Terrifying Drive to Jerusalem

At last I have the internet in my hotel room instead of down in the lobby - $7/hour! It was $2/hour at the Holiday Inn in Galilee. :( But I have it none-the-less, for free. Apparently if you walk in with a laptop you automatically get put on the business floor, no questions asked. Cool deal! Now if I could just have a clock.

Godrays in the Jordan River Valley, on the highway from Galilee to Jerusalem. For a spiritual take on this picture, click here.

I have yet to find a hotel room with a clock? Even in the $301/night room I stayed in (@1/3 that price). Now somewhere in $301, couldn't you put in a clock? I'm also missing the little basket of shampoo/conditioner/moisturizer etc. you get at the hotels at home. One - I thought this was creative - offered soap/shampoo/conditioner all in one? I put it in my hair just because I had to try it. (It feels really disgusting to put soap in your hair.) Another offered a push-button-thing of soap in the shower - good - and another of 'cream wash'? Is that another name for moisturizer? I must be out of style.

But, I have a bedspread, the room doesn't smell like a septic tank, and there are no lizards crawling on my wall. (The Dead Sea - I gave a prolonged shriek, packed my bags and slept in the car. Someone told me that a lizard on my wall was a good thing as it would have 'eaten all the bugs in the room.' Oh fantastic...but you have to look on the bright side. Sunrise over the Dead Sea is pretty, and I would have missed it if the lizard hadn't gone a-crawling on my wall.)

I was so terrified of Jerusalem, I made myself dizzy and had to prolong checking out. That's crazy. I spent a year in Russia, 4 months in Korea and have driven a rented car through much of Israel. So why so scared of a city? It's silly.

A rock formation at the corner of the Jordan River Valley and the highway leading through the mountains described below, possibly near where John the Baptist had much of his ministry.

I think a lot of it had to do with my bus station experience, when I was in Jerusalem a few days ago. One sweet angel sent by God helped me through the security check and waited while I got my stuff together, which went through helter-skelter because I didn't know they screened everything, like we do at an airport. There was a long line, the woman didn't speak English, every one was shoving past me while I took my coins out of my pocket, jacket off, backpack off, wallet case off, etc.

The sweet angel, forever nameless, even made me put my jacket back on and my camera and wallet over my head before she left. "You've got to be more careful. You could have lost everything if I hadn't held it for you."

Then I almost got lost in the bus system, and after that my septic tank room... oh dear. Jerusalem and I were just having big issues. Then I realized I hadn't finished all my stuff in Galilee, so I went back. And stayed in my nice $301/room with its mahogany and marble furniture. And my gorgeously gorgeous view of the Galilee. yee-hah! (That's the one I got for a third of the price.) I was really needing some special treatment, and it makes writing a good deal easier.

The 5:00 a.m. view out my room in the Caesar Tiberias, overlooking the Sea of Galilee harbor. Tiberias was the capital of Galilee in Jesus' time and there was a large harbor there.

So I suppose it wasn't completely irrational to be afflicted with Jerusalem terror. And part of it I think was fear reacting with medication to produce physical effects.

ugh - I had the worst drive from Galilee to Jerusalem. I did it before at night, no problem, I couldn't see the eternal millions of feet I had to fall. It was horrible. "Please God help me. Somebody help me. I can't do this. I don't want to die falling off a cliff. I'm sorry I ever complained there were no mountains near me. That's really fine. I'll never complain again, please God, just get me ouuuuut of this." (Big cliff). etc. etc.

Oh, it was terrible. I thought we would never stop going up. I was so terrified to look to the side and so determined to stay in the left lane (once it appeared), where I couldn't see the cliffs that I didn't realize we were out for awhile. Then all of a sudden it dawned on me that I wasn't going up and down. And I looked to the side and there were fields... and then I laughed hard at myself. Sometimes I'm not brilliant!

Well by that time I'd sweated up a storm of fear - gross - and oh! I smelled horrible! So I stood in the ladies room at the airport with a t-shirt I'd packed and soap trying to scrub out the stink - ugh! It was disgusting. I got a lot of strange looks and giggles. It's amazing how social women can be when they want to know what you're doing!