Journal:

Group picture at the rim by the Bereishit Hotel. Gorgeous!

Rode down the Makhtesh. Whew! What a rush to go downhill for so long. I'm still cautious on downhills, but love the challenge. Scenery has changed. Much less vegetation. Moon-like landscape. Great hills, including a steady, challenging climb before the 30+ mile lunch stop. On my way out of the Makhtesh, I took the opportunity to stop once on a wide patch of the shoulder to take a few sips of electrolyte water. That little rest left me with the power I needed to make it up the rest of the hill. Photographers and cheering crew were at the top of the ascent to welcome me. Just a mile or so to the lunch stop.

One more stop at Pundak Ne'ot Smadar, a really cool little snack shack that has goat milk frozen yogurt! Goat milk frozen yogurt? That's so fun! Shared it with Wendy, who had also never tried it before. Just the energy jolt I needed to finish the day's ride.

No problem getting to Kibbutz Ketura. Tired, hungry and otherwise okay. I was assigned to stay at nearby Kibbutz Lotan. I'll go there with my luggage later. I don't want to miss any of the fun for the rest of the afternoon at Ketura, so I changed out of my bike shoes and into my sneakers, but otherwise stayed in my bike clothes.

Several tours to choose from. I chose the one that showcased some of the research that's being done at the Arava Institute. So interesting! Using scraps of leftover food from the dining hall (veggie-only - no meat) to generate methane gas that can power a small camp stove - useful for African communities where women often have to spend up to 4 hours looking for dry wood and sticks just to cook a simple meal. A solar panel or two can power small light in a hut, instead of making a fire that produces hazardous smoke fumes. Shady areas underneath solar panels can be used for small-area farming. FarmBot machinery can be used to plant, weed and harvest food in those shady areas.

Learned about the date palm tree, named Methuselah, that was grown from a seed dating back over two thousand years. It was found in an archeological dig at Masada. Date palms are gendered and Methuselah turned out to be a male. Several other seeds from the same time period were planted and produced five more trees, two of them determined to be genetically female. One of those, named Hannah, produced 111 dates in 2020, and more again in 2021 and I think every year since then.

We broke up into groups and met with the students and interns to learn more about the Arava Institute from their perspective. It makes me feel hopeful that these young people are acting on their desire for a cooperative future together. A different kind of planting seeds for the future.

Dinner at Kibbutz Ketura. Food filling and plentiful and much more like what I'm used to on a bike trip, meaning a simple carb-filled and tasty meal. Bus after dinner to Kibbutz Lotan. Somewhat of a scavenger hunt to find my cabin, but eventually found it.

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