Keith is still sapped out and not gaining much-needed energy while resting in Frómista. So he paid a visit today to a local physician so we could be sure that there were no bigger concerns he needed to tackle. Thankfully, it seems as if the cold has not struck his lungs and is mostly just preventing him from rejuvenating as quickly as we’d like. The doc gave him a mild decongestant to ease the symptoms and sent him on his way.

Still—it’s time for Keith to hit the road and explore some more of Spain. So a side visit by train to Palencia for the weekend is his next step in this adventure. The city is steeped in history–touched by Celtiberians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, and more. El Cid married Ximena (aka Jimena) here in 1074. It’ll be good for Keith to get to a new place where he can slowly explore a few museums; historic bridges, buildings, churches, cathedrals; and in case his stomach is leery of Spanish food he can always drop by the McDonalds at Parque Comercial Arambol Avda. de Brasilia for something a little more familiar.

He did share one last fun little story from Frómista for the blog. He said he saw the happiest dog today. It was just hanging out with three Spanish guys that were walking down the pavement having a conversation and the dog was walking next to them like he was part of the gang. He wasn’t running ahead or doing “dog things,” instead the “fat, little happy dog really looked glad and like he could say something, but just wasn’t in the mood.” He said it was pretty funny.

Speaking of animals—Keith also has a few pictures to share from his walks:

Keith will be spending yet another day (and night) in the aldea of Frómista as he bolsters his energy and, hopefully, health. It doesn’t seem that this cold has advanced to anything worse and we’d like to keep it that way. We’re really hoping for some marked improvement by tomorrow. In the meantime, he will enjoy the visit, repack that darned old backpack for the gazillionth time, and rework his plan to ensure he stays on schedule. For those of you who are worried about his final goal of earning his compostela (the certificate of completion of the pilgrimage)—no worries yet. In order to fulfill the requirements for that certificate he needs to complete the last 100 km. So he has a distance and time window still well intact.

Yesterday he talked with a couple of Americans. They were brother (from Connecticut) and sister (from Denver) and they were a few years older than Keith. He said out on the Camino you see either older people or “beautiful people” around mid- to late-20s. He also said it’s too bad my brother, Jim, has a bad leg because “he’d do great out here, he’d love it out here–he’d make friends!” I agree with him. Jim just has a way about him that helps him make friends even with people who don’t speak the same language (politicalese). Part of me is ok with Jim not being out there with Keith…can you say, “International incident?” ;)

Keith is doing his best to try and get some heartier meals down after not having much appetite the last few days. Last night he was pleased to find that the restaurant had an English-translated menu and he ordered Salmon that came with an “enormous Russian salad. Something you would’ve seen at a potluck in the 50s. It didn’t have miracle whip, but pretty sure it had mayo and might’ve had some tuna, too.” He also treated himself to dessert—rice pudding with cinnamon on top. Yum!!

The restaurant seated him with a pair of older Scandinavian gentlemen. (The restaurant tells you where they want you to sit.) But it was all good because Keith said they were, “Kind of hoot really. They spoke English. In fact one of them used to be a Literature professor at the University of Washington! The other was a psychiatrist. And they were both very nice…They were talking about how they were getting older and realized it was their time to go do this. Good for them! The professor had done it before—at least part of it.” It’s cool that the one guy worked at UW. It reminded Keith that in a conversation with one guy from the trio of Texans he’d discovered that the guy worked for Shell and has spent a lot of time up in the Pacific Northwest especially in Anacortes and that guy knew where Bellingham (one of our previous homes and much-missed locale) was.

When Keith visited the Church of San Pedro he discovered they’d modernized the act of lighting candles. They’ve moved into the 20th century with this nifty electrical candle device where you deposit half a euro (10 cent) and one of the candles lights up for you! It asks you to only use coins—no bills and the middle phrase translates to: “my light is a prayer.”

Keith did get a pretty good night’s sleep last night, but will be staying another night in Frómista as he modifies the contents of his pack and has an extra day of rest to see if the cold will back off some. He did eat a full meal this evening for dinner—which is a good sign—and enjoyed walking around the “village” checking out the historical features.

