionary trying to translate!  Marcela has now graduated from law school, has completed her two years of internship and has her official certificate allowing her to practice law. 

OTHER NEWS!!!!!  I am in the movies.  Or at least the trailer for what used to be called Everybody Loves Whales and is now called Big Miracle.  You may recall that during the first week of my retirement last year my 1983 Isuzu diesel pick-up truck and I were extras for the four days the second unit was in Barrow filming exterior shots.  The first trailer for the movie came out this week.  At approximately one minute and 37 seconds on the left side of the screen you can see the back of my purple parka and my Sorrel boots for all of about two seconds as we community members head off to save the whales.  The voice over is saying ". . . as school children and shopkeepers alike. . . " Here is a link to the trailer:
http://www.everybodyloveswhales.com/trailer.html
I can't wait to see if my parka and/or truck are in any other shots.  And, I can't wait to see what other Barrow people show up in the movie.

I just realized that I am coming up on the end of my first year of retirement.  It has been an amazing journey.  I miss my friends and the community of Barrow.  But I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to new and old places; to make new friends and reconnect with old friends.  I will continue to do that during my second year of retirement.  See you soon!

July 27 from Holland, Michigan

Has it really been a month since my last post? Hard to believe! Since last I wrote I traveled to Virginia where I visited with family and friends. As part of my Victory Tour 2011 I visited niece Tara, her husband Andrew and their eight week old daughter Leah.

I then flew back to Sitka, Alaska, my new home. I was there for a week and then flew to Michigan. Saturday, July 23 was the McCord Family Reunion. Before heading up to Prescott for the reunion I had breakfast in Midland with former Barrow law clerk Rachel.

Sunday evening after the reunion Cousin Dawn, her grandson Andrew and I went to Tawas to play putt putt golf. As part of my Tour de Fudge I got some home made fudge conveniently made right at the putt putt golf course (Hubies Famous Fudge and Caramelcorn). As part of the Victory Tour 2011 I stayed with Cousin Dawn and husband Bill.

On Monday I continued the Victory Tour by driving down to Flint to stay with Cousin Wanda and Oscar.

Today, July 27 I drove to Lansing to complete the 10 km volkswalk in the capital of Michigan (in the rain). One of the other volkswalk programs I am participating in is Walking the USA A-Z. This requires you to complete a walk in cities that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Michigan has a volkswalk in the city of Zeeland which I plan to walk tomorrow.

I plan to be in Ann Arbor tomorrow afternoon for the Victory Tour (Cousin Marsha) but I might be able to walk in Holland for the "H" or Tecumseh for the "T" on my way to Ann Arbor.

I have a few more cousins in my address book that I need to visit in northern Michigan. If I don't see them before I head back to Sitka on August 1st I will either have to come back or remove them from my address book.

So that is the abridged version of what I have been up to for the past month.

June 27, 2011 back in Alaska

June 23 and 24 in Santiago went by so quickly! The weather was perfect making the time all the more magical.  I saw so many friends from the last part of the Camino and a couple of good friends from the beginning of the Spanish part.  Each encounter was a new gift.






Although I arrived on June 22 and received my compostela that day

I was able to wait until Friday's Pilgrim Mass for my official acknowledgment.  I did this because German friends were coming in on the 23rd and I wanted to walk in with them (because walking 40.5 km on the 22nd wasn't enough) and would thus miss the mass on the 23rd.

When you check in at the Pilgrim office they review your credential to make sure you have daily stamps - and from 100 km on two stamps per day - to prove that you walked the distance you  claim.  They record where you started and your nationality and, except in cases like mine where you ask for delay, they announce starting points and nationalities at the Pilgrim Mass the next day.
Unfortunately for us there were a number of seminary students from various schools who also arrived on June 23 so they were given preference when it came to announcing people who had arrived. The priest then ran quickly through a list and seemed to be lumping all nationalities and the later starting points together.  However I did hear him announce that an American had started from Le Puy!

I departed Santiago at 11 pm on June 24 arriving in Madrid at midnight.  My Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt departed at 6 am on the 25th with check in at 4 am so I opted to sleep on the very hard floor along with quite a few other people.
The Condor flight was delayed out of Frankfurt so we didn't depart until after noon (still June 25).  The flight to Anchorage was only 9 hours and 36 minutes.  There is a ten hour time zone difference.  So, I arrived in Anchorage before I left Germany.  Still on the 25th.
The afternoon of the 25th I went for a hike up at Hatcher's Pass in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley with the friends I am staying with in Palmer.  It was a perfect way to begin my transition from the Camino and Europe back to Alaska and the USA.

I wish I had some words of wisdom to impart from my almost three month journey.  Maybe I'll come up with some later.  From Villafranca on I ended up walking with Celina from Brazil.  One of the things I enjoyed about walking with her was focusing on the "spiritual" aspect of the Camino.  In every village were we ended the day we always sought out the church and attended the Pilgrim Mass and Benediction. 

And as we walked we talked about "Lessons of the Day" - what lesson we might be learning that day.  It didn't have to be profound but could be.  For example the closer we got to Santiago the more signs you saw for taxis willing to transport your backpack to your next stopping point at very inexpensive rates.  Celina said that while it was tempting to send her pack on ahead to make the walking easier she had become very attached to her backpack and couldn't bear the thought of it getting lost.  And thus a lesson for the day was "material objects that you become attached to are a burden that you must carry." Applicable in terms of the Camino where you literally carry the material objects but also in real life where material objects can become an emotional burden.

On the Camino finding the way is generally quite simple: yellow arrows painted on the road, rocks, trees, buildings and anything else available point you in the right direction. 

When in doubt locate the yellow arrow and you know which direction to go. 


In Santiago Paulo, a Brazilian friend of Celina's, talked about how good he was at following the yellow arrows.  Then he added "the problem with the Camino is that in Real Life there are no yellow arrows."

More later!