our trip to the USA part 6

as we started our road trip after parting from Martin and Alex and their amazing dogs, we got to see the road we came in on (it was already dark when we arrived at Martin's place) and it was SO beautiful!! we drove for about 5 hours and reached Klondyke AZ... i have not driven on this road for about 19 years but i remembered it perfectly!

the road to Klondyke... just a 30 miles of dirt road

arrived!

me standing next to a fairly large cactus

we drove a bit more to reach the church and once we got there i started to trip out a bit... this place was once one of the most amazing places i have ever visited... the most incredible things happened to me there and if i try to put it all on paper (or keyboard) it will be a never ending story which non of you, or at least most of you will find it hard to believe...

the gate to the church property

the church house

we arrived and were greeted by Kaneshka, a very sweet man from Afghanistan who lived there from time to time for long periods to help with the church and attend to the grounds. he was very happy to see us and said that the hippies told him we were coming and that they both went on a "town run" to get some supplies and should be back in a few hours... he was also surprised when i hugged the house corner and said that he has never seen a man hug a house before! hahaha!
when we introduced our selves he said: "yes i know you, there is a photo of you on the kitchen wall"
what?! a photo of me?!
i walked into the church, got overwhelmed by the flood of memories that came rushing in... and as i walked into the kitchen, lo and behold! a photo of me and my older brother Lior hanging on the wall! from 1999!!
it was taken by Emanuel back in the day and he hung it on the wall to remind himself of us.... oh boy... what a trip! hahaha!

me tripping out next to the photo

the two brothers back in 1999

we spent a few hours with Kaneshka as he showed us the grounds and what has happened over the years when i was not there... it was so beautiful and full of sweet memories.. what a pleasure!
as the sun started to set we felt a bit tired from the long trip over the past two days realizing that just 48 hours ago we got out of the retreat! wow, it seemed like a lifetime ago and it was only 2 days! so much was happening and so much emotions running through my system...
Kaneshka said that he is going to do some yard work and we leyed down on our bed and started to fall a sleep... Ayelet turned to me and said: "its only 6:43 in the afternoon, are we going to sleep now?"
the next thing that i remember was waking up in the morning and the time was 6:43... we slept for 12 hours on the minute! mmmm..... this is strange...i thought to my self, but here this is so normal :)

we got up and walked to the kitchen to find Kaneshka who was surprised to come from his duties and not find us... did they go to sleep so early? he thought to himself...
we had coffee and waited for the masters of the domain to arrive from their home at the other side of the property...
Mathew came through the door and my heart almost exploded from joy! i leaped out of my chair and we hugged for a long time.... wow, 20 years?! has it been so long? oh....
we sat and talked for about 2 hours trying to cover the last 20 years apart.. what happened to me, what happened to them... then Annie showed up and the whole ritual of hugging and laughing started..
we sat with them all for another hour or so and then we had to go... so short!
"are you leaving so soon? you just got here!" the most famous of all the sentences we heard on our trip.... again...
after a long goodby session with many hugs and gift exchanges we took some last photos with our hosts and got into the car to go, and then gave them one last gift, a small handheld prayer wheel with the Medicine Buddha mantra inside as we felt it would be helpful for those who come in search of a spirit walk... again many tears of joy and more hugs and we parted, promising to return again but not in 20 years hahahaha!

we got in the car and headed out to our next stop which was the painted desert and the petrefied forest... since it was too far to do this ride in the day time (it was 12 noon when we parted from Mathew and Annie) we decided that we will get as close as possible and spend the night somewhere... and so we did.
the trip was 272 miles and was so much fun! we sew some amazing views along the way... stopped for a burger and coffee and ended up in the Lexington Inn for the night.
in the morning, after a light breakfast we got back in the car, thinking we only had 25 minutes of driving to the painted desert (true on any map... you can check me) but for some reason, and for the first time on our trip i did not check the road on the GPS and just trusted it... and started driving.
after about an hour of driving we got to the point on the map that the GPS had taken us to and realized we have been driving in the wrong direction!
we doubled back and told ourselves that there is always a reason why things happen the way they do and that it is all for the best!
drove it all back and got to the visitor center of the painted desert... took some maps and started the tour.
whooooooh! what is this?! what am i seeing here in front of me?! wow! (Ayelet)
we stopped along the drive in the lookout posts and looked around on this amazing, most incredible view possible...

this face says it all.... whoooooh!

