Crazy long, but lets see if this will post without losing the formatting.

Me - Wes
Greg - My Brother
Stacey - Greg's wife (Team Captain)
Dad - Support crew

WYNN BROTHERS ACCOUNT OF THE TEXAS WATER SAFARI 2008


72 HOURS OF ADVENTURE, A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES

This is a compilation of thoughts from each of us on the team, Greg and Wes as paddlers, and Stacey and Gerald as bank runners. The story is split up in sections with each of us telling our story as we go down the river. This represents most of what we can remember. We are sure there are other events that took place that we don't remember or have unconsciously chosen not to remember.

The Texas Water Safari is deemed "The World's Toughest Boat Race." The race starts in Spring Lake at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, Texas, and follows the San Marcos River into the Guadalupe River all the way to Seadrift, Texas. The course is a total of 262 miles by river. The rules require a team to carry all of their supplies, and they cannot accept any assistance from anyone except their designated team captain. The team captain can only provide ice and water and must sign the team in and out of each of the twelve checkpoints along the way. It is the team captain's responsibility to know which checkpoints the team is located between at all times. To successfully complete the race, teams must reach the seawall in Seadrift in 100 hours or less. Paddlers for Team Wynn were Greg Wynn age 40 and Wesley Wynn age 38. Team Captain was Greg's wife, Stacey, (I'll leave out the age on this one), and co-team captain was Greg and Wesley's Dad, Gerald Wynn. Greg and Stacey reside in Port Lavaca and Wes and Gerald reside in College Station.

THE MOST ASKED QUESTION: WHY???????

Greg: I have been asked this question on numerous occasions and have probably never given a good answer. I'll give it another try, but I realize some will never understand why anyone would want to do this. Three distinct events worked together to convince me to give this a try. 1.) As a young child, I have fond memories of living in San Marcos as my parents worked on their Masters Degrees every summer. Wes and I were taken down to the river quite often, and I distinctly remember being taken to see the start of the Water Safari sometime in the very early 70's. I still have pictures of that day that run through my head. On occasion throughout my life, I have thought about what it would be like to be a part of this adventure. 2.) In June of 1990, I was severely injured in an industrial accident. The accident resulted in me losing my right eye and severely scarring my lungs. Up until this point in my life, I thought I was bullet proof. This event changed my perspective on life. I had always considered myself to be a decent athlete but found myself challenged to do what I once did. My cardio vascular endurance was affected, and that had some underlying affects on my psyche. The macho side of me wanted to once again prove I could compete. I thought about a marathon but realized I just didn't enjoy running that much anymore and wasn't sure my lungs could do it. I switched my thoughts to riding in the MS 150 bike race. After a few weeks on the training bikes in a fitness center, I realized I didn't enjoy the size of the bike seat and didn't like the thought of riding on the highway to train. I always have enjoyed water, so I began thinking about the Safari again. 3.) Two men from work who I consider super athletes began training for the Safari. They made several attempts at it and finished the 2006 safari in 62 hours. Their stories were very intriguing and were the final straw in my decision. Thanks Mike and Emmett!!! On top of all of this is the fact that there are very few people who can claim to have finished this race. Why not live a little and be one of those few? I felt a lot of emotion going into this race and had many thoughts as I prepared. There are several emblems and sayings on the boat that many might not understand; they each represented something special to me. On the back of the boat there is a running WB that I traced off my grandfather's and his brother's cattle brand, Wynn Brothers. I couldn't think of anything more appropriate for Wesley and me. What better way to represent the family name. My grandfather was Alvin Wynn and someone who I greatly admired. I wish he could have been around to be a part of this. As I was looking through my attic for the lightest life jacket I could find, I ran across my grandfather's life jacket. He had written his name on the back, and he used to wear it when he went fishing with me. I carried this with me and wore it as we crossed the bay. Our boat number was 1944. In 2007 when I signed up for the "Prelim" race in my single person kayak, I wanted to be boat number 44 since that was my high school football number. Forty-four was taken, so I chose 1944. 1944 was the year my parents and Stacey's parents were born. 1944 was the winter my grandfather spent fighting in Belgium. And 1944 had the numbers 44 in it. On the gunnels of our canoe, I wrote two sayings. The first was "Every day is a holiday and every meal is a banquet." This is a saying one of my high school coaches used quite a lot, and I have referred to it many times over the years. I knew that to paddle 262 miles I would need to have a good attitude and be grateful for the opportunity I had been given. There were several times during the race when I had to refer to this statement. The second statement was "The second best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." This comes from a song that Allison Krauss sings. Mom has told me several times this was one of Dad's (Gerald's) favorite songs. He probably didn't know it, but this was a tribute to my Dad, a man who I highly admire and respect and who has been incredibly influential and supportive my entire life. What better way to look at such a race than to know you have been given the opportunity to play. After all, you have two options. You can sit on the sideline and watch and later have regrets that you never tried, or you can get out there and give it your best and live with the results. In this situation, I'm certainly glad we chose to play.

Wes: Unlike Greg, I had no longstanding dream to complete the Texas Water Safari. I had heard of it a time or two but never gave it much thought. My decision to participate in the Safari was primarily driven by the fact that Greg thought enough of me to ask if I wanted to join him in this adventure. It was an honor to be asked.

At the time I really didn't have any hobbies and it sounded like something interesting to do and something to add to the "things I've done in my life" list. If nothing else, it seemed like a good excuse to get out of the house, spend quality time with Greg (which we really hadn't done in many years), and lose some weight, and it would definitely be a needed break from the go to work, come home, and go back to work again routine.

Stacey: I wanted to support Greg and be there with him. I enjoyed watching him do so well.

Dad: My initial reaction to the Water Safari adventure was why anyone would deliberately put themselves through such torture. I had kept up with the Safari for years and knew it was quite a physical feat. My goal for Greg and Wes was for them to be able to finish the race in a hundred hours or less without injury.



PREPARATION:

