have baby, will travel

A week from today we embark on an epic adventure. Andy, Catie, & I are meeting up with my mom & dad and sister to walk over 300 miles from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela, Spain along the Camino de Santiago. 

What possessed us to think we could walk halfway across a country, over two mountain ranges with a toddler is beyond me! It sounded like a better idea at the time. The distance is equivalent to walking from Boston to Philadelphia (on interstates). We’ll be walking uphill from Burgos at 863 m (2831 ft) to a high point of 1508 m (4947 ft), then down to 483 m (1585 ft),  back up to 1334 m (4376 ft), and finally coasting down to 255 m (836 ft) into Santiago. The elevation doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that we are carrying all of our belongings for a month on our backs and pushing a cart weighing ~70 lbs fully loaded. We’ve got the gear… light backpacks, quick-dry clothing, good footwear, and a hiking cart to haul Catie and her stuff. We’ve been walking all over town since January. And yet, even with all the preparation, the task itself looms large!

So why are we doing this? I don’t think there is a simple answer. Walking the Camino has been a dream of my parents since they first started leading trips to Spain a couple of decades ago. They had planned to go on pilgrimage as soon as they retired, but complications involving my mom’s knees among other things have so far prevented the trip. Andy was invited to go along with an Earlham group to talk about geology, so it seemed like a good time to make the pilgrimage. 

On a more spiritual level, the past decade has been tough for all of us. Since 2001, Andy lost both his parents to cancer, we moved to new jobs in a new state (again), we lost our infant son, lost our two dogs, sat in the hospital for 70 days wondering if our daughter would survive and be “ok”, my mom was diagnosed and fought breast cancer, and my dad had multiple surgeries for skin cancer. Not to harp on the bad stuff, but relatively speaking, it was a rough decade. Now things appear to be looking up. We finally feeling a bit more settled owning only one house in one state (we finally planted asparagus so you know we’re feeling settled), Andy received tenure at Earlham, my mom will be cancer free for 9 years this fall, my dad just had the best check up with his dermatologist in years, my sister just got out of a bad marriage, Catie is thriving, and I’m loving my new status as stay-at-home mom. This pilgrimage is a way for us to celebrate our good fortune as a family. I think the physical challenge will also help the healing process after such an emotional few years.

I do not think any of us really know what to expect, but are certain it will be an adventure! I’ll try to keep this updated whenever we have internet access.

¡Ultreya!