heart&soul: Getting Ready... Will You Join Us?

We leave Friday... and we're not quite ready yet! The packing is, itself, a major undertaking. We're going for a week of 12-year-old baseball in Cooperstown, NY before spending a week in London, Paris, and Madrid, before walking 100km across Spain. And all the packing has to be done together -- and there's a 30-pound per person limit, due to the requirements of our Camino walk. What a challenge!

To get ready, then, we've been doing lots of preparing... last minute emails with our travel agent... last minute financial preparations... last minute practice packing (really!)... and some last minute walking.

Interesting what funny looks you get, walking in Charlotte! I guess we just don't do that much of it -- especially with packs and water bottles. Here we are on today's walk, from Eastburn Road to the "Taj Mateeter," on Morrison Boulevard. Have you noticed the spectacular architectural arch there? It's fascinating what all you see, really see, when you are walking.

On Thursday, we'll take a final walk -- and we'd love to invite you to join us. We'll leave our house early in the afternoon, and plan a 12-mile hike through down-town Charlotte, ending at the Cabo Fish Taco in NoDa. We'd love to see a few of you, if you're interested in a Taco and a hug... and maybe someone will show up to bring us home, so we don't have to walk another 12 miles! We'll plan to eat at 6:30 pm at Cabo's place, 3201 North Davidson. Hope to see some of you there.

The rest... we're still thinking of you and praying for you, and will be doing so throughout this next pilgrimage.

As a reminder of our schedule: Cooperstown (July 10-17), London (July 18-21), Paris (July 22-24), Madrid (July 25-26), El Camino de Santiago de Compostella (July 27-August 2)... back to Madrid... back to Charlotte on August 4. (And as much as we're looking forward to all of that travel, we know that we'll be glad to see our plane touch down at Charlotte-Douglass at 4:13pm!)