January 20, 2006

Dear family and friends,

Now that we have settled in with the holidays over, we thought we could finally share some of our reflections on Egypt. First we want to extend our deep appreciation for all your support, your prayers and generosity that made our Egyptian trip as a 10-year anniversary of our initial meeting possible. We raised a total  of $3000.00, which went directly to The Nazareth Hospital for upgrading their operating "theatres", the travel expenses were on us.

The ancient history of Egypt was incomprehensible, to think that Joseph was sold into slavery and visualized the same Pyramids of Giza built in approximately 2500 B.C., the same pyramids that we both ducked and crawled through to reach the Great Burial Chamber of the Pharaohs was surreal. Of course Bonnie did not have to duck much, whereas Jerry was down on his knees at times.

The airplane flights were uneventful but lengthy(12 hour return flight). Five days of biking were welcomed after an entire day spent in travel. We seem to find great release of stresses with the rhythmic pedaling of a bike. The biking days were along the picturesque portion of the Nile from Luxor to Aswan then back North again to Luxor. Except for the headwind while traveling North the biking was flat and relatively easy. Temperatures in the desert hit 95 degrees which caused several of the United Kingdom bikers to suffer heat exhaustion and rest from biking several days, as they are not accustomed to such warm temperatures.

Each night we met up with our boat "The Nile Trader" for supper and sleeping accommodations. During the daytime the boat meandered along the Nile the distance that we biked. The shortest day of biking was about 35 miles and the longest day about 82 miles. The roommate situation was superb as we were able to share a cabin, unlike the married couples on our Israel ride 10 years prior. We were the sole Americans among the 25 member group, all from the United Kingdom except two Israeli schoolboys and an Israeli bike mechanic. The evening worship services with singing and thematic message, led by John from The Church of England on the Island of Jersey, were a time of reflection and relaxation after each energy intense day.

We felt safe at all time with our watchful Tourist Police who followed our path each day in open trucks. There were also about ten Egyptian men following us in vans directing us through traffic circles in towns and keeping the excited schoolchildren back as we biked by.

The sites were astounding! Such as: schoolchildren running frantically along the irrigation ditches to come greet us, men on camels working in the fields, the endless expanse of sand in the desert, and just seeing Egypt at the level of the people. The last day we biked up to the Valley of the Kings where the graves of the kings such as King Tut were discovered. We toured several of the burial chambers then biked down the Valley to the Nile where a banner was placed for us to bike under to honor our completion of the 250 miles.

The celebration meal was a sit down affair by candlelight with five courses and a cake. The boat crew serenaded us with Egyptian music, a great end to a wonderful week.

-Bonnie and Jerry