Walk This Way

This last week my reading has been relegated to only one book:  A Village to Village Guide to Hiking the Camino de Santiago.  It has a 4.6 rating out of 5 stars, for which I am grateful as I'm relying on it to guide me nearly 600 miles.  There's a competing title by Brierly, but having learned too late of its existence, I am already committed to Dintaman and Landis.  The route is planned.

My early recommendations:

• Commit to the Camino (aka buy your plane ticket) before reading the guidebook.  Some parts are a bit overwhelming
• Watch The Way to heighten inspiration
• Break the news to your family gently after saying a few prayers
• Make REI your good friend
• Accept that you will not like your backpack some days
• Pack earplugs
• Have a few friends that are absolutely in your corner

Last July I mentioned to one of the aforementioned friends that walking the el camino was my sabbatical "Plan B".  Said friend thought it was a viable "Plan A" and gave me the guidebook last October. It sat on my kitchen table, coffee table, and bookshelf.  It was carried with me to Wisconsin, Mexico, and South America and was sported around town in my messenger bag only to have the first few pages read until last week's flight to the west coast.   It was likely best that way.  It's too late to back out; I can only just hope that the preparations are enough and that the rest can be charged to Visa or American Express.

I can't say first where, how or why the idea was planted.  It sat as a growing seed this last year and one morning I woke up and knew with all certainty that I was buying a plane ticket.  I'm nervous, excited, scared, hopeful and scared (worth mentioning a second time).  Writing here may be a bit more intermittent until the journey is completed.

I can't wait to hear about the books you'll have been reading.