The mall was so much like America, nothing out of place, some of the stores I couldn't read the neon signs though.  To have that American feeling though kept making the reminders of Isreal real shocking.  For one thing everyone sat in the food court smoking.  I was always looking for the armed soldiers to come and drag them away.  The young people walking around with an oozie slung across thier back was out of the ordinary as well.  

Unfortunately, about the important sights, I wasn't really sure what those were.  I went to old Jerusalem and wandered around totally lost.  All the little streets.  I didn't mind though, it gave me more of a feeling to the place.  Old Jerusalem is split into sections, Jewish, Muslim, Armanian and maybe Christian.  Don't know.  I wanted to see if you could tell the differance.  There was also all the stalls and being hassled as usual.  I finally found the Wall and watched the people pray.  I also got to touch it.  Something so old.  Amazing.  After that I decided to walk to the mount of Olives, not far.  I got the famous view of Jerusalem.  It was late so there was no one else.  I thought in Jerusalem I would see so many biblical sights but I really have a hard time believing it all.  There's a whole walk you can do along the street recounting Jesus's walk with the cross and there's a million churches, all built over some place.  How do they know?  I didn't want to see churches.  Mount of Olives was more special.  I knew that hadn't changed.  I was also shown a tomb that was in some guy's backyard.  I still don't quite understand.  He didn't charge me anything and gave this big tour.  I wasn't missing any money at the end either.  Years ago his father was digging a garden and someone fell through.  It was a big circular thing, 50 tombs.  They said it was the tombs of Zechariah, Malacai and Haggai?  No proof though.

TUES.  I called my friends up north.  Elinor who I met in Tahiti is too busy to have time to visit and Noam is unemployed so he invited me to go sightseeing.  It was great.  I also decided to see a museum in Jerusalem before I left but it was closed.  Bummer.  Michal's mom dropped me off at a univeristy for another view of Jerusalem.  I stayed there all day and worked on my scrapbook.  I didn't want to go sightseeing, to go on buses or search for something important.  As I finally decided to leave I saw the sign to the library.  THAT is what I suddenly missed.  Just reading and libararies.  Isreal also has a lot of english books.  I had to go through all the security to get allowed in.  So I ended up at a little office near the parking lot, showing my passport.  A guy walked up reaching behind himself to pull out his ID (I assumed) instead he pulled out a handgun, took out the clip, emptied the slide then fired the trigger to make sure it was empty.  He handed it to the lady at the window and once she had checked it and done the official stuff she gave it back!  Another guy came up and did the same thing.  They weren't in uniform or anything.  Now this is the sort of security we need in our schools.  "Are you bringing a gun into the school?  It better not be loaded,"  I asked the first guy what sort of gun it was. I'm always thinking of Casey's curiousity.  He said it was a Smith and Wesson.  That doesn't help.  

Wed.  I hung out at a cafe, painted a picture, talked to a hairdresser, called and found out that Noam had come down with a fever so I decided to head to Kabbutz Bar am and see if I could finally meet the Martinez family.  This time I hitch hiked and got a ride with an old grandfather who used to be a principal at an elementary school.  He invited me to his house so he could do his errands and then drove me out to kabbutz bar am.  His wife and him have roadtripped all over the US.  At Kabbutz Bar am I found that the Martinezes are spending a few months in Tel Aviv.  I talked to Isabel and then I talked to the volanteer director here.  Told him my story and he allowed me to stay for the days that I hoped.  I'm supposed to leave today. That is still basically my plan but. . . I've helped out a little but not officially because you need a special passport stamp and insurance.   Last summer when I was fishing in Kodiak I met Noam Martinez, so there are 2 Noams.  It turns out that he never came back to Isreal and he is in Montreal right now.

As for now in Isreal, I am seeing my last week this week.  It all seems frayed.  I wanted to meet up with Noam, I would like to meet up with Martinezes but I am so bad at planning around people or having them plan around me.  This Kabbutz is nice but I feel like a loafer and it is more a Hostel feeling than a kabbutz feeling.  One big perk about Kabbutz Bar am is that every Tues night and Fri night they have a pub with a dance floor, complete with lights and smoke machines and the drinks are all free.  That's beer and soda.  This is the only kabbutz with free beer so remember that if you ever feel like coming to volanteer.  The money comes from fruit trees and a plastics factory that makes medical equipment.  I guess this is a very wealthy kabbutz.  I've been trying to notcie where they put tha wealth, the sidewalks are cobblestone.  The food is great.  The meals are so fun.  It's none of this processed stuff.  When I first looked I wasn't sure.  THere were lots of vegetable sort of salads, hummus, . . .

All right, so the above was written weeks ago and I was unable to ever finish it and send it off at the same time.  Isn't it great how I leave things in mid sentance? I am back to trying to find free e-mail and believe it or not I found an amazing library that gives you 2 hrs!  Amazing.  So I am going to do my best to try to catch you up and then leave you.  Sorry. 

