I am now at home, transitioned from pilgrim to tourist to weary traveler to just another retired guy. And I am ready to type. Next will be Pepe, stay tuned!I promised a few posts about some of the special people I enjoyed on my recent travel, and I'll start with one I promised back on September 14th.
Katherine is from Florida, and admits to being 77 years mature. She started from the same place I did at about the same time. We met in the first days of walking and got to know one another. Like me, it was her first Camino, and she was enjoying being on the Way. As it often goes, we walked at different paces and didn't see each other for some time.
Then on September 10 we met each other again along the trail. After catching up on our experiences along the way we stopped at a pilgrim information office just as we entered the town of Logroño and she happened to point out the albergue where she wanted to stay that evening, and I circled it on my map to see if they had a bed for me too. We then headed into town across a beautiful old stone bridge with two way traffic.
We were talking as we walked and all of a sudden she fell off the curb into traffic. It was so unexpected that she didn't even have time to put out her hands to break the fall. I jumped out and stopped traffic but as looked I saw her face down with blood around her head.
The passenger in the first car jumped out to help and, just in case there was any doubt that God cared, he was an off-duty police officer! Others also got out of the their cars to offer help. I made sure she was OK before moving her onto the sidewalk. The blood was from a cut under her chin, and she was fortunate that no teeth, nose or glasses were broken. The policeman had a two-way radio with him and explained that they would get a doctor to check her out and, if needed, get her to a hospital.
I offered to go get her a bed at the albergue she wanted, which was only blocks away, and come back. She gave me her full name and I was off, knowing that it would take some time for help to arrive and that she was in good hands with the people there.
I paid for it in Katherine's name hoping the she would be able to get there for the night. I ran back to the scene of the fall and she was gone! Having no way to know where she was I just trusted that she'd give that place a try if and when she got finished with treatment. I then went about finding a place for myself a little further into town. I checked back a few times that evening and they had not heard from her.
I returned to her albergue in the morning and she had never shown up. I was concerned but what could I do? So off to the cathedral I went, but found streets blocked as they were setting up for a marathon that morning. When I got to the cathedral they were hosing down the square and there were barricades all over the place. So I decided to just start walking, but not before getting a cafe con leche.
As I sat in a cafe, enjoying that sweet addictive drink, in walks Katherine! She had six or seven stitches, her jaw was sore but she was OK. It turns out she slept on the floor someplace but was ready to continue her walk!
The picture you see at the top of this blog was taken that morning, can't even see the handiwork under her chin. We walked together most of that Sunday and I didn't see her again until Samos, weeks later. She was still doing great and we shared some time together while touring the Monastery of Saint Julian. I feel sure she completed her Camino though I did not run into her again. She was a fine companion and an inspiration to me along the Way.
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T.O.J. today is Robert Allen Zimmerman, likely known to you as Bob Dylan, Noble Laureate in Literature.
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