Walk

The last week has been somewhat of a whirl wind of news.  I had planned to hit the PCT again for a week in Mid-May with two friends.  Unfortunately, that trip has been cancelled due to Brian’s grandmother’s failing health.  Hospice has given her less than a week.  At which time we will be heading to North Carolina for the funeral.  Not knowing exactly when we will be heading that way, makes it really difficult to stick to a hiking plan.  Additionally I dont think it fair to my friends to keep the hike scheduled, and then at the last moment have to cancel.

I’m sure in the future, I will make it out to the PCT with these two.

I also received some news from my father.  He has had a some health problems over the last month and had major surgery a couple of weeks ago.  He had some minor complications, but seems to be on the rebound.  He has had several MRIs and PET Scans over the last months, and in one of them, they discovered he likely has lung cancer in his right lung.  Over the next week, he will undergo more tests to determine what his treatment options are.  He has decided against most forms of chemo or radiation.  He has watched several family members go through radiation and chemo only to have their quality of life ruined.  It may have given them additional time, but at a poor quality of life.  I can understand where he is coming from for sure.

At the moment, it’s a waiting game.  So, its been a rather rough week.

Tuesday of this week, I went to visit our friends Tony and Molli.  I had not seen them since a few days before my departure to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.  I wanted to catch up with them and share my experiences from the trail.

As with all good friends, you can go weeks without talking to them, and pick up immediately where you left off.  We caught up quickly and shared stories.  They are preparing to hike the Camino de Santiago.  Their departure is roughly a month away.  They are getting excited to hike through a small part of France, and all of Spain.

Unlike the PCT, hiking the Camino is substantially different.  While in any given year a few thousand people hike the PCT, last year 240,000 people hiked all or part of the Camino.  It’s a hugely social event, with people coming from all over the world to complete the trek.  You pass through multiple towns and villages every day, and generally stay in varying degrees of accommodations from Hostel to hotels.  Resupply is a non-issue.  The distance is substantially different.  Most pilgrims (as they are called on the Camino due to its religious nature) hike a total of 500 miles.

They both lamented planning for this trip is a breeze.  Get to France, and start walking.  While not quite that simple, the logistics are substantially less than a traditional thru hike.

If you would like to read more about it, check out the wiki article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

After spending the better part of a day, and having them basically convince me to join them on the Camino, I hit the road home.

Yes, you read correctly.  I will be joining Tony and Molli on their hike of the Camino.  The plan at this point is to leave on May 28th, and return on July 12th.  I feel as if wanderlust has taken over at this point.  When I talked to Brian and Austin about going, Brian simply replied, “well, I expected you to be gone the whole summer.  Go enjoy yourself.”  I really don’t know where this man came from.  He’s so supportive.  Austin thinks it would be crazy not to go.  His rationale is the timing and opportunity are perfect, and I may not have such a scenario come available in the future.   I can agree with his logic.

I’m sure my ever faithful readers will be glad to see me go as I will return to blogging every day!