We're off! And a few thoughts to fly on

By the time you read this, we will be en route to St. Jean Pied de Port in France. I expect that I will be able to post from time to time, from internet cafes in cities, but not every day. Pictures will probably wait until our return. I therefore decided to mention something that doesn't require photos today. (Spearing my knuckle on the rose bush this morning only helped that idea along. Now I am holding ice to my swollen hand to get the huge "ball" to go down!)

 

Two years ago, when my sweetie first proposed that we make this pilgrimage together, we didn’t know very much about it at all. So, this being the Internet age, we looked it up online.

We found books at Amazon.com. Our family gave us other books for Christmas. (As well as Buffs for each of us—Lycra neck wraps that can either be hats or neck scarves or face covers.) One was from National Geographic, The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide, by Andrew Skurka. Another was a map book, from pilipalapress.com--water resistant paper, too.

We found books at our local Barnes and Noble, too—well, one that we bought there: DK eyewitness Travel: Northern Spain. It has pictures, but it really doesn’t consider most of the Camino route to be in its area of discussion. There is information about Santiago de Compostela, with pictures and diagrams of various parts of a cathedral, etc.

From Amazon, in paper and Kindle formats, all that I could remember or find on the shelf: 

To the Field of Stars, by Fr. Kevin A Codd. A Camino memoir.

Seven Tips to Make the Most of the Camino de Santiago, by Cheri Powell

Hiking the Camino: 500 Miles with Jesus, by Fr. Dave Pivonka. A Camino memoir.

1001 Most Useful Spanish Words (Dover Language Guides Spanish) (Kindle format). Because I have such a small vocabulary. British English seems to be the author's normal speech form, not American English.

Grandma's on the Camino: Reflections on a 48-Day Walking Pilgrimage to Santiago, by Mary O'Hara Wyman (Kindle format). A Camino memoir.

Walking Guide to the Camino de Santiago History Culture Architecture from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre (CaminoGuide.net eBooks), by Gerald Kelly (Kindle format)

The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook, by David M. Gitlitz & Linda Kay Davidson (liked it so much in paper that I bought it again in Kindle to carry)

A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: St. Jean * Roncesvalles * Santiago (Camino Guides), by John Brierley (We also have the map-only book he put out. Yes that means we have accumulated 2 water-resistant paper and 1 Kindle map books. Plus the Gitlitz & Davidson which has some map information in it also.)

I have learned from every one of these books. From Father Codd’s book, I learned that many of the churches along the way have Adoration chapels. (Capilla de la Santísima)

From Ms. Powell’s book, many helpful suggestions on packing.

From Ms. Wyman’s book, that I would need trekking poles. (Yes, they are talked about a lot—but this lady fell on her behind, with flip, twice on her first day, and again on the second day, but after she bought poles in Pamplona she didn’t fall down any more. Since “Grace” is not my middle name ;-) I learned from her experience and bought the poles.) Also, she found freezing rain and icy slush in mid to late May on the meseta--warm South Texas it isn't!

An especially informative resource on the web is http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/ The Camino de Santiago Forum, with about a bazillion different discussions to read. 

It's going to be an adventure.

So excited, and yet so discouraged at the same time

We packed our packs today, to check weight. We had almost everything packed. (Still lack the freshly-sprayed sleeping bag liners, which needed to dry and air a bit.)
My pack came in at 20 pounds! I was so discouraged.
On the good side, my sweetie figured out that the trekking poles come apart, and now they will fit securely inside the pack for the airplane flights. I put each pole set into a sock and used my hair elastics to encourage it to stay together. I'll tuck socks and undies in around them for the flights. I tried to tell myself that the poles were why the pack came in so much heavier than I expected.
But 20 pounds from two skinny aluminum poles? I don't think so.
Last time I did a test pack, of course, toiletries and laundry items weren't included. How could the shampoo, conditioner, All detergent to wash the clothes the first few days, clothespins, various chargers, sink plug and so on be so heavy? I guess that long list answered the question. (I had also added to the clothes a windbreaker and a long sleeved nylon fishing shirt and a pair of fishing type shorts. And I had packed 5 or so pairs of socks.)
The camera isn't included, as it's in the underseat bag. The Kindle, with its map book and guide book and Bible and a number of other spiritual books, also will be in the underseat bag. But the flashlight, and its 3 batteries, do add to the pack weight. Actually, there is more than one flashlight running around, but the one that adds weight is the headlight. Which I have used in our yard and it's really great for finding dogs in the dark. Their eyes glow really bright when the beam hits them.
But the time grows short, and I'm so excited!

