Today was an exception; we had evening plans and therefore needed to do something less time-consuming. We therefore hiked 10 quick road miles -- road miles are much easier than mountain miles (less elevation gain, smoother walking surface, etc.). We were out the door at 8am and back before noon.
Scenes from our meandering:
Gear notes:
The girls still say their backpacks feel fine, but I still say I'm getting them lighter ones before we leave for the Camino.
We've made progress in gear selection. For base layers, we'll continue to use Polarmax. The girls have been wearing them for four years and they work, so why switch now? We're bringing our Sorels as our main winter/wet hiking boots. We may regret that decision at some point...these Sorels keep our feet warm down to -40 degrees, so they might be too much for what we need. Plus, they're heavy. However, it will still be winter when we arrive and we will hike over a few mountains. The girls feel quite comfortable in these boots and the material is bombproof. We'll also bring hiking sandals (brand not yet chosen) so we have something to change into if/when it gets too warm for the Sorels.
I'll create a "gear list" tab at the top of this site next week. By the way, we're not sponsored by anyone, so if I say something works for us, it's because it really works for us (and not because I'm getting free gear or $ just to say it works for us). :)
Additional challenges:
I'm on blood thinners. I'll most likely be on blood thinners for life. I'll explain why in another post. For now, let's just say that it's important I not take a serious fall. I did so tonight...silly household accident, I tripped over I-don't-know-what while carrying laundry...and now my leg is swelling up. Our evening plans went out the window, which was very disappointing (I have to stay home and elevate the leg).
If I fall on the Camino, then we'll have to hang about in whatever town we're in for an extra day or two until I'm good to go. I can tell you right now that we won't come back to the States until we reach Santiago...but if I take a fall while we're out there, then our journey will take a bit longer than expected.