Greg: Stacey can attest to the fact that I spent many hours researching and reading about Safari preparation and what boat I should purchase. Before it was all said and done, I purchased three boats (this is not a very positive subject around my house). I started off thinking I wanted to do the race solo. I purchased a plastic 16.5' Sea Kayak, did some training, and competed in the "Prelim" race from Cuero to Victoria on May 19, 2007. I never intended to do the Safari in 2007 but wanted to get a taste of what the racing was like. I completed the ~38 miles in five hours and forty five minutes with a very high water level in the river. I enjoyed the race and decided to keep moving toward the goal. Stacey was pretty influential in talking me out of trying solo in my first safari, so I began thinking about who I could ask to be my partner. Several names came to mind, and several different events took place that brought me to asking Wesley to be a part of it. Wes thought about my offer for a few days and became excited about the prospect. Team WB (Wynn Brothers) was formed in the summer of 2007, and we set our sights on the 2008 Texas Water Safari. I purchased a very used Sawyer Cruiser, kevlar canoe, and we decided to compete in the Colorado 100 race, a race from Bastrop, Texas, to Columbus, Texas. We made several training runs with Dad (Gerald) as our team captain. We competed in the race and completed the 100 miles in fifteen hours and forty five minutes. We particularly enjoyed our rest stops along the way as Dad treated us to grilled cheese sandwiches and huge cinnamon rolls. In the Colorado 100, your team captain can support you however they want. The high water somewhat spoiled us, and we had no clue how low the water would be in the 2008 Safari compared to the high water in the Colorado in 2007. We made our first training run for the Safari in November of 2007 going from Luling to Gonzales. Two days after Christmas, we ran Gonzales 183 to Hochheim on a cold day. When we got in the boat that morning, it was 28 degrees. Thank goodness we kept the boat upright that day. As our confidence increased, we moved up and started training on the upper San Marcos River. On our second run on the upper San Marcos, we knocked a hole in our canoe and decided the Sawyer was very old and brittle and was not going to work for a Safari canoe. Through a lot of discussion on the internet and looking for an aluminum canoe, we were able to find a 17' Alumacraft Voyager that exactly fit the bill. We had looked for one when we bought the Sawyer but were never able to find one. The Alumacraft is well known in the Safari. It fits into the specifications of running in the Novice class for the race, and the Sawyer does not fit into this class. The Novice class is for those who have never completed a Safari. This was where we wanted and needed to be. Over the course of November through June, Wes and I ran the entire river in ~40 mile intervals. The only section we did not run together was from Victoria City Park to Victoria HWY 59. Stacey and I ran this 12 mile section of the river so I could learn the river and Stacey could get a feel for what it was like. We put in approximately 400 miles of training in 2008, running the upper part of the river from San Marcos to Luling or Gonzales multiple times. During this time, we prepared food and supplies that we thought were necessary. During the month of May, we competed in two warm up races for the Safari. We ran the Prelim race from Cuero HWY 236 to Victoria. We completed this race in seven hours, and to our surprise, we won the Novice division of the race. The next day we competed in the Barrier to the Bay race from the Salt Water Barrier at Tivoli to Seadrift. We once again won the Novice division of this race. I should note that during the Prelim race, we were chasing two ladies in an aluminum canoe who we could not keep up with. We worked hard to stay with them but couldn't. It was our impression that they were in the Novice class. Come to find out they were in the Women's class for that particular race, and therefore, we won the Novice class. As this story continues, you will hear more and more about Kim and Joy. These two ladies turned out to be great folks who we enjoyed competing against. During the Barrier to the Bay race, we lined up behind Kim and Joy and set our sights on staying with them. We followed them very closely during the race until we hit the bay. When we hit the bay, we decided on a different path across the bay and were able to make it across the bay faster than they did. On that day, we thought they were once again in the Ladies class, but after the race was over, we realized they competed in the Novice division, and we had actually needed to beat them to win the class. We spent quite a bit of time visiting with Kim and Joy, and a friendly rivalry began. We saw them once again during a training run on the San Marcos before the Safari. When Safari entries were posted, we saw that Kim and Joy had entered the Safari in the Women's division. We were very grateful they were not in the Novice division. They could simply paddle their boat faster than we could, and we didn't think we would have a chance to beat them in the big race. When we visited with them the day before the Safari, they told us they had changed to the Novice division. Our hearts sank, and we were prepared for them to run off from us again in the upper river. Our competitive spirits began to flow, and we knew we would have to work extremely hard to have a shot at winning. We started this adventure just wanting to finish. We upped the ante a bit, and I created a plan that would have us finishing in just under 75 hours. After winning the warm up races, we began to hope for a trophy. Winning the trophy had just become harder when we found out we were competing against Kim and Joy in boat #2153. We met another interesting team who we really enjoyed pulling for and wished them all the best. Rusty and Jim Boger drove 1,000 miles from Ohio and Indiana two days before the race, drove the river course looking at checkpoints, and then started the race in the Novice class. Wow, what an adventure. I have a great amount of respect for these guys and the effort they made. They were boat #746.

Wes: When Greg asked me if I wanted to do the Safari, he cautioned me that it was going to take a substantial commitment in training and preparation. Over the course of the year leading up to the Safari, Greg did most of the research and work in preparing the boat. My contribution was primarily showing up at various locations on the river and being ready to paddle. I woke up early many a morning and drove to Luling, San Marcos, Gonzales, or wherever to paddle all day and drive home again. I documented our training runs along the way.
Date Location Miles
7/14/2007

Lake Bryan

10


8/11/2007

Smithville to LaGrange

35


8/25/2007

La Grange to Columbus

36


9/1/2007

Bastrop to Columbus

100


11/2/2007

Luling to Gonzales

40


12/27/2007

Gonzales to Hocheim

40


2/8/2008

San Marcos to Luling

40


3/14/2008

College Station to Navasota

34


3/28/2008

San Marcos to Gonzales

87


4/4/2008

Hocheim to Cuero

40


4/18/2008

San Marcos to Luling

40


5/3/2008

Cuero to Victoria

40


5/4/2008

SW Barrier to Seadrift

18


5/24/2008

San Marcos to Luling

40


6/1/2008

Victoria to Tivoli

32






632




Preparing for the Safari became a bit of an obsession over the course of the year, and towards the end of our training, it almost started feeling like work. My thoughts became consumed by the Safari to the point that I often had trouble sleeping at night. Greg lost more sleep than I did and would often comment on running the race, going through gear checks, calculating food/water needs, time, distance, checkpoints, finish times etc. all night long in a pseudo-sleep state. I think that by race day we were both ready to get on with it and attempt to get back to somewhat of a normal mental state.

Stacey: Well, with a kayak and two canoes in the garage and packages showing up on the front porch weekly, I admit I was counting dollar signs at first. However, as Greg did his homework and did many a practice run, it made it easier to let him go on that first day and not worry so much. I didn't have much prep work since Greg prepared all the maps and schedules for me. I did find all of the stops along the way so I would not get lost trying to find the checkpoints.

Dad: I thought it was very interesting to watch the progression of their training. After watching Greg and Wes compete in the Colorado 100, I wondered if they would still have the enthusiasm to follow through in the Water Safari. They seemed to do well on grilled cheese sandwiches and cinnamon rolls as fuel while others were drinking Spiz and Vitalyte. It turned out that they made light work of the Colorado 100 and were spurred on to continue training. I guess it was the weekend after the Prelim race and Barrier to the Bay that I was sure that it was going to happen. Not only did they complete both legs of the race, but they were very competitive, finishing first in both.


CHECK IN:

Greg: All of the Wynn families met in San Marcos on Friday about noon, ate lunch, and went to the check in. We found a nice place under the tent and began preparing all of the equipment for check in. The check in list must include every single thing you are taking on the trip. We prepared our list of all the items and became a bit overwhelmed with the amount of weight we were carrying. We reviewed the list again and agreed that we had nothing we wanted to leave out. The check in official who went over our list with us was a Safari veteran and made quite few comments about what we had that we didn't need. We took his advice as very good but didn't stray from our plan. We eliminated nothing. Some of his advice included leaving out the toilet paper. He gave us some advice in that regard, but I will spare you the details. He also thought we were crazy for carrying two GPS's. We both enjoy watching our speed and time as we paddle and were concerned about making the Luling 90 checkpoint in time. We each watch our GPS, and we can tell if we are on track or not. After day one, we had no intention of needing both of them. We completed our check in, packed all of our food and equipment into the various bags in the boat, and were done. We walked around the entire grounds and talked to various participants and looked at their boats and rigging. We were amazed at how little some of the novice boats were carrying with them and wondered how they could ever finish. We marveled at how much some of the other boats were carrying. All in all, we felt pretty good about our preparation and what we were carrying. All of the Wynn families went out to eat at the Clear Springs catfish house south of New Braunfels and had a good time. We all hit the bed fairly early, but I can't say that we all slept well. I was hoping to get a good night's sleep but somehow knew better. I slept well from 10:30 to about 2:30 and then tossed and turned for the rest of the night. I was thinking of the race as I had done so many other nights leading up to the event. I had run this race in my mind hundreds of times. Now I just needed to do it for real.

Wes: I'm glad we kept the toilet paper.

