Morning Reflections

There was no alarm set for this morning. Still, I awoke at 6:50 a.m. That would be the usual 10 minutes before the alarm goes off in the hotel room. I rolled over, put my feet on the floor, and looked at all my gear spread out across every horizontal surface.

There was no imperative to get packed and get the bag down to the lobby by 8:00 a.m.. No rush to wolf down breakfast and make a last visit to the restroom before heading out the door. All the routines Spence and I honed to a razor's edge over the last 35 days no longer mattered.

(Day 1 of our Camino hike.)

I can't speak for my travel partner. Spence is occupied with his wife and children today, and I don't know how much time he has for reflection. He and I will talk about it over lunch sometime in the future. 

I can't say that I'm at all sad at the conclusion of the journey. It was not a disappointment on any level. In fact, the people who I met, the things I saw, and the physical challenges encountered along the way made this trip close to perfect. Even though we had an itinerary drawn out months in advance, the ending somehow seems a little abrupt.

(Friends on the trail, hike Day 27.)

The takeaways for me seem pretty simple. The people I care about in the world managed to get along just fine without me. That is not a bad thing in any way. I will value my time with them and I know they will do the same in return. Maybe even a little more, knowing what it was like to be separated. But processing that the sun comes up every morning, whether I'm there to throw a switch or not, gives me the freedom to go on another adventure.

Maybe if I watch all the Martin Sheen movies, I will find additional inspiration. Failing that, I will listen to the people that I respect.

This will be my last post from the Camino. In a few days, when I'm back home, I will share some additional thoughts about equipment performance, and maybe some do's and don'ts that I learned through my experience. My sneakers made it all the way to the end, even though one of the eyelets tore yesterday morning.

To anyone and everyone that has followed my blog, thank you. I hope it was entertaining and informative.  Big "shout out" to Mitzi for running the site and making some of my bleary-eyed rants coherent. 

Also, I never would have put one foot on the Camino without Spence getting the ball rolling.  He field tested much of the equipment that I would simply purchase. And, he put up with me in close quarters for more than a month. That might have been the toughest challenge of all.

I'm keeping this site active for the foreseeable future. If I head out again, I'll do a similar format and link to this. 

If I met you along the way and you want to stay in touch, please do.

I made some great friends in a world filled with strangers.