The Church of St. Martin is a Romanesque church that dates back to the 11^th century. And the Church of San Pedro (St. Peter) was started in the 15^th century and has a Renaissance facade designed by Juan de Escalante. The Church of San Pedro is directly across the street for the Hostal San Pedro where Keith has been staying these last few days. (See pictures below)

Keith ran into the Texan trio again and they’d decided for the 3^rd member that has been struggling—they’d send that person’s pack ahead via some method of transportation and he’d walk without a pack to see if he was able to continue that way. Maybe one of these days we’ll all find out if he did. Sure hope so.

Earlier today he was on his phone typing someone a message and heard a familiar clanking noise then realized that it was a sheep’s bell. He walked out and about three-quarter of a block away he discovered someone driving a flock of sheep through a narrow street in town. He said there were a lot of tourists (including him) taking pictures. I told him that I imagine the shepherd was probably thinking, “Seriously, people! They’re sheep!”

In related animal news, he also shared a story from two days ago when he was walking along an 18th century canal & dam. He had sat down on a bench (he hadn’t seen one for days and was real happy to find it) to rest and he had a sandwich that he just wasn’t up to eating, but was attracting bees. Since he couldn’t face eating it–he decided to toss it in a nearby garbage can. Then he stepped away to take a picture. He turned back when he heard a noise and there was this evilish, cute in a benji-ish-sort-of-a-way dog. He was sniffing the garbage can. He couldn’t reach into the can so he grabbed the edge of the plastic garbage bag, pulled it out, got the sandwich in his mouth, then ran off for a couple blocks before starting to eat it where it wouldn’t make a mess next to the can. Keith thought that he was pretty smart not to leave a mess near his restaurante.

To get you caught up, Keith’s Sunday was tough. He had a “big ass” (that’s “gran culo” in Spanish) hill soon after he left Castrojeriz. It was not a good feeling and really caused him much concern, but he made it up and also back down the other very steep side. He said it was such a bad day that at one point he considered taking a bus back to Burgos. Poor guy. Still—he toughed it out and made it to Itero de la Vega. He met a guy along the way and they stopped at a shelter for a break. The guy offered him half of his ham sandwich. Keith was thankful for the change of food and said he thought that was what saved him. Because the hill was so tough, Keith decided to take advantage of one of his Gatorade packets that you add to water. He said it was “absolutely awful.” So much so that he actually got a new water bottle because that one just wouldn’t let go of the nasty flavor. Also, along the way, he met up with a trio of Texans. One of them was having trouble with the hill, too. I think that made Keith feel the tiniest bit better–misery loves company!

The place he stayed in that night had a nice, clean room that had a shower “easily half again as big as last night’s.” He ended up with a room that he had to walk three flights of stairs to get to. That seems kind of harsh after that big old hill, but he made it up and was just glad to be stopping. He was consoled by the fact that the next few days (approx. 100 km) would be “flat as a pancake,” but worries because in the region called “Galecia” it’s all up and down hills and gets rainy. Still at this point he was dry and in a decent room.

He was walking around town (very slowly :) ) and actually met a woman from Portland! She was surprised to hear he was from Eugene and for a few minutes they chatted about home. Sometimes it just helps being able to normally converse with someone and especially about something familiar. We’d hoped he’d get a good night’s sleep, but not so much. Instead he “barely got enough sleep.”

His Monday was spent walking to Frómista. He was so thankful that it was going to be a flat walk because his lungs were feeling “paper baggish.” But, when he called me to tell me he’d arrived he said, “I have a cold! And not a good one either.” His sleep the night before was fitful and he had bad dreams of health disaster while there. But the bad dreams all made sense once he realized that he was sick with a cold—which compared with what was happening in those dreams was practically a relief. Along the route today he saw the trio of Texans again and they continue to encourage him which has seemed to help his spirits some. Unfortunately, one of the Texans may be on his way out as he is struggling with his own health challenges from diabetes and may not be up to the rest of the trip.

He said the people that he met along the way were very nice to him. “I must’ve looked pretty bad out there.” At one point he met up with a German couple. He mentioned he had a cold and the woman was talking to with a little, then she turned to ask her husband how to say “gesundheit” in English and the husband told her “good health.” That made him smile. Then a French couple passed him (“which everybody did today”) and the woman looked concerned “Problemo?” she asked. “No. No. I’m ok,” he said. She was speaking French and as they walked along a little more he said to her in French, “Petit malais.” While he was miming coughing and sneezing. “Oh!” she totally got it then. Later her husband said, “We are Français” and looked at Keith questionably. Keith responded, “Américain.” If Keith would just let me teach him my Jerry Lewis impression he could’ve been in like Flynn with that couple! Still knowing a little of quite a few languages seems to be working for him. Lucky that he took Latin as his foreign language in high school.

