And so it begins...

I'd been thinking about using a blog to record Dad's and my trip to Israel for a while now but hadn't gotten around to it until now due to Jessica's wedding and all the preparations that went into that.  

So here we are on Veteran's Day 2013, 78 days until we leave.  This all started during the summer when Barb and I were visiting the east coast Sanners.  We were enjoying a beautiful day on the back deck at Amy and Jim's when Dad started talking about a trip to the Holy Land that his church has taken for several years with a group called Educational Opportunity (EO) Tours.  Dad indicated that he would like to go but didn't want to go alone.  Neither Betsy nor Amy were able to go for various reasons so I told Dad I'd love to go.  Over the next few weeks both of us phoned the EO Tours office and made a verbal commitment and placed our down payments via credit card.  My passport has plenty of time left in its 10 year lifespan but Dad, in his 91 years, has never had one.  Until now!  I told him now that he has one he needs to use it until it's expired.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

Fast forward to late summer/early fall and both of us had sent our second payments and when I talked to Dad on Saturday, November 9, he indicated he'd sent his final payment.  I mailed mine this morning.  So we're both paid up.  Committed.  No turning back.

From the EO website, the itinerary for the trip is as follows:

• Days 1 and 2 Travel from the US to Israel
• Day 3 Galilee
• Day 4 Nazareth, Megiddo, and Caesarea
• Day 5 Jericho, Qumran, and the Mt. of Olives
• Day 6 Jerusalem and Bethlehem
• Day 7 Jerusalem and The Old City
• Day 8 Leisure Day or Masada and Dead Sea Extension
• Day 9 Jerusalem
• Day 10 Return home

Dad and the others from Harrison City Methodist Church will travel together to Pittsburgh where they'll fly to New York.  I leave from Phoenix, and will meet up with Dad and my other new travel companions in New York.  From there, our group will leave the US and head across the Atlantic for Israel.

I'll try to add a few posts over the next 11 weeks, maybe digging into the itinerary and talking a little about what we'll get an opportunity to see.  Once we're in country, my plan is to update the blog with text and pictures at least every few days.  So my intentions are good.  Let's see how they get carried out.

Until next time,
Tim