How can I add to an existing path using the pencil tool?

Question

This probably seems like a rather elementary question, but
whenever I draw a path using the pencil tool, reselect it,
hover over the endpoint, and the click and drag to extend
the line off into a different direction, Illustrator will often
(but not always) erase the existing path and leave only the
new one that I drew.
To wit:
In step 1 above, I draw a line with the Pencil tool.
In step 2 above, I reselect the line from step 1, hover over the endpoint, and then continue to draw further.
However, as can be seen in step 3, the line from step 1 disappears after I draw the new path.
I am aware of the pencil setting, "Edit selected paths", and I have checked it to edit selected paths
within 12 pixels for the above example. What I am doing in the above example, and what I
want to do, is to be able to add more paths onto an existing one using the pencil tool,
rather than have a completely new path being drawn every time I lift up my pen to finish
drawing the previous path.
I also realize that I can do this with the pen tool; but the pen tool is a more
precise tool (and somewhat more cumbersome), and I prefer to have more
of the rough-handed look from time to time.
Finally, I also know that I can use the direct selection tool to select endpoints
from two different paths and then join them using the join command;
but this seems to be more trouble than it's worth in many cases, especially
if I want to do it frequently for a more long and complicated line.
Am I expecting too much out of Illustrator?
Is my idea of how to use the existing tools wrong in this case?
Is there some piece of knowledge I'm missing?
I'm on Illustrator CS5, Mac OS X 10.6.8, using a Wacom Intuos4 tablet.
However, I have confirmed the above on Illustrator CS4 for Mac as well.
Any help or comments would be much appreciated.
Jeff

Answer 1

Thanks @rcraighead - the Live Paint process seems a bit overkill for simply adding
a new path onto an existing pencil path, but I did try the first idea you suggested,
which was tracing a bit over the last part of the existing path and then continuing
on to extend the path. It's a bit imprecise because the existing path gets slightly
modified, but it seems to work pretty well all in all. Nice idea indeed - thanks a million.
I also found that in AI CS5, I can use the selection tool to select all of the paths
in this case and then join them using the join command. I thought I needed to
select individual anchor points for this to work, but it actually works really
well, better than I thought. I seem to recall that previous versions of Illustrator
were a lot more picky with the Join command, but then again this might just
have been my lack of understanding.
I'm curious to know what other solutions to the above problem that other users
might have, so I will leave this question unanswered for a bit...
but I will use your initial technique described - it seems to work
pretty well, in absence of other options Many thanks again for your timely help.
Jeff