Stacey: Sandra (Greg's Mom) and I took the girls down the river a little way and let them swim. They also went on the glass bottom boats with Sandra




RACE DAY: Saturday, June 14, 2008 Day One
SPRING LAKE TO STAPLES, 16.45 miles

Greg: We arrived between 7:45 and 8:00 on race day. There was quite a buzz about the place. We checked our boat once again, applied sun screen, and prepared our drink jugs. Our family headed to Rio Vista to watch the first of the race, and we were on our own. We entered the water about 8:30 or 8:40 and found our place in row seven spot one. The starting grid was posted with nineteen rows of six boats, and we were placed by our finishing position in the Prelim race. Starting in the far left row was a blessing as we had intended to stay to the left and portage the Spring Lake Island far left behind the apartment complex. This positioning let us stay to the left and stay out of the way of the faster boats that would be coming through at the sound of the cowbell. We sat in the boat as the pre race announcements and speeches took place. Just behind us on the bank was the ground crew for Kim and Joy. They assured us that they had been instructed to keep up with us. Apparently they were watching us as closely as we were watching them. A very slow version of the national anthem was played before the race, and then a prayer was voiced. Wes remembers more about the prayer than I do, so I'll let him share those sacred words if he wishes. I know this was one of many prayers said that day. Stacey shared that she said several, and they were all answered. Some prayers were for safety while others dealt with us making the Luling 90 checkpoint in time to stay in the race. At times during practices, we had our doubts whether we could make it or not. The cowbell rang at 9:00, and we were off. In the first few seconds, we were passed by a six man boat that started two or three rows behind us. The big boat ended up running over a two man standard canoe (boat # 1977) and a single boat. Both boats were flipped and were swimming their boats to shore when we passed them. I didn't see the actual event, so I won't comment on it. There is a lot of controversy over who was at fault, and all I can say is that I am thankful we were not involved. We moved over Spring Lake at a good pace but not a full sprint because we both knew it was a long way to Seadrift. As we went across the lake, we saw Kim and Joy pass us on the far right. For all we knew, that might be the last time we saw them. We portaged far left at the island, pulled the boat out in the back yard of a house right beside the apartments, and began dragging the boat toward the apartments. There is a paved alley that we had to cross, and we had looked at it a few weeks before. We had never thought about the prospect of there being a car parked in the alley. We maneuvered around the car and drug the boat behind the apartments and down to the water below the water falls. The advice of a seasoned Safari finisher really paid off, and the portage went very smoothly and quickly. As we pulled back into the river, we came out ahead of Kim and Joy. Things were going well. We maneuvered through the Southwest Texas (now called Texas State) campus without incident and approached the City Park and the Rio Vista rapids. We went under the small walking bridge upstream of the rapids and found Ron (my father-in-law) standing on the bridge taking our picture. We went river left at the Rio Vista rapids and decided to take the safest route and portage left. There were many people watching at Rio Vista including our families, and we were able to see them on river right for a split second. Then we pulled the boat up the stairs and drug the boat down below the second rapid. In practice we always carried the boat, but to save some energy, we drug the boat and didn't worry about any minor damage we might incur. This portage went smoothly, and we headed downstream. We paddled at a steady pace to the Thompson's Island portage and had to go a little further down river than practiced due to a lot of boat traffic, but we had no trouble with the portage. Between Thompson's Island and the confluence of the Blanco River, there was quite a bit of traffic. This is a very tight section of the river with quite a few hair pin turns. In this section a boat named the "Horny Toads," which was a father son team, was determined to pass us. On two occasions they attempted to pass us and were caught in eddy currents and ran into the bank. They looked quite frustrated. We never cut them off or got in their way. We just kept paddling and let them pass where they could. They made the pass and went on. During this stretch, we also ran across two of the top paddlers in the state, West Hansen and Richard Steppe, top contenders in the Safari. They had rudder trouble and had their boat on the bank trying to make rudder repair. We paddled on to Cummings Dam and reached the dam for one of the major portages with a mass of other boats. We were in line with about five other boats to lower our boat over the dam at river right. One of the boats just in front of us was "Omar." John Stockwell is his name, and he was one of the oldest competitors to attempt the Safari. We portaged a little different than planned. Instead of me going over the dam first and Wes lowering me the boat, we both lowered the boat. I ran around the end of the dam, and then Wes came down after it. It took us a bit longer than usual, and we delayed the next boat in line by a few seconds, but it was a safe move on our part as the boat was heavier than when we had practiced. We arrived at Cottonseed rapids in good shape, paddled up to the rapids, and got out of the boat river right. Our families were there to cheer us on. We once again took the safe route. We had practiced running this rapid on various occasions, and our success rate was about 60%. We decided we would rather pass on the glory of running the rapids and protect the boat to keep on racing. We couldn't imagine the disappointment of being knocked out of the race at mile nine. We walked the boat down river right and paddled on. We paddled on toward the Staples checkpoint. Checkpoint #1. Somewhere around Martindale, we saw Larry Hensley sitting in a chair at the edge of the river watching the race. I work with Larry and was surprised to see him, and it took me a minute to recognize him. Staples is at mile 16, has a deadline of 3:00 p.m., and we arrived at 12:50. Our plan had been to arrive at 12:55 and to leave at 1:00. As Wes would say throughout the race as various folks would ask us how we were doing, "We are right on schedule." We expected to find Stacey and Dad on river right upstream of the dam, but they had found a better place. Mike Felchack, who I work with, was upstream and had us dump our water jugs upstream of the dam before lowering the boat down the metal stairs on river right. We lowered the boat without incident, jumped in the river, and walked across to a gravel bar where Dad, Stacey, and Mike and Kelley Felchack greeted us. We replaced water bottles, mixed Spiz (a meal replacement drink that provided each of us 1000 calories between each checkpoint and sustained us very well through the course of the race) and an electrolyte drink named Vitalyte and left the checkpoint six minutes after arriving. During the course of our stop, Joy and Kim portaged river left and passed us. They took pride in that, and later down the river ribbed us a little bit about them sneaking by. I think Dad saw them pass and made a comment to us about it, but I'm a little fuzzy on that detail. We were away from the checkpoint "Right on Schedule", 48th place overall, 3rd place in the Novice class. Next stop was Luling 90, Checkpoint #2, mile 40.47, hopefully before 7:30 p.m., preferably at 6:45 to stay on schedule.

Wes: Day one was a great experience. While the boats were being staged on Spring Lake and everyone was waiting for the start, I couldn't help but think how cool it was to be one of the crazy guys in a boat about to start a 262 mile canoe race, rather than a spectator on the bank. It also dawned on me that most of the spectators would be sleeping in a comfortable bed that night, while I probably wouldn't sleep for several days.

The prayer was unlike any I've ever heard (in a good way) and probably well-suited to the Safari crowd. It started along the lines of "Dear Lord, we know we haven't been going to church because we've been out training. We also haven't been reading the Bible. We know that you believe in us, even though some of us don't believe in you." I'll take that over a prayer with a bunch of Thees and Thous any day of the week.

Following the prayer, a slow rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was played on an accordion, and they announced one minute to race start.

I was happy when the cowbell rang and we were off. In terms of gear and training, we were locked in. Any questions of what we should or shouldn't bring were put to rest.

Stacey: This was a fun and hectic time. I was very nervous at the first checkpoint, but it went well. I was glad to have Gerald with me as well as support from Kelley and Mike.

Dad: This first section of the race was one of the few times we got to see any of the bigger boats. The Rio Vista and Cottonseed rapids were exciting to watch, but I never could figure out why so many boats tried to run the rapids when they knew they probably couldn't make them. At least they got a big cheer from the crowd. I agreed that Greg and Wes probably saved time by portaging.