Because of the cold, we have decided to have Keith stay an extra night in Frómista to see if he can rest up before getting back on the road. As I write this, it is his first night there and hopefully he is sleeping well with only good dreams of succeeding at his goal. Hopefully just a day of resting and relaxing will make a big difference. All the good thoughts you can muster for him are most appreciated!

The good news is that last night (Friday) Keith slept well. Many of the pilgrims left early before dawn (they use headlamps), but he stuck around until daylight and enjoyed a little extra sleep. Each day he’s been on the Camino he has been able to progress in the distance he’s gone. Today he made it 16 km. He said he could’ve gone further but the backpack is really hurting his right shoulder. He got some advice from Ross which helped but did not solve the problem, so I reviewed some other websites with additional advice that I’m hoping may have helped. We’ll see after tomorrow’s walking.

Speaking of “tomorrow,” I am writing these last paragraphs late night Pacific time and it’s now Keith’s morning. I guess he didn’t sleep so well this time, but hopefully resting on a comfortable bed helped some. He said the dinner last night was VERY greasy and at one point he had to just look away and breathe a little because the smell was a little overpowering. There were a few people at dinner, though, and he visited with a couple from New Zealand for a while. It turns out that they had stayed their first night on the walk in an albergue and it cured them. So now their plan is to stay at a hotel every night instead. I think his opinion of the right plan for lodging is still being formed. He definitely hasn’t given up on the albergues at this point and currently is planning to stay at one tonight.

He did have a sorta funny story that needs to quickly be prefaced by sharing that my parents had a house that was apparently built by short people. To get through most of the doors, the men in my family—including Keith—would have to duck in order not to hit their head moving from room to room. Also, in their bathroom—the shower head hit most adults at chest level or lower.

Now that you know this, you’ll understand when he said that the shower in last night’s room had clearly been built by the same people that had built my parents’ house. He hit his head a few times, which was particularly unpleasant because when he had lunch yesterday in San Antón he’d already bashed his head on the way out the door after not realizing how low it was until it was too late. :( Sadly the shower stall was so small that every time he turned around he would hit the shower water control (which was a single-handled model). He just could not make even the smallest of moves without hitting it. So the nice warm shower—which was very welcomed—would switch to cold or just be turned off completely each time he tried to spin and rinse. Fortunately, he didn’t get the scalding treatment, so that’s the silver lining. THEN to add insult to injury the shower head was the kind that had a hose and could be used as a handheld, too, and he hit it, knocked it off, it hit him on the same place he’d hit his head on the door earlier in San Antón, then because it had such a strong water flow it was like one of those runaway firehoses needing to be captured before it caused more damage. It’s like he was his own Abbott and Costello routine right there in the shower.

Here’s hoping he has swift and safe travels today and finds his answer to the backpack challenges. Adiós amigos!!

Keith had a very long night last night. :( While the albergue was clean—it was small, had no air moving and turned into him not getting much sleep—more like resting while he baked in an oven. Around 4:30 this morning an Italian lady left, then around 6 another group left—which is when he finally fell asleep for a while until they turned on the lights at 8 to kick the few that were left out to breakfast and the road. At that point there was a Hungarian man there (who he walked with for a little while) and a Swiss “girl” (Keith’s word—which means she was in her 20s L :) L) that was, unfortunately, not feeling well so she instead decided to make her way back to Burgos to a hotel to try and sleep and recoup before heading back out on the Camino.

Breakfast turned out to be some bread and a bowl of coffee. He got distracted while they were pouring milk into his coffee and he got way too much. Let’s just say that it didn’t go too well, but he was grateful he had his Clif Bars.

