Day 2: Rosh Ha'Ayin to Shoham (almost)

Oh, so before I get to the second day, I forgot one of our favorite stories from the end of the first day on the trail. If you read the previous post, you know it was a very very long day, and by the end I was exhausted on a number of levels. Thankfully we were more laughing at the absurdity than any other of the possible reactions. It was like being in a Beckett play, and you just had to shake your head and kinda laugh in amazement. So anyway, we finally get on the bus to go to the angel for the night, and while the bus was coming, I had sat down to put my boots back on because I couldn't stand to be in my water shoes any longer. The bus came before I was totally ready, so I threw on my pack, but didn't buckle the belt strap. I fumbled a bit paying for the ride, and then as I tried to turn and go to my seat, my belt caught on a pole, and as I was trying to push through, the driver started (they usually do start before everyone is seated, and they rarely start smoothly/slowly, so typically I am braced for it.  But. Being distracted by my stuck belt, and weary from the day, I was not paying attention. I had just smiled in self-deprivation at a girl sitting and watching me struggle with my pack when the bus lurched forward, and I completely and totally just ate it. Fell to my knees, but not in, like a smooth, quick fall, but in, like three bouncy awkward falls as I tried to catch myself on handholds, seats, air, anything. Just totally crashed.

Now, Israelis don't tend to be overtly friendly - we don't smile at strangers on the street here (I mean, *I* do, but I'm weird), but they are very kind. The girl who had stared at me blankly when I smiled, half leapt out of her chair (and a man who had been up ready to exit ran to my aid, too), and said, "BeSeder??" ("Are you okay??") Simultaneously I looked up at her, laughed, and all I could say was, "Well. That just happened."

(I don't know if this story translates well on the page, but it makes me and K laugh pretty hard every time we think of it. And "Well, that just happened," has become one of our kind of mottos of the trip, so I was obligated to document it. ;))

Okay, so, back to Day 2. Our trail angel dropped us off at a coffee shop, and we ate our breakfast and used the wifi while we watched the unrelenting rain and gray filling the windows. The weather app said at that moment we were experiencing periodic showers. Not what we were seeing with our eyes. It looked like it would continue all day, and we discussed briefly what we might do with our day if it did. We didn't have many bright ideas. So thankfully the rain lifted around eleven, and we were off!

We grabbed a Gett cab (like Uber/Lyft/Moovn) to the trailhead and had a fun chat with our driver. He couldn't get us quite to the trail because of a van stranded in the mud/pond that the road had become overnight.

So we trekked the last kilometer or so to the trail, and voila! Day 2 begins.

The day began with a few sites the book described - the first concrete house, the Baptist guesthouse that had various uses through the years, the "pillbox" guardhouse that was used to protect trains going over the bridge, and a nice nature reserve with various birds, plants, and a lilly pad pond.

The trail circles a national park called Tel Afek. We didn't take the time to go in, but got to see the crusader fort from afar. Very cool, and I'd like to go back some time.

Then it was just south south south on mostly dry dirt roads, with a couple challenging water spots where there once were underpasses to cross highways and train tracks, but now were miniature lakes. But mostly it was just pretty good weather and lovely chatting.

We ended about five kilometers short of our goal, and stopped for dinner in El Ad. El Ad is an orthodox community, so we stood out like sore, pants wearing thumbs. It was fascinating to see how different people, children and adults alike stared openly or covertly, smiling or blank-faced. We got dinner and called our angel to let her know where we were, and she so graciously offered to come pick us up! So deeply appreciated!

She brought us home to a beautiful apartment in Shoham, with a lovely balcony where we could admire the sunset.

Then she let us do a load of laundry, made us a really delicious soup, shared some fun stories and pictures with us about her family and friends, let us shower and sleep warm, and in the morning dropped us off back where we'd left the trail, with sack breakfasts and snacks to boot! (I think the breakfasts had probably been intended for us to sit and eat, but we came down the stairs too late for that - my foot care was still taking 20 mins or so at that point, so mornings were slow.)

We were excited to be only 5 kms behind (well, behind our new plan - travels and hikes are all about flexibility, baby! ;))...onward toward Gimzo!