Charlie: Another song about being on the road is Jackson Browne’s “The Loadout/Stay”. Besides a creative cover of the Maurice Williams hit “Stay” changing it into a road song, the song talks about what life on the road is like, the sameness, the waiting, “We’ve got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago/or Detroit, I don’t know/We do so many shows in a row/And the towns all look the same”.
Both Willy Nelson and Jackson Browne agree that it is all about the music, that the joy of playing for a crowd makes it all worth it.
Few people have the talent to go on the road playing music with their friends but most of us can walk the Camino which is analogous in some important ways.
The Camino is all about the walking. The essence of the Camino is the repetition and the nested cycles. There is the journey and the destination. You take one step at a time. You see the top of the hill up ahead, you walk and you get there. You stop for a rest and a drink. You see the town up ahead, you walk and you get there. You stop for coffee and a bathroom break. You do this several times and you get to the town you will spend the night in. You get settled in and look around the town. You have the pilgrims menu, write in your journal and go to sleep. The next day you get up and do it again.
The towns do all look the same, like they did for Jackson Browne. You go from town to town but basically the Camino is all one place. I mentioned before that pilgrims often cannot remember the name of the town where they spent the previous night. But that’s okay because it isn’t about the towns, it is about being on the road, about the repeated yin and yang of journey and destination. Both are necessary, neither is more important, one cannot exist without the other.
On the Camino you are out of space and time. It is a great feeling, a time out. You don’t think much about your life back home. But you have the luxury of plenty of time to think about anything you want.
The final destination is Santiago de Compostela. It is the goal but most pilgrims say that that the closer they get to Santiago the sadder they feel because they don’t want the journey to end.
Beautifully put. Thank you Charlie. Thank you both for all of your posts and letting me spend a little on the Camino while sitting in Corvallis.
Jean
One of your best photos. Just captured the spirit perfectly.
Henry
I agree with Jean, Charlie, beautifully put. I could have been reading a Pema Chodron book. It sounds a lot like walking meditation. Meditation is supposed to clear your head of thoughts, to allow you to just live. This seems to have the same effect.
Rebecca