He headed out this morning with the Hungarian man, but they didn’t stay together too long. Keith figured it was because the guy didn’t like his company. But who could not like Keith’s company?? I mean anyone that knows him knows he such a charming and cheerful person say before noon. Okay—maybe I’ve just adjusted to his morning self and the Hungarian could have realized Keith just isn’t your typical morning person. ;)

As I write this, he is sleeping (hopefully) in an albergue in San Bol. He was hoping for a solid night’s sleep and it would be his first in Spain. His right shoulder is aching from the pack and he’s hoping to figure out how it needs adjusted to get past that soon. I’d add some type of link so everyone could learn more about San Bol, but I couldn’t find a decent one. So here a little of what it says in the book that Keith and I both have a copy of so I can follow his trek (A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago): “Delightful location by grove of poplar trees offering shade by the river. The waters from the well are said to have healing properties and to cure aching feet – the peace of this isolated spot can heal more than feet.” Keith said they had no power, except they were kind enough to turn on a generator so everyone could charge their phones for a while. And he said it seemed like sort of a place where you’d have summer camp.

I talked to him twice while he was settling in there. The first time he was clearly just worn out and maybe even a little discouraged. I chalk that up to the extended jetlag. But the second time he sounded much better and was actually cheerful. Yea! He said that a couple of Americans from Pennsylvania showed up and “even better” a couple from Victoria, BC (practically from home!). He said dinner was pretty good. It was paella, which Keith said was “not bad” and that he’d seen them put in a bunch of chicken, but he said none of it ended up on his plate. After dinner they sat around visiting and the non-English speaking people all sang songs. He said he didn’t know the songs, except he did recognize the lyrics of one of the songs as a pilgrim song. The group even enticed a Japanese woman to sing something. He was glad they didn’t ask him to sing because he had no idea what he would’ve sang. We joked maybe a version of Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.” Pretty sure Ross would appreciate that.

Tomorrow night we’re treating him to a hotel room with air conditioning, a shower, a restaurant, WiFi and more. Hopefully he’ll get into town early enough that he’ll be able to have a nice, relaxing evening and get even more much-needed sleep. Until then, folks…I bid you adieu. Yeah…I know that’s French! Okay, here it is in Spanish (at least according to Google Translator): Le deseo despedida!

Just talked with Keith a little while ago and he sounds worn out. He said that he could’ve kept walking, but he’s still needing more sleep to snap out of the time change. Another reason that he stopped for the day was because his pack (which is heavier than he planned–around 22 lbs) is making his shoulders ache. He said it felt like someone had snuck a cinder block into his pack when he wasn’t looking. He’ll experiment with the way it’s packed to see if he can either lighten the load or get it riding better. I’m sure after a day or two he’ll figure it out. He said he’s eating his supply of Clif Bars because that’ll help lighten the load some. He found one kind he particularly likes called “Gary’s Panforte.” It tastes like fruit cake and Keith is one of the few people on the planet that actually likes fruit cake. Still they’re hefty bars and I can see how they’re a mixed blessing weight-wise. :)

He made it just over 12 km today, which is not bad for a first day with jet lag. He walked some of the way off and on with three other people and at one point he almost got lost because the Camino markings changed colors from a real visible yellow to more of a bronze color that blended into the walkways a little too well in one town. He said that a nice lady from the town helped point out the way, though, and kept him on track. He seemed pretty grateful.

Tonight he is staying in a small, but very clean albergue (a hostel—which is the type of place he’ll stay most nights). It has only about half a dozen beds, but he said it’s very clean and everyone is bustling around with all this unrelatable energy. He still needs to do the basics—shower, do laundry, have dinner, etc. before he can sleep, but I know the sound I heard in his voice and he’ll be struggling to stay awake to get it all done.

For those who are interested in the weather (and I know there are some of you weather geeks out there :))—today was overcast and he ran into drizzle in a few spots, but nothing bad. It made for a pretty good hiking day, as he was worried it was going to be too hot. He does have rain gear with him if it starts to pour, but the weather forecast looks like he’ll have a slightly warmer day tomorrow (high of 72F), then two days in the mid-80s and no rain at least in the next 5 to 10 days.

As a side note—laundry is something you do pretty much every day on one of these walks because you only take a few changes of clothes to help lighten your pack. Fortunately for Keith, there was a “holy year” in 2010 (more than 272,000 pilgrims made the pilgrimage that year!) that influenced some towns and albergues to install washer and dryers for those on pilgrimage and I recommended that he especially take advantage of any of those benefits to keep his strength for the walk instead. Today he sounded like he might do just that.

Keith arrived in Spain at what was about 1 AM Pacific time/10 AM his time. He’d gotten just a little sleep on the plane—which for him is good because he doesn’t sleep on planes. And, thankfully, his bag made it through with no problems (we’d packed it in a large garbage back to keep the straps from getting caught in any automated luggage equipment).

