Today we set out form Pine Level, North Carolina, and headed 22.6 miles to the eastern side of Goldsboro. That puts our total mileage up to 351.29, and our feet up to incredibly sore. We do have to thank the Evans family for housing us last night and providing much needed snackage.

On the whole, today was rather uneventful. We spent most of the day dribbling (a very safe distance away from the road) along highway 70, which, as it turns out, is really straight with a lot of trees next to it. In the afternoon we were interviewed by Ty from the Goldsboro News-Argus, and we also marked the official transition into Eastern North Carolina, as today was the first day that the number of mosquitoes killed was larger than the number of ticks pulled off. However, if you can’t tell from our video today, we had a lot of free time.

But by far the biggest event of the day came later, maybe around 5. Our friend Jorian has been contacting different media outlets for us, trying to help us spread the word (and for that we can’t thank him enough), and he informed us that today, executives at CBS were going to have a meeting in which they would discuss the possibility of doing a story on us for their nightly news. Jorian got back to us around 5, and unfortunately, CBS will not be doing a story on Kicking Across Carolina.

At first, all we felt was disappointment. If we were able to get on a national news program, just think of the number of people who would hear our message! Just think of the number of people who could end their fashion nightmares and purchase one of our stylish and comfortable t-shirts! But as we worked through our initial feelings of sadness, we began to discuss why we were on this trip and what we’ve done so far, and by the end I think we turned a sharp let-down into a reminding life lesson.

First, we discussed how cool it was just to be in a CBS meeting. At the start of this trip, I don’t think any of us dreamed of being on national television, and we all agree that we were blessed to even be considered, and to be talked about means we’ve come a long way (mostly thanks to Jorian and all of our other awesome supporters!). Second, we discussed why we were on this trip. The answer to that was easy—to spread our message of religious tolerance and accepting the differences in others to as many as possible, as well as trying to raise as much money as possible for three organizations that work full time using those principles. By that answer, missing out on CBS was a huge disappointment—we could have exponentially increased the number of people we could reach! But as we talked about it further, we realized that while as many people as possible is the goal, any person at all makes it worthwhile. We realized that if our trip helps out at least one person—by helping them overlook the differences in others or by inspiring them to go after something they believe in too, or if the money we raise only helps create one friendship through soccer,  then our trip was entirely worth it. For while quantity is a noble goal for our journey, quality is what really matters—quality discussions and quality friendships. And if we can help to create even one of those, then 450 miles really isn’t that tough of a task.

Total Distance Traveled Today: 22.6 miles

Total Time Spent Traveling Today: 9 hours

Total Distance Traveled: 351.29 miles