Day 29: Slow and lazy

As we started thinking about starting our 5th, and last full, week of pilgrimage, we started to realize just how close we were to Santiago de Compostela.  So we decided to walk just 8K.  We arose late, packed slowly, and wandered into a bar for coffee before even walking 3 or 4 K!  Indeed, we sat and had two cups of coffee.  All the while Pete poured over our guide books.  I used the bar's WiFi (they say 'wiffy') to send notes to my daughters.  Pete looked up from all his calculations and said, "You know because we skipped two rest days, we are two days ahead."  Despite resting my knee twice, despite very poor estimates of what we could actually walk on healthy knees (thus one day on the 'plan' became two on the Way), despite these things with only moderate distances left (22K or so) to cover each day, we have to spend two idle days.
This proves to be challenging.  First, there are really only small towns on the route.  Since we can only stay in albergue 1 night, we have to find a hotel or pension for the second night.  That is not always possible.  Second, the closer you get to Santiago the more crowded the Camino gets and thus, we suspect prices rise.  Pilgrims who walk at least 100K to Santiago (as certified by the stamps known as 'sello' on your credentiala or pilgrims passport) get a Compostela-a certificate issued by the Cathedral.  Many folk with less time than Pete and I have had, join the Camino at about the 100K to go mark.  Finally, we join with the hundreds and hundreds of pilgrims who have taken the Camino France (the most famous route to Santiago--we didn't go that way precisely because of the crowds) at about 35K from Santiago.
So we decide to do our first day here in Mondonedo (all of 8K from last night's bed).  It is a town of 2500, has a large cathedral, and our guide says there are hotels and pensions.  So over the Galician hills we walked.  Prompted by a Father's Day email from my daughter urging me to continue despite pain, as this was too important to me (so "tell your body to shut up" she urged). We talked of what we have learned on Camino, what we would bring home, and what we would leave behind. 
Pilgrimage strips away the familiar and the easy.  After the stresses and distresses, the privations and the joys, that which I long for is that which I truely value.  I long, passionately long, for my wife and my children.  They are in my thoughts daily.  They fill my heart and it often overflows as water from my eyes.  My house, Ann Arbor, these things I have not longed for.  I also want to kneel beside my fellow church members in celebration of life sacrificed and life renewed.  I want to talk with my friends about what I've seen here and let them help me continue the journey at home.  I want to serve those outside my church with the same joy I have served those in my church.  I wouldn't be honest however if I didn't also admit to longing for a good cup of coffee in the morning and a nice glass of wine and a bit of tasty fare at night.  I'll let Pete speak for himself, suffice to say the conversation wasn't one sided. 
We also wondered how those without the luxury of time and resources that we have had might still seek to 'journey' from the familiar. How could we help others to seek to formulate and answer the kinds of questions we've been chewing on since we left Irun a month ago?  As you might imagine the 8K went by quickly, and we found a pension for two nights.  The town is small, but we'll watch futbol at night (EuroCup is fun) and explore and drink coffee in the town square during the day.  My knee is sore but able. My heart is full. Life for the last section, these final precious days of Camino, will be slow and lazy.  Buen Camino.