Pilgrimage to Santiago

Confession

2008-01-30T06:47:00.000-06:00

I have a confession to make; we haven't been walking like we should, we really haven't been walking at all. It's just been too cold! I realize we only live in Oklahoma and it isn't as cold as it gets further north, but cold is cold!

However, I have to say, I walk an awful lot at work. I work in a four story hotel and I do the stairs instead of the elevator when I don't have my trolley with me or carrying a load of something. I take the stairs most of the time. On my breaks I will walk up one flight and walk the hall, up another flight and walk the hall, up the fourth flight and walk the hall, then I do it in reverse going down. It takes me the whole break which is about 15 minutes. I'm always winded by the time I get back to my office. I do this twice a day and it seems to be helping. My diabetic numbers have been really good!

Because of this, we walked the trail to the lake from our apartments and then about a kilometer from there and then back. The whole thing is about 3K. I didn't get very winded, but Scott did. He said this is, more than likely, from doing the stairs and all the walking.

So, when we are on pilgrimage, I should be able to take the stairs of a hotel very easily!
ha!

It's nice...

2008-01-28T22:27:00.001-06:00

It's always nice to find out something interesting about someone you thought you knew. I found out today that someone I admired was someone I enjoyed reading. One of the women in the SCA that I have always admired for taking risks and putting on armor and fighting is also one of the writers I enjoy reading. I never knew that. It surprised me and made wonder how many people I amaze.

2008-01-26T21:52:00.001-06:00

Cordie (tan) and Snickers (black & tan)
December 2007

These are our "girls". We have had them in our lives since 2004 when they were just 5 weeks old. they are 3 years old and just as cute as they use to be.

One of the things I think about when I am focused on the pilgrimage is what will we do with the girls. I know they would be happiest staying with my father, but my mother doesn't like having dogs in the house. My mother-in-law Judy (who has the mother and father of the girls) is who they will end up staying with. I will miss them very much; I know this because they are staying with her for the time being. We are in a state of transition in housing and they needed to be with her. I know they are doing just fine there, but I wonder if they miss us or realize they are there for a short period of time.

I know, it's silly, but they are a big part of our lives. How will this pilgrimage affect them? I know we can't take them, but it might be fun if we could. I can just see Cordie tapping us on the leg to get the leash on to "take a walk" while Snickers begs to be carried. Would they find it as interesting and fulfilling as we will? Would they realize they were partaking on a journey of the soul or would they just think it was just a new smell?

It was a thought. A silly thought, but one I had been thinking about all day. It never hurts to be curious and think those silly little thoughts... as long as you don't say them outloud. OOPS!

Sunday Morning

2008-01-20T09:43:00.000-06:00

It's Sunday morning again; It's Sunday morning and I can't follow through with my full Sunday ritual. You know the one, breakfast with the husband, dash off to do laundry, read and work on the dream of el Camino de Santiago... I feel so lost without it.

Why am I not in the ritual groove... the car is being persnickety. The definition of persnickety: "b: having the characteristics of a snob" quoted from the http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary website. Yes, the Saturn is being a snob, it only starts when it is ready to! This has caused so much drama in our lives this week. If we go anywhere, that requires a vehicle, one of us has to stay in the running car while the other person goes inside to do whatever it is to be done - grocery shopping sucks in this situation. We did our ritual Wednesday breakfast together at Shortcakes and it wasn't as refreshing as normal because we left the car running with the doors locked and I was nervous about doing this. Not only did I feel nervous, but I felt really bad that I was "damaging" the environment by a running car. ARGH! I hate being the owner of a persnickety car.

I know, Stillwater not very large and it is only a mile to where I work, but the weather has been so cold that I am not willing to walk anywhere. I know, I know... "shame on me!" I feel so extremely bad because I am not willing to walk when it is so very cold outside when we will be walking in all sorts of weather on the pilgrimage. It is frustrating to know I am being so very lazy! Well, lazy when it comes to the walking. ARGH, again!

So, I am doing a new "temporary" Sunday Morning ritual: coffee, toast and jam, bacon, Shaun Mullins and you - my blog. Sigh, there's the peacefulness.

Rent-a-Pilgrim

2008-01-16T09:05:00.001-06:00

I found something interesting on the web today that has intrigued me: Rent-a-Pilgrim. This is a website that is both amusing and amazing. They are a group of people who do about 25k a few times a year to bring in donations.

"We want to collect donations with our pilgrimage from Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Santiago de Compostela for the church St James. This city church of Rothenburg will celebrate its 700 years of existence in 2011." This is their direct reason for doing this pilgrimage! You can visit their website at: http://www.rent-a-pilgrim.com/en/

Just when you think...

2008-01-12T00:53:00.001-06:00

Just when you think everything is going well and that we were on our way, life happens. I hate it when life happens.

We had just started doing the lap around Boomer Lake; the first day 5k but only 2.5k. Turns out that I was sick and was going to bed by 7, 7:30 in the evening. One of the days I went to bed as soon as I got out of work at 4. I now feel much better, but Scott isn't feeling well. He's been just as exhausted as I was last week. I am hoping he feels better tomorrow; he was home from work all day today and layed around the house resting.

I know there are many areas and many things that could cause us to become ill. Scott was reading Elyn Aviva's book "Following the Milky Way: A Pilgrimage across Spain" and she became ill because of the change in the food and medications she was taking. There could be a trip or fall that could cause an ankle or leg to be broken, snake bites or scorpion stings or any number of horrible things. We don't know the language and it would be many k from anywhere! Oh my god!

What happens to us if we are on the journey and we become ill? How are we going to make it? Will there be help? I know I shouldn't worry about it, but this is something that I wonder about. Especially with us becoming ill the past couple of days. We didn't even try to get out and walk; I know I didn't have the energy or desire. We just can't do that when we are there.

