The couple looking on with great interest are my across the path neighbors, the parents of the quads I love to detest.
We started off on our adventure at 0800 sharp, which meant that Moshe (the guy with the cane) and I left in my car for the departure point at 0745, and were in plenty of time to get our stuff organized. Alberto and I were the only Jerusalem demonstration alumni on the trip and we regaled the others with demonstration stories. One of the Polio guys who was with us announced that there might be another demonstration next week over benefits that are not keeping up with the cost of living. There IS a clause in the agreement from our last demonstration that says that our benefits are supposed to be adjusted annually, but, never have been in the 6 years since. In Israel there is no reason to expect that the government will keep any agreement they've signed. Alberto kept getting the 1999 and 2002 demonstrations mixed up, and every time I reminded him that, no, that happened in '99, we were off on more 'were you there when?" He loves telling about how I spearheaded the take over of the Finance Ministry building. I kind of like that story too because not many can say that they took over a government ministry building by threatening to pee on a security guy's shoes if he doesn't let you in to use the loo! I went in but didn't come out, so when the guards went in to make me go out, everyone else went in. Dumb ass guards left the doors unguarded to get me out. Ooops! Then Alberto asked if that was the same demonstration when I smashed my stick down on the arm of the under cover cop who tried to move one of the gals in her wheely out of the way so he could drive off and avoid our road block. Poor guy ran back to his car and sat there until we lifted the road block. Damn right, he was the last one to leave.
Our first stop was Acre, where I spent much time in 1970 on foot. This time my perspective was slightly different, being in a wheely and all. Acre has a scent all it's own and anyone who has spent any time there will know where he is if dropped there suddenly. We ended the Acre part of the trip at the same gift shop where I bought all the little gifts I took to the States in 2006. From there we headed north to kibbutz Cabri, where we had lunch kibbutz style. From there we went to a park that has a legendary arch right on the border with Lebanon. The white ribbon like road in the next picture is the border with Lebanon.
We were that close to Lebanon. If the bus had fallen off the road, we would have been IN Lebanon! The path from the car/bus park was quite steep and even though I had my own wheelie driver, I had to use my right leg as a brake. The views were breathtaking, and it was well worth the trouble to get there.
In the distance there are a few Lebanese villages.
From there, we went to the grottos at Rosh Hanikrah, another tourist site that is right on the border.The grottoes themselves are not wheely accessible, but we saw a nice movie about them. While the men had their evening prayers, the rest of just sat by safety rail and looked at the ocean. When they had finished their prayers, we left for home and had a cigarette break half way there. I got in just as the news was starting, and fell asleep pretty much when it was over.
The next morning I awoke to incredible pain in my right thigh. Gee, I wonder why? But, there was no choice other than to go to the clinic to get a prescription for my potassium pills and to get my meds for the month. From there I went to the mall with the grocery store that always has my precut bagged salad greens(this time they had to get 2 bags from the storage fridge because they hadn't taken them out yet. Go explain to a confused veg department worker that while he thinks nothing of cutting up stuff himself, it's a challenge for some of us to even get the cut up stuff out of the bag!) and corned beef at the deli, and from there home to rest. And rest I did, until I was woken up be a nasty cramp in my left leg that absolutely refused to let up long enough for me to release it to reach for the salt and potassium pills. I finally managed that and popped two of the pills and licked a bunch of salt and drank a bunch of water, then, laid back down. My right thigh is still super sore and my abs are making themselves known, but not loudly. Staying upright in a wheely on a bus makes those abs work damn hard and I'm fortunate that they are still in pretty good shape. I can do sit ups with next to no effort just about endlessly.
All in all, it was a great trip. And I'm not at all bothered by the sore muscles. The sore will go away soon enough.
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