The Journey Begins with Bumps...

Oh Man! I started the Pilgrimage.


I am reading the book, The Road Trip Pilgrim’s Guide by Dan Austin. If you have any questions about some odd phrase I use in the blog from this point forward, it is Dan’s fault, he writes well enough that I like his descriptors for taking a pilgrimage.

I left home with approximately 120 pounds of my nearest and dearest crap: clothes, books – religious and secular, gifts for “just-in-case-I-need-one, art supplies (acrylics & pastels), and electronics of all sorts – including my ghost hunting toys, teas and –a medicinal collection to rival Walgreens. Things I forgot: my Brita water bottle in the car (BRAND FRICKING NEW!), a blow dryer (so I will look like a female Einstein unless I buy another one) and Miles’ Kick-Ass, heavy-handled, amazing point-me-in-the-right-direction walking stick, placed by the FRONT DOOR so I wouldn’t forget it. I am most upset about the walking stick. I really wanted the walking stick with the compass in the handle since I am having this adventure without the benefit of GPS. Even with the amazing, awesome laminated street map of Jerusalem, I really wanted the cane. It was supposed to be like my “magic token”, a symbol of the walks that Miles and used to take together and a symbol of his presence. *sigh* I suppose I will have to like, engage the natives and occasionally ask directions. Lucky me, everyone WANTS to speak English in India and Israel…and I guess that, just like the hair dryer, can be replaced for this journey – at least for protection of The Pilgrim Princess (me).

The drive from Oswego to Tulsa Airport was uneventful, just quality time with my daughter-in-law, Cheryl. And check-in was good: $60 for the two humongous bags that just needed a teeny bit of re-sorting to balance them out so they were BOTH under the 50 pound limit.

Then the first challenge: an hour delay at the Dallas Airport. And the first real bumps: turbulence. Eh, it’s all over. At least I will have time with my younger son tonight in Los Angeles. City of Angels, how appropriately symbolic. Too bad my Rabbi is off at a Rabbinic conference in Vegas. I guess his “blessing” for my journey will need to be of the long-distance variety!

I decided not to bring a coat or even a sweater. Dan talks about “putting on the mantle of a Hero”, accepting that I can be a Hero, open myself up to being a source of blessing for others and allowing others to be a blessing to me. The ticket agent in Tulsa was just the first “angel” I met, letting me re-organize my bags, instead of just sucking more money out of me for the over-weight bag. And just like his journeys, I am on a sort-of Hero’s quest. In Judaism, we can perform acts of loving kindness, gemilut chassdim, in the merit of our loved ones who have died. And these acts are magnified, according to some rabbis, if they are performed in Israel. So this is my quest: to do as much good as I can in the next six weeks. And I do have a “bead” on a couple of places in Israel to begin. But, back to my Hero’s Mantle. I, instead of a coat, brought my very thin, but very warm sage green wrap that I bought during happier days at Sycamore Mineral Springs in San Luis Obispo. It is symbolic to me because: 1. Green is Miles’ favorite color and I use it as a “sign” of his approval and encouragement in my past travels; 2. It folds up to about the size of the Pilgrim Book; 3. It makes me feel very “Audrey Hepburn” kind of chic; 4. It reminds me of my friends in SLO; 5. It is just so frickin’ warm! I did bring a cheap fold up rain poncho and umbrella – just in case Someone tries to rain on my parade.

I also left my Dell laptop at home. I KNOW that I would be heartbroken if it was damaged, lost or stolen since it was the last tangible gift that Miles gave to me. We actually argued about getting it! My old Dell died an agonizingly slow death…it is sad when the hard drive loses its memory, ya know? He told me to buy a new laptop because he just couldn’t bear to see me in my chair without my computer, it was just not “natural”. And his instructions were very clear: get the biggest, fastest, bad-ass computer Dell makes and spend $2000. Of course, I spent half of that and still am way past pleased. The computer arrived on October 5th, 12 days before he passed away. I have a picture of us at Taj Palace in SLO that Cheryl took in July 2009 as the screen saver. The new laptop (wow, is it really 18 months old?!?!) is heavy and I want to blog as often as possible in the field, so to speak, so I bought a relatively inexpensive Netbook. Small, light-weight and Cheryl is waiting patiently for it to return so she can use it for note taking at school. It will be the last Heroic Act of the Pilgrimage, I suppose.

