A Personal Milestone...

Today we cycled from Ashkelon to a kibbutz in the Western Negev. The ride was 72 miles long -- by far the longest bike-ride that I have ever taken in my life! A personal milestone. My chain fell off and during the ride I had flats in both tires (at different times). When you get a flat, you just call one of the staff members on your cell phone (or one sees you on their bike or van), and they use their cell-phone walkie-talkie to call the repair person. Then, within minutes, like superheroes, they swoop in and change your tire. What would have taken me close to an hour they do in less than 5 minutes, and you are back on the bike catching up with the group.

The purpose of the ride is to raise awareness of environmental and geo-political issues within an environmental bent. So, we rode to the top of this (steep) hill to see a reservoir built by JNF (one of over 200) that treats waste water to be used for agriculture. Israel leads the world in this, cleaning, purifying and utilizing 75% of its waste water. We also rode by the world's largest desalination plant that creates drinking water from sea water. We could see Gaza from this reservoir and rode nearby Sderot -- the town besieged by Hamas in the last war. In past years, Hazon actually donated bikes to the children of Sderot.

There are times when I am riding through farms or rocky fields and think "This could be riding from Dallas to Waxahachie", but then I remember -- I am on the road from Gerar to Be'er Sheva where Abraham and Isaac lived.