Here I am, on the road again…. Today was a lighthearted relatively short day. The Camino

does not require hair shirts, fun is fine. I brought my album collection with me today, sifting through records in my head and remembering great album art. I thought of songs that would fit the journey- Elvin Bishop “Travelin’ Shoes”, The Doors “Break on Through”, Neil “After the Gold Rush”, Dylan “Tangled Up in Blues”, Beatles “The Long and Winding Road”, Jerry Jeff “Stoney”, The Band “The Weight”, Jackson Browne “These Days”and on and on. So many songs seemed to fit so well into the Camino. Tonight we are treating ourselves to a night in a Parador- Santo Domingo Bernardo de Fresneda in the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada. We’ve covered over 146 miles so far. The only evidence of those miles are my toes- I’ll spare you the graphic.

Yes, there is golf on the Camino

The entrance to our hotel

Live chickens in the church- only church in the world. Short version of the story- German pilgrim turns down advances of innkeeper’s daughter. She gets pissed and hides a chalice in pilgrim’s pack. When he leaves town she accuses him of theft. The mob finds the chalice in his pack and town magistrate orders him to be hanged. He hangs but doesn’t die. His parents try to plead with the magistrate while he is eating his chicken dinner. He doesn’t believe the kid is still alive. So he says “ your son is no more alive than my chicken dinner”. All of the sudden the chicken on his plate comes to life. The boy is saved and this church has had live chickens living in the church ever since. We just happened to hit this town on the day they celebrate the chicken story. Check out the video below