STAPLES TO LULING HWY 90, 24 miles

Greg: While practicing this stretch of the river, we had made a mental note that at mile 24 from the start of the race we needed to be careful. We couldn't remember what had happened at that point, but we knew to be careful. The run from Staples to mile 23.5 was uneventful. At mile 23.5 we made a right turn in the river and experienced a combination sweeper and strainer. For those who don't know what that is, a sweeper is a tree that hangs down very close to the water and will sweep you out of the boat. A strainer is a tree that has fallen into the river that has water flowing swiftly through it. It will simply do what it says, strain you out of the flowing water. The place in question had one of each. They were not the same trees and had only caused us slight problems in the past. On our last training run, I remember the sweeper taking Wesley's hat off and me grabbing it as we went by. On this particular run, we were not far enough left and ran right into the problem. The sweeper caused us to lie down in the boat at the same time the boat ran into the strainer. The boat flipped completely over and threw us both out. The boat ended up facing down river upside down and was hung on a log. We asked if each other were okay then set about getting the boat out. We had no problems freeing the boat. The water was over my head, so we swam the boat river left, found a gravel bar, and emptied the boat. The boat had a pretty large dent in it just front left of the back seat where I sit. Wesley knocked the majority of the dent out with his hand, and we moved on. The gunnel of the boat was no longer symmetrical with the other side of the boat, but it did not affect the boat handling. The area of the boat that had the damage was the gunnel where I had written "Every day is a holiday and every meal is a banquet." That was quite appropriate as in the big picture, this could have been much worse. We could have damaged the boat or ourselves to the point of not being able to continue. We paddled on and didn't let the event stick with us very long. Half a mile down river, we were at mile 24 when we saw the strainer we remembered as the place that had thrown Wes out of the boat on our previous practice run. We decided to portage and not take our chances. As far as I can remember, the rest of this section was uneventful. We arrived at Luling 90 with time to spare, quite a bit ahead of our schedule and very relieved. From this point forward, we had no fears about making cutoff times. When we arrived at Luling 90, Stacey and Mike Felchack had waded across the river and met us on river right. We once again switched out water, mixed our Spiz and Vitalyte, and took a short break. We left the checkpoint at 6:28 p.m. Joy and Kim left this checkpoint at 6:06. Rusty and Jim Boger left at 6:19. We were third place in the Novice division. Twelve boats had started the race in the Novice division.

Wes: Our training came in handy along this stretch as it would for much of the race. Although we had a run-in with a tree or two as Greg mentioned above, we were also able to avoid a quite a few bad situations because we had run this stretch of the river several times and knew what to expect. I don't remember the heat or exhaustion being a factor at all this day; I don't think we had time to worry about it. Our thoughts and energies were focused on making Luling 90 in time.

At the end of the first 40 miles, we made the Luling 90 checkpoint with an hour to spare and earned the right to stay in the race. I was really sweating this checkpoint. 2008 was a low-water year, and in my opinion, we stood the highest chance of being disqualified from the race by not making Luling 90 in time. Many boats didn't make it and had to pull out at Luling 90. We were glad to still be in the mix.

Stacey: It was hot, and I was glad Luling had a Sonic!

Dad: All of us were extremely relieved when Greg and Wes made the cutoff time at Luling. So far - so good!



LULING 90 to LULING ZEDLER MILL DAM, 6.2 miles

Greg: I have no recollection of this stretch of the river, but we arrived at the Zedler Mill Dam at 8:01 p.m. in 52nd place overall. 110 boats signed up for the race, but only 95 had started. We held third place in the Novice division, approximately 30 minutes behind the Novice leaders and 15 minutes behind the second place boat. We paddled right up to the dam and found a solo boat blocking the portage we intended to use. The paddler was lying on the ground beside his boat. I thought he was hurt, but he was just resting. The solo paddler moved his boat, and we began the portage. This is one of the places where the weight of the boat affected me as we had to lift the boat up onto a concrete wall that was approximately three feet above where we were standing. Lifting the boat took three attempts, and I realized how heavy it was. We slid the boat down the concrete support as we walked on the rocks, entered the boat without problem, and paddled on. Our ground crew was there in case we needed anything, but we had planned not to stop and decided to stick to the plan. Next stop was Palmetto State Park at mile 60. The original plan was to arrive at 12:30 a.m. We were leaving Zedler Mill thirty minutes ahead of schedule. Both of our spirits were high, but we dreaded the next section of river that included Son of Ottine Rapid and Ottine Dam.

Wes: I don't remember much about this stretch of the Safari either. I do remember enjoying the sunset. The hour or two before sundown is always my favorite time on the river. With sunset comes a certain level of apprehension regarding what lies ahead at night. I think we played some John Anderson on the MP3 player. Chicken Truck by John Anderson was kind of the official song of Team Wynn Brothers. I'm not sure why because it's a really dumb song and has nothing to do with canoeing.

Stacey: The day was cooling off as the sun was going down. I enjoyed watching from this checkpoint. It was interesting watching how each team got their boat down the dam. I thought Greg and Wes made it look easy. I was glad they seemed upbeat and ready to head off into the night.

Dad: Zedler Dam was one of the hardest for the team captains to get to the boats. It had high banks and required more climbing down rocky steps than my old knees could take. I stood at the top and watched Stacey and Mike make their way down. When Greg and Wes came by this area, they decided not to take more water and ice after all.

Night One
ZEDLER MILL TO PALMETTO STATE PARK, 14.5 MILES

Greg: Just before dark, we donned our trusty headlamps. We had each bought a nice Princeton tech Apex headlamp and were very proud of them and pleased with how they worked. In addition to the headlamps, we had a Princeton tech scuba diving light that acted as our bow light. Our light situation was very functional. I don't use my headlight very often because I am in the stern of the boat. I had not used my light that night, and just after dark, there was a boat hung up on a very narrow opening between some trees. We stopped just behind the boat to give them time to clear, and the current turned us sideways. My hat was knocked off by a tree limb, and I grabbed my hat to save it. It took me a minute to realize my light had been on my head on top of my hat. Wes and I both got out of the boat and searched the bottom of the 18" deep water for my light. If the light had been on, it would have been easy to find. We searched for about five minutes and realized our efforts were futile. I mentioned to Wes that although the light was expensive, it cost less than a tank of gas for my truck. There is always an up side. While we looked for the light, the boat named Carrie Lee and Wild Man Curry in boat #1017 passed us. We would trade positions with this boat many times during the race. They were in the Standard class. I had thought about attaching the light to my shirt via a clip on several occasions but never attended to that detail. Next time (I mean, if I ever do it again) I'll do things a little different. Son of Ottine Rapid is 8.5 miles downstream of Zedler Mill. We had run this rapid on two occasions, once in the daylight when the water was higher and once at night in a little lower water. As we approached the rapid, we could hear it, and we talked back and forth about whether or not to try to run it. We had never scouted this appropriately, but at the last moment decided we might as well try it. We went a little right of middle river and came to an abrupt stop partway down the rapid on very large rocks. I really don't know what we were thinking. When we got out of the boat and looked back at what we had just tried to run, we could do nothing but laugh and move on. From downstream looking up, there was never a chance of making that rapid. Next time (oh, I mean if we ever try again) we will know better. We paddled on toward Ottine Dam. Ottine Dam is 4.5 miles downstream of Son of Ottine Rapid. It is one of the most dreaded dams on the river. We approached the dam and once again stuck to our plan. There are three options for portaging this dam. Two of these portages are just in front of the dam river left. We had performed the high portage river left over the old gear works but didn't like the thought of slipping down into the old concrete structures that used to be the spillway. After doing this once, we agreed to take the punishment of the long portage right to avoid the chance of getting injured. We pulled the boat out river right about two to three hundred yards upstream of the dam. We tried to pull the boat up the bank and ran into our second physical challenge of the day. This was the first place I saw Wes struggle. We dumped the water out of the boat and slowly drug the boat up the slippery bank. Once we got the boat on level ground, we did much better. This portage requires dragging the boat through a cow pasture and quite a few bushes and trees. I'm most certain some of the poison ivy I am now dealing with comes from this experience. We drug the boat about half way to the dam and then left it and scouted forward. We found the T post that has a rope tied to it to assist in scaling down the steep bank at the dam river right. We went back for the boat, drug it to the post, and then Wes started down the slope. There is a fairly deep hole partway down the slope that we had both fallen into before. Wes went first with the boat following and me bringing up the rear. Wes spotted the hole with his light and then proceeded to fall into it. I followed by falling into it also. We slid the boat down to the water and entered the river again without incident. We realized we had a shortfall in our equipment during this portage. The drag handles I added to the boat needed some sort of cushion. The handles were very hard on the hands, and to alleviate this, we wrapped the tube socks that we had been using for ice packs around the straps to give us some cushion. This is one of the places where I missed my headlamp that was somewhere back up river never to be found. We paddled from Ottine Dam to Palmetto State Park without any problems, rounded the left hand turn, and saw the yellow flashing light at the checkpoint. We jumped out of the boat and eased up to the low water road crossing to find quite a few people hanging out on the bridge enjoying the night. Dad and Stacey were on the bridge waiting for us. On previous trips, we had to lift the boat over the bridge, but the water was low enough that we were able to remove the bow light and push the boat under the bridge. We swam under it with just enough room to keep our heads out of the water. We moved the boat river left, fixed ourselves something to eat, and enjoyed the night with the rest of the good folks. It was beautiful that night and very peaceful at the checkpoint. What a creation our God has given us to enjoy. Our arrival time at Palmetto was 12:26 a.m. on Sunday. Once again we were "Right on Schedule." We had planned to be there at 12:30 and spend 30 minutes resting. We left Palmetto at 12:50 a.m. I believe the "Horny Toads" were asleep at Palmetto as we went through. Kim and Joy were about one hour ahead of us, and the Boger brothers were about 40 minutes ahead of us, so we remained in third place Novice.


