Traveler there is no Road
Sue drove from her home in Tucson to visit us during our stop in San Diego. The last time I had seen Sue was in the early 1990's when Sue, Ned and I all worked for the North Carolina Outward Bound School. Sue went for a San Diego Bay day sail with Janet, Ned and me on 10/18. Janet returned to Columbus and Sue, recently retired from her teaching career, offered to assist as crew "for a while" as we headed south into Mexico.
Sue caught on quickly to the joy and demands of sailing and was a great addition from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta - a 28-day, 1200 mile run! Not only did Sue eagerly chip in with all the tasks involved onboard, but she also had many opportunities to use her Spanish language skills, which we appreciated often! Sue’s enthusiastic and friendly style made her a wonderful ambassador for all of us. Her enthusiasm for the Spanish language was also demonstrated by the fact that she continued to participate in a virtual Spanish class while we were traveling, logging in to submit assignments whenever possible.
A thank you goes out to Sue's Spanish teachers in Tucson, Susan Sotelo and Jo Keller, for choosing the following poem for their class. With the reference to "Traveler" It now has deeper meaning for all who crew with us. Sue would like to share the poem and photos with all of you as well...
Caminante, no hay Camino
por Antonio Machado
Traveler, your footprints
are the only road, nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
Traveler, there is no road;
only a ship's wake upon the sea.
Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.