and our "rescue" by the Basque Bomberos

[shefollowsshells]

I was attaching this to the other "rescue", but I suspect that thread might be fizzling, though I am tempted to hide this among the fizzle because I can assure you I certainly don't want to hear a lecture from anyone!
But I thought by sharing my story, though it is public on a blog...that people will know the situations that they can get themselves into...
*****
and here is my Bomberos story for those that might not have read or heard of it...
Cliff note version I was walking with five of my six children when this happened the youngest was 9 (11,13,15,17).
We had the Le Puy route behind us...a jaunt over to Roncesvalles on the Napoleon route, and jaunt back on the Napololeon route..."just for kicks"
We were now heading North on the GR10 to start the Norte.
We were in LOVE with all things Camino, We were madly in love with each other...we were, I guess, overly confident...and I ( not we it was my responsibility) I did EVERYTHING wrong
on this day once we left SJPP. We were so happy, we were high as a kite, we stopped and kissed on every dog and cat that would put up with us. We spoke at length with a farmer and his wife.
We left SJPP at 2pm for what I thought would be four hours of walking. I did EVERYTHING wrong this afternoon, and had my five precious children with me (bad mom)...
If you want to read about it I have attached it. On this date I posted several things BUT to save you time go down 33 percent of the way down the screen...past the image of our shoes that we are whining about falling apart
(and here I go again, totally wreckless...I'm about to buy the EXACT same shoes for our next 1,050 miles on the Camino in 6 weeks)!!!

***Start at ..."We had the laziest day...."
and you can see where over confidence and being rather lazy , and not paying total attention , as a seasoned pilgrim had already shared a good route with me and instead I without much thinking used a paper from the pilgrims office as my guide.

I however did not call for "rescue"...I called to ask IF I was close to anything and it was rescue that demanded that I stay put...and even then I was non compliant to a point. where staying still with zero phone battery I decided was dangerous.
Knowing we are all safe and sound I wouldn't trade this memory for anything, so many little nooks and crannies of experience and memories presented themselves to us from this mistake.
We slept in the town where the Bomberos were from, bought them some treats in the town when we arrived, and slept outside hanging out with many of the Bomberos friends that they grew up
with. the guys wrote their phone number on the back of a piece of paper, it was only when I got home that I saw it was the printed report that printed off when I called the emergency number (the only number I knew off hand). It is funny to read "American mom with five kids..." (sigh)....

http://shefollowsshells.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-10-15T15:54:00-04:00&max-results=1

Frances, F & M (2012),Norte, Inglais (2014)

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

As long as everyone got through safely. That is really all that matters.

 

[nycwalking]

Nice confession.

Lovely, love my pics.

Buen camino.

 

[RJM]

Good to see you and your family got through that safe and sound.
Interesting about the shoes. Yes, they can be hit and miss sometimes. The one time I strayed away from Merrells on the Camino and wore NB 910v3's instead, it was a total fail for me. They simply broke down too quickly, and began to fall apart and I experienced foot problems, and I've been wearing NB's for 30 years. Back to Merrells for the next time.

 

[Former member 49149]

I was attaching this to the other "rescue", but I suspect that thread might be fizzling, though I am tempted to hide this among the fizzle because I can assure you I certainly don't want to hear a lecture from anyone!
But I thought by sharing my story, though it is public on a blog...that people will know the situations that they can get themselves into...
*****
and here is my Bomberos story for those that might not have read or heard of it...
Cliff note version I was walking with five of my six children when this happened the youngest was 9 (11,13,15,17).
We had the Le Puy route behind us...a jaunt over to Roncesvalles on the Napoleon route, and jaunt back on the Napololeon route..."just for kicks"
We were now heading North on the GR10 to start the Norte.
We were in LOVE with all things Camino, We were madly in love with each other...we were, I guess, overly confident...and I ( not we it was my responsibility) I did EVERYTHING wrong
on this day once we left SJPP. We were so happy, we were high as a kite, we stopped and kissed on every dog and cat that would put up with us. We spoke at length with a farmer and his wife.
We left SJPP at 2pm for what I thought would be four hours of walking. I did EVERYTHING wrong this afternoon, and had my five precious children with me (bad mom)...
If you want to read about it I have attached it. On this date I posted several things BUT to save you time go down 33 percent of the way down the screen...past the image of our shoes that we are whining about falling apart
(and here I go again, totally wreckless...I'm about to buy the EXACT same shoes for our next 1,050 miles on the Camino in 6 weeks)!!!

***Start at ..."We had the laziest day...."
and you can see where over confidence and being rather lazy , and not paying total attention , as a seasoned pilgrim had already shared a good route with me and instead I without much thinking used a paper from the pilgrims office as my guide.

I however did not call for "rescue"...I called to ask IF I was close to anything and it was rescue that demanded that I stay put...and even then I was non compliant to a point. where staying still with zero phone battery I decided was dangerous.
Knowing we are all safe and sound I wouldn't trade this memory for anything, so many little nooks and crannies of experience and memories presented themselves to us from this mistake.
We slept in the town where the Bomberos were from, bought them some treats in the town when we arrived, and slept outside hanging out with many of the Bomberos friends that they grew up
with. the guys wrote their phone number on the back of a piece of paper, it was only when I got home that I saw it was the printed report that printed off when I called the emergency number (the only number I knew off hand). It is funny to read "American mom with five kids..." (sigh)....

http://shefollowsshells.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-10-15T15:54:00-04:00&max-results=1

Frances, F & M (2012),Norte, Inglais (2014)

Phew! I am breathless, although as this was written after the event I knew it would not end badly. A most unusual bonding experience for you all as family.