Well, Isreal is weeks away.  A differant continent and all that.  Do you mind if I just sumarize?  ( as if I ever summarize) I will tell more about it later.  Basically, the people and experiances in Isreal were absolutely amazing.  Everywhere I went I was helped along.  Handouts came in places that I wasn't even expecting.  The best out-of-the-blue example would be when I was trying to climb to the top of some mountain to get a view of the Sea of Galilee.  After I sat and watched a little tortoise for about half and hour I continued on my way and stumbled across a garbage dump.  I came in from the back and ended up actually having to walk over some of the garbage.  Well, one of the workers came out to see what in the world I was up to.  He invited me into the office for tea.  While he prepared it I watched the swallows flying in and out of the room.  I thought of the story of Elisha and about being fed in the wilderness by the crows.  In the end the man gave me two baggets and about $4.  I couldn't believe it.  He didn't even know enough english to communicate.  I met 2 guys from New Mexico who were determined to be baptized in the Sea of Galilee.  There is a place that is sectioned off.  Supposedly close to where Christ was baptized but now it's  a waste dump and you are advised not to go in the water.  And these two said it was Holy water.  Galilee was disgustingly polluted, it was really sad.

On the last few days I met so many people and went from house to house, place to place.  There is Asi who wants me to do a comic strip in a magazine that he wants to start up.  I got to help Anot look at apartments.  She was so fun. We had a girly night together with her friend Iris.  Supper in the dessert, and then I left.  In the airport  at Tel Aviv I met a guy from North Carolina, when he found out I was from Minnesota he was like, "Minnesota!  I'll be in Minnesota next week!"  And I was like, "Yeah?  Well, I'll be in North Carolina next week."

I slept at the airport, flew out early and had a good many hours being cozy on differant planes.  I like the planes and meals and the service and to sit and stare at movies.  It was great.  I arrived in Washington DC and still heard differant languages.  They have a lot of differant sorts of workers there.  My original plan was to visit a friend that I had met in Egypt who lives in DC but it was such a hassle to try to get to the house and I was tired.  I was also supposed to go sightseeing around Washington but I was not in the mood to stare at white monuments.  How differant would they be from a picture?  Instead I really wanted to see Carrie who I haven't seen in 2 yrs.  Would I even remember what she looked like? I slept at the airport again.  It was so quiet and relaxing.  I can't believe I am actually getting to be comfortable sleeping in places like this but actually, I spent so much time in the transportation places of Asia that this was really something.  Empty, soft music, just still. 

The next day I was up early to get my transportation.  I met a student from India who was traveling and now he has settled down to make money.  It was strange to see him all prfessionally dressed and to be reminiscing about travel.  That will be me one day.  A big highlight was that I was planning on hitchiking because I wasn't about to pay $75 for a bus ticket but as I went through Union Station and saw all the sleek Amtrak trains I decided to check those prices.  Two hours later I was relaxing on a train to Charlotte, NC for $58!  I slept almost the whole way.  Carrie lives about an hour and a half from Charlotte.  I wasn't able to reach her before I left.  I did talk to her room mate though and then I left a message.  When I stepped of the train at 8:00 that evening there was Carrie and her mother who I had also met in Alaska (oh yeah, that's what they look like).  I tell you.  That is the most wonderful thing, to be met at arrival.  I was so so so happy to see them.  There is just nothing to describe it.  It's too easy for me to start thinking that no one in the world knows where I am.  I can sit anywhere and to everyone back home I'm just missing.  But Carrie and her mom knew I would be at the station at 8:00 and it was like a big welcome back to America.  They took me out to Apple Bees! 

I stayed at Carrie's for about a week.  I had been worried about how I would get ready for the trail in 6 days or so.  I felt behind.  Lucky for me, Carrie was about as prepared as me.  We shopped about every day and still got nowhere.  We were supposed to be preparing for the next 6 months of our lives.  Shah, right.  It was a great hooplah though.  There was a going away party for us and her friends and relatives all sang "Happy Trails" to us in a rustic ranch house.  I had $350 and some money when I arrived in the states and I tried to invest it the best I could.  Goodwill and some used stores helped alot. 

March 16 we drove down to Amicalla, GA where we spent a night at a B&B.  It was Carrie's family and me but the place is like a honeymooner spot.  At the restaurant the tables were only for 2 people and all the couples at the other tables stared at us.  Do you remember that I was talking about have a 17 lb pack?  Well, when I was unloading at the B&B I stumbled backwards when I tried to put my pack on.  I did sort of a spinning thing with my pack on sideways and I did eventually get in on my back but after that I decided I had better lose some wieght.  Everyone laughed as I took out 10 lbs of basmati rice and left the other 5 lbs for the trail.  I left a few clothes and things behind as well. 