Dan’s definition of a pilgrimage: a trip, not unlike a vacation, but of importance that, hopefully will impact the pilgrim, the fellow travelers, and Secret Angels/Heroes encountered in the journey. A pilgrimage can be a “Eat, Pray, Love” adventure, but the most important ideal of the pilgrim must be to find oneself and be true to that ideal. It can also include: crying one’s eyes out at something so beautiful, crashing with locals, sleeping on the beach, guzzling local alcoholic refreshments, but ultimately finding that “grail of happiness”, truth to self. The path and the shrine may be the body of the pilgrimage, but the human interactions, according to Dan, is the human interactions. Lucky me, my friend Lisa will be with me for about half of the journey, possibly averting me causing any “international incidences”.

Funny thing, Dan writes that if you plan the pilgrimage, the right person will appear. When I asked my friend and travel agent, Rabbi Mark, to book the ticket, I had no plans of going with friends. I was going to make my way, solo, in a place I had never visited and just see what happened. Then, after I announced to my friends, Lisa called me and said that she, too, would be in Israel in April. I guess this must be the Pilgrim Magic of which Dan writes, when he says to “go forward and the Magic will ensure that you will never walk alone.”

Of course, I have Miles the Teddy Bear with me. I bought him in SLO just for THIS trip so that you don't just have picture of ME gawking stupidly. I am looking for the drivers for the camera so I can upload the pictures from LAX. Gotta run, El Al is boarding for Tel Aviv!

Finally Getting ready for Israel and India!!!!

I just started thinking about what I want to do in Israel. I was going to start a rough daily plan on my computer so that I could write about it for my travel blog, since I am taking my laptop with me. I was planning on getting a throw-away cell at the airport in Israel for use in the city since the rates for my cell plan will be HORRENDOUS outside of the USA.

I leave Mar 30th and will land in Israel on April 1st in Tel Aviv about 4 hours before Shabbat. I know that it will probably take about 2 hours to get to Jerusalem, but then I will be needing to find food for Shabbat. I think I may need to buy something in Tel Aviv before I leave just in case I get delayed. I leave Israel for India on April 29th. Then I go back to Israel to be in Tel Aviv for 3 days on May 7th. Leave Tel Aviv for LA on May 11. Leave LA on May 15 for Tulsa to go home on May 15.

I'll be staying in Rechavia (Hapalmah St ) while I am in Jerusalem. I have a living room, washroom, bedroom and kitchenette. There is a pull out bed in the living room for guests...My friend from Redondo Beach will be in Israel from April 5-20, so she will be staying with me for 3 or 4 days. (She is visiting her son who signed up for the a year in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). If you are a praying person, please pray for her other son who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last month. They are 24 year old twins and the most adorable boys.

I meant to blog about the basketball season. My grandkids are very, very good at basketball. Last week, Cheryl was driving us, following the bus to the game. All of a sudden not one, but TWO BIG DEER leaped in front of the school bus! I was so made that I didn't have the camera -- it was a fabulous sight! One deer on one side of the bus in the air, the second deer on the other side of the bus in the air and a third deer standing around thinking --"okay, they both need to be taken out of the gene pool -- jumping in front of big yellow school buses!"

Oh and my first Tornado Warning -- totally left THAT out! My DIL had a heck of a time getting some of the grandkids in the house. They wanted to watch. Since my house didn't get blown to the Land of Oz (yeah, I know it's really just a back lot in Los Angeles), I didn't get any postcards...we are relatively safe here in SE Kansas. My son said that tornadoes tend to follow hwy 96 and run north east .....apparently they don't like to leave the main highways .....