3 Days to Go

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone).  Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

Africa - Toto

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers
of some quiet conversation.

She's coming in, 12:30 flight,
The moonlit wings reflect the stars
that guide me towards salvation.

I stopped an old man along the way,
Hoping to find some old
forgotten words or ancient melodies.
He turned to me as if to say
"Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you".

It's gonna take a lot to drag me
away from you;
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa,
Gonna take some time to do the things
we never have.

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless
longing for some solitary company.

I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises
like Olympus above the Serengeti.

I seek to cure what's deep inside,
Frightened of this thing that I've become.

Emotions

I've been indulging my creative literary side over the past year with courses at Writers And Books. This dovetails nicely with my purpose on this Camino. My overarching goal of personal discovery continues strong, but I had lacked a specific purpose for the journey. I now have that purpose ... I will use this camino to develop my story/stageplay for the 2019 Rochester Fringe Festival. ... Let the creativity begin. LOL

Tried to confirm my seating assignments. Turns out the my Jet Blue confirmation number is not recognized by Aer Lingus. Travelocity was not exactly helpful. I'm in the middle of a computer war, I think. Fortunately, I called 48 hours before the flight so I have tomorrow to work it out among the three.

Training

Date	Exercise	Description
9/23/18	GVHC hike	5 miles around Highland Park and the ever beautiful Mt Hope Cemetary
9/24/18	Flow Yoga	Good stretch and chance to calm the mind.
9/26/18	3 mile run	Just over 36 minutes. Was antsy and had to do something, anything.

That's all, folks.

One Week To Go

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone). Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

Oblivion (m83  & susan sondfor)

Since, I was young, I knew I'd find you
But our love, was a song, sung by a dying swan
And in the night, you hear me calling ...
You hear me calling
And in your dreams, you see me falling, falling.

Breathe in the light,
I'll stay here in the shadow, oh
Waiting for a sign, as the tide grows
Higher and higher and higher.

And when the nights are long
All those stars recall your goodbye ... your goodbye
And in the night, you'll hear me calling,
You'll hear me calling.

And in your dreams, you'll see us falling, falling ...
And in the night, you'll hear me calling,
You'll hear me calling
And in your dreams, you'll see us falling, falling.

Breathe in the light and say goodbye,
Breathe in the light and say goodbye.

Emotions

Lots of swirling feelings right now as the date gets closer. 7 days from today, I board the plane in Rochester to begin my longest Camino yet, with no clue as to where I will end up.

That is the mystery and wonder of the Camino.

Just like in life, we make our own path, walk our own Camino, go where we see fit to take ourselves.

I used to debate internally about how much free will we have versus our fate as determined by the cosmos. How affected am I by 'a butterfly in China, flapping its wings'?

I no longer can accept or live by the precept that overwhelming forces govern our lives. We can choose, if we choose, to navigate the currents around us, or we can just go with the current.

If there is anything that I've learned on the Camino de Santiago, we can navigate difficult waters, we can swim in the swirls and we can keep our heads above water if we just accept the 'life preserver' that the Camino is.

Let the path begin!

Training

Date	Exercise	Description
Sep 17	Yoga	flexibility
Sep 18	YMCA	Racquetball and a 1-mile run
Sep 19	Hiking	3.5 miles in Abe Lincoln, lots of eskers and valleys.
Sep 20	Hiking	Corbett's Glen where I missed getting nailed by a falling tree by about 1 minute.