Mendocino > Camino de Santiago

Holy Road Trip! The Camino does not want to let go... Up at 7am, coffee and croissants, then cycle down to train station and car rental. We get two cars, VW Jetta and Fiat Bravo...more like, OhNo. The Jetta can't fit the five bikes, but the Fiat gulps them nicely. After a few hiccups...gas tanks not full, mileage not balancing, we are ready... Fiat says, No Start! Ann finally walks over and asks Brian to apply Cojones, still....no start. Rental woman gets in, starts perfectly, and we are off...to the parking lot gate, where our parking tickets have expired and will not let us out...parking guy says, "not my problem". Ann lets a bit of steam out at the rental woman and she gets us new exit tickets and we are off! In Ourense, we stop and have a nice meal, head back to the cars, and Fiat will not start. No joy. Cojones or no, not starting. I get in for my big attempt, no joy..however, futzing around, Fiat speaks, and...Ann stalls pulling out of the very tight slot. This was ...

Whew... If I never hear... "It's all downhill from here" again.. I'll be glad. Rolled into town at 4pm, threaded our way through traffic, pilgrims, tourists, and patient locals to the Santiago Cathedral, the finish line for the Camino. We got one of the pesky walkers that kept up with us to get our photo in front of cathedral, and then spent an hour finding our hotel...where I collapse into bed for my afernoon nap. It is not really a nap, more of comatose lapse. 42km today, up/down/up/down...not much more of the cowpie goo, and the weather has been pretty nice...ok, not raining is nice now. Tomorrow we go do the traditional pilgrim stuff, rub St. James's belly, see the pilgrims mass, and get our Compostela, the certificate from the church that states we finished the pilgrimage. It is supposed to absolve you of all past sins (I call it my 'Get out of hell free card) Pilgrim's Mass is actually quite cool. I suppose it would be better if I understood what the...

We get a very late start, bedtime was after midnight, and we have to clean the cowpie/sand slurry off the derailleurs, brakes, wheels, etc. We finally have a no-rain day, however...29km to a town on a hill, Palas de Rei. LOTS of walkers now, all you have to do is walk 100km for your compostela, a lot of wussie types fly into Santiago, taxi out to the 100km point, and walk in...it might be a coincidence, but we've seen many more Americans since we past that point. Now we are in an internet cafe in Arzua, checking email, sucking down Galician beers, and watching a Bond movie...en espanol. Today was a 31km day, up and down hills, the downs are fuuuuuun! Uphill sucks....I usually walk them. Brian got a nice nail, 3 holes, and on a downhill, so he broke a spoke by the time he could stop...he was right on my ass on that downhill, my luck holds again. Galicia is gorgeous, greens of every possible combination...Dad says no more cowpie trails, so they are now burro-pies..shhhhh. Great dinne...

Via Rio Cowpie Milkshake... Holy Crap...I mean, literally. We had a wonderful, sunfilled ride from Triacastela via Samos, although with a late start, we slept in until 8am! OhMyGawd! I'm sure! We ride own a river mostly, farms, trees, cool paths, a very lovely old mill, we took lots of photos, including another burro co-existing with a long horn. The burro would bug the longhorn until she whipped her head about, then use her horns for precise scratching opportunities. The burro was in the field at the monastery in Samos, a very old (6th century) monastery, that took both nuns and priests, and was run by a married couple of virgins. Hmmmm. Yearly checkups? It was very beautiful, located in the curve of the river..as we were watching, a nun came out with a flock of chickens, but we missed the photo opp. One thing about Spain, eggs are in almost every meal, but chicken is very rare to find in a dish. We got picnic stuff, our first sunny, warm, nice day, and stop at a peregrino picnic ...