March 17 was the big day.  Lots of pictures and goodbyes and official stuff like signing in at the park. Then we were off hiking south down the trail.  See, there's a road that takes you about a mile north of Springer Mt. and that is where the trail starts, so to officially start on the trail you hike a mile south to Springer Mt, turn around and hike back North, the trail has begun.  Over 2,000 miles, ending in Maine.  As of today we have gone 67m.  We can actually see our progress on the map.  I think it's about 3 in of the 3 ft that we need to complete.  Pretty cool.

Now that I am here on this computer I can share with you a bit of the hiking. It's a nice little nature trail, well marked and you march on mindlessly.  Right now my pack weighs about 43 lbs all loaded down with water and stuff.  That's about the average.  There are guys out here with 68 lbs and more and some are at 20.  Lucky.  When I get to Damascus I am going to go insanely light, and start walking on my own.  Damascus is about 450 m from the start and there is a big Trail Days festival.  Carrie and I plan to hike together till then but after that I really want to get in some miles before I go fishing and Carrie wants to stop and visit friends. 

So, the trail, you walk and walk.  There is hills of course because it is a mountain ridge.  It is so cool when you walk along the top of a ridge.  You really can see down both sides.  We have had some amazing camping sights, one wild thunderstorm and beautiful weather.  The first mountain that we had to climb is called Blood Mt and it has such a reputation.  Carrie and I decided to do our first 10 mile day over it knowing that there is a hostel on the other side.  It was a beautiful and a much easier hike than people had threatened.  The wind blew hard and kept us cool enough to keep a decent pace.  Eventually the day got colder and colder.  We came knocking on the door of the hostel at about 6:15.  By then we were cold.  But the hike had kept us warm.  We were so happy to be sleeping in a hostel as we listened to the wind howl.  The hostel was so great, such a hostel.  It had that green turf for carpet and after we showered and washed our clothes we noticed a lingering hiker smell.  The awesome thing was the hiker box.  Hikers are still getting the hang of what they actually need.  This is the first mail drop so a lot of stuff that they recieve in the mail gets left behind.  I got my 5 days supply of food right there.  Power Bars, trail mix, everything.  I spent $2.69 for a jar of peanut butter and I made a version of Mom's rice krispy bars.  The recipe calls for corn syrup and peanut butter melted over rice krispies but instead I used honey, raisin bran and oatmeal.  All from the box.  I got a good healthy batch of bars but very heavy. 

The next morning we were lounging in our socks staring at the TV ( the Big Labowski was playing when we arrived the night before) when other hikers came stumbling in banging frozen platypuses on the coffee table.  Platypuses are the plastic bags that hold your water they look like a cathater.  Bags and bottles had frozen solid during the night.  The report was 20 degrees with a -7 windchill.  BRRRR.  The really awesome thing was that as we were leaving (slowly)  we happened to find ourselves talking to the owner without realizing it.  He found out that I was an artist and in exchange for 2 nights in a cabin for the 2 of us, I painted a mural!  I was so excited to paint the mural.  I'm doing my dream job.  He took Carrie and I to Home Depot, we bought the supplies and I spent the rest of the day and part of the next day painting.  The cabin is nicer and holds 6 people, we shared it with one other guy.  BJ.  It was BJ's birthday so he bought chocalate cake and icecream and we lived on that for the 2 days.  On our last evening BJ also paid for a night out at the hikers' favorite spot, the Cookie Jar, a buffet. 

From Neel's Gap we headed out again.  There has been some bigger mountains.  It is so great, the trail.  You meet so many people, you sort of stay with the same group but Carrie and I have fallen behind after those extra days at Neel's Gap.  Right now we are hiking with hikers that started on the 20th or 21st.  It's a lot of dead looking forest.  No green yet.  Very quiet too.  The bugs finally came out a couple days ago and we have seen a couple snakes as well.  They look like garter snakes but Carrie says they are most likely copperheads. Thanks.  We started with Katie, Carrie's dog but she went home after about 3 days.  We haven't really been stuck in the widerness.  We have seen a town about every 3 or 4 days.  We're still getting into a rythm.  There's walking and a break about every hour.  Food is trail mix and some sort of bars.  Once in awhile it's beef jerky.  You come across people with food they are tired of or have extra.  On Friday we got our first taste of trail magic. 

 The Appalation Trail is a whole culture.  It's a differant kind of people. I was just talking to a lady today that was saying that there are a lot of people running from life or trying to fill an empty part of thier lives out here.  I'm curious to see if she's right.  There is a culture of support on the trail as well.  There are other day hikers that come along and hand out thier extra food and there is, like I said before, the trail magic.  That is just acts of kindness just because you are hiking to Maine.  Some people do it as a regular hobby and they are refered to as trail angels.  We met up with those on Friday.  They just come and park where the trail crosses a road and hand out sodas, apples, homemade stuff, whatever.  We got pop. 