Keith said the airport was really warm until he made it past the customs and passport process—which went smoothly. He was pretty grateful for that—especially because he was getting a little giddy from lack of sleep. He said he reminded himself of Kevin Bacon in “Apollo 13” at the point where the character was putting up signs like “Do not press this button” to avoid disaster. Thankfully, he made it through their process easily and got to the train station where he got to sit for a few hours until his train was ready to take off to Burgos.

The train ride was average and the train was very much like the Talgo that he takes to Seattle on occasion. The most exciting part of the ride was that he got a set of headphones that came in a container with the Spanish train logo on it. Well…that and he kept himself awake so he didn’t miss his stop. He also said that his two taxi drivers didn’t speak English or had no interest in conversing with him. He said it was ok since he wasn’t up to that awkward conversation mode while he was so darned tired.

His hotel room in Burgos is small, but nice and his view of the cathedral “is great.” He said that the balcony is about his shoe’s length wide, but at least he has one. The cathedral bells were going off while we were on the phone and they were amazing loud. He said that it’s beautiful and will be his first stop tomorrow so he can get a Spanish version of the pilgrimage credential. These are a passport-like document for the El Camino that gets stamped at various places throughout the long walk to prove you’ve earned a compostela (a certificate of completion of the pilgrimage).

He found himself a couple pieces of pizzas for dinner and after wrapping up his last few housekeeping chores is hopefully sleeping peacefully. He is going to get to sleep in because the cathedral office where he needs to get his paperwork doesn’t open until 9:30 AM. I knew he’d be way worn out by the time he got to the hotel so I had prearranged for him to get the buffet breakfast in the morning. He seemed pretty thankful that he wouldn’t have to figure that out tomorrow.

And, finally, Keith has started taking some pictures, but we’re giving him a few days to get himself regrouped before he tries sending any. Until then, please note that the picture included with this post is one from Wikipedia with permission for reuse.

Wow! 3:50 AM got here really early, but he is on his way. They messed with his flight plan even after we checked it late last night. He’s now headed through Newark instead of Dulles and will be stuck in Denver for over four hours, but there’s a part of me that is ok with him paying these early dues since he’ll be gone so long without me. :)

As only a few of our family and friends know so far, Keith has decided to take a pilgrimage on the El Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) in Spain over the next month and I thought that the best way to let others join in the adventure was to create a blog where we could update you on his progress through posts, pictures, etc.

He will arrive in Spain on Wednesday, Sept. 12^th then take a train north to Burgos. This is where he will begin his 500ish kilometer (about 310 miles) walk on the Camino Francés route of the El Camino de Santiago (pictured to follow). He plans to average 20-22 km per day (13 miles), which takes into account rare break days.

Keith’s motivation to take this pilgrimage hike has been hard for him to describe. He said he really can’t explain the compulsion he feels to do this, but just knows he needs to. There’s a spiritual component that he struggles to explain, but there is also a timing issue that I completely understand.

Keith was diagnosed 10 years ago with a progressive lung disease (details and links provided later) that has had him on some pretty significant treatment plans since his diagnosis. One medication (that he thankfully is no longer taking) would give him significant flu-like symptoms every other day for years. His body never adapted and it took its physical and emotional tolls. Now his current plan–that excludes that ghastly injected medication–seems quite routine and easier to live with. While he is quite the exception to the rule for the condition he has—it is still very unpredictable and could take a turn for the worse with no warning. So holding off a trip like this becomes higher and higher risk each year.

Since his diagnosis we took to living our lives day by day, but this is an exception. This pilgrimage. This trek that he is compelled to complete. This trip has taken months to plan and prepare for. This is his opportunity to serve his condition notice that it doesn’t get to win today and hopefully not tomorrow either. And a way to test his faith in himself and learn more about his own spiritual side.

Unfortunately life isn’t as accommodating as we’d like–so he will be taking this journey without me. Having ruined my knees in my teen years I would never be able to do this walk even if I were a thinner me, but we also just have too many obstacles to allow both of us to leave this world behind completely right now. So this time, he goes it alone while tethered to home through the wonders of technology.

Watch for regular updates and other feature notes as Keith’s expedition and my blogging skills progress.