Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

And the rest of the quote is: “and leave us pain of promised joy,”.

Oh, we had it planned. We had walked two long days of 13 plus miles. Today was a SHORT day. We were just going to walk one village pass the big village. We awaken in Palas de Rei to rain…chilly rain. Soon we were walking in the most beautiful snow storm.  The flakes were the size of a half dollar coin. Ernest and I like the snow so we walked with joy on our faces and praise to Him own our lips. That beautiful snow lasted about an hour. Then we had sleet. The sleet lasted about 30 minutes. Then the sun came out. Then the weather started all over again…snow then sleet then sun then snow then sleet then sun.  Now, that isn’t so bad except today was the Camino imitation of an elevator.  Ascend then descend. Ascend then descend. Now, when you ascend one truth is that you burn calories. I don’t care how cold it is outside YOU generate heat. With a raincoat and a pack poncho you become a living sauna.  Steam rolls off of you like a chimney puffing. Then you ascend and all that sweat threatens to freeze.  Are you getting the picture?  Now let me tell you that our short day became a marathon of over 18 miles. What a day on the Camino!

We have drastically shorten our day tomorrow. There is an immediate horrendous ascent and then a difficult descent and then after 10 K we stop and rest. We aren’t sissies but we have to give our legs a time to rest. We have walked 50.5 miles in three days.

Lessons from the Trinity:

Today for us it was the snow. It was so peaceful and beautiful. It was holy. We were reminded that our sins are washed by His blood to be whiter than snow. We are so grateful to be clean; to be free from our sins; to be able to love Him and each other and others. “Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow. Jesus has washed us whiter than snow!”

Buen Camino!