Day 18

Well dear readers I am afraid I have reached the end of the trail.....well for me any way.  All hiking boots and running shoes as you know have a hard rubber cap on the sole.  Underneath this cap is a soft spongy material that is put there for your heal strike.  Once you wear the hard cap thru then obviously it's time for new boots/shoes.  I bought these boots some two years ago and broke them in softly by taking walks and such.  In all honesty they were in very good shap when I came on this trip, but I can not even begin to explain the terrain I have been across.  And to be honest I do have a tendency to skuff a bit when I walk and I do have a pronation.  So adding all these things up took its due.

I gave serious thought as to taking a taxi back to Burgos, buying a new pair of boots then switch back and forth.  It would put me back a day but the rest would probably do me good.  I wasn't keen on packing the extra weight of an extra pair of boots, so I had to give that some extra thought.

So in emailing Sandy back and forth all decided that it was time to come home.

As I sit here writing pilgrims are heading out of town on to what ever today brings them.  My ego is going mad.  I have to keep going inside myself and remember what the camino for me was all about.  Not a foot race.  No prize at the end.  No balloon arch way that been erected for the finishers.  None of that.  The camino just is. Every one is here for a personal reason of their own.  And I have heard some great reasons.  Cancer survivor, loved ones lost, relationships ended, the list goes on and on. For me, I always said, I don't know why, I hope to find out on the trail.  I think I did find out, in fact I found out several reasons......all personal.

I have walked about seven feet less then 250 miles, just about half way.  In doing the math I think I would need an additional 10 days  more than the five weeks that I had originally planed on.  There is no doubt in my mine that if I would of asked for it Sandy would of went along.....no questions asked.  But a funny thing was starting to happen to my mind, I started to think more about home then I did the camino.  My friends I was getting home sick.....I want my kids, my g- kids, my home, and most of all my wife.  As I walked I thought more of sitting in the back yard at even- tide then I did of all the history I was passing thru and I will tell you it was volumes.

The Spanish love their kids. their old, their dogs and bread.  I have left my wallet on the bed while I showered.....no problem.  I have left my passport on the desk, to have it returned several times.  Just last night my walking poles were brought to me from a block away.  I wanted to know how I was tracked down but their was this language thing that keeps getting in the way of explanations.

So my dear friends and family that is it.  I will be shutting down this blog in a few days.  I hope you have enjoyed my travels and the pictures.  And what ever road YOU choose to travel, let just two words that cover it all......Buen Camino.