MST Trek Day 67

Woke up-- indoors-- at Roy and Geoffrey's house.  I spent a wonderful evening with them, and I was sad to have to leave.  The weather this morning was overcast and amazingly cool.  Cloud cover stayed with us for the majority of the morning, which kept the temperature down.  Roy dropped us off at the trailhead and Geoffrey packed a Coke for the road.  He also wrote me a very touching letter.  I am so pleased that they allowed me to experience a small portion of their lives.  Meeting folks like these and knowing I am making a difference in peoples' lives is the reason I do what I do.  The trek on highway 55 into New Bern was fairly difficult, as there were a lot of dump trucks and many cars as we reached the outer limits of the city.  I learned something new today.  New Burn is the birthplace of Pepsi Cola!  All day long we were anticipating crossing the bridge to Bridgeton.  We had heard that it was very dangerous and could prove to be problematic.  Before crossing the bridge, we met up with Jet Judin from Thoro, who will be remaining with us through the completion of this trek.  We are excited to be able to document this adventure, and want to give special thanks to Thorlo for making this happen. The police met us as we were preparing to cross.  Jef worked it out with them to provide a police escort across the bridge.  That was a really great experience.  Cars were backed up, but when they slowly passed us, many honked and cheered us on.  I really am beginning to feel like Forest Gump!  I am so proud of Tennille. Not only did we do the 18 miles to get to the bridge, but we had to do another 2 to 2 1/2 to get over the two bridges.  Going across the bridge was nerve racking for me, but Tennille held her ground and stayed focused on her work.  I know it was a lot to ask as the end of a long day, but she performed impeccably.  Thank you so much, Guide Dogs for the Blind for pairing me with such an incredible guide.  Tonight we are staying at the KOA campground and will be making our first ferry crossing soon.  Now that we've finally reached the Atlantic Ocean and can smell the salt air, completing this trek is starting to seem like a reality.