For Real

Finally got the official "okay" and bought a ticket.  Was so excited to find a reasonable ticket, I chose the wrong option, which:  1) gets me to Madrid in the late afternoon, and I wanted one in the morning, so will need to stay a night in Madrid, and catch a morning bus.  Or could catch an overnight bus, and start walking in the morning;  2) has a 12 hour layover in Dallas/Ft. Worth coming home (I meant to chose the flight coming through Chicago, shorter layover)...I can buy a thick novel, like "War and Peace," or "Moby Dick," or "Don Quixote."  Maybe I can go into Dallas for a couple of hours.  Have never been there.

I'll still have to skip something, but I'll play that by ear.  I only have about 30 days.  If the snow is bad, I'll skip the Pyrenees, once again.  I might still try to get to Roncesvalles, though, I want to see the Basque horses.

I still wake up in the night, wondering, "What have I done?"  And then am fine during daylight, excited, even.

Maybe I still need resolution from both 2009 and 2011.  What do people say:  it's physical-external/personal on the first part, internal/personal in the middle, and I would say "integration" in the end, whatever you learned, applying that back to your everyday life, back to community.  (Which is why I kinda' like the crowds in the last 100 kms, even if it is jarring after so much silence: you can't live there.  We don't live there.)

Gotta figure out the boots, too.  Did a long walk on cement on Sunday, and ended up with a big heel blister.  My heels slip, I've read that in reviews of these boots, but they are the only ones wide enough.

Oh, and still need a guidebook.