Be a Pilgrim

As I searched for any book or website relating to the Camino, what spoke to me the loudest was, "Be a Pilgrim". One of my self-perceptions is that I have a tendency to be a nomad.
My father would take me for car rides, "Destination Unknown". What that meant was that my Mother and I would not know where we were going and neither would my Father. We would almost always start out by driving to a natural setting like a lake, forest, or beach. My Father would, without warning, turn quickly down a road that was not familiar to my Mother or me. One part of the "Destination Unknown" that was always known was that we would end up somewhere to eat. We became "experts" of the back roads of the San Francisco Bay Area and the good places to eat anything from chicken pot pies to cotton candy.
Now many years later, I am aware that those rides with my parents instilled in me a sense of adventure. Also, I came to believe that my ability to feel "at home" anywhere is only as good as my attitude about being with myself and who I am.
The more I read about the Camino, the more I knew that what being a pilgrim meant to me was surrendering to "what is" every moment. To go with the flow and be grateful for all that appears. The best of both worlds is the joy of being a "nomad" and knowing that I have a home that I will eventually return to.

Contemplating the Call

The first book I bought while contemplating the Camino adventure was, "The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago, The Complete Cultural Handbook", by David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson. I had purchased it the night before leaving on a plane from San Francisco to Dallas.
As I sat on the plane and started reading I realized that the path to Santiago holds so much of what I love: antiquity, beauty, mountains, ruins, renovation, legends, spirituality, challenge, risk, the unknown, and a road trip for the first time by walking.
As I arrived in Dallas and checked into the motel I realized that I was completely calm and at peace. It wasn't happening as a result of my mind, it was happening as a result of a "knowing". A deep knowing that I am on the right path for me and that the Camino is a part of my path. With all of the unknowns it is where I am suppose to be.
I bought a highlighter and started highlighting all of the wonderful medieval ruins and standing chapels that I want to see along the way. As I turned the pages I realized that there is more than one route to Santiago. At this point I am not only contemplating the desired route, I'm contemplating the possibility that I might be walking alone, that anyone else I know might not get the "call".
What I've learned in my life is that when I receive a clear "guidance", that it does not always appear to be seen by others as sane. That is why I'm convinced that our own light is the only one we can follow.

St. Jean Pied-de-Port, France to Santiago, Spain

*map and more: http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/

The Call to the Camino

Sometime in 2002 I read a book about the Camino de Santiago. It was fascinating, but seemed a little manic. What I mean is that the person walking the Camino, Shirley MacLaine, did it in thirty days. For the next six years I made a point of walking just for the health of it, (and for our dogs). In July, 2008, I saw a small footnote in a popular free monthly magazine about a couple in their early sixties who had just finished the Camino in 59 days. That was it....a message...I can do that.
So my Camino began...I was so excited at the prospect of walking the entire width of northern Spain that I told my friend, Kathy, who I was meeting that day when I arrived in Santa Rosa. We didn't know much about it so we went to a book store and a library in Sonoma County. When we asked the reference librarian to point us in the direction of any books on the Camino de Santiago she immediately lit up and said, "I have walked the Camino and want to do it again". Another message. We left there with enough information to go online and get the books that we needed. In the meantime I checked with a travel agent to see how feasible it was going to be to actually afford the round trip fare. What I concluded was that I couldn't afford not to go.
My favorite mantra is...I still have my mind and body, why not do it?
*map and more at: http://www.santiago-compostela.net/frances/index_cf_en.html