“The greatest legacy we can leave our children is happy memories” – Og Mandino
May 17 Castrojerez to Fromista
Today’s miles – 13.7 Total miles 216.5
Elizabeth: Bullets for the day!
– Cuckoo birds were serenading us today on our walk.
– We placed our food outside on the restaurant patio of our hotel for the night. Luckily no birds took our next day’s rations of ham, cheese and leftover pizza!
– At dinner last night we all realized that the Russian salad (potato salad) we ordered had tons of olives in it (Chelsea likes a couple olives but Cooper, Gary and I do not like any olives). As the waiter began to clear our unfinished salad plates, the couple at the table next to us asked if they could have it. We were glad it didn’t go to waste. They were a bit embarrassed but said all this walking was increasing their appetites. We saw them the next morning and now call them the Russian Salad Couple and they, a retired German couple, call our family the Sin Olivas! (without olives).
– Enjoyed a quick picnic of pizza, cheese, ham, fruit and water at a stone picnic table. Chilly day.
View of the up, up, up Camino path from our hotel room 
E heading to the up, up ,up on the hill to the left 
G on rt of the spring flowers! 
Looking down from the up, up, up. Town we left at base of knoll below 
Muddy walk today, look at G’s sole…3lbs heavier! 
E, C & C on ancient bridge into Itero de la Vega 
E and Coops being cute 
The rains brought the snails up on the path 
Mary Poppins!
– Finally, I got my boat ride! After 3 years of walking along a lovely canal, which at one point, was a means to move products and people into Fromista before railroads were built, we thought ahead to ask how to reserve a boat ride 2 1/2 miles down the canal. I loved it!!
– Chelsea has now found wild sage, arugula, rosemary, roses and dill along the Camino.
– I bought fruit from a local booth in the main square in Fromista… strawberries, apricots and cherries!
Stretching while awaiting our boat ride!! 
Full boat into Fromista on a canal vs walking the 2.5 miles. All pilgrims except 4 locals to rt 
Yay! 
Fromista’s locks. Decommissioned in 1959. 
Thistle 
Flower bug condo!! 
Chelsea found wild sage (purple flowers) 
Carrion’s nun’s and pilgrim sing-a-long! 
Black chair with hail on it from a hard storm in Carrion 
Rain, hail and winds while we were at sing-a-long!!
Carrion has singing nuns! At 6pm the kids and I joined a wonderful, casual sing-a-long in the albergue attached to the church. We heard Irish, Peruvian and Spanish nuns sing folk songs. A Korean man sang a song in his native tongue, about the rain (it was pouring out…actually hailing!!) and an American young lady sang an angelical Latin song so well that the nuns invited her to sing at mass that evening!!
May 18 Fromista to Carrion de los Condes
Today’s miles – 12.5 Total miles 229.2
Elizabeth:
We stayed in Carrion de los Condes for 2 nights. We arrived into Fromista, had a late afternoon meal then taxied to Carrion. All four of us were in the same hotel for the first night. The woman taxi driver said she would send her daughter to pick us up, in Carrion, at 7AM the next morning and drive us back to Fromista. All went as planned.
We could not get rooms in Fromista as there was a large group doing a march of sorts, supporting the Garida Civil. Hence we cabbed ahead and taxied back to finish the Fromista to Carrion 12+ miles. The Civil Gardians, founded in 1844, have over 85,000 employees and is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain. They are part of the Ministry of Interior – acting in a policing role – and part of the Ministry of Defense – involving military missions. I didn’t take any pics, this time, as we mistook the large presence of official vehicles, motor cycles, a helicopter, a drone, officers with binoculars, etc. as a sign there was someone they were looking for that did something pretty bad! Didn’t think it was fitting to document the officers in action, at the time. Oops, thought the worst. I watch American TV too much! Turns out it was a positive, thank you walk to support these officers! 🤦🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
Because we had a room last night in Carrion we were able to “slack pack” (walk without your full pack, usually using a day pack) Fromista to Carrion! We all walked with just what we thought we needed for the 12 mile walk and left the rest of our stuff and our packs in our room : ) See picture of how we, as Cooper calls it, ” yard salad” our stuff out in our hotel room!! We all cleaned out our packs, Gary and I did laundry and hung out to dry and all relaxed after our large, mid day main meal. Chelsea even fell asleep amongst the pile while G, Coops and I chatted.
G, C & C on the alternate, stream side route to Carrion 
C and E with cool, rose colored bushes on alternate route 
Pig skins on far left, sausages, pizzas and egg croissant 
E, C & C heading to Carrion (Kilometers). 
G…and a few other pilgrims…heading into Carrion 
E: Like life…you never know what’s just over the horizon! 
G & E’s room after laundry and we all emptied our packs!!
The kids have a room up the street tonight and we have the same room as last night. We will join them on The Way in the morning.
We are off to a Pilgrim mass here in Carrion to enjoy more of the nuns singing and a rare occasion where there will be an English translation by the Irish nun visiting here from an Order in Madrid. The rain continues to fall but Gary went to the grocery store so we have fun supplies to nibble on this evening. Melon, cashews and salty potato chips.
What an incredible experience for us all, to date, and so much more to come!!
What we find in a soul mate is not something to tame, but something wild to run with.
Robert Brault
Gary and Elizabeth's Adventures 