Wes: For some unknown reason I was physically zapped at Ottine Dam portage. Maybe the day's steady adrenaline supply was finally wearing off. I'm not sure why I had so much trouble dragging the boat up the hill to the long portage right. I was surprised because I had made the same portage on a previous training run after paddling the same distance. The mind was willing, but the body wasn't cooperating. The boat felt really heavy. Physically, this portage was the toughest event of the Safari for me.

The Palmetto low water crossing was marked with a flashing yellow light. As we approached, I heard someone say "Go into the light," which seemed strangely appropriate at the time.

I swore I'd never go under the Palmetto low water crossing, but when we got there everyone said that it was the easiest option, and I was all about easy at that point. Greg and I jumped out of the boat and went under the crossing without thinking. I had to pull down on the boat as we crawled under the low-water-crossing in order to give it the clearance that it needed to squeeze under the bridge.

As with every checkpoint, Stacey and Dad were there on time, on-target, waiting with ice and water. We couldn't have made it without them.

Stacey: I was very worried about the nights. I envisioned walking through brush in the dark and fighting off many bugs. The evenings and nights turned out to be my favorite times. I was very thankful for that bright moon.

Dad: Our wait on the bridge that crossed the river was very nice. It was a beautiful night with a full moon, and we enjoyed an hour or so wait with other team captains. It was actually very cool, and there were no mosquitoes. By then we seemed to be running with some team captains who had a black German Shepherd who was never on a leash and was somewhat hyperactive. Stacey and I arrived at the motel at 2:00 a.m. and slept until 8:00 a.m. We both woke up with icicles on our noses that morning because the AC was turned down so low, but neither of us complained.

PALMETTO STATE PARK to GONZALES HWY 183, 25.2 MILES

Greg: This is a section of river that we practiced once during the day and once at night. It is known for its log jams. We headed for Gonzales doing our best to predict our arrival so Stacey and Dad could get some rest during the night. Saturday night/Sunday morning was the one night they had a motel room and would be able to sleep somewhere other than a lawn chair along the side of the river. We asked them to be at Gonzales 183 at 9:00 on Sunday morning. We didn't expect it to take that long to get there, but we had planned one of two options for us to get a little rest. We had hoped that one of us could sleep in the boat as the other paddled. The last eight miles or so above Gonzales Dam is a lake with very slow moving water. Taking turns and paddling was one option, and the other option was to arrive in Gonzales early Sunday morning and sleep before Dad and Stacey arrived. Our original schedule had us arriving in Gonzales at 8:00 a.m. and leaving at 10:45. I was hoping to use this opportunity to get a little ahead of our schedule. We paddled on and found this section of river to not be near as bad as we had remembered. In one of our training runs, we paddled from San Marcos to Gonzales and had some weird experiences and sightings during the early mornings. On this trip, the river brought no unexpected challenges, and we progressed well. There were two log jams that I recall facing during the night. One was a single large tree approximately 3' in diameter that had fallen across the entire river. There was no way to portage left or right, so we had to go over. We pulled the boat up sideways to the log. Wes lit up the log to look for snakes, and then both of us stood on the log, pulled the boat over, and climbed back in. A little further down the river was a larger log jam that required a portage left. Boat #1977 was portaging when we arrived. We began the task of dragging the boat left next to a large log that was parallel the bank. Wes called "1,2,3 pull," over and over again. We winded ourselves before getting to the other side. We paddled on to Gonzales 90 and then on through the lake. We didn't try the paddle/sleep technique because we knew we were way ahead of the 9:00 time we had given Dad and Stacey and would have time to rest at the next checkpoint. We arrived at the Gonzales Dam, pulled ourselves up the steep slippery bank with a rope that is tied to a tree, and then drug the boat up behind us. We emptied the water out of the boat, and the Safari official who had helped us check in walked up and visited for moment. We took the short portage left and lowered the boat down to the river over the rocks. We paddled the short distance to the checkpoint and signed ourselves in at 7:45 am. We took our time wandering around and taking care of a few things. We walked upstream forty or fifty yards, found a huge tree with a rope swing, and made an attempt at taking a nap under the trees. We reclined for about 45 minutes, but I was unable to sleep. I did relax, and it gave my muscles a chance to rest, but sleep didn't come. Wes may have slept some, but if so, it was probably ten minutes or less. A few minutes before 9:00, we walked back toward the boat and saw Stacey coming toward us. Joy and Kim had already been through the checkpoint when we arrived. We had passed the Boger brothers during the night, and they arrived as we were resting under the tree. The Bogers left the check point before us, but we would see them again later in the day. We left the checkpoint at 9:14 in 42nd place overall, still third in the Novice class. We were 1 hrs ahead of our schedule but had not slept as we had hoped. Stacey held up a Happy Father's Day banner that the kids had made for us, and Dad took a picture. We wished Dad a Happy Father's Day and started the longest single leg of the race.

Wes: This stretch wasn't near as bad as I had remembered from our training runs. I'm not sure if the river fairies (people who clear trees/log jams ahead of time) had been at work or not, but it was nice not to contend with a plethora of log jams that night. There were a few log jams that we had to go over/under/through, but nothing like on a previous training run. After lying down at the Gonzales 183 checkpoint for 45 minutes on Sunday morning, I didn't think I'd be able to get up again. It doesn't take long for the muscles to tense up when stopped. While resting, I remember thinking that we were less than a couple of hundred yards from the Gonzales "Come and Take it!" site from Texas history. I also remembered that there was a nice little Mexican food joint right up the road where I had breakfast prior to one of our training runs. Juevos Rancheros sure would have been good right about then. I guess Spiz would have to do for another two or three days.

Stacey: I felt bad that they couldn't sleep and had to wait on us, but I was thankful they were safe. I enjoyed going on my first geocache with Gerald.

