July 15, 2003 ARGH! What a day on the river! It was exciting historically because I swam over a famous Civil War battlefield where the sunken boats still remain. We went through a shallow section of the river, and when I did the pull portion of my stroke, my hand momentarily got stuck in a strangely shaped, submerged tree branch...ADRENALINE RUSH! My heart went instantaneously anaerobic. A few miles down river, the wind picked up and the whitecaps emerged. The swells continued to get larger. I had to do a kind of body surf swim thing. I was pushed and pulled for close to three hours. It was difficult to breathe from my left side because the swells interfered with my ability to take a breath. I love to see the Tennessee River show off her personality and remind us that rivers can never be totally tamed. My quote for the day came from Billy- well actually it was Ralph Waldo Emerson. "You cannot dream yourself into character, you must hammer and forge yourself one." Well, it was an appropriate quote for the day because I was hammered by the river and I will forge the rest. My mission to swim the river has been a character builder for me. Good character building does not come without hard work, determination, and open-mindedness. It does not come by just reading about it. It comes by being and doing. Doing what is necessary to be a good steward of the Tennessee River speaks volumes about our character. "For God so loved the world," take care of it! mimi