About a Mile-and-a-Half

1.  Due to exhaustion, tonight’s episode comes as a list.
2.  Hezekiah’s tunnel is five football fields long.  It takes about 40 minutes to walk through it.  The tunnel is full of water because King H was trying to save his people from the nasty Assyrians, by  the grace of God.  Walking through the tunnel requires a flashlight, water shoes, and a willingness to endure “stoop-itis”.
3.  Singing helps.
4.  We sang with the group in front of us, whom we presumed to be Indonesians.  They sure sang hymns beautifully in English.
5.  The first step into the tunnel is a doozy.
6.  Dave felt like singing, “I’ve Got a River of Life,” so we did.  Also “Amazing Grace”, “Jehovah Jireh”, and “Come Thou Fount.”
7.  The distant sound of mighty rushing water from behind was not an imminent flood that was about to drown us.   It was Jacob from Switzerland, who was rushing to  meet his wife at the end.
8.  There are no markers inside the tunnel, save the chisel marks from King H’s men.  Therefore it is impossible to tell how far you’ve been walking.  This was actually a good thing.  One step at a time.  Sing a song.
9.  We have a new appreciation for the phrase “light at the end of the tunnel.”
10.  The group ahead of us was from North Carolina.  the Indonesians must have veered off at the dry route.
11.  Dave quoted Hesitation 3:14 at the pool of Siloam, which reads “Let’s not do that again.”
12.  King H’s tunnel ends at the bottom of the Valley of Hinnom.  Our hotel is a mile-and-a-half from there.
13.  The Blue Dot estimates everything to be “a mile-and-a-half” from wherever we are.  It is best not to realize that 2.8 K is actually more than a mile-and-a-half after you’ve walked 2.8 K, not during.  Especially when you are walking out of the Valley of Hinnom.
14.  We seize up every time we sit down.
15.  After you’ve walked 2.8 K to King H’s tunnel, through King H’s tunnel, home from the tunnel, out again another 2.8 K in the opposite direction to the Israel Museum and back 2.8 miles to your hotel, you kind of wish you had been wearing a Fitbit.  However, eating anything you want after all that exercise is good enough compensation.
16.  We met the only Israeli tour guide with a degree from Western Washington University.
17.  He knows how to sing “The Bluest Skies You’ve Ever Seen are in Seattle.”
18.  We follow the Blue Dot everywhere.  Sometimes it snakes us around a little bit.  When it moves, we move.  When it stops, we
stop.
19.  Tomorrow we go to Masada.  ON A BUS.
20.  We meet the bus about a mile-and-a-half from our hotel.