“Do my eyes deceive me, or is that the Beta flag?”
Matt Fallon, DePauw ’87, (right) averaged 50 miles a day by bike under the Spanish heat on the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage he took to cultivate his mind and body. While his rides were solitary, he would often stop and talk with other pilgrims on the trail. One afternoon outside of Astorga in northwestern Spain, he crested a hill and spotted a hiker up ahead.
The hiker was more noticeable for the flag he was carrying and waving: blue stripes, some white, and a flash of red that turned into a dragon. Brother Marshall Gardener-Thompson, UC San Diego ’24, (left) often takes his Beta flag along with him to concerts and other events to get attention of brothers, and that day — after several of it being packed away — he just happened to bring it out while he was hiking along.
After giving the grip, the two brothers talked for a bit before meeting later for diner in the next town. There, they continued talking about the Camino, their future plans and their Great and Good Fraternity. The connection with a brother, though by chance, energized Brother Fallon and not long after completed the Way of St. James at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
