I just finished reading the book, The Gift of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks & Feels. It was an extremely interesting read, but for me personally, it was a difficult read. I just didn’t have enough background schema to initially understand some of the concepts that we’re being presented.
On many occasions, I had to stop reading to look up a word, a location, or a concept, and that really slowed down my comprehension. With that said—I can proudly say that I finally finished the book and I learned a lot!
The temperature on the Cape plummeted after we left, dropping into the single digits. Fortunately, eighty-two sea turtles were rescued on Wednesday, but 87 died on Thanksgiving Day.
Think of the volunteer effort in took to rescue so many animals in such a short period of time!
Strange tidbit of knowledge for the day—did you know that the word “shampoo” is Indian, specifically Hindi, and entered the English language in the mid-1700’s. The verb form—as in, she shampoos her hair every day.
I read the article (featured below) in the United Airlines online magazine when I was traveling recently. My friend Debbie works part-time at a winery in Virginia, so I saved the article for her. I had never heard of orange wine, and I wasn’t sure if she knew of it. It turns out that orange wine was old news for her, but hey, at least I learned something new!
Once again I wasn’t able to fall asleep until almost 2:00 a.m. Ugh–I need to sleep! Liesbeth and Jesse greeted me this morning with a delicious breakfast and warm conversation. They are such gracious, giving people. We discovered that we had many shared interests, and it was hard to pull myself away and leave.
My Couch surfing hosts…
Chocolate sprinkles for breakfast? In the Netherlands—yes!
Today I walked 12.63 miles. I was supposed to walk 15 1/2 miles, but I’ll get to that little detail soon enough. I walked though the city of Gronigen along the canals, which were lovely. Then I entered the Drenthe province, which is very sandy soil, making walking so easy. During this phase, I mostly walked through woods and fields.
Isn’t this crazy? This is the bike parking area under the Gronigen train station…and it’s only one tiny section! More bikes…Walking along the canal… I would love to spend time on this canal boat!Will I tire of seeing windmills? I don’t think so!The trail keeps changing….follow the red & white! Can you see it?
If you’ve hiked a long-distance trail before, you’ll probably relate to the special attachment one gets to the trail markers. You look for them, they guide you, and they become an integral part of the journey. The trail markers seem to ebb, flow, and change the same way the landscape does.
I just saw this sign when it started to pour–three more miles to go…
It started to rain when I had about three more miles to go, but Frank must have been in a good mood, for there, right before my eyes was a restaurant that had tables and umbrellas outside. As I waited for the storm to pass, I began talking to my waitress about my plans, which included finishing the last stretch and getting on a bus to Vries, the site of my second couchsurfing reservation.
Shelter….My table was protected by a gigantic umbrella!Apple cake & coffee in the rain…
My waitress decided to play weatherman and kept coming back to my table to inform me on the status of the storm. Finally she came back and said, “We have another plan for you. There is going to be a tiny break in the weather and we are going to tell you how to go to a different bus station, which should give you just enough time before the rain starts again.” The ‘we’ she mentioned was another waitress and the owner, who she had brought in on my plight. She drew the directions on the back of a napkin and sent me on my way. Their plan worked! I arrived at the bus station moments before the rain began again, and a mere six minutes before my bus arrived! Moral of the story….Talk to the locals!
My ticket off the PP for the night…
My couchsurfing hosts tonight are an older couple named, Wietske and Jan Eppo. They live on a farm with horses, chickens, and a barn owl!
The barn…
Like my hosts last night, they made me a home cooked Indonesian meal, but this one was called Bami. It was a vegetarian version made with tofu, noodles and vegetables and served alongside an omelette made from their own fresh farm eggs. We had Vla for dessert, but this time it was caramel and vanilla. I will not be hiking tomorrow, because prior to my arrival Wietske had invited me to stay another day and bike with her in the countryside. Of course I couldn’t pass that up!
I’m really struggling with jet lag and I had another night of very little sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep last night and remember staring at the ceiling at 2:00 a.m. I was greeted with a wonderful breakfast which was a nice way to start the day. I hit the road at 8:30, which was later than I had planned, but you ‘gotta do what you gotta do’. Sleep was far more important.
A table for one…Lots of choices for my morning meal…
I already knew that the Netherlands was a beautiful country, but today showed herself as breathtakingly beautiful–which as you might guess is an entire different level of beauty. It is flat–approximately 3/4 of the country is below sea level-but contained in all of that ‘flatness’ is a much more varied landscape than I had previously imaged.
Follow the signs…Sometimes you have to look carefully…
If the vast fields dotted with livestock and cradled by canals as far as the eye can see are the canvas, than wildflowers, windmills, farms, gardens, and quaint villages are the medium in which an artist must crave.
Each mile was more beautiful than the last. It was overcast and gray this morning when I started off, but fortunately the rain held off and it was sunny by noon. On at least three separate occasions, peasants explosively took off from the fields beside where I was walking. They flap hard and fast on take off, creating a rather scary sound when you aren’t expecting it! I literally yelped out loud each time it happened!
Later in the day, the trail seemed to end at a fence. I stopped in my tracts, perplexed. Then I realized a small step was built into the fence leading me to believe that I was supposed to climb up and over it. I literally stood there for at least five minutes trying to decide if I should do it, or wondering if I had some how had made a mistake and this wasn’t the trail at all. I finally decided to climb into the field with the slight worry of being attacked by a crazy cow. It turned out that I made the right move and the only thing that I had to worry about were some docile sheep munching on grass.