On another subject, here is a picture of the pants that I shortened by 6 inches for my sweetie.
When I took the picture, I remembered why all the change had to come out of the lower part of the legs: there are pockets that take up much of the upper part of the pant leg.

There and back again, in one day--plus a sewing report

Yesterday we didn’t walk. I drove to San Antonio, instead, to pick up the youngest, and that took the day. (It actually took about half of the day, but the weather was going south in a hurry, so as soon as possible I picked her up and we skedaddled down the highway to home.) We got home around 1:30 a.m., talked with my sweetie for a little while over a drink, and called it a day. There would be enough to-do things to work on in the morning.

One of the to-do’s being done was the Aggie bag. Between Sunday, yesterday morning for a little while, and this morning, I finished sewing the bag. It had its share of surprises and adventures, like most first time sewing projects, but it went together without too many odd elements.

To review, it has boxed bottom corners and strap handles. There is a pocket on the outside of the bag, not divided, and a pocket on the inside that is divided. There are also a couple of loops for attaching things, one inside and one outside. There is a strip of hook-and-loop tape along the top for a closure, and a decorative button on the outside pocket.

The bag’s purpose is to hold two cameras, one Kindle, and two cell phones while we fly at the start of the pilgrimage. It is intended to fit under the seat in front of me on the planes, and it may have ongoing use after we return from the trip.

Fabrics, and a Plan

 I started out with these fabrics. The plan was to have a maroon pocket on the outside of the bag, and a maroon lining, with the blocks being the main bag fabric. I measured and discovered that I would have to use a different lining fabric than planned—as the one with the tiny gold pattern wasn’t big enough. So I used a different maroon fabric for the lining, and used the other fabric for pockets. I lined the pockets with the silver gray. I attached the first pocket piece (lined) to the right side of the block fabric, and attached the second pocket piece to the right side of the maroon lining fabric. (This pocket was intended to stop at the “bend” created by the boxed corners, so the pocket piece was sewn on a little ways up from the bottom, with the raw edges enclosed so it wouldn’t fray.) I divided the inside pocket into three, so that devices tucked into it wouldn’t slide all over the place. On reflection, I should have done something like that with the outside one, too.

Then I sewed the squares together, right sides in, and keeping an opening in the bottom of the lining of the bag. 

I began pressing seams open and marking corners for the boxing stitches. This is where the lack of dividers in the outside pocket snagged me. The pocket folded to the wrong side, covered over by the main fabric as it was, when I pressed and marked the boxing stitches. When I sewed the corners into their spiffy boxed shape, the pocket was inside out. Instead of having a maroon pocket with a silver lining, I ended up with a silver pocket with a maroon lining. And, not having realized this before trimming the fabric, I decided to let it stay that way.

The finished bag

Oh the many, many to-dos

This past weekend I got a (nagging) email from Ryanair: "someone in your party has not checked in online." They were right--I hadn't yet. I can't check in for our first flight until later this week. My plan was to do all the online check-ins and boarding pass printings at the same time. Apparently this waiting until not quite the end of the window was too much for their computer.
So I did the Ryanair online check in. Also I reviewed the cabin bag sizes and (for a change) converted the centimeters to inches. (Metric conversion.org I think was the name of the site.) Oops. Those two cabin bags are basically a medium sized purse and a small purse. Better check sizes of things!

After I had selected fabrics to make a tote, we went to Wal-Mart with an extensive list of little things to buy: start-out shampoo, little deodorant, etc. We walked through the purses and totes while we were there and found a pretty green one, inexpensive, big for a purse but small-to-medium for pool or beach use. We got it with the plan to carry the cameras, cell phones, Kindle, and a few snacks in it. Also the boarding pass collection.

But I am reasonably sure that if I get the tape measure out the green beach bag will be pushing the limits. Drat. Back to sewing. (Well, since I did all that measuring and drafting and fabric-picking, why not? It will get some stash out of my sewing room.)

So the Aggie Bag is back on again.

With 2 strap handles, outside pocket (no closure or dividers--this will become significant later) and inside pocket, a biggish loop to attach things to inside and a small one outside, and boxed corners to give a little room for the stuff at the bottom. It will certainly fit under the seat in front of me--in fact that is the purpose of its size.

I don't have time to put a long post about it up today--must pick up youngest from college and bring her home for the summer--but I will put up a picture of the stash that I have on hand. (It's gotten worse since then!) So you can see why I am all excited about using up some of it!

 

 

And this isn't all of it!