Planes, Trains, and, umm...Hotels

Someone the other day kindly pointed out that we have less than a month before we leave.  Gee, thanks.  All those little loose ends that I figured would be taken care of when our departure date came closer all of the sudden need to be taken care of.  Exactly what train would we take from Paris to Bayonne?  Exactly what time would we arrive there?  Do we need to spend the night?  If so, where?  It's kind of funny, but it is the logistics of the pre-walking phase that are the hardest.  The girls are busy worrying themselves to death about the first day climb over the Pyrenees and here I am saying to myself, "If we can just get to the 1st day without any problems, I'll be happy."  I can't wait to just walk.

The "Bike Boys" and I gave a couple of presentations about our 2010 Lewis and Clark bike ride last week.  One was to the Springfield Rotary and the other was to the Obsidians, a local outdoors group.  We shared pictures and a few of our tales from the road.  It seemed as though they were well received and I was excited to tell the audience that a couple of kids from Springfield High were hitting the road again this summer with the Camino adventure.  Both those groups do a lot of advocacy for the youth and outdoors for this community so I hope they enjoyed hearing about our plans.

Speaking of plans.  Here is what we have so far.  The only thing to do now is have Auna and Deija comb through the plans and find some things they want to do or see in London and Paris on the days we have free.  What a wonderful thing to say as a teacher to a student: "Go ahead and just pick what you want to do in London and Paris."  I'm excited to allow them to explore!

-James

Camino De Santiago 2011

Rough Itinerary

June 18----Flight from Seattle>>>Toronto>>>Iceland>>>London

June 19----Arrive in London (Heathrow Airport) 

Tube to downtown 

Check into hotel (June 19-21)

June 19-21----Sightsee in London

June 21----Sightsee in London

Eurostar Train: From London St. Pancras to Paris Nord

Depart: June 21 8:02PM

Arrive: June 21 11:17PM

Arrive in Paris 

Check into hotel (June 21-23)

June 22---Sightsee in Paris

June 23----Meet with Bree in Paris (Her flight arrives mid-afternoon)

Train:  From Paris Austerlitz to Bayonne (overnight)

Depart: June 23 11:11PM

Arrives: June 24 6:39AM

June 24---- Arrive in Bayonne early morning.  

Train:  Bayonne to St. Jean Pied de Port

Depart: June 24 8:18AM

Arrive: June 24 9:36AM

Arrive in St. Jean Pied de Port...locate Pilgrim Office, pick up Pilgrim passport and check into hostel.

June 25---Start Walking.....for 500 miles!

"How are we going to pay for this?"

Hi everyone!  March wanted me to write about some of fundraising we have done for this trip so here goes!

First we started writing letters for family and friends. Our letter campaign includes an awesome brochure made by Mr. March himself. It’s full of info about the trip and even shows a map of the trail we will be walking. Each brochure has a picture of each of us and a small bio about us and how we feel about the trip. We also send a small letter with each brochure asking for donations.  If we don't get a donation they still have information on the trip and how to follow us on the blog.

Auna cleaning the oven.....sitting on a toilet

We are all trying to raise as much money as we can in our individual ways, too,  so when Mr. March was telling me that his brother is moving out of his house and needs a little cleaning and fixing up I gladly volunteered to help out. Once we reach his house I realize it wasn’t a complete disaster I felt a little relieved. At first he gave me the option to sand the bottom trim in a bedroom, or to scrub the oven.  I was there to EARN some money so I was going to do the hard work so I scrubbed the oven.  I realized that it takes just a few seconds to drop food on the bottom of the oven but a good ten minutes to scrub that little bit off. Soon my yellow gloves have been turned brown with oven filth!  My arms were sore from scrubbing it so much. After about an hour and a half, I finished cleaning the inside of the oven but I forgot I also had to clean the outside of the oven.  It all went well and I had a lot of help from a six year old named Callie.  She loves to help.  Later on I cleaned the fridge and painted the cracks in the ceiling. it was a very productive day.  We also recently went out to the new house and cleared a huge field of Scotch Broom.  Thank you for the work!

I have also been tutoring every week and Deija and I have been known to devote time out of our week to work at the Matthew Knight Arena during games and events, which pays $25 a person for just simply wiping up someone’s ketchup, relish, etc. and picking up straw wrappers and making sure things are in stock for a few hours.   We even worked a monster truck rally where we sold way overpriced cotton candy hats and snow cones for an entire weekend.  Thanks to all of the kids who volunteered their time to help us out!

Deija having trouble with the syrup:)

Notice the syrup completely missing the ice!

Thanks, Darian!

Thanks, Eli (Eli was a member of the Bike Boys 

that made the Lewis and Clark Journey summer 2010)

I have also been tutoring every week and Deija and I have been known to devote time out of our week to work at the Matthew Knight Arena during games and events, which pays $25 a person for just simply wiping up someone’s ketchup, relish, etc. and picking up straw wrappers and making sure things are in stock for a few hours.   We even worked a monster truck rally where we sold way overpriced cotton candy hats and snow cones for an entire weekend.  Thanks to all of the kids who volunteered their time to help us out!

Whenever Mr. March has his students watch movies in class we bake multiple goodies like brownies, cookies and ask the students for "donations."  I have had some people come and ask me to bake them a pie and such, I would be pleased to do that for any of you.  They're delicious!

Some of the gear has been donated.  Specifically, the donorschoose.org site helped us get our backpacks donated. Mr. March made a page for us and everyone in our community and even people we have never met spoke too, they all donated to our cause which gave us around $600.00 for all of our backpacks.

We are still always willing to receive donations or if you want a pie, or any sort of odd job i’m sure we could work something out! If you have a bunch of empty soda cans or bottles, we would take them off your hands. Deija and I have a  goal of $2500.00 and so that would mean $5.00 per mile. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far.  Every dollar brings us one step closer.  Email us if you want to get involved!

---Auna

And Then There Were Two....

Sorry for the delay with the blog, but we have run into some logistical issues of late and I wanted to sort through those before we started posting again.  Long story short, two of our girls decided it wasn't the right time for them to travel away from home for an extended period of time.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed and a bit broken by the news.  However, I would also be lying if I said I wasn't still incredibly excited about the opportunities that await us on our summer adventure.

Auna, Deija, and I have been busy fundraising and purchasing gear whenever we get the chance.  Scratch and Dent sales at REI have allowed Auna to get outfitted for super cheap and a quick trip to the fabric store and my elementary sewing skills saved us some money on travel sheets for the hostels.  The next post will have Auna describing in more detail our fundraising efforts.  Let's just say that Auna will for the rest of her life have a disdain for blackberry bushes and forever be able to identify Scotch Broom and how to efficiently remove it.

Bree Fuqua, a former SHS teacher will be joining us for our 500 mile jaunt.  She is a seasoned traveler and we are excited to have her come with us. (Bree's Bike Blog) She has solidified her travel plans and will be meeting us in Paris on the 23rd of June.  Where in Paris, I have no clue.  I'm sure we'll figure it out.  Paris can't be that big, right?