 

[HedaP]

Oh @shefollowsshells I remembered that story from your blog and was tempted to refer to it on that particular post especially when things got a bit heated but it wasn’t my story to recount so I kept my mouth shut.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Last autumn I also made a call to our emergency number while on a hike when it wasn't an emergency. They got somewhat angry because they hadn't let me complete my message. I was on a dayhike up a mountain and Peg was staying behind at a campground. There was no cell service. The sun had finally gone down and I was still far from getting down. When I turned on the smartphone to look at the GPS app to see how far I still had to go I noticed that I was now getting a signal so I called 911, gave them details and told them that I was not in trouble. That is where they got upset. Then I told them that I was calling so they would not send a search team out for me in case Peg called them as I was not able to call her first. That calmed them down and they transferred my call to the local ranger district, one of the several places that could have been the search and rescue headquarters. About an hour and a half later I came out at the trailhead where Peg was with the car and flashing its lights and hornking its horn. She said that in about 15 minutes she would have been looking for help. Later the next day I discovered that, because of similar experiences, they would not even had started getting a team together until noon.

In this case there was not any real problem other than annoyance. I was still walking and well supplied and could have gotten back easily even at night and off the trail with no GPS. I could have even spent the night in the woods comfortably. However, in winter in those mountains things would be different (see the next paragraph.) In fact a man lost his life due to hypothermia at the top on the same mountain some years ago in August (that's why I was so well supplied, lessons learned.)

On America's National Public Radio (NPR) there is a show called The Moth ("True stories told live.") One story I heard on January 7, 2018 was "Backside of the storm.", a story told by Joe Lantini about a mountain search and rescue mission he was a part of, its dangers and its consequences. It is about 13 minutes long and it can be accessed at this URL: https://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyid=15287

If you can't access the podcast directly through the link above then visit this page to get the story:

https://themoth.org/radio-hour/live-from-portsmouth​

 

[Sheffield James]

Last autumn I also made a call to our emergency number while on a hike when it wasn't an emergency. They got somewhat angry because they hadn't let me complete my message. I was on a dayhike up a mountain and Peg was staying behind at a campground. There was no cell service. The sun had finally gone down and I was still far from getting down. When I turned on the smartphone to look at the GPS app to see how far I still had to go I noticed that I was now getting a signal so I called 911, gave them details and told them that I was not in trouble. That is where they got upset. Then I told them that I was calling so they would not send a search team out for me in case Peg called them as I was not able to call her first. That calmed them down and they transferred my call to the local ranger district, one of the several places that could have been the search and rescue headquarters. About an hour and a half later I came out at the trailhead where Peg was with the car and flashing its lights and hornking its horn. She said that in about 15 minutes she would have been looking for help. Later the next day I discovered that, because of similar experiences, they would not even had started getting a team together until noon.

In this case there was not any real problem other than annoyance. I was still walking and well supplied and could have gotten back easily even at night and off the trail with no GPS. I could have even spent the night in the woods comfortably. However, in winter in those mountains things would be different (see the next paragraph.) In fact a man lost his life due to hypothermia at the top on the same mountain some years ago in August (that's why I was so well supplied, lessons learned.)

On America's National Public Radio (NPR) there is a show called The Moth ("True stories told live.") One story I heard on January 7, 2018 was "Backside of the storm.", a story told by Joe Lantini about a mountain search and rescue mission he was a part of, its dangers and its consequences. It is about 13 minutes long and it can be accessed at this URL: https://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyid=15287

If you can't access the podcast directly through the link above then visit this page to get the story:

https://themoth.org/radio-hour/live-from-portsmouth​

The Moth = fantastic listening.

 

[shefollowsshells]

Last autumn I also made a call to our emergency number while on a hike when it wasn't an emergency. They got somewhat angry because they hadn't let me complete my message. I was on a dayhike up a mountain and Peg was staying behind at a campground. There was no cell service. The sun had finally gone down and I was still far from getting down. When I turned on the smartphone to look at the GPS app to see how far I still had to go I noticed that I was now getting a signal so I called 911, gave them details and told them that I was not in trouble. That is where they got upset. Then I told them that I was calling so they would not send a search team out for me in case Peg called them as I was not able to call her first. That calmed them down and they transferred my call to the local ranger district, one of the several places that could have been the search and rescue headquarters. About an hour and a half later I came out at the trailhead where Peg was with the car and flashing its lights and hornking its horn. She said that in about 15 minutes she would have been looking for help. Later the next day I discovered that, because of similar experiences, they would not even had started getting a team together until noon.

In this case there was not any real problem other than annoyance. I was still walking and well supplied and could have gotten back easily even at night and off the trail with no GPS. I could have even spent the night in the woods comfortably. However, in winter in those mountains things would be different (see the next paragraph.) In fact a man lost his life due to hypothermia at the top on the same mountain some years ago in August (that's why I was so well supplied, lessons learned.)

On America's National Public Radio (NPR) there is a show called The Moth ("True stories told live.") One story I heard on January 7, 2018 was "Backside of the storm.", a story told by Joe Lantini about a mountain search and rescue mission he was a part of, its dangers and its consequences. It is about 13 minutes long and it can be accessed at this URL: https://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyid=15287

If you can't access the podcast directly through the link above then visit this page to get the story:

https://themoth.org/radio-hour/live-from-portsmouth​

I LOVE the moth! thank you for sharing!
The day before I read your post I was listening to one about the fake eye on the beach...and laughing out loud in my car all alone.