Santo Domingo

Maybe we are about a quarter thru our trip. although we've only been here 2 weeks seems a lot longer.
sometimes the towns blend into each other and it is difficult to recall even where we were last night, but the beauty of the landscape is never lost on us. we walked about 10 miles today in the fog and it was truly amazing.
Here are some other shots from Viana with the musical chefs pounding on their barrels in the square, we didn't stay here but moved on to Logrono, where we could get a little bit nicer accomodation before going back to the augerque where you sleep in a bunk usually with several other people. the last two nights have been good though, lucky to be with the people we have been walking with for the last week.

we happened upon this cathedral a few nights back and were privy to choir practice, they didn't know we were there and it was incredible. They were having a great time up in the choir section of this 12 century church maybe my dates are wrong but it was in a little town called los arcos, tough time getting there but well worth the walk just for the 10 minutes we spent listening to the choir.

HOLA!

hi everyone
i am writing on a keyboard that has a mind of it´s own, almost everywhere we end u p they have these little video looking type machines with internet access when you deposit a euro and you get either 18 minutes or 25 minutes. kind of strange but hey we are connected. we walked from viana to logrono yesterday and i had to deposit dwight off at the church with our packs. neither of us could take one more step with stuff.our feet and the tops of our legs hurt so much you think if someone touched you you would fall over. two french tourists got a nice shot of dwight laid out across the steps of this 13 century catherdral while i went in search of a little nicer hotel where we might actually get some sleep. logrono is the first town in rioja we came to. about 140,000 people maybe. it was a really great stay over except all the stares dwight got for wearing flip flops in october thru the square and then i spilled wine on a lady at the druken dunk, luckliy i do know how to say lo siento!!! which means i am sorry and then she was okk about it.jenn where are you when i need you?
today we are staying at a very nice auberque in naverette. we didn´t walk too far today, we wanted to hang back and keep company with our friends we met back in peunte la reina. we are feelign stronger and stronger everyday but still very stiff and hurting at the end of the day. we had our first rioja wine last night, jenn you would be very happy, very good. wine is very cheap and it doesn´t give me headaches. maybe i should stay here. we have talked to a few people about our fundraising and given away some cards. help us spread the word, we are working h ard!!! but y es, enjoying our time here. tomorrow, who knows what the day will hold. i miss you all and hope that everyone is safe. thanks for all the encouragement from everyone. nancy, somedays i wish it were only kenensaw mountain we were lost on, i think the kilometers here don´t really translate the distance we think. i hear our friend juen outside, she is chinese born, grew up in england and now is a tranlator in madrid. she says her bum hurts and she is the one who sends her pack on to the next place everyday! well, sorry i am not able to upload pictures. may be awhile. need to go get a bed next door before the sun goes down.

from estella to los arcos

we had a very nice walk into estella yesterday. we sent one pack ahead and toted the lighter one. I think our walk was about 22 kilometers. so just over 13 miles. we encountered so many different smells. wow. but estella was one of the larger towns we would come to. the augerque we stayed in was kind of odd. we entered and it was deceivingly nice and calm but then they place ALL of us into one room, when there were at least 6 other rooms. very funny but not so funny with many snoring smelly people. but hey it was cheap, we have stayed in some pensions so it was time to rough it a little. we made it thru the night after a wonderful dinner outside on the plaza with our new friends. we represented at least 6 different countries! pretty cool. so we had a nice walk along by ourselves today, saturday. all along were vinards and farmland. tons of bales of hey stacked high. We are staying the night in a little augerque that is run by a very nice couple, but it is raining and i have no way to dry our clothes. may be a heavier pack tomorrow. the town here is so old and medieval. very small and quaint. off to find some food, nothing is open but we still have our new friends to hang with at least for another day.

