Practice Makes Perfect

August 27 8:05am--my next door neighbors and I started our last group hiking excursion before we leave for Portugal on September 9--a ten mile hike.  This was the longest hike for me thus far.  So with our eyes on the skies and fingers crossed that hurricane Irene wouldn't dump rain on our journey we started out.  Portia (the next door neighbor and leader of our group of pilgrims) had thoughtfully marked our route with half mile and mile markers so we could keep track of our progress.  Because of the hurricane the skies were overcast and there was a breeze (sometimes a wind) blowing on us the whole time--very pleasant hiking conditions.  Our journey in Portugal and Spain will be road walking with some path walking thrown in.  We thought this would be an excellent opportunity to practice our road walking.  What an experience it was to walk these winding country roads with the cars zooming up and down.  It was frightening in places and I kept wondering what the Portuguese and Spanish drivers would be like!  We walked to our half way point, sat down and had a short snack and then hoisted ourselves back up--it is quite difficult to get up with a 25 pound on your back--and started our journey back.  On the way back we walked in a quiet line spread out by several yards thinking our own thoughts and enjoying the sites.  It seemed to me that the journey back took less time than the journey out--an illusion of not knowing where you are going vs. knowing you are going home.  Portia tells me the way of the Camino is this:  walk in the morning to early afternoon, stop at an albergue for the night, eat, shower, wash clothes, hang said clothes out to dry and nap.  Just to make sure I understood the practice I ate lunch with Portia and Rick at their house and then trudged up my hilly side yard to my house, went inside, showered and layed down in the bed and slept for three hours.  Camino practice completed successfully!