Update #30 - Sept 25th, 2001
N. Wilkesboro, N.C. - 7588 miles

The ride from Dunwoody, GA to N. Wilkesboro, N.C. went okay. The heat wasn't really bad this section but yesterday and the day before that were hampered by some really bad thunderstorms. Today because of the cold front that passed through,the temperature was actually 18 degrees cooler than yesterday.

For lodging, I stayed at several churches, in a couple of donated motel rooms, and in my new tent.

Camping out in my tent had some hardships. The night of Sept. 23rd I was camping out in a church campgrounds in the small town of Patterson. Around 10 p.m., a thunderstorm was coming through the area and I didn't think that my new little tent could hold up to the storm. I moved everything over to the front porch of a nearby bath-house. There was just enough room for my tent. I had just gotten everything settled in the new location when the storm really hit. The rain made a really loud sound hitting the metal roof. I was able to fall asleep around 10:30 p.m. but I was awoken by a strange sensation. It felt like my tent was moving. When I checked outside, I found a stream of mud and water flowing under my tent. I trudged a quarter-mile up the hill to where the pastor lived and he let me camp out a van that had a cot for a bed in back. It was around 1:30 a.m. when I finally got back to sleep.

There was pretty neat scenery to see while riding through N. Georgia, NW South Carolina, and Western North Carolina. In North Carolina, I've been riding in the Appalachian Mountains for the past couple of days. The scenery has been really nice and I've crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway several times. Today, I crossed the Eastern Continental Divide at 3,120 feet about eight miles east of Boone. Also today, I had a great five mile long coast down a eight percent grade about a mile east of Deep Gap. In some sections, my cyclometer showed over 31 mph.

Yesterday, I was able to visit Samaritan's Purse, which is Franklin Graham's ministry, outside of Boone, N.C. I was impressed with what I had seen. Also, I was deeply impressed that administrative and fund-raising costs amounted to just nine percent of their total budget for the year. They have some really fantastic programs around the world including sending gift boxes made out of shoe boxes to children in need around the world.

Currently, I'm heading to the Winston-Salem area and then on to Wilmington. After that, I'm open to what my Leader in Heaven directs me to go. I'm feeling that I should be heading down the coast through S.C. and Georgia to Florida. Florida would be my 24th state visited this year.