A whole month? I cannot believe that I've not blogged in the last 30 days!

Here's the rundown. Went to south Florida in between two hurricanes. Learned that although I like the Gulf coast of Florida, known as the Natural coast, I do not like the uptown feel of southeast Florida. Too many people, too many high rises and not enough beach for walking on. So the week we spent on the beach was not so wonderful. The sea air was pleasant. Thats all I have to say about the vacation. Except for...well never mind.

School was in session upon my return. Have I mentioned that I work at a university? I work in the library in the IT group. I work with a great group of folks who make it possible for me to leave at such a critical time of the year. But as we all know, vacations must be paid for and I spent 2 weeks making up for the week I took off.

So there. I have worked and walked. The weather cooled, thanks to Ike, one of the hurricanes that formed while I was in Florida. You may have heard that Ike took Galveston and knocked out Houston. I'm sorry for all that he did but I did appreciate the cooler weather.

It was actually cold on Tuesday last week. Cool for us in September. I heard it was 47 degrees Fahrenheit. We walked in shorts and t-shirts wondering why we were so cold. LOL! I was wondering why when I showered my skin stayed cold for so long! Rob and I walked through Thursday and it warmed up a bit more every morning until it was mid 60's.

We walked 10 miles on Saturday. It was easy going on my level country roads. We are in the time of year when the hunters are hunting dove. My husband enjoys them both for the sport and the meat. I guess many people do because there were a few different groups from the sound of things. We do a nice appetizer that seems to be a Texas thing. Slice a Jalapeño pepper on one side the full length. Then open it and lay it on top of the Dove breast. Wrap it in bacon and grill it slow, letting the jalapeño and bacon soften and crisp, respectively. If you do it right the dove is tender enough, the jalapeño soft and the bacon crisp. It is really good. If you rush it you get a piece of rubbery dove and jalapeño wrapped in charred bacon.

Sunday we went to Dallas and got the backpacks from REI. We have known for a while what we were going to get. We both went with the Osprey because the weight can't be beat. I think we have everything we wanted either here or on it's way. We tried to cut costs as we could but there are some things you've got to pay full price for. Can you say underwear? I learned early on that socks are very important. I thought I had a good pair called smart wool. Not for me. I guess that is why there are so many socks out there. It can be very hard to figure out what works and I feel that sometimes its money that is wasted but who has time to go on such a trip and miss it due to misplaced trust in a pair of socks because of the brand name?

We will be leaving in a little over 3 weeks. I am concerned about so many things. It is such a long way to travel so we can spend a few days on a trail to an end that is not significant to me. It is the journey that I desire. I hope to find my camino. I hope Rob finds his. And I hope we make it together.