January 18, 2008

Today’s miles: 14.1
Camp Creek to the Neuse River, hitched to New Bern

I woke up early with the concise clear phrase echoing in my head, “Go. Now. Go.” I tried to quell it, and got up with the starting of engines (Friday morning commuters) and packed up and headed out into the morning cold. In Harlowe, I stopped at the little gas station, with only heavily-accented African American clientele. Some reactions I got were:

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Hey, she’s hiking across the state”

“You’re going to FREEZE. You better get yourself to a Motel 6 tonight.”
And other such encouraging talk.

I bought a tasteless 400 calorie strawberry poptart and some coffee, and sat inside the gas station with the Middle Eastern owner, listening to music in Arabic and defrosting. Shouldering the pack, I moved on down the road praying for sun and warmth. The sun finally came out and I passed by the Motha-effing Neusiok trail! Of course, despite my convinction that I would be trucking it to the Neuse River Ferry on roads, I turned into the trail and tried out the boardwalk. I walked about ¾ mile, until the boardwalk dropped off into wet mud. With a sigh, I pivoted and returned to the road. I walked to the Ferry Rd, turned right and marched on 5 miles to the river! I moved through a rich subdivision along the river, in marked contrast to the poverty I had been walking through that morning. I had no idea how much this trip would make me question and think about my privalage and ability to solicit help from strangers as a young caucausion woman