We reach Santiago tomorrow, and while today’s walk was lovely, what got Jane’s attention was the laundry room at our hotel this afternoon.

She’s our family laundress at home and considers doing laundry therapeutic. A good opportunity to clean up and time to reflect, too, while our sweaty, salty clothes get a real wash and dry after 17 days of sink washing and REI camping clothesline drying (with an occasional assist from a hair dryer or radiator when we have one).

It may seem a bit anticlimactic to talk about laundry before what is sure to be an emotional day tomorrow, but it’s kind of like getting all gussied up for company coming, except you are the company coming to Santiago after a long month’s walk across northern Spain.

We’re excited and a little in disbelief that our destination is but a day’s walk away. We each came on this adventure with different reasons for doing it, and we will leave with a different personal sense of accomplishment.

But we’ll also leave knowing we worked on the challenges together and have a fresh start at the next stage of our lives, together.

We hope we’re ready for the big finish. At least we’ll be clean(er)!