Dad: When we arrived at the Gonzales checkpoint, Greg and Wes said they had not been able to sleep and looked very tired. The next checkpoint was 36 miles away, so Stacey and I had some time to kill. We grabbed a breakfast taquito and then found two historical geocaches in Gonzales. At noon Stacey insisted on buying me a Fathers' Day lunch at a Mexican food restaurant in Gonzales. After lunch we headed out to Hochheim and found a geocache at the old Hochheim General Store. As we were driving away from the store at 55 mph, my GPS slid off the hood of the truck where I had left it, and it hit the highway with a thud. No more geocaches this trip.

Day Two
GONZALES 183 to HOCHHEIM, 36.2 MILES

Greg: This is a very long stretch of river, so we carried extra water and ice with us to make the trip. There is no public river access, so team captains have no access to you for the duration. We estimated our trip to take us eight hours and thirty minutes. We had run this section in seven hours before, but we were fresh, and it was 28 degrees outside. This section of river has a mixture of nice moving water and also long stretches of slow water. We experienced quite a lot of emotion and mental games during this run. We broke out the MP3 player and played quite a few hours of Brooks and Dunn and Garth Brooks. I'm not much of a singer and usually don't sing out loud much, but I recall getting into the music and singing fairly loudly for quite a bit of this trip. Not very far into this section we passed the Bogers who had tied their boat up to a tree and were sleeping in the boat. We were fairly quiet when we went by, but the stern man heard the music and looked up to see us pass. He wasn't too concerned with us and went back to sleep. We traded places with boat #1977 several times during the day, and it was nice to have a little company on the trip. Somewhere before we reached the half-way point through this section, I could tell Wes was struggling. He was fading a bit, and his attitude was slipping. His positive we-can-do-it attitude was waning, and I could see frustration set in. We would both experience this during the race, but luckily it never hit us at the same time. I could tell he was wondering why we had ever started this. The weather forecast was 100 degrees that day, and I believe it reached that mark. This was one of the only sections of the trip that I actually noticed the heat. We stopped 18 miles into the day and took a break. Mother Nature was calling, and we also took the opportunity to get in the river and cool off. I don't know what kind of discussion Wes had with himself, but he pulled himself up by the bootstraps and became very positive and was ready to go again. He can better explain some of his internal discussions. During the course of this trip, the latch on my wrist watch came loose, and my watch fell off my arm into the river. I made a swipe for it as it sank but missed. I was now without a watch and wasn't using my GPS so I could save batteries. This was the first time in all of our training that I didn't have the tools to calculate arrival times on a minute by minute basis. Wesley was very patient with me as I asked him over and over what time it was and what mile marker we were at. There is no telling how many times I asked him these questions. Wes was very patient with me the entire trip as I can tend to be critical of his paddle stroke. I sit in the back and get to watch him paddle the entire time. When he gets tired, his paddle stroke gets flatter and flatter. I pointed this out a few times and was overly critical. Thanks for putting up with me Wes! We arrived at the Hochheim Bridge with a large group of friends and family to welcome us. Stacey, Dad, Ron and Pam (Stacey's parents), Stacey's sister Melissa and her kids, and Mike and Kelley Felchack were there. The entire group was very encouraging, and we appreciated the kind words. Stacey and Dad refilled us with water and provided us with a cold glass of ice water, and we took a few minutes to regroup. Boat #1977 pulled in beside us at the checkpoint. Our split time for this section of the river was eight hours and thirty two minutes (official split times include time stopped at check points). We had the 31st fastest time for that section of the river, and we were in 40th place overall. We spent about 20 minutes visiting and regrouping at this checkpoint. We arrived and left the checkpoint in 2nd place in the Novice class. Kim and Joy were about 1 hours ahead of us, and the Boger brothers were over 2 hours back. The lack of sleep at Gonzales and the faster than expected split time had us almost two hours ahead of our schedule. All is well!

Wes: As Greg mentioned, the Safari is a mental game, and somewhere along this stretch, I hit a huge mental low. It's amazing what a combination of physical exhaustion, sleep deprivation, boredom (as I mentioned earlier the TWS can be quite boring at times), and seemingly having no end in sight can do to a person. Mentally I felt myself slipping along this route and I reached my lowest point of the Safari. I started to feel a bit claustrophobic, and felt like I would be a prisoner of the boat for the next two or three days. One of the Safari veterans had told me that sometimes it helps to get out of the boat and swim every now and then just to break the cycle of sitting for hours and days on-end. I told Greg that while I didn't want to slow us down, I needed to stop, swim, and regroup. While lying down in the shallow river I reminded myself of all the time and effort that we had invested to get to this point. I reminded myself that it would all be over in two or three days, and that I'd have all the time I needed to rest when it was done. Now was the time to put on a positive attitude and "Keep Smiling," as Safari Veteran Jay Daniel had advised me before the race. Time to man up, get back in the boat, and keep it moving down the river. After all......this is supposed to be fun.

Stacey: It was a long wait under that bridge, and it was still. I read for a while until reinforcements arrived. That sure helped to pass the time. My Dad was wonderful and brought me some iced tea from Sonic. I spilled it all before I ever took a sip. What a disappointment! I'm glad that was the biggest disappointment of the entire race! I was also glad that Greg and Wes took time to stop and visit. It was hard when they didn't stop.

Dad: We had a long wait at Hochheim, so I watched a girl throw sticks into the river for the black German Shepherd to retrieve. Occasionally she would trick him by throwing a rock into the water. The dog would swim out to it and look puzzled. When the dog came back on the bank, it seemed that it always came to stand beside me and shake the water off or swish its wet tail in my face.

HOCHHEIM to CHEAPSIDE, 24.2 miles
Night Two

Greg: A few miles past Hochheim is the halfway mark for the entire race. Wesley doesn't like the halfway mark no matter how far we are going, and he had asked me not to make mention when we reached half way. Instead, he asked if I could use the term "three/sixths of the way." If I recall correctly, I did that when we reached that mark. When dark came down on us about 9:00 or so, we once again got to witness how much mayflies love the light. As soon as Wes turned on the light, he was surrounded. There was some advantage to me not having a light. I got to sit back and watch the spectacle. I'll let Wes describe his experience. Thanks to Mike for suggesting that we take bug nets to cover our heads. I wore a net even though I didn't have a light just because I tend to breathe with my mouth open and didn't really enjoy the taste of the mayflies. My reflexes were a little dull because it took me eating about three before I donned the net. I removed my shirt at dark because I was having a lot of problems with the seams of my shirt rubbing under my arms. I would have removed it some during the day if my physique was what it once was. A fair share of mayflies stuck to me during the night. The time between dark and our arrival at Cheapside that night was the worst time of the entire race for me. The current can get fairly fast with a lot of sweepers, the bugs were bad, I was getting very tired, and I went to a bad place mentally and began
to ask myself all of the questions about Why????. I struggled badly during this section and was thankful Wesley was in a good state of mind and was pressing forward. We arrived at Cheapside at 11:45 p.m. and decided we could go no further. We pulled the boat up on the bank, took care of some food and drink issues, then Stacey found us a place up the bank where we could sleep. Joy and Kim were sleeping at that checkpoint in their boat with their ground crew sitting by them. I had the fleeting thought of paddling on to get in front of them, but neither my mind or body was in the condition to do that. We each used a dry bag for a pillow and lay on the dusty dry ground to try to get some sleep. Stacey sat by us in a chair to keep us from getting run over by vehicles, and we did our best to sleep. We laid down about 12:30, and Stacey woke us up at 2:50 am. I think I slept about one and a half hours during this time. I could tell Stacey was worried about me as I was in somewhat of a fog both before and after I slept. I continually do numbers in my head to calculate how we were doing on our schedule and how long it would take us between checkpoints. I struggled to do any of the math and was unable to figure out how and why we were where we were on our schedule (those last few words of that sentence read about like I was thinking). I really didn't want to get back in that boat. Wesley woke in a much better state than I did. This small amount of sleep would be the extent of it for the duration of the trip. I didn't know I could do that, one more lesson learned that you can only know if you try. We left Cheapside at 3:03 a.m. with the goal of reaching Cuero 236 at daylight. I still wasn't out of the woods yet! We were in 41st place when we left Cheapside, second place in Novice, now one hour and forty minutes behind schedule. We had planned to sleep at Cuero 236 but didn't make it as far as we had thought because we had not been able to sleep at Gonzales. Joy and Kim had left the checkpoint over 2 hours before us.

