Yam L'Yam Captain's Log: Day 2

The crew woke up to the realization that sleeping on the hard ground and sprinkling of rocks after hiking all day is not a recipe for a refreshed feeling. It also did not help that there was a rooster who had been crowing since ONE A.M. I swear, he's meshuggie. We also woke up to a really sick puppy. Aaron (aka Scooby) had fallen ill... we've decided it was the quantity of hard boiled eggs he shoved down his gullet during Day 1. Lucky for us, the people who's backyard we had been using........came out and graciously took him in - and they'd figure out how to get him to our next checkpoint when he recovered. (Later that day, we would realize that our beloved Scoobs had been adopted by another family).

After we got Aaron taken care of, we set out (on the road again... just can't wait to get on the road again). Due to my "performance" on Day 1, Yoni told me to lead the pack. That's what's up! Lucky for me, Day 2 was relatively flat. I owned Day 2. The first portion of the hike occurred on the side of a highway. We had to bypass a nature preserve. Finally, we made it back on to the trail. It was really peaceful to lead the pack, with one headphone in, and not a care in the world.

Leading the pack, keeping a good pace, rocking out to sweet tunes

Our trusty Israeli, Meir, kept telling us we would have opportunities to swim in a spring (oh joy, let's hike another 4 hours in wet clothes...) We People who could speak Hebrew would ask "how far to the water" "oh just a few more minutes" - this went on for a while... To spare you the anticipation that we felt... the "water" of which they spoke...turned out to be an overflowing trough. We ate our lunch in a nice shaded area and took a siesta.

The crew, making great time!

After the tuna fires died down, and we had digested, we continued on our hike through what Sarah referred to as "the Sound of Music" hills... from the only logical reason I can think of: we were running from Nazis? I jest... because I was skipping along singing "I have confidence in sunshine/I have confidence in rain/I have confidence that spring will come again/Besides which you see I have confidence in me." Ok, I'm being ridiculous. The topography was reminiscent of Austria.

Our life savor, Meir, with all of the Career Israel girls

An hour or so after lunch, the terrain changed. Here's where I really came into my own as a leader. The hike changed to woodsy yet sandy with the floor covered in pine needles. It was like walking through Morikami with a peppering of Gumbo Limbo. Jess (from Miami Beach) and I tore through this portion and enjoyed a nice havsaka (break) at the end.

The last portion of our hike was a short incline (which I had blocked out until about 5 minutes ago when Sarah reminded me). Then we arrived at our campsite near Mount Meron (a short 17km day). There were jubliant cheers from the crew when we saw port-o-potties. I was extremely hesitant to jump on that bandwagon. Just because I'd been in the woods for 36 hours does not mean I was ready to use a port-o-potty. It was like the lesser of two evils... ::shudder::

We made camp really early (aka way before sunset) so we Uri had time to gather enough fire wood to make a decent bonfire. We ate our respective meat batons (or meat sticks, in my case) and hung out around the bonfire. This time we got to sleep on a relatively less-rocky surface...but we were on a slope. The thing about sleeping on an incline... I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to caterpillar crawl up my way back to the top of the tent - without waking the other 4 girls in my tent. (To quote Molly ""I just assumed you four were sleeping like little cherubs as kept spinning in my sleeping bag like a rotisserie chicken.")

Sarah and Molly with Carmel and the Meat Baton