Well the past two and a half weeks have been brutal. On top of being sick for three weeks now, I’m working three jobs so that’s equaled out to way too many 16 hour work days to count lately. It’s been rough, but I have a habit of doing this to myself when I have a goal in mind. Kind of a nose to the grindstone mentality and tell myself it will all pay off. However, I’ve been missing my boy like crazy. I’ve never seen a dog so attached before to just one human, and Maverick takes it to a new level. While my family is wonderful and attempt to keep him happy and entertained, it’s not the same for him. And it breaks my heart to not be with him always.
This Saturday was my first day off in…I can’t even remember the last time I had a whole day off without some job to go to. (It only happened because I accidentally requested off the wrong day haha) So naturally, this meant me and Maverick were off on an adventure.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t gone for a hike since hiking a volcano in Guatemala (Pacaya) so it was a good thing I picked an easy day by going to Pawtuckaway in Nottingham, New Hampshire. For some reason, I’ve never managed to find a hike I really like here. I’ve tried multiple different trails here and it’s never what I’m looking for. Today was no different but it was awesome to do nonetheless. It was funny how amazing of a mood I was in as soon as I woke up, knowing I got to get out in nature and walk today. Just putting on my pack felt right; good.
I carried my pack, which is my normal pack I got when Maverick was a puppy so it would be big enough to carry him in, and it will also be my pack for the Camino. I also carried the tent I’ll be carrying and my sleeping bag to get used to the weight. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the weight was honestly nothing, and these will be my heaviest items for El Camino. Maverick also carried his pack for the very first time today, he had a liter of water in each saddle bag but that was it just as a way to ease him into it. He did very well, which I had been a bit worried about. It didn’t seem to alter him much other than the fact that he bumped into me and trees quite often because he wasn’t used to being so wide. It also had the effect of slowing him down a bit, not that it was so heavy he struggled but he’s such a go, go, go dog that finally he wasn’t running back and forth constantly and whining for me to throw a stick 24/7 so that was actually really nice because he’s going to need to keep a more moderate pace if we plan to do 20 km a day.
Overall, we learned some good things today for Camino prep. 1) My pack is surprisingly lighter than I thought it would be (yippee!!) 2) Maverick can handle his pack, though we’ve found that we have to use alternating water bladders from his saddlebags or else he becomes very lopsided very quickly hahah and 3) I will definitely be chopping off some inches from my hair before I leave because in the heat of the day today, much like the temperature we’ll be walking through in Spain, my hair became stuck to my neck and back in the humidity and sweat even in a ponytail and I definitely need to get a hold on that.
Every day with Maverick is a good day. He gives me that every single day. But a day on the trail? A day in the woods? I’m so lucky to have a dog like him. He truly comes alive in the woods, on the trail. You can just tell that’s his happy place. It also happens to be mine. He also is so well behaved on the trail, moreso than anywhere else. It’s truly like we become one and he understand everything I ask of him. I can’t wait to see how he does on El Camino de Santiago.
Thanks so much for the blog.Much thanks again. Great.
Very nice.
Muy interesante. Un saludo.