Wes: Around the next bend----everything is always around the next bend. Even though I had a positive attitude, this stretch of river never seemed to end. Although we had made this run before in the daylight, nothing really looked familiar, and the river seemed to snake around and back on itself forever. As with most of the race, I had no sense that we were moving from North to South. When we finally reached the Cheapside bridge, I was somewhat surprised to see Joy and Kim asleep in their boat. Although it was tempting to paddle past them during the night, and I could tell by looking at Greg that he was considering it, we both agreed catching an hour or two of sleep was a must. I think upon arriving at this checkpoint I told Dad that Joy and Kim deserved to win, that they were faster paddlers than us, and that I had accepted that they would most likely win the Novice division. Dad reminded me that it isn't all about speed but strategy as well. He also reminded me that there was lots of racing left, and anything could happen. If I'm not mistaken, Stacey and Dad pretty much insisted on us sleeping (we didn't argue) and led us up the bank to some dusty ground where I ate a few cheetos, laid down in the dirt, and drifted off. I woke ready to get back in the boat and go. I somehow started to feel that the end was in sight. I knew we were not far from Cuero, which is only 40 miles from Victoria, and in my mind, once we made it to Victoria, it would all be downhill to Seadrift. Heck! We were practically in Seadrift already. In reality, we still had about a hundred miles to go.

As for the mayflies, imagine thousands of small white dragonflies whose sole purpose in life is to launch a kamikaze assault on the nearest light source and die upon impact. Normally this wouldn't present much of a problem, but when the nearest light source is strapped to your forehead, things get interesting. By the end of the race, the dead
mayflies had formed a stinky slimy mess in the bottom of the boat. As annoying as they were, I was happy that we had mayflies. I'm told they are a traditional part of the Safari experience, and we wanted the full experience.

Stacey: I was glad the guys tried to sleep. I couldn't sleep while they did though. I just kept watch and tried to keep them from getting run over or awakened.

Dad: While waiting at Cheapside just as the sun was going down, I observed a doe and a fawn wade out and swim the river together. There was a beautiful sunset and later a full moon. I visited with the team captain for the team from Ohio, and he said one of his guys was having heat related problems, and that it might be their last checkpoint. Both Greg and Wes looked dead tired when they arrived at this checkpoint. After they left, Stacey and I remained at Cheapside and set our alarm for 5:30 with plans to make the Cuero checkpoint at 6:00 a.m.

CHEAPSIDE to CUERO 236, 13.79 miles
Day Three

Greg: We left Cheapside with me in a daze. We headed toward Cuero in the dark, and the fog became an issue. We pushed our way through it, but it wasn't much fun. I was wearing prescription sports goggles at night and kept thinking that they were fogging up on me. I would remove them only to find it pretty foggy along the river. As daylight was just beginning to break, we made a left turn in the river, crossed a shallow gravel bar, and ran dead into a log that jarred us immensely then flipped the boat. We both grabbed the boat and began to swim it to the shore. I was dragged across an underwater tree and for a split second became worried (scared) because one of my feet caught in a branch of the tree, and I could feel myself getting stuck. Luckily my foot came loose, and we moved to the side of the river. The team from Missouri, boat #52, witnessed this event and as they went by, they asked if we were okay. We assured them that we were. The largest damage was to our pride. We righted the boat and moved on. (We would find out later that flipping the boat in such a manner is fairly effective at catching fingerling bass. We had two bass that made it to Seadrift with us and didn't smell too good when we crossed the finish line.) We arrived at Cuero 236 to a great surprise. Kim and Joy were just pulling out of 236 when we arrived. The time was 6:21 a.m. on Monday. Our resolve and energy went through the roof as we once again believed we might have a chance to win the Novice division. This was the start to our most productive day, a day that would either make us or break us. We took on water and ice and left the checkpoint at 6:25, four minutes behind the Novice leaders. Our position overall was 40th. At this point and time, 40 boats of the original 95 that started in San Marcos, had dropped out of the race. Also at this point, there were two boats that had finished the race and were resting in Seadrift. Both were six man unlimited boats that literally fly. The fastest boat finished the race at 12:34 a.m Monday morning.

Wes: The thick fog that morning made things interesting. We were truly getting the full Texas Water Safari Experience --- low water, fog, heat, mayflies etc. With the fog, I had no clue which way the river was turning, where the water was flowing, or what the best route was to take through various obstacles. There was another boat in the vicinity, but I don't know if they knew any better than us where to go. I think they were happy to let us pass and lead the way. It was a huge impact when we smacked a semi-submerged log head-on and flipped. I'm surprised the boat withstood it. Greg looked disgusted when we flipped that time, and I'm sure I did, too. Earlier in the race, flipping was a rite of passage, and could almost be considered funny. In our mental state this time, flipping again was not quite as much fun, although we somehow knew it was part of what makes the Safari what it is.

At Cuero 236 I was encouraged to see "The Ladies." I began to think that maybe we had a fighting chance at beating them, although I was sure that they would soon run away from us as they had many times before.

Stacey: I was glad for the guys to meet up with the girls again, and I felt better knowing that it would help fire them up.

Dad: By the time Greg and Wes reached Cuero, they had made up two hours on Kim and Joy from the day before. It was the first time I really got excited and felt they had a chance to win first place in the Novice division. Seeing Kim and Joy seemed to pick up their spirits, and they were ready to go.

CUERO 236 to THOMASTON, 16.85 miles
Day Three

Greg: Thomaston is not an official checkpoint but is a good chance to get water on the long stretch between Cuero and Victoria. We had the privilege of using a pier at Thomaston that belongs to a gentleman and his wife who had retired from my place of work. This is also a great place for our team captain and crew to take a well deserved break. Thank you Franck family for sharing your beautiful place. We were in a pack of about four boats most of the way from Cuero to Thomaston. The boats included Joy and Kim in boat #2153, Tim Curry and Jason Dluhy in boat #1017, Santo Albright and Diane McHenry from Missouri in boat #52, and Jason Sellers and Loren Hudson in boat #1977. As we caught up a bit with Joy and Kim, we realized that they were not paddling as fast as they normally did. We were able to gain on them when we pushed a little bit and were surprised that they made no attempt to run away from us. We pulled up beside them and visited a few minutes and then decided to move on. After passing the group and leading them by less than one hundred yards, we came upon a small rapid that we tried to navigate river left. I obviously chose the wrong side as we ran aground and came to a stop. All the other boats in the group chose river right and went easily past us. This was another case where my pride was wounded. We drug the boat through the small rapid and lost two or three hundred yards on the group. We once again caught up with the group, and as we were about to try to pass Joy and Kim, they pulled off river right to get some things out of their ice chest. We took this opportunity to try to pull away just a bit, and this is when Wes became very competitive. We paddled on past Thomaston Bridge and saw the Francks on the bridge. They took off down river to their house to tell Stacey and Dad we were on our way. When we arrived at their pier approximately one mile down river from the bridge, we made a quick water and ice exchange and paddled on. Dad later told us at the Nursery Bridge that we left our Thomaston stop six minutes before Joy and Kim passed by. Our spirits were very high at this point, and we became very enthused about trying to win the Novice class but very worried that they would catch up with us.

