Goodbye Tiberius, Hello Kibbutz

By Ed B. -
Jumped out of bed and got an early start today. We quickly packed, ate a small breakfast and hit the road around 6:30 a.m.  We followed the coastal highway to a national park that was unfortunately closed.  So we marched on. Our next two km was straight uphill. It was a tremendously tough stretch that wore us down quickly.  The good thing for us was it was slightly hazy with the clouds holding back the sun.  After hitting a plateau we followed the mountain ridge line south with the Sea of Galilee on our left.  It was quite a peaceful and beautiful walk.  As we descended we ended up at the Jordan River baptismal site where we took a small break for ice cream and coffee!  We then headed off for our destination at the Country Lodge Kibbutz.  It's like a small commune. We dropped our things and went for a refreshing swim in the cleanest pool I've ever seen.  Afterwards, we did our daily cleaning and then went to the chocolate factory that is run here at the kibbutz. We had some tasty treats and then did some planning for our next day's adventure. We actually found a modern grocery store where we got some dinner and provisions for tomorrow.  So our early morning departure afforded us a pretty chill afternoon.  Eric's blog reminded me that today was day nine.  Hard to believe.  

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