These sheep looked like little puff balls scattered across the fields…Water and windmills are a common theme…It was windy…
At one point, at around the 14 mile mark a mailman pulled over to the side of the road to deliver a package. Even through closed windows I could hear his music, “Money for nothing and the chicks for free…” He rolled down the window and yelled, “Moi (which means hello),” followed by a string of other words that I couldn’t understand.
I replied, “Moi, but I speak English.” My reply prompted him to motion for me to come closer.
We talked for a few minutes and than he told me that I was walking the Pieterpad the wrong way. I must have looked concerned because he continued and explained, “You’re walking in the right direction, but you need my music to keep you company! That’s the ‘right’ way to walk!” He really made me laugh!
I had a short visit with these horses..Canals are everywhere…Crossing the water by foot…
Tonight was my first night of couch surfing and I’m staying with a family of 5—a mom and dad and three lovely girls. (Jesse, Liesbeth, Lianne, Irene, and Judith). Everyone is so friendly, and its so enjoyable staying with a Dutch family. Jesse made a wonderful dinner called nasi, which is an Indonesian stir-fried pork and vegetable dish, and served with a side of rice. Indonesian food seems to be very popular here.
Vla is a Dutch dairy product that I would describe as pudding-like.
We had vla, which is a Dutch dairy product for dessert and Liesbeth just told me that we are having warm stroop waffles soon—yum! We are all sitting in the living room, and the kids are watching the new Cinderella movie with subtitles. This is so pleasant and comfortable.
And the adventure begins! Pierre and I left for the airport early to give us enough time to explore the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center. We’ve visited before but never went up to the observation tower because the lines were so long. It was like a ghost town today and it felt like he had the place to ourselves! Thanks, Pierre for giving me such a great send off! Pieterpad–here I come!
This song pops into my head every time that I hear an adventure calling out to me!
The song is cute and the cup routines are awesome, but what I really love about this video, ‘Cups-When I’m Gone’, is when she glances up from her work table and sees the travel postcards taped to the wall. If you were to stop the camera at the exact moment that it panned back to her, you would see me—impatiently finishing what I have to do here, so I can set off my next adventure. I have an intense, sometimes unexplainable urge to travel and explore. A hobby? Maybe, but I would probably call it more of a passion. Do I love coming home? Yes, that’s a big part of it, too. It’s the ebb and flow of challenging and pushing myself in new directions and then coming back to what I know and love. It’s about stepping out of the box that we, as humans, tend to create for ourselves.
It’s about loving where I come from, but also loving
and appreciating other places. It’s about truly understanding that
although each country and place has different cultures and traditions,
that we are more alike than different. It’s also about pushing myself
to try new things—food and drink are the obvious answers here, but I
mean something deeper than that. I mean putting myself in a position
where I have to rely on myself. It also means being clever enough to ask
for help when I need it. It’s not about stepping on a tour bus and
looking at the sites as they roll by, but rather, stepping into a
culture.
I have to use my skills and talents to navigate 300+ miles on my own, deal with strangers, understand people who speak a different language, cope with varying weather conditions, deal with fatigue and injury…and the list goes on and on. How can I expect to grow as a person if I don’t continuously challenge myself?
This video, like any book or novel, will be interpreted differently by the person observing or reading it, but for me it says that there’s a great big world out there. Do whatever it takes to be a part of it and don’t get stuck in the day to day rut that we mistakenly call life. It’s not your job (no matter how important you think it is), how many digits that you have in your bank account, or the size of your house—living, truly living is discovering yourself.
I know that many of you are aware of my upcoming hike, but for those of you who don’t know what I’m doing…here’s the low-down. Tomorrow I’m leaving the country and I will be gone for the next six weeks. I will be in the Netherlands solo-hiking a long-distance trail call the Pieterpad. It starts in Pieterburen in the North, and runs 304 miles (489km) to the bottom of the country and ends in Maastricht. After the Netherlands, I’m heading to Iceland, where my friend Debbie will join me. We plan to eat, laugh, and relax!
When I hiked the Camino two years ago, I dedicated my trek to my son Tyler. This walk is dedicated to my younger son, Keegan. He will be graduating from WVU in December, and as he steps off into his life, I hope to pass on to him the very ideas and principles that will bring me success on my hike:
Ignore the naysayers—unless they are telling you not to jump into shark infested waters—then and only then, I want you to listen! For the most part, they are projecting their fears onto you. Fear will hold you back—always!
Have fun! Laugh!
Challenge yourself
Ask for help when you need it
Follow your passions—which of course means that you first need to know what you’re passionate about. Some people never find out! Don’t waste time on this one!
Lead—don’t follow (The view is always better from up front!)
It’s okay to fail—but just don’t let it dissuade you from trying again!
It’s never okay to fall into a rut and stay there—climb out, brush yourself off, and keep moving!
Be aware of your surroundings—always!
Take nothing for granted—a soft pillow, a kind word, a smile, a friendly gesture.
The list could go on and on, but in honor of brevity, I will end at ten. In closing, I have found that most people are good. Look for the good in them and sometimes you have to look long and hard, but it’s there—and allow them to shine. It only makes your life better! Keep on trekking!
For those of you who read this to the end—thank you! I plan to post updates of my hike when I can, but it will of course be contingent upon the availability of technology. I hope you enjoy following my adventure this summer, and I wish upon you many fun adventures of your own!
