It is October 2nd my brother Bobby's birthday. He would have been 70 today but he has gone before us. Happy Birthday Bob.

My walk to Tricastela is uneventful. There are a couple of tests along the way but overall it was a good day. The weather has been perfect. With the exception of that incredible storm on the day I walked from San Juan to Burgos it has been terrific. Chilly to start and then blue sky's and warm. No complaints.

I'm walking alone as always and I begin to think about my dinner meeting with Jane in O'Ceberiro. Gaynor having referred to me as AC Jim brought up the subject of my book on my first Camino. That came up when I first met Mike and Teresa with the couple from Novia Scotia, I guess that's how she came to hear about it. When Jane hear's that she jumps on me with a barrage of questions with the leading question...Why? I tell her it was written for my grandson's and was never intended to be a book. She presses .... Is it a real book, a real story about the Camino? I ask her what she means by real several times and all I can tell her is that I wrote it and it's real, whatever that means.

She says that my Grandson's will never read it. Gaynor jumps in and says that's not true and that she wishes her Grandfather had left behind something for her to learn about him. Jane continues and says that her Granchildren would never read a book written by her. I'm lost in the conversation and it just goes away.

So here I am today walking about thirteen miles to Sarria alone and I'm trying to figure out what Jane meant when she asked "is it real"?. I still don't understand the question but it does remind me that I do miss those two little buggers. They live in Seattle now. A great decision even if I wished they did not move. I get it. They live in a beautiful home, overlooking the Puget Sound, the kids are in great schools and they love it there. Pretty simple.

Brayden is ten and Taylor is five. Taylor reminds me most of my son Ryan when he was five. Funny, an actor who loves entertaining, a ham, loves the camera and was always a bit mischievous. I can't help but remember one event when Ryan was just about the same age as Taylor. 

We were in a restaurant, I think it was an Easter Sunday. Nice restaurant, linens and a party of about twelve, all family. Ryan is dressed in shorts with knee socks, a checkered vest, a shirt, blue and white shoes and a bow tie . He hated the bow tie and I don't blame him. So we are having dinner and I notice that Ryan is no where to be seen. Where's Ryan?, I ask to know one in particular when out from under the table Ryan jumps out and with his hands out stretched over his head he proclaims in a very loud voice .."I'm Naked". Several other diners thought this was very funny as did some at our table. Me, not so much. I order him to return under the table to get dressed. It was funny. It's something I can see Taylor doing. They also have another thing in common. When Ryan was five his hair was auburn red, very distinctive. Everyone went out of their way to comment about his hair, same as Taylor only Taylor's is white like you would expect to see on a kid surfing in Southern California. 

That brings me to Brayden. Age nine, soccer team, flag football team and the cross country team. Funny and very ahead of his age in lots of ways. When the kids came to visit this summer Brayden wanted to make sure we would get to play some golf at the Club. Taylor was also excited because he wanted to drive the cart. So we are on our way to the Club and I look in the mirror and Brayden is reading. I ask what it is? He tells me that it's a book about the life of a kid in India. He then tells me that he has chosen a "new genre" with this book, while sitting next to him Taylor is putting the rear window shade up and down.  New genre, I don't think I knew what genre meant when I was nine.

Brayden and golf. He would surprise most people. I have a picture in my office of Brayden at the Club hitting balls at age three and if you play golf you would immediately be amazed. A complete turn, hands at the top ... Classic. I know people who have been playing for forty years still trying to get to that position. He had it at age three even with the diapers he had under his pants. Maybe I'll post the picture. I do miss those little burgers. I hope we get to see them soon. 

I leave Tricastela at 9:30. It's chilly, you can just feel the fall coming. The tree's are starting to change colors but it is perfect weather to go on a thirteen mile walk. I did notice one thing as I started out today ... I'm tired. More so than any recent days. My guess is that I'm just now getting the full impact of the climb to O'Ceberiro. The first place to stop today will be a bit more an six miles from the start. I did not have breakfast because all the hotel offered was toast. I did have a cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice.

The weather changes for the first time to cloudy. It remains cool and there is lots of shade but I'm still sweating and I can sense that my fatigue is causing me to work harder on some minor slopes. I arrive in Samos where there is a very large monastery which is one of the oldest monastery's in the whole of the western world and is one of the largest ground plans and cloisters in Spain. It's time for a break. There are two cafés directly across from each other as you walk over the bridge into the village. I walk into the first one. It's run by an older lady by herself and there are at least eight pilgrims backed up inside trying to order something. If each of them only wants coffee this will take forty five minutes. I'm gone and headed to the competitor. It's worse. Same number of pilgrims ahead of me and just one person trying to get it all done. Impossible.

I decide to find a market and just buy something to eat and resupply the water. I find one, buy some sliced ham and some cheese along with a small bag of almonds and I'm off to the park for lunch. It serves the pulrpose and I'm back on the Camino well before half of the pilgrims in those two cafés get their coffee.

The one thing I do notice about today's walk is the dust. There's  lots of soft sand and it gets kicked up by the passing traffic when the Camino moves closer to the road. When I'm finished today I will walk into the hotel looking like something the cat dragged in. I arrive at my hotel at 4:00 which means it took me six and a half hours. Not bad considering how I felt at the start.

I reach my hotel and go to my room to get the laundry taken care of. The shorts I've been wearing everyday for the last three weeks are just shot. I will not attempt to wash them again. It's time to get rid of them, which I do. Clearly the fabric in the shorts would make the cut at Martin Golf. I know Rick's standards. I will find a Camino shop and replace them with long pants. The weather forecast for Monday and Tuesday calls for significant rain. I'm not surprised, we are overdue.

I find what I need and return to the Hotel for dinner. The food is not very good. I order a steak and it's as tough as that donkey I saw today on the Camino,  I just hope it's not actually him. 

Tomorrow I will walk to Portomarin which is fourteen miles away with some significant hills including the Alto Parmo, an elevation increase of a little more than a thousand feet. When I reach Portomarin tomorrow I will be within fifty eight miles of Santiago . Tomorrow is "T" day. Good night and Buen Camino.

SANT _ _ _ _.