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Travel> Louis the
Scooterer 4
Scooterer Stories
By Louis the Scooterer
Published April 2005
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| Louis' first
Vespa in 1955 |
Louis' new
Vespa in 2005 |
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By the way, I never
go anywhere without my "NEW ISRAEL
ROAD ATLAS" an excellent atlas full
of interesting information, and excellent
easy-to-read maps with distances and translations
of words and other information as well,
like interchanges and mountain heights,
etc. I have a couple of the "big"
size in English, and also the smaller ones,
and also 1 small size in Hebrew, which is
more up-to-date.
I also carry 1 Fold-Up
map of the whole country [also in English]
because it is easy to read, anywhere anytime.
I know that without these atlas maps I would
go nowhere. For hikers, the complete "ISRAEL
TRACK" is shown, with a thin-pink-line
from far-north all the way to Eilat, also
railway lines and stations are shown with
a thin-black-line. So I will go nowhere,
without my Israel Road Atlas, [published
by Mapa-Mapping and Publishing.] |
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Okay, now that we have
a map-atlas, and we are leaving Ir Ovot, we
will "fill-up" at En Hatzeva, and
while we have a coffee, before we carry on
north I'll reminisce a little, and explain
a few places that I rode on previously.
Once on a simple short-drive out of Eilat,
just after the Border Crossing, I turned right
and rode into the fields just to look n see
[if anything]. I found gravel roads a couple
of hundred meters east of the highway close
to the Jordan border, and did find some interesting
things...One lone palm tree with a sign "Dekel
Dom" in English, explains that that particular
tree is the last of that species growing in
the area, and none will be seen or found north
of that spot, then a short distance north
I came to another site at Ein Evrona [Oasis],
a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere
in this desert, with a few very tall date
or palm trees, to give shade, a really lovely
peaceful spot just a few hundred meters from
the busy Route 90, and where a few people
left a pretty ugly big mess when they missed
the garbage cans and their rubbish lay on
the desert sand ! Then again, a couple more
kilometers north I came to this different
BIG tree that gave shade to concrete tables
and benches that about 30 people can sit and
enjoy their picnic, and again, obviously enjoy
leaving this unbelievable mess. This tree
is only a few meters from the highway, but
I doubt if any tour bus would stop at this
magic spot.
A few hundred meters further on [out of curiosity]
I rode on the other side of the highway into
this deserted military base [sign Be'er Ora
], and I found everything just ''rotting away"
in the open, I saw some faded writing on the
walls of the wooden buildings [U S Army] [Marine
cap log ?] and many useable items of clothing
and buckets and chairs etc. just dumped in
a big mound, but no person to ask some questions.
[I imagined the place to look exactly like
a Hollywood film studio set]. |
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Another short ride north again I came to
and wanted to "visit" the new
giant landfill, but without a permit I was
not allowed to enter, and there I learned
that Be'er Ora was being rebuilt to be a
new neighborhood, with luxury apartments
and homes in this oasis in the middle-of-the
desert. At this spot I also watched several
eagles floating in the thermal, not very
high, and giving me a marvelous"performance".
Just before ending that little drive, I
went to Kibbutz Elifaz [ next to Timna ]
where I discovered some South Africans have
settled, and also other S. African volunteers
work in the dairy and do all sorts of chores.
They also have some lovely chalets that
are for bed and breakfast accommodation,
and on and on, I go, and I get all this
info, to look and imagine. |
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Continuing north, I specifically bypassed Kibbutz
Yotvata and the Yotvata Reserve as I would need
more than one full day to visit those places in
the kibbutz, and in the "KHAI BAR",
(also called the Yotvata Salt Desert), where a
variety of animals roam free.
On an earlier visit I stopped for coffee and a
short visit at 101 INN where road 90 meets 30,
but the visit was not long enough, but I did learn
some most interesting facts about the owner, who
was in a parachute unit (101) and at some time
(many years earlier) he was granted some land,
and he chose this spot being 101 kilometers from
Egypt border at Taba Crossing in Eilat, and that
he flew a paraglider into Jordan, and met with
the Jordanian King.
[ You can see that another visit to these places
is absolutely necessary.]
SO now we will ride north to MASADA, and on the
way I made quick look-see visit to moshav Ein
Tamar and found a lovely shop that sells pottery
and art, then another quick visit to Ne-Ot Hakikar
where I visited a home that advertises bed and
breakfast accommodation, and after a coffee and
chat with Malka, I carried on.
For my scootseeing, riding a few kilometers out
of the way is never a problem, and I see a few
more places.
A quick stop at the Regional Council offices in
Neve Zohar, and took some maps, and rode to Ein
Bokek, a resort with many very smart and very
expensive hotels, with every amenity for leisure
and pleasure at the Dead Sea.
| My budget allows for
coffee and a cookie at a local outdoor eating
place, then more scooting and stopping to
look-see, a short stop at some rock sculptures,
then into the Masada National Park complex,
and the brand new Youth Hostel at the foot
of the mountain in this quiet desert, where
I always stay overnight in a dormitory, and
that comes with a great breakfast. |
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On July 18th 2000, I was scootering around the
Dead Sea areas, and sleeping at youth hostel at
Masada. I decided to go with the cable-car to
the top of Masada, and spend 1 hour walking around
? I remembered that I had visited the top on a
previous visit in 1975. I had with me a little
book I bought in 1975, titled THIS IS MASADA ,
and when buying a ticket for the cable-car, I
showed the book to the ticket-lady, and to my
absolute amazement she noticed that I had bought
the book exactly 25 years earlier on the same
date, July 18th 1975. [The Masada date-stamp is
in the inside front cover ]. So she ran to show
the book to the manager. He was too busy to come-out
to say hello.
I took the cable-car and
when I got off I knew there are many steps still
to climb, and after a slow painful climb reached
the top. At the entrance one of the staff called
to some others " That's him" ? then
Shlomi [maintenance manager] who spoke pretty-good
English, came over and "welcomed" me.
Shlomi invited me into his workshop, [in the wall],
sat me down and with a few of his staff, and together
drank coffee and ate cookies!
He told me that the ticket-lady
told him on the intercom about the date 25 years
earlier ! When I told him that I ride all around
Israel on my scooter, he was amazed, [ the security
man at the covered parking had already told Shlomi
that a man who rides a scooter was in the complex
! ]
Then Shlomi gave me some
maps [of Masada] and told some tour guides and
tourists about this man who rides the scooter!
Now this becomes interesting, I rented headphones,
that when you press a number you listen to the
story about that particular spot where you are
standing. Now this was so interesting, listening
to the stories, that I stayed another 6 hours
[ not rushed by a tourguide] and really understood
about the place!
Every so-often one of the staff checked-up on
me and brought me cold water, and insisted I join
them to eat and drink. I was overwhelmed by the
hospitality of the staff at these different places
on the top of Masada. Its amazing how popular
a scooter can be.
You can visit many Masada sites on Internet.
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Louis
the Scooterer is 69 years old and
it sounds like he's just getting started.
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