at one of the stops we got to talking with this elderly gentleman who told us that him and his loving wife have been retired and have been traveling for that past 25 years "and we haven't even left the west!" he said laughing! so much to see!
we drove to the petrified forest and took the tour... this is something out of this world! a whole forest that in the past 220  million years (yes, that number is correct) these trees have been turning into Jasper and quartz trees...! what?!?
trees made of semi precious stones? what is happening here?!

we ended up the tour and got back in the car trying to understand the time frame of this geological history of the land we were now crossing... so much has happened here on this land... it feels like the white man has been here for the past minute or so and that the natives have been here for 10 minutes... what has happened here for millions of years is unbelievable...
we got back into the car and started our way to Sedona, a 3 hour drive of 182 miles or so..
the view was breathtaking all along the road and we enjoyed every second of it :)
we got to Sedona in the daylight and walked around for 2 hours or so, had an amazing lunch and drove to the Stupa. we circled it a few times spinning our prayer wheels and reciting mantras, dedicated the merit and got in the car to drive up north to get as close as possible to the Grand Canyon while it was still daylight.

by the time we got to Williams AZ it was dark and we decided to stop for the night, but a moment of misscomunications between us and we decided to go a bit further in the dark to Vale to spend the night there since it was just a bit closer to our destination which was the Grand Canyon.
along the was there was no cellphone reception so we could not see if there were any places to sleep in Vale and as we got there we realized it was a tiny town with no place to sleep (or so we though being in the middle of nowhere in pitch dark and dead tired from a long day) so we decided to back track and return to Williams... (sounds farmilier? this happened this morning as well as we drove for an hour for nothing in the wrong direction)
and of course, as we got back to Williams after an hour drive and cellphone reception returned we realized that back in Vale, if we just drove one minute more we would have reached the Grand Canyon Inn! hahahaha!
two wasted round trips in the same day! (this was the only two times it happened on the entire road trip)
we told our selves that everything happens for a reason and went to sleep in the Inn we found in Williams...

more to come!

our trip to the USA part 5

sorry for the long delay... we were out in the forest for 12 day... will have a separate post on that as well, but for now back to USA part 5...

as we parted from Cassy and his loving mom we got into this fabulous car and realized that the first thing we have to do is laundry. after being in the GBI for 12 days it was time to do it... so we started to look for a laundromat in the area.
found one and started a load. we had about 20 minutes so we headed out to have a coffee.

Ayelet at Starbucks!

we then returned to the laundromat to put the load in the dryer... once that was done we walked outside to wait and found the most lovely man sitting out side smoking a cigarette... we immediately started a conversation with him... Mike was a veteran and was just charging his electric wheel chair inside and we got to talking about life and all that...

Ayelet and Mike

i love being me... just to strike up a conversation with a total stranger waiting for my dryer to finish :)

the dryer did its job and all the laundry was now dry and ready. we got some real insight to life through Mike's view... we gave him some gifts and hugs and we were on out way...

here is where i need to take a brake and give some background to where we were driving to.


back in 1999 i was living in Boulder CO with my older brother. we were there for about 7 to 8 months and at that time i was working for an amazing man named Martin Mosko who owned and operated his company called Marpa Landscaping. Martin was (and still is) a master garden builder. he has build large Japaneses gardens out side of Japan and i got the benefit of working for him. back in 1999 i knew nothing of Buddhism and had no clue to where my future was heading.... but, Martin gave me a job and told me: "we sit quietly in the morning. you are most welcome to join us"
sitting quietly? what is that about?! i thought... little did i know that Martin was also a Zen master and a teacher.... i was still not ready for the future that was knocking at my door...
as time went by my older brother was telling me about a dream he had a long long time ago to meet with Native Americans and dive into their spiritual world and learn their ways... he was very much into Peyote at that time and wanted to study that subject with the Natives.
it seems that this was very important to him and he convinced me to follow him and look for Native Americans and their Peyote.... i asked Martin if he knew any Natives and he said yes. but he was extremely sad that i was leaving him and his company... he looked at me as a future investment and that maybe one day i can take over... he offered to send me to college and study landscaping (on his dime) but i refused... he was very sad to see me go...
looking into the internet (remember it was 1999) we found the Peyote way Church of God in Klondike AZ and headed down there. it was in the middle of nowhere... i mean 50 Kilometers of dirt roads... but we followed our map (yes, 1999) and found them in the middle of this vast desert... it was an old Indian named Emanuel and the two hippies that lived with him, Mathew and Annie and their 3 children, Joe, Joy and Tristan.  
we spent some time there and did the spirit walk. got really friendly with them and i must say that over time, that spot on earth gave me the most amazing experiences in life.. i mean some of the most magical shit happened down there but that is for another post :)
Emanuel and i became friends and i asked him about the ways of the Indians and how to follow them... he said: "you were born in Israel as a Jew were you not? are you an Indian? no you are not... why don't you go home and figure out why you were born there? and if after a while you learn all that you can and are not satisfied, then you can come here and follow a different path. but first, go home and try to figure it out"
mmmmm.... this was a real mind bender. i never felt belonging to where i was born and always felt it to be a mistake, but his words made sense to me and i felt the need to go home. and so we did.
after spending time with them we packed out stuff and traveled back to Israel, back to our old home, the Kibbutz... Ein Hashofet.