Last night we stayed at the Blueberry Patch.  It's a couple that give hikers a free place to stay, it's thier way of serving God and it's such a wonderful place.  We just got done with pancakes and coffee.  They are famous for the blueberry syrup that the wife makes.  So friendly, so welcoming.  They did our laundry and we had showers.  The scenery is absolutely beautiful as well. 

I love the trail.  You never know what to expect.  Just guess what we saw yesterday.  30 Korean tourists walking through the woods.  Complete with white visors, cameras and fanny packs.  We just stood and stared.  Afterwards Carrie said we should have taken a picture.  We should have.  But I love it out here. The variety of people you meet, some are without work, some are alone. There is a couple that was doing this for thier honeymoon but we haven't heard about them for awhile, maybe it didn't work out.  There is a family on the trail as well, 9, 11, and 13, the parents are without work and are just going for a way to pass the time or something. They are called the Von Trapps because they are constantly singing.  Everyone must have a trail name.  Some people come prepared and have one, others are just getting thier names now.  I think I'm Roadster but today Carrie said Scatter or something like that.  I like that one.  I think Carrie is stuck with Granny Panties because of her fancy fast drying-trekking-sports underwear that still look like briefs.  We'll see.  There's Pirate, an old guy that looks a bit like a pirate or Willy Nelson, he's hiked the trail 14 times, completed it 12.  I thought once was pretty amazing.  Oh, there's so much to tell about, so much to introduce.  I wanted to give you a basic idea so I could leave you with that and continue my hike.  Out here it's all characters.  Everyone has thier possesions on thier back and you all have to go on the same path to get to the same destination.  No complaining because for some crazy reason everyone has chosen the same destination.  It's still early.  I wonder what it will be like.  Can you imagine doing this for 6 months straight?  I only have to think about June 20.  Then it's to Alaska.  I am still really excited about that.  I'll be back hiking after fishing.

I am really glad to be hiking with Carrie.  I think we are a good team. It's a little difficult because we have differant schedules and a differant pace.  Carrie has a torn tendon in her foot.  Not the sort of injury to be nursing on a hike.  There are lots of people with injuries though.  Knees just aren't used to this sort of stress.  40 lbs is suddenly a lot to put on.  After all my supplies were bought I had $124.  Now it's about $120.  I am so excited to see how things go.  Carrie has been way too nice to me though.  She keeps feeling sorry for me and paying for things.  See, while I was traveling and spending every cent I have, she was working like crazy so she could make hiking like a long vacation.  She helps me to slow down and enjoy myself instead of always pushing.  On Wed. I got to go faster and push and I pulled some sort of muscle by my ankle.  Never knew about that one before.  It's a swollen bump but it's not often used so I've been ok.  As for injuries and pain I would have to really struggle to come up with any.  There's the sore back and all, knees, maybe. But it's like, what do you expect?  You're hiking all the time.  We just have to walk out of it.  There's some trail evangalism as well.  One group sounds real interesting I haven't gotten to talk to them.  We did have a brief encounter with one Bible thumper.  Goodness.  He was at the top of a hill when he saw us and started spurting scriptures.  He didn't stop until he was out of sight.  There were 3 of us to witness it and we were sort of stunned.  I think it was a little early in the morning to be confronted.  It was funny though because not too long after that a group of 4 coming the other way stopped beside us.  One was going on about Jesus in his knees and then combined Monty Python quotes with preaching, "whoever wants to pass by me must answer these questions 3: WHO is your Lord and Savior. . . "  that was Inspector Gadget.  He's traveling with a palm pilot and collapsable keyboard.

So, you all got the mailing list?  I have stamps.  I can reply to letters.  I really need to go though.  We have 5 miles to cover today and shopping to do.

Aunti Linda, do you remember when you and I were talking about using plastic bags to sleep in?  Peace Pilgrim had done it and you knew of a kind that you use on the farm.  They need to be about the size of a sleeping bag.  In the summer I will switch to those but can you tell me what kind they are or could you send 2?  Write to Dad's e-mail. If you do send them you can send it to  c/o Christie Melear 43 Camby Dr/ Fairview, NC 28730.  I won't need them till early May. 

Noam!  Hey, what happened!  Sorry I missed you in Isreal.  What a bummer.  Oh well.  I guess there is still e-mail.  Talk to you later.

Hey Mom and Dad.  Look at me I am on the internet! Carrie is telling me we won't be getting 5 miles today.  Bummer.  Better get going.  I don't think there was anything specific.  Talk to you later.

Bye you all!  Don't count on hearing from me any time soon!

Love,

Rachael