Am American Camino (a.k.a Camino de Mickey D's)

After watching Martin Sheen’s “The Way” where Sheen’s character backpacks Spain’s famed pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, something crazy Catholic was…unleashed… in me.

My St. Joan of Arc fantasy crossed streams with my inner Spaniard missionary and I wanted to fly across the world on a winged stallion plane wielding my rosary sword passport in order to descend upon every pilgrimage site in Europe with the fire of a thousand tongues of the Holy Spirit behind me.

Then I thought, nah.

I’m an American.  With kids.  So what’s an American mom with a burning desire to make a pilgrimage supposed to do?

I know! Invent my own American “camino,” a driving one, and a route featuring churches and convenience stores along the way.

Except I didn’t have to dream up anything new.  We actually have a camino and we don’t even realize it.

So I’m calling it the Camino de Mickey D’s.

Not really.  Actually it's a route I traveled with my mom and kids that connects my parish in Santa Clara, California (Our Lady of Peace Shrine) to Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama (aka Mother Angelica and the Poor Clares of EWTN).

Believe me, we took our time, driving onlyaround 6 hrs each day with plenty of snack and bathroom stops in between.

Take a look at the map and list of stops and let me know if you’d ever undertake the American Southwestern Camino (or leave a note if you can think of another route from another region of our large, beautiful country)!