back to now, well almost to now

at the last day of the retreat i though it would be smart to maybe give a heads up to Martin that i am planning to have tea with him once we get to Boulder at the end of our road trip so i messaged him through the Facebook messenger app... he answered that he would love that but he is not in Boulder for the winter but was spending his winter time in Patagonia AZ where he and Alex bought a winter home to escape the snow of Boulder...

i looked at the map in google on my phone, figured that it will take about 5 to 6 hours of driving down to see him and decided that we should see him, even if this part of the trip was not planed.

so, the laundry was done. we were in the Charger and driving down to Patagonia AZ...
road trip USA!!!

we got to Martin's place at around 22:00 and he was still awake and ready to show us our living quarters for the night... it was an adjacent house to his which served as a shrine and a sitting meditation room... and also a guest room but it has never had guest before and we were the first ones! ha!
there were Tibetan flags hanging on the porch and a Buddha statue and Tankas on the walls.... we felt at home :)
took a shower and went to sleep.

in the morning Martin and Alex came and we took a ride with them not so far to walk their two HUGE great Dane dogs...

 we drove to a wild life sanctuary not far from their house and took a long walk with the dogs catching up on 20 years of not seeing each other... it was a beautiful morning! the view was amazing! keep in mind we drove there in the dark and did not know where we were...

when the dogs had enough we packed them up into the car and went for breakfast at the local breakfast joint in town... had us a lovely time and talked more about peace and peace prayer wheels... what happened to me over those 20 years and what a turn my life took... much to the fact that i met him and how he has affected my life....
for Martin, i was a speck in time... i was there for 7 months 20 years ago! but for me, he played a big roll in how my life turned out...

eating breakfast together

 we spent about 4 hours together and then we had to depart... our time was very short if we wanted to achieve all the things we wanted to do... places we wanted to visit... all so short.
i think that the most frequent question that we heard over the next few days as we went gliding on the highways of America was:"what? you are leaving so soon? you just got here!"
we both gave Martin a peace tabletop prayer wheel before departing and asked him if he can help us find an authentic Native American prayer to place inside and he said yes! turns out that the ground cart taker back in his home Zen garden temple in Boulder was with the Indians for about 30 years and he will be able to help us out... once we get to Boulder we should pay him a visit and see what he can do. his name is Paul and here is his phone number said Martin...
we parted much to everyone's sadness but also with much joy and love and great appreciation of this few hours spent together....

 we got back in the car totally overwhelmed by the few hours we spent together with Martin, how time is cyclic and non linear... how Karma at its finest moments shine like the brightest light, making the path unfolding beneath our feet glow with brightness...

drove for many hours until finally we reached Klondike and the Church to visit the hippies (Emanuel has passed away back in 2015)

on what happened there, next time :)
love,
Micha

our trip to the USA part 4

as the retreat was coming to an end, it felt strange... as if we have been accustomed to this lifestyle by now and were not ready to depart from it that fast... but, as we all know, all meetings must end in separation. and so as the last day came we were all feeling this same feeling, of a family parting from each other, not knowing if we will ever meet again in this lifetime...
the closing ceremony did not leave a single dry eye and we all cried :) there was a very moving speech by Garchen Rinpoche and we all cried some more...
once the Drubchen ended we all went to the dinning hall to eat lunch and say our goodbyes...
we had the best karma to have a mother and son team take us to Prescott in their car. we quickly said goodbye to all trying not to start crying again, hugs, more hugs and we got into the car and drove off to America (because all this time we were in Tibet in America)
the car ride was so awesome! we were so energized form the Drubchen and up until that moment in time we were not completely sure where we were on earth and that actually, we were about to embark on a tremendous super fantastic journey across some of the most beautiful landscape on earth... oh boy...
as the car drove on the dirt roads we told Cassy and his mom the story of how did we get to be in this Drubchen and of all the hardships we had to plunge through and overcome. they were very understanding and were SO kind and helpful.... they drove us to the AVIS counter so we can rent a car

we at the AVIS counter about to get the car key

Cassy the man! happy for us!

