Entry #29 day 20

I believe last night was my best night of sleep in my tent, I woke up dry and rested. I had plans of going to church at St Mildreds in Swansboro for a 9 AM Mass and the church was 11 miles away. I picked up camp quickly, I didn’t have time for a proper breakfast so I had a vanilla protein bar and a Bud Light, made for a nice little combo meal of protein and carbs. I then peddled as fast as I could stopping only to pick up a little road treasure, it was a Kobalt folding utility knife with a blue handle....very nice find. I also stopped to take a picture of the typical road debris in this area.

This is a picture of St Mildreds, I made it here with 2 minutes to spare and in my opinion I don’t think I stunk too bad. After mass I spoke with a very nice lady her name was Elaine, she asked me about my trip and when I asked her how well she survived the storm she informed me that her husband had died possibly as a result of the stress from the storm. Elaines husband had been evacuated from the nursing home and he had been moved to his daughters house, Elaine told me, one night during his stay they were able to lay together in bed and hold each other one last time before he passed. Elaine if you are reading this I hope you are not upset that I shared it, I thought it was one of the sweetest stories I have ever heard, a tale of true love.

I continued on my trip to a campground at Top Sail beach, it was going to be an easy 48 mile day so I stopped for a proper breakfast at Burger King, knowing I had plenty of time. After breakfast I hit my first closed road block and found out some of the road had been washed away, less than a mile away I hit my second closed road sign this time for a partially closed road due to high water, the crew on scene allowed me to pass on the dry shoulder.

Then the real bad news hit, stupid google maps had sent me to the back gate at Camp Lejeune, I was met by the armed guard and I asked him if I could cut through, He asked if I had a DOD card or any active military affiliation, I was going to tell him I did volunteer work with the Salvation Army, special forces Bell Ringers, does that count? But he did have a gun so I decided to just leave instead. I didn’t take any pictures here, I figured that would not be a good idea, I just thanked the Marine for doing his job well.





I Try not to take pictures of peoples homes that are damaged but this one amazed me , 2 homes cut in half by the same tree, I really should get those big pine trees in my backyard taken down.

How in the world am I supposed to know how many Billions served?

It’s been a while since I took a bridge picture.

This was another military base road that google sent me on, This one had a sign that said no tracked vehicles allowed beyond this point so I figured I was ok.

Another cool grandkids picture. One of the cool sites I saw on my 25 mile detour around Camp Lejeune, for a grand total of 73 miles on my easy day.

I pulled into the campground and before I set up my tent, a camper brought me a delicious Po’Boy, aGatorade and later a Reese’s peanut butter cup because he said it looked like I needed it, he was so right. Southern Hospitality is alive and well, these people have been so kind it’s amazing.

Here’s my buddy Zeke a 125 LB Congoles.



Here are the locals just hanging out by the office in rocking chairs, it is so mellow down here I love it.