Blog for September 17, 2023
Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado
As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I stayed at a hostel called Casa de los Santos or “The House of the Saints” or “House of the Holy.” Honestly, I don’t feel like I qualified to have stayed there.
Now I can think of some other people who would have easily qualified! I think of my dad and my mom – they are both in heaven now, but I have no doubt that both of them would certainly have met the requirements to stay at the House of Saints. I also think of my wife’s dad, whom we just lost a little less than a year ago. He was such a good man – he would have had the credentials to stay at this house of saints.
But Joe Trussell? I don’t think so. Hopefully someday, but probably not right now. Thankfully when they were checking me in last night, their vetting process was not very comprehensive. They didn’t check into my deep and dark past, so they let me stay there!
Now that’s a bird’s nest!
I was thinking of people we consider to be our heroes. The sad aspect is that many times we wait until they are gone to really think how their lives impacted us. At the grave, we have regrets that we didn’t thank them for their influence on our lives. Before my dad died, I tried to see him every day, and tell him I loved him, yet he deserved more than just a quick “I love you.” He deserved me telling him what a great spiritual hero he was in my life. So maybe our assignment this week would be to thank those people who have made a difference in us! Don’t have those regrets when they are gone! Send them that text, make that phone call, write them an email and let them know what they mean to you!
I’m glad they did let me in the hostel – it was one of my better nights of sleep. When I left the hostel, I felt good physically, spiritually and emotionally. About 30 minutes into my walk, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I knew it was late back home and I thought, who in the world is texting me at this hour? I was pleasantly surprised – it was my wife! She had been in South Carolina on a work trip and had a late flight and had just gotten home. She said, “Joe, I see you walking!”
The “Find My” app on her iPhone was showing a dot, and she said, “Joe you are walking in the middle of nowhere!” I agreed, as there were no houses or towns close by. She said, “It is so incredible that the moving dot is you!”
I answered back and said, “Well, that dot will stop briefly, because I have a rock in my shoe and need to sit down to get it out.” And she said, “It did stop!” Then she said, “It’s moving again!” Then, “Joe, are you zigzagging?” I said, “Actually I am – there are rocks in the trail, and I am trying to find the best route.” It was awesome as I spent the next 30 minutes texting my wife. But I finally said, “It’s late there. You need to get some sleep.” We said our goodbyes and I trudged on.
After about an hour and 30 minutes of walking, I approached a nice-sized village where I could get my coffee. It was actually a little earlier than I like to have my coffee stop. I like to have it after 2 to 2 1/2 hours into the walk, because it breaks the walk up better. So as I approached this village, I had one of those “hmmm” moments. As I looked at my app, I could see that if I hung to the south edge of the village and veered west, I could miss most of the village. The trail didn’t just go straight through the village; it went north and then west and then south, adding quite a few extra steps. My plan would be brilliant! I felt so above average when I connected with the main trail after having saved a lot of steps around the town.
As I walked down the hill from that town, I thought, “Joe Trussell, you are so smart! You are head and shoulders in intelligence above the other poor pilgrims who walked the unnecessary steps winding around the town.” Well, I have found that when I feel pretty smart, it’s not long before something happens to prove that I’m not very smart. That is exactly what happened today. As I walked the next 30-45 minutes towards a village I saw on my app, I was getting excited about coffee. So as I got to that next village and began looking for a coffee shop, I looked left and right and straight ahead. Before I knew it, I was through the town. No coffee shop! I thought, what kind of town would not have a coffee establishment? This is tragic! I wanted to knock on a door and ask them to make me a cup of coffee, but I did have a little bit of pride left. Well no worries, I knew there was another village coming up in 30 minutes or so. They would certainly have one. But they didn’t!
Earlier I had thought, “Poor pilgrims!” By this time I was thinking, “Poor Joe!” And rightly so. My needle on the coffee meter in my body was starting to go nuts and the alarm was screaming – “Coffee, coffee, coffee!” The sad realization hit me – I was 9 miles into my 14-mile walk today, and I hadn’t had anything to eat. So even though I still felt okay, I knew that I probably should get some nutrients in me. Today, my daily granola bar would have to be consumed with water instead of coffee! I was so smart – yeah, right! Well, God is merciful to people like me who are not very smart. At about mile 12, God provided me with a wonderful coffee shop!
Enough rambling for today. So let me leave you with a few thoughts.
1. The time to express our appreciation to our heroes is now! Don’t wait and have regrets.
2. The shortest and easiest way is not always the best way! Sometimes God has things for you that will be missed if you take the shortest route.
3. Sometimes our “smart ideas” are really dumb! Enough said!
4. The best advice is – get your coffee when you have a chance!
Have a good week!
Approximate total miles: 560
Approximate miles walked today: 14
Approximate total miles remaining: 411
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