at the counter, the super nice man asked me many questions, and one specific one: "what type of car would you like to rent?" all along when i was still planning the trip in Israel i made calculations of our mileage and tried to figure out the mileage per mile of each car the rental place had to offer and figured out that the best choice would be in the Toyota Camrry size, so that is what i asked for. the man said: "well, we do not have a Camrry here but i can give you a car in the same size category, i have a Dodge Charger here. would that do?"
i said yes, not knowing what car that was but putting my faith in the sales man and his offer of a car "similar" to a Camrry... i signed all the documents and we got out to the parking lot to find it..

oh boy oh boy.... WHAT A CAR!!!!!!

me kissing this amazing car, not sure if this is real.. ready to take off!!

Cassy and his mom Sherry parted with big hugs and many good wishes, we gave them each a prayer wheel pendant of their choice and took the luggage out of their car and into our new amazing machine! it all fitted and we were so happy! oh man... this is going to be a sweet ride! ha!

sad to go but we must!

now starts the crazy part of our trip... and i must say that there were SO many amazing moments and that i am sure i can not convey the feeling of all that happened but i will try to do my very best....see you on part 5 :)

 

our trip to the USA part 3

on the 4th night i think, the air mattress we bought with Alison in Walmart exploded in the middle of the night, but not in a way where all the air came out but rather one of the seems on the top side gave way so there was a hill where Ayelet was sleeping and i fell to the ground from the pressure lost, it felt like the floor broke... so basically what happened was that she went flying in the air as i went down... all this with a very loud pop! we did not understand what just happened because it was pitch black at the dead of the night and all were sleeping or practicing, so we tried to go back to sleep... eventually we got up and went to the Gompa to practice only to come back to the Stupa later to look at the mattress and see what really happened in the middle of the night. realizing we can not sleep on it like this we understood that karma is ripening and we will sleep uncomfortably on the floor from now on till the end of this Drubchen... after all, we came here with the mind set of removing obstacles and that is what we will do with a loving heart. and so it was.  

me sitting on the floor after folding up the blown air mattress

as the days went by and we got into the rhythm of the Drubchen, it became more magical... endless moments of synchronicity and karmic circles at every turn close and reopen a new... wow. no words can describe the tremendous-ness of the entire event... from all those obstacles prior to the flight, all those little moments of hardships... all gone, replaced by a deep understanding of the workings of karma and having less and less resistance to it all... acceptance and trust replaced internal fighting and fear... so magical.

on the seventh day I think I went through an open-heart surgery in the middle of the practice... all of a sudden, I started to cry for no apparent reason... I did not feel sad, just crying and crying till the mat beneath me was totally wet and then i started laughing from the bottom of my soul! then crying once again.... I could not understand what was happening and all through it all I stayed completely relaxed and aware... then came silence. internal silence and all became clear... no words can describe this experience... 

as the session ended and Rinpoche left the Gompa for a 15-minute brake (he walks over to the stupa and makes circumambulations before returning to his seat for the next session... I walked outside to try and recuperate from this whole experience when Rinpoche walked pass me. I could not express the tremendous love and eon less devotion I felt so I just bowed in tears and then hugged him.... he laughed and hit me on the head with his loving hand... I arose and he asked me and Ayelet who was standing by taking these photos how is our prayer wheel business? are they buying them? do they like the new design? (we will have a whole post just for that one subject) we answered his questions and he laughed and said: "thank you for crafting prayer wheels" and walked away to the stupa leaving us both there to again try to comprehend what is happening. 

days went by, love grew and we felt connected to ancient time... geological time...
on the ninth day our "sleeping" karma cleared up and we were offered to go and sleep in the Tashi house for the renaming 2 nights and we jumped on the offer!
a bed! a room for ourselves! a shower!! woo hoo!!!!! what a treat that was! karma being paid...

me blown away in the Tashi house