I know, I am stressing about something that is years from happening, but I think about these things. Maybe it's from being in the house all day. I guess I will drag him out of the house tomorrow and get my weight training for the day. ha! I don't think he would like that very much!

Question

2008-01-06T21:34:00.000-06:00

Is there forgiveness for only walking 2 1/2 kilometers?

Scott says I would probably get a partial bit of forgiveness for LAZINESS...

That's just not encouraging at all. I'm going to bed.

5k

2008-01-05T21:39:00.000-06:00

We took our first steps today - 5 km.

We started out at 8:03 pm walking around Boomer Lake. It was a little windy, but not too chilly with a sweatshirt and cap on. We started out at a decent pace and it was very nice.

We passed the 1k marker and I remember thinking, "This isn't so bad!" I was chatting away with Scott and we talked about our plans for becoming prepared to make this journey over the next few years.

"Hey! Look!" I said, "There's the second marker!" I was feeling a little winded and I noticed that I had a bit of a cramp in my left thigh. I found I was searching for the 3k marker but not finding it anywhere; that's because we weren't near it yet.

Scott continued to tell me his ideas for the web site and something else; I don't seem to remember much about what he was saying because I was feeling a tad bit odd. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I know it meant that I was desperately out of shape.

The 3k marker was passed or at least I don't remember seeing it. I know it had to be somewhere around the US Vet Memorial, but it was dark and I wasn't really thinking about much more than my need to breathe. Who would have thought 3k would take forever to walk; Scott informed me it had only been 40 minutes. I thought I was going to kill him, but my arms were getting too tired to lift.

As we neared the bridge on Lakeview Road, I found something to laugh about. Someone had taken paint and painted a pac-man guy chasing one of the trail traffic lines... it was so funny. It gave me a little more energy to get across the bridge and head back to the car.

I was really excited when we walked over the 5k marker and I saw our car parked in the parking lot just across the street from the pathway. I would have jumped for joy, but I was completely and thoroughly exhausted. I asked Scott what time it was and he said it was 9:05pm. We did it, we walked 5k in about an hour. That means we were walking 3 mph. This is a cool thing....

This means, I can now go to bed and go to sleep. I just hope I can get out of bed in the morning.
Good night.

More Site Changes

2008-01-05T10:53:00.000-06:00

I love my husband, but he can drive me insane!

We have a pretty website. I really like the colors and some of the stuff we have is pretty good. The husband is wanting to re-organize the site with planning... OMG! He's trying to figure out what would be the best for the site and he's got some really good points.

-what are we wanting to accomplish?
-who do we want to reach?
-why do we want to have this site?
-why don't we have more history?

That question right there was the "BINGO" for him. We started out looking at this thing from a historical point of view! We are after all SCAers (Society of Creative Anacronism) and this whole pilgrimage thing started out with Scott's personna's elevation... He has a point... A very, very good point!

Wait! There's more... the spiritual aspect of this whole thing. I am a spiritual person and I still don't understand what the draw to others or myself is for pilgrimages. How is my husband, who is not a spiritual man by any link of the word, going to comprehend the spiritual aspects? I know we can get all sorts of observations from writings, historical thought, ect.... but, until we actually go, how are we going to understand it?

Such questions.... I guess we have more direction now and so, we will obsess even more!
I love my husband....

5 million

2008-01-02T13:41:00.000-06:00

Scott and I were surfing the YouTube web last night on the subject of El Camino de Santiago hostels. While doing so, we came across one titled, "el camino de santiago WELCOME" which is about the hospitalities of the hostels along the pilgrimage route. It was very interesting and informative. We were absolutely shocked when they stated that in the year 2010 there would be an estimated 5 million people walk the route because this is a HOLY YEAR. OMG!!!

5 MILLION!!!

I am trying to get my head around that number... Edinburgh has 448,850; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has 537,734 people; Stockholm, Sweden has 788,269; Dallas, Texas has 1,232,940; Houston, Texas has 2,144,491; and Los Angeles, California has 3,849,368; people... 5,000,000... London and New York City NY, has over 7 million... but still, 5 million people.

THAT'S 13,698.6 PEOPLE A DAY!!!

There are many hostels along the road, but some of those only have few beds, some less than 10 others around 200 beds. I did a basic search and came up with about 200 hostels as of 2005. That would be full capacity in many of the hostels. How many volunteers would this call for?

I work in the food industry and we get about 200-250 people during the lunch rush. That's not during a game day's lunch rush. I'm told that is 500 people easy and that is rough with 5 cashiers and a group of line cooks of 6... 500 people x 365 days in a year.... That is only 182,500 people! That isn't even a drop in the people bucket!!! OMG! How many people do the hostels need to help provide for the masses? How much money do these hostels need to feed all the pilgrims that will pass through their doors? Where will the money, man power, or food come from to help the hostels?

Scott and I were thinking about doing the pilgrimage in 2010; but since there are going to be so many people we had a thought, "Why not volunteer to help out in one of the hostels?" Wouldn't this be just as spirit opening as the pilgrimage? Wouldn't we gain just as much from the pilgrims who entered the hostel doors as those we would be traveling beside?

Just a thought...
Ren

The Road to Santiago de Compostela

2007-12-30T05:56:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our blog. My name is Scott. My wife Ren and I have become very interested in the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and have decided that we want to make the pilgrimage in a few years. We have created a web page to help us organize and share the information we are collecting. We are creating this blog so that the people visiting our web page can communicate with us or each other, if they wish.
Everything is still very much in the beginning stages right now so there may not be much to see on the blog at first.
For now, please take a look at our page and let us know what you think.

http://pilgrimage.awardspace.com

Scott