Monday, June 24, 2019 BonVoyage – The Journey Begins

Bon Voyage Dinner

A couple of days ago Jan and I decided to splurge and go to Fleming’s, a high end steakhouse, for a bon voyage dinner.

This is my scrumptious meal. I had fillet medallions with a peppercorn sauce, asparagus spears, oyster mushrooms, and cippoline onions. Jan and I shared an order of roasted heirloom carrots and au gratin potatoes. We exercised a great deal of self control and refused the waiter’s offer to bake us a special lava chocolate cake.

I will miss many things in Denver, but I will miss Jan the most. I am not even on the plane yet and I miss her already.

Itinerary

I leave for London today. I arrive in London tomorrow, June 25. I spend the day in London and on June 26, I take a train and ferry to Dublin. On June 27 my oldest daughter Sara arrives.

This is Sara.

On June 27 my youngest daughter Dana arrives.

This is Dana.

We are going to spend the next week or so exploring Dublin and the area around Killarney. On Saturday, July 6, Sara returns to Houston and on Monday, July 8, Dana returns to Denver. On July 8, I fly to Glasgow and on July 13, I take a train to Edinburgh.

On July 18, I fly to Bilbao, Spain 🇪🇸 and on the 19th I take a bus to Irún. I am going to spend the weekend in Bilbao and on Monday, July 22nd , I start my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela along the Camino Del Norte. I hope to arrive in Santiago about the middle of September. My return flight from London to Denver is on October 15th, so I will have about thirty days of unscheduled time to explore Europe.

Blessings For The Journey

Over Memorial Day Weekend I was in Albuquerque with Jan, celebrating her grandson Wesley’s birthday. On Sunday I went to Old Town Albuquerque to attend Mass at San Felipe de Neri Church, purported to be the oldest church in the United States. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had a visiting priest, Father Liam from Ireland. After Mass I told Father Liam about my upcoming Camino and he then asked me to bow my head, and laying both hands on the top of my head, and in a thick Irish brogue, he gave me a heartfelt blessing for a safe and spiritually rewarding Camino. By the time he finished with the blessing I had tears in my eyes.

This morning I attended Mass at my neighborhood parish, The Church of the Risen Christ.

This is The Church of the Risen Christ. It is in Denver and everyone in the parish calls it the Ski Slope Church.

After Mass Father Eric gave me another blessing for my upcoming journey and Camino.

Father Eric is a great guy and I really appreciated his blessing.

Another Blessing

After I got home from Mass I went next door with Abe and St. Christopher to talk to my neighbor Drew. He just got back from doing a combination of the Camino Del Norte and the Camino Primitivo. Drew spent almost an hour walking me through, no pun intended, the stages he walked on the Camino Del Norte, the best paths to take, the best alburgues and the best places to eat. He also counseled me to go slow and assured me I could do it. I needed that assurance as I have been scared to death of the prospect of tackling this Camino.

As I was leaving to go home and finish packing, Drew’s wife came in from their back patio and said I could not leave without their blessing. We formed a prayer circle and first Jen and then Drew said a heartfelt prayer, asking God to bless me and my Camino. I didn’t start crying, but I did tear up at this wholly spontaneous and heartfelt act of generosity. Abe did cry and St. Christopher, who is somewhat of an expert when it comes to blessings, said that Jen and Drew’s blessing was one of the best blessings he has ever heard. I am so lucky to have Drew and Jen as neighbors.

Jen and Drew

Three New Amigos Join The Posse

Abe and St. Christopher are in the backpack and raring to go.

For this Camino they made room for three good friends of mine who passed away this Spring. Mary Broad, Jay Schnell and Wiley Daniel were friends that I have cherished since I moved to Denver in 1982. I have been in a bit of a depression this Spring trying to process their deaths. I am having a hard time saying goodbye to them so I decided that I would not say goodbye. Instead I decided to take them with me on my, now our, Camino. Abe and St. Christopher thought this was a great idea, so instead of the Three Amigos, it will be the Six Amigos. As this journey progresses I will tell you more about Mary, Jay and Wiley.

This is me at the gate. It is a good thing they only weighed my bag. If they had weighed me I would have been on the hook for an overweight charge.

This is the plane ✈️ to London.

As you can see it is a reputable airline and a brand new plane. No more flying Wamos Airlines for this Pilgrim. I am hoping to board, and after a smooth and on time departure, enjoy a meal, watch a movie, fall asleep and wake up rested and refreshed in London.

I hope everyone is having a great day.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the blog or the journey, please do not hesitate to send me a text at (303) 885-2255 or send me an email at markhansen715@gmail.com. You can call me but check the time zone where I am to make sure you aren’t calling at 3:00 in the morning, my time.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you and hope you vicariously enjoy the trip.

“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float. To gain all while you give. To roam the roads of lands remote. To travel is to live.”

Hans Christian Anderson