Wes: I thought it odd that we were able to catch Joy and Kim once, much less twice. From the start of the race, I said that if we beat them, it would be from an endurance standpoint rather than speed. They seemed to be off their usual pace. I couldn't decide if they were taking it easy, playing with us, or were wearing down. Being competitive is very unlike my nature, but the way I saw it, we had come this far and why not go for a win if the opportunity was presenting itself. It seemed to be.

Stacey: I enjoyed this stop. The shower was hot, and I had a great nap in the air conditioning. Gerald went to check on the guys and brought me some lunch and iced tea. The Francks spotted the guys coming in at Thomaston and ran down to tell us, so we were ready and waiting for them. It was fun to see them excited and in great shape.

Dad: Stacey and I both had a chance to shower and rest a bit before moving on to Victoria. Stacey even took a nap. Good break. I went on to Nursery to see how far Greg and Wes were ahead of the girls.

THOMASTON to VICTORIA CITY PARK, 21 miles

Greg: Wes began to "strategize" as he likes to say. He thought our best bet was to push hard and get ourselves out of site of the other boats to try to persuade them that they couldn't catch us. He had me hugging shorelines and running under the shadows of trees to try to stay out of site. We had no idea if they were catching us at this point, and we played a one way game of cat and mouse that kept us quite energized and pumped for the remainder of the day. We saw Dad at the Nursery Bridge, and that is when he told us we were six minutes ahead at Thomaston. Dad hung around Nursery and waited for the next boat, and when we arrived at Victoria he would inform us that we were seventeen minutes ahead when we paddled pass Nursery. We paddled on and pushed fairly hard all the way to Victoria. A few miles before Victoria City Park, we passed another aluminum boat that was entered in the aluminum class. The name of the boat was "Me and Paul." We didn't linger to visit with them and pushed on. When we arrived at Victoria, we made a two minute stop for ice, water, and ice packs and then kept moving. Stacey and Dad were at the park along with Pam Flournoy, Carolyn Adrian, and others. Once again I felt like we had lots of folks cheering us on. Dad and Stacey stayed at Victoria City Park for one and a half hours waiting for Joy and Kim to come through but never saw them. They left the park to meet us at HWY59. We left Victoria City Park at 3:12 p.m. on Monday, approximately one hour and fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, and in first place in the Novice division. Our split time from Cuero 236 to Victoria was the 12th fastest of all of the boats for this section. Not bad for a couple of big guys in an aluminum boat.

Wes: This was the most exciting portion of the race for me. Staying ahead of Joy and Kim provided a steady source of adrenaline and gave me something to focus on. My plan was get out of visual range of the ladies, and hopefully not being able to see us ahead would cause them to slow down even more and resign themselves to a 2nd Novice finish. I probably annoyed Greg for most of the afternoon by looking over my shoulder every 30 seconds to see if they were catching us and giving him constant instruction on which shoreline to hug to in order to keep out of visual range. When we arrived at Victoria City Park, I was still riding a high and was fired up about being in Victoria. I associate Victoria with the coast (is that salt water I smell?), and in my mind, it was all downhill to Seadrift from there.

Stacey: Mom brought me a big jug of iced tea. What a lifesaver! It was nice to have company from Dad, Mom, Mike McGuire, Caroline Adrian, and Mike and Kelley. I was concerned after seeing and hearing about everyone who was struggling with heat and exhaustion, but when the guys came through they were strong and still pumped up.

Dad: Greg and Wes were fired up and seemed to be energized and ready to go with the competitive juices flowing.

VICTORIA CITY PARK to DUPONT (INVISTA), 29 miles
Night Three

Greg: We added an extra stop between Victoria City Park and DuPont as we were considering not stopping at DuPont for water because we had heard the checkpoint required team captains to crawl down a long ladder on a steep bank to get to the river. We decided to load up on water at Victoria HWY 59 which is twelve miles downstream from City Park. We kept a good pace from City Park to HWY 59 and saw no other boats. We arrived at HWY 59 to the cheers of a group of folks watching for us from a high bank under the bridge. Stacey, Dad, Pam, David and Terry Brooks, Ken Goetz, and Mike and Kelley Felchack from my place of work greeted us. It was mighty nice of these folks to come out and encourage us and visit for a few minutes. We once again loaded up and paddled on. Wes lightened our boat load a bit and gave Stacey his dry bag and the items in it that he no longer needed. He also handed off some unneeded batteries and the small cooler we had made. We had eaten the last of our sandwich meat between City Park and HWY 59. After we left 59, Dad and Stacey went back to City Park to see how Joy and Kim were progressing. At that point, they learned that they were approximately two hours behind us. We had a nice run in the late afternoon and listened to the "On the Road" by Jack Keroac audio book on the MP3 player for a few hours. One of my favorite and most picturesque spots along the river is where Coleto Creek joins the river. I sure could have taken a nap in that beautiful white sand of the creek. During this run, Wes began to point out all the faces he could see in the dirt of the high banks of the river. I could see some of what he was talking about. It wasn't that we were hallucinating. It's just that when you begin to study trees and high banks you do begin to see things, and we began to point these out to one another. Wesley's imagination is much better than mine, and I didn't always see all that he did. Just about dark we high centered on a tree and became stuck. I had become pretty good at walking to the center of the boat and getting out to stand on the trees and then pushing us off without getting wet. On this particular occasion, I got out on the tree but lost my balance and took a late afternoon swim. A few minutes after this was the only time I remember getting cold during the entire trip. Just after dark, I saw a tree that had the exact profile of Bob Hope. I pointed it out to Wes, and if I remember right, he saw it also. He saw the shape of a baby alien eating a banana along this same stretch of river. We never saw another boat from just before Victoria City Park to the bay. Even though we had a GPS and knew about how many miles we had to travel, the last few miles before this checkpoint are very deceiving. This is one of those areas where you are waiting for the checkpoint to be just around the bend, but it never comes. It feels as if you have paddled out into the Twilight Zone. We arrived at the DuPont checkpoint to find Stacey, Dad, Ron, Pam, and Wesley's wife, Amy. This place looked very peaceful, and I could have definitely stayed a while. There was a camp fire burning that was very inviting. The checkpoint had been moved from previous years, so it was easy access for Stacey to get us ice and water. We arrived at DuPont at 10:45 p.m. We had experienced a great day, were eager to keep moving and do what we could to win, and were one hour and ten minutes ahead of our schedule. We left the checkpoint at 10:55.

Wes: I thoroughly enjoyed this stretch of the river for several reasons. We were still riding high after pulling into the lead, had just received word that the ladies were at least two and a half hours behind us, had lightened up the boat quite a bit and it felt much faster (to me at least), the sun was setting, and we would finish the race the next morning. The first hour or two of this stretch we took it very easy and reflected on the events of the day and the Safari in general. It felt to me like a victory lap of sorts. Barring any un-foreseen events, we had 1st Novice in the bag. Two and a half hours would be a lot of time for them to make up.

In retrospect, I think some of the things I saw along the riverbanks during this stretch were indeed hallucinations. I remember seeing pictures, paintings, animals, murals, aliens, and all sorts of odds and ends on the walls of the riverbank. We were operating on only 3 hours of sleep in the previous 3 days. From what I have read, hallucinations typically begin around 72 hours without sleep.

There were thousands of gar near the Invista checkpoint. Everywhere I looked I could see gar all around the boat. Most of them would wait until we were right on them then explode and splash water on us as they bolted away. It was good to see Amy at the checkpoint. I hadn't seen her much at all in the previous week due to our schedules. Before we left she tried to lean down to give me a kiss, and we all told her that she couldn't touch me, the boat, or anything else along those lines. Dang it! Any hugs and kisses would have to wait until the following morning.

Stacey: I really enjoyed the company at the HWY 59 bridge. I was a little concerned when the guys wouldn't