Crossing into New Jersey

Here I am yesterday with Luke Robinson (apologies yesterday for calling him Luke Richardson), Murphy, Hudson on the Philadelphia side of the Ben Franklin bridge. Luke crossed the Ben Franklin with a nice army of supporters in tow and entered his 12th state: New Jersey.

Here is Luke at the foot of the bridge, which turned out to be one mile across with a nice pedestrian lane. We had a mild day for the crossing--in the 50's with no wind and even I, who is not thrilled with heights, made it across in one piece. The only casualty was my friend Cheryl's dog Thomas (a cavalier King Charles spaniel) who had to be carried from mid point on. We took turns. We think he may have caught my agoraphobia since his vantage point was much closer to the water.

Here is Luke on the Jersey side and Cheryl is in the background taking his picture. You can see Thomas is walking at this point!
The plan now is for Luke to be in New York City by December 18 where he is going Christmas caroling with the dogs. Along the way, he will travel up Route 130 through Princeton. He traverses about 10-12 miles a day so it will be slow going but he is prepared for all conditions.
Today, Ernie and Dave, two veterans who both lost dogs to cancer, provided Luke with transportation to and from the bridge and actually transported his gear to his next stop. It is called "trail magic" and Luke attracts it like a magnet.

Remember you can follow his journey here.