Arrived in Pamploma today,now in puente la reina

Finally, tonight we are able to get some stuff uploaded. Spain seems to be a bit behind the times when it comes to internet and phone technology. We still haven't been able to get Dwight a sim card so he's not getting anything on his phone. Send emails to me, we are doing ok so far with internet access in some parts. Trying to get pictures uploaded...
we spent the day in pamploma mailing about 10 pounds of our stuff back. sounds crazy that we brought so much stuff, we are lighter now and ready to take on 25 kilometers to puente la reina tomorrow. we went by where they do the running of the bulls, we expected it to be more old town kind of place, not too much but still neat. i love the old part of the city, the new part is lots of construction. we walked out pass the university and got our stamp there at the bishops office. cool stamp. the walk over the hills was nice, we could see windmill turbines in the distance but we never seemed to get to them. walkng takes soooo long but you can beat the scenery. seems this whole coutnry is made up of all rock so sometimes you have to remember to look up when you are so busy watching your step. of course you are watching for sheep and cow poop too! we made it to the top about 800 meters,our only "hill" today. and then finally got to the augerque in puente la reina. we are staying here for the night, have met some great people who told us about sending one pack on to the next place.
nopw today we are walking lighter and will enjoy the awesome beauty of the towns on the way to estella.
hope all is well and that the hurricane will spare the us. love and big hugs.
callie and dwight.

dos dias

We woke up to rain in our little midevil hotel, gathered our rain gear and headed out of the little town of roncevalles. the monestary stamp we got on our compestela was pretty cool. three stamps and many more to go before santiago. they say the route from st jean to roncevalles over the pyrenees is the toughest part. i hope so or i think we would have had to call it quits after that. we walked about 22 plus kilometers today. hmm, i have to translate the k´s as if i were running a race. 10k equals 6.2 miles. ok so we are walking over 13 miles today. seemed more like 50. but today even with the rain was much better, i think it will keep getting easier. i hope, or else i will have to have toenail surgery to pull them out of my ankles when i get home. but we are fine. tired. in a little teeny town called zubiri. it was the first place we came upon after our little walk in the hills. again the views are breathtaking, the clouds lying low, cows and their bells in the distance cheering us on. we are at our first auberque and have met some really nice people from all over. so far we have met nada gringos. maybe thats good. i have to get up and find my bunk before my muscles decide not to move from the bench we are sitting on. tell edward we had our first chiriso today. muy bien. adios until pamploma.

Greetings from Spain

we are finally in spain at the first town just over the pyrenees called roncevalles. really the only thing here is a monestary and a couple of hotels. when i say just over the pyrenees there is nothing just over the mountains. this has been the most grueling physical day i have ever had. i think for both of us. st jean pied de port was the last town we were in and where we started from. i will write more later on our time spent with my friends the sentaurens over the weekend. it was fabulous and then there was today. although every inch of my body can´t move at all it was well worth the 20 plus miles we walked to day over the pyrenees mountains. i only broke down once! we left at 9 in the morning and got here just at dusk!

We made it!

We're in Paris! Feels like it's been 10 days since we left. Yesterday was tough but today has been wonderful. We stayed in Montmontre last night, my favorite place in Paris and watched the sunset. We don't have much time, have tried to log in at different times but finally got online at the train station. We are on our way to Angouleme where some old friends live, to stay for two days before we depart for St Jean Pied de Port, where we will begin walking. Our packs are HEAVY! Will need to shed some lbs soon. The big thing, touristy thing, we did today, desides riding the Metro, we went up to the top of the Eifel Tower. Very cool. I had only been to the first floor before. Dwight loves it here, although, he says the people like to get in front of you and slow down and it smells like pee everywhere. Must be the dogs. : )
We off to catch the TGV to Angouleme....a bientot.

Leaving Isle of Palms- two more days till Paris

We arrived back in Atlanta early this morning after a long night at The Windjammer with Cowboy Mouth and Hootie and the Blowfish. I know for Dwight it was tough to say goodbye to everyone, we had a blast though and I can't say enough how awesome the people that run the show at the Windjammer are. They treated us like family and we certainly look forward to seeing them again next year. Thanks Bret for your kind donation towards camino4cancer and for spreading the word and to all of Cowboy Mouth for making Dwight's last night (for now) on the "other" side of the stage great! Another Windjammer sweat fest for the books for sure. We'll see you guys in December!

Last minute details

It's four days before we leave and we still have tons to do. But the website is finished (well almost) and most of our errands are run. Just waiting on some gear from Coleman and some PR to come through. I've just gotten down to Isle of Palms, SC to pick up Dwight, head back to Atlanta and then we are off wed to fly into Amsterdam, then onto Paris where we will spend a day and a night. Dwight was adament that I wasn't going to drag him across the pond and not let him see Paris. Tonight, he has the CM show with Edwin McCain and one more show tomorrow night when they play after Hootie.Then he is done until December. The Windjammer is a great place to be on a balmy, October night at the beach not to mention a nice way to spend our last weekend here in the states.