The Things We'll Carry

So it seems that every camino blog has an obligatory post on a packing list (we'll save the actual packing list for the end of this post so you can more easily skip it). Apparently Camino-holics actually surf the internet looking for such lists. Really. I'm not kidding. Oh that I were. 12-step program people! So, I guess, if we are to be a "real" Camino blog we have to follow suit. Our subject title is taken from a Tim O'Brien novel about Viet Nam---a novel I was supposed to read both in college, when the author came to campus, and again in graduate school. Sadly, I abandoned the novel halfway through both times (in fairness, I did adore his In the Lake of the Woods)......I'm certain my undergraduate professor, who reads this blog, has never forgiven me. Oh well, I'm walkin' the Camino, you are a medievalist, and in the Middle Ages people said it led to absolution. So there. Nah.

While this is not a camping adventure (see FAQ post), and we therefore do not have to carry hiking equipment, we do have to carry everything we want to take---from clothing to toiletries to journals to diapers. Yay us. So a lot of time, thought, planning, and mula has gone into being able to pack light. The good news is that some of the quick-drying, super light-weight clothes we have bought should survive the Camino, and will be with us in years to come. We are taking one really big backpack (which Todd will carry), Kepa's backpack (which Mary Ann and Brittany will share), and a smaller backpack (which M.A. and B will also share). Kepa is a freeloader. He carries nothing. Boo. We'll have a separate post in the future about how we plan to do this with a baby (so few details provided here). Meanwhile, the stuff we'll carry looks like this:

That is Todd, Brittany, and Kepa's stuff on the left (weighing a total of 33 pounds) and Mary Ann's stuff on the right (weighing a total of 11 pounds). Kepa currently weighs 23 pounds 4 oz.

Here is what the adult packs look like (Todd's on the left and the girls' on the right):

Because he likes it, Kepa has been using his backpack for most walks since October, and all walks since late December--when we decided for sure to do the Camino, and Bri wanted to start training. Kepa loves it. Laughs hysterically, takes naps, looks around. We have to force him out of it. At Mardi Gras he was a huge hit. It looks like this:

As it is we are carrying a (lot) more weight than we desire, so it doesn't leave much room for individuality. Really only three categories: pack patches, hats, and a single t-shirt per person. T-shirts are cotton, hence not quick drying and heavier than the other clothing we'll take, hence a luxury.

The patches serve the primary purpose of making our packs distinguishable from other peregrinos, making it harder for pack confusion or theft. Ours look like this:

The left is Todd's. It is the Basque flag. I'll explain more about the Basques in a future "places we'll go" post, but it is representative of our extreme affinity for the Basque people, cuisine, culture, and history. The middle is for Kepa's pack. It is a tiny elephant. Elephants have kind of been a special animal for the family ever since Kepa's premature birth, highlighted by an awesome birth card our good friends (and fellow Tulane tailgaters!) Steve and Lisa gave to us with a small, strong elephant and a quote from E.E. Cummings. The card now hangs in his room. The patch on the right we had made for Brittany and Mary Ann's pack, borrowing from this year's promotional design for Hogs for the Cause. While Hogs for the Cause is a great NOLA event, and while they have been great to the band Mississippi Rail Company (whose frontman is a former student of Todd and Brittany), neither of those are the reasons that we chose it. Bourbon flags often hang around New Orleans, an indication both of the city's French heritage and of the ambivalent relationship this city has had with the rest of the U.S.A. for two hundred years. Meanwhile, we are all obsessed with pigs. We'll eat em any way you'll cook em. We particularly liked them cooked the way they cook them here, here, here, and here. So we thought a Bourbon pig would be the best symbol of our sinking city that we love.

T-Shirts were easier:

Todd's is a Dave Rawlings Machine t-shirt. While our son's legal first name was in honor of Bob Dylan (Kepa, which is now his name, is officially his middle name), the other musical entity that has changed our collective lives is the duo of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. One part folk, one part bluegrass, one part rock, Welch and Rawlings have a sound that is unique to them and a lyricism that elevates music to new heights. Below the guitar the shirt reads ceci n'est pas une 1935 Epiphone Olympic ("This is not a 1935 Olympic Epiphone"). I like that it is in French, another homage to NOLA in my view. Bri's shirt borrows from a famous Tennessee Williams quote that reads "America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland." Apologies to readers from Cleveland. Sort of :) Mary Ann's is an Euskatel Euskadi t-shirt, which is an homage to the Basque racing team sponsored by the Basque telephone company. My mother has lost well over a hundred pounds twice in the last decade. Somewhere in there she developed an obsession for the Tour de France. The Basque obsession we share.

Brittany and Mary Ann are going to share a big-brimmed sunhat (whoever is not wearing Kepa, who pulls on big hats) and a ballcap (when carrying Kepa). Todd is going in a ballcap. Here are the ballcaps:

Brittany's is for the Tulane Green Wave, whose losing antics we follow very closely. Whoever thought we'd be hard-corps tailgaters and season ticket holders for a college football team that is a collective  17-56 over our time back in New Orleans?!?!?  But we've already admitted we are crazy. Looking forward to some good Spanish-themed inspiration for this fall's tailgate season. Roll Wave! Todd's hat is for the local restaurant Cochon. If there is one restaurant that might supplant the four mentioned above for cooking pork, this is it. Meanwhile, their entire approach to re-thinking Cajun cooking and bringing bare-bones, down-home ideas to modern food culture is truly inspirational. I can think of few places I'd rather represent while abroad. They "Defend New Orleans" with every cracklin' they fry. Their watermelon pickles, rabbit n dumplins, moonshine, and cochon (slow-roasted pig) are all heavenly.

We also have embedded meaning into the four rocks we will each carry in order to leave at the foot of the Cruz de Ferro in Galicia. The term means "Iron Cross" in the Gallego language. 2/3 of the way through the Camino Francés a peregrino leaves a stone at the foot of a tall iron pole, symbolic of having lost a bit of the emotional "baggage" or "weight" you have been carrying on the camino. The rock pile is famously huge. Kepa's stone will come from our backyard. Todd's from the mountains of his native Virginia. Brittany's from the Mississippi River bed (fetched from The Fly in NOLA). Mary Ann's is a gift from a cadet several years back.

Besides that, the things we'll carry are mostly pretty boring. Here is the basic list. Each adult gets 2 short sleeve base layers, 1 long sleeve base layer, a fleece, a water-proof jacket, 3 pairs of underwear, 5 pairs of socks, a swimsuit, one t-shirt (see above), hiking boots, and a second pair of shoes for the evenings (Tevas for the girls, Keens for Todd). Todd will take two pairs of zip-off convertible pants/shorts. Mary Ann one pair of zip-off convertible pants/shorts, yoga pants, and an extra pair of khaki shorts. Brittany will take two hiking skorts and a pair of yoga pants. Todd will take a quick-dry polo shirt (for the evenings) and the ladies will each take a quick-dry dress (also for the evenings). Kepa gets a sun hat, a jacket, pajamas, hiking sandals (baby Keens in Tulane blue and green!), evening sandals, convertible pants, shorts (x2), t-shirt (x2), bibs (x2), sippy cup, and a nice, reversible outfit for the evening. As a group, we will also carry a play/changing mat for Kepa, journals and pens (x2), cameras (x2), limited medicine, limited toiletries, sunscreen, diapers, two guidebooks, one ipod touch (with additional guidebooks downloaded on it), sunglasses (x3), hats (x3), a spork (x2), a pocket knife, nail scissors, tweezers, and a portable clothesline.