I decided to put my shameless request for donations here so you can’t miss it. I need to raise $1240 more to reach my $5000 goal. If you can donate one week of lunch money or your allowance, it would help get me to my goal. Thanks in advance for your donation!
Miles: 88.3 Today / 1514.56 Total
Elevation Gain: 571 ft. Today / 15,299 ft. Total
Today was going to be a long long day with a 10 mph headwind throughout the day, according to the weatherman. We started out with clear skies, lots of wind, and a temperature of 52 degrees, which is pretty nippy for this Arizona girl.
We traveled through several miles of beach vacation homes and rentals on both sides of the road that lasted till just before we got to Kitty Hawk.
There, we turned west and crossed Currituck Sound. Did you notice anything? No mention of the Wright Brothers in Kitty Hawk? That’s because I somehow passed the Wright Brothers National Memorial and was so focused on fighting the wind that didn’t even notice it, which is a sad state of affairs. The name of the bridge across Currituck Sound is Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge. I knew I’d screwed up, but there was no going back at this point.
Once over the bridge, the beach scenery came to a complete screeching halt, and now we were looking at lush tall trees, farmland, more swamps and more farmland. I’ll bet you weren’t expecting that.
As the day drug on, there were a few points in the route when we were traveling with the wind at our side instead of our faces, which took some of the load off, but for the most part, it was a complete sufferfest.
Once again we crossed the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. I need to read up on that some day when I have wifi and some free time.
Later in the day we came up on a location I’ve seen up ahead on my map and have been looking forward to—The Great Dismal Swamp. This is a real place. Seriously. My first clue that I was arriving there was the crossing of the Dismal Swamp Canal, also part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and entrance to The Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge.
I heard a lot of birds, but only saw a few of them. The guys spotted a lot of turtles that I completely missed. The swamp itself? Really cool and beautiful place. It had all kinds of plants, wildflowers, fallen trees, interesting shadows, murky ponds, etc.
The road along the swamp lead us to Sunbury, where we were sleeping in the Fellowship Hall of the Beulah Baptist Church. The pastor was a really great guy who made a point of speaking to each one of us individually. And he did some other really nice things, like prearrange with the fire department to let us use their showers, and have a some lovely congregants there to welcome us and have an amazing dinner waiting for us: lasagne, tossed salad, garlic bread and homemade brownies and cookies. These are some truly awesome people.
The wifi was too weak to do anything, so it was early to bed. Tomorrow wasn’t going to be a long day, but it was going to be a cold day, and I needed to rest up. Only three of us were sleeping indoors—Jade, Nick and me. It seems that most of the guys are choosing tenting outside over sleeping inside on the floor, due to someone’s snoring, which has me a little worried. What if I’m the loud snorer they’re tenting to avoid? Lol!
Living Our Bucket List 