This Makes No Sense At All

I consider ourselves chronic walkers, possibly obsessed, but once in a while I run across someone who gives us a reality check. On the bell shaped curve, we are far from the outliers. This morning a Google Alert on Camino de Santiago popped up about our friend and walker, Sue Kenney , so I checked it out. She is picking up some friends in Ontario (Canada) who have walked from Paso Robles, California. I check further. Today's outliers are Peta Wolf and Mike Metras, walking from Paso Robles, California to Jerusalem. In the past they have walked the Camino de Santiago, and from Germany to Rome. Check out their website at https://www.walkingwithawareness.com/ctjwalk.htm

It's been a long time since we've subscribed to the Oakland Tribune, and I had forgotten the adventures with customer service. A promotion came in the mail a couple of weeks ago that seemed so good that we decided to try the Trib again. This was 52 weeks of the print edition for $49.95. I filled out and submitted the order online www.bayareanewsgroup.info/ DMOT0909 on Oct 10 and expected to see the paper within 7 days. Nothing had arrived by Sunday the 18th, so I go online and search for the subscriber services form. That is not easy. Oakland Tribune is one of multiple newspapers owned by ANG newspapers, which is now Bay Area Newspapers. It's never clear which ownership layer does what. I google for oakland tribune customer service. At the very top of the page is a link to Home Delivery - clicking that just brings up a general ang page. Finally I go to help at the bottom of the page and that gives me a choice of New Subscription or Manage your subscriptions online, which...

For a music backed overview, check out our YouTube video of the Dourgne to Oloron walk . In spite of the video appearances this was a somewhat difficult and stressful trip for us. Our seventh walk on a pilgrimage trail, we were looking at it as more of a vacation adventure, than as a serious trek. Our plan was 20 to 25k per day and to use B&Bs and hotels when possible, not using scarce pilgrim gite space, leaving that for the pilgrims bound for Santiago de Compostella. I'll give you an overview of the day to day, some planning tips, and then why it wasn't so fine for us, but could be for you. Trip Notes: 1. From Toulouse, got taxi to Gare Routiere got bus to in Revel, the closest point to Dourgne. From there got a taxi to Dourgne. Toulouse bus schedules at www.haute-garonne.fr and the bus lines that go to Revel are 56 and 57. Walked from Dourgne to St. Felix. Stayed at Le Cocagne - no star room, but food and ambiance good. In th...

I've been a Ray Jardine fan ever since I read his first book, The Pacific Crest Trail Hiker's Handbook , back around 1995. When he came out with Beyond Backpacking in 1999, I snatched it up and again devoured his tips. This time though, I resisted. I'd been following his tips for 10 years or more - used a tarp in the Sierras, trekked 500 miles in a lightweight pack with no waist belt. What more could he have to say?And lets face it, he is a little off the deep end on some subjects. Also, the book was available only on his website and at full price. Finally I broke down and ordered it from him. I sat down, read it from cover to cover, and again was captured. He seems so utterly rational that I am tempted to once more "go by the book" - Ray's book. However, I have to keep in mind that he is one of the least likely persons to die a natural death that I know of - and probably is going to drag Jenny along with him. Those adventures, though, give a massive depth ...

We just got back from walking three weeks on the GR653 in France a couple of days ago. In some ways it was a difficult trip for us, but I am still digesting it and will write about it later. However, as I do the chores of home, I find that I'm still in that altered state common to finishing long walks, even though the walk was stressful. In that frame of mind, I am in the kitchen peacefully peeling a squash for supper, gazing out the window. There is this screaming of an airplane, seemingly right on top of us. I see the neighbor across the street, running out to see what is happening. I don't see anything, so run out a side door, looking another direction. Susan goes out the front door. It still sounds like an airplane is going to drop into our laps. Suddenly this gigantic gray airplane with no markings pops over the the ridge to the south, right at treetop level, and heading for us, straight north along the Oakland hills. The noise is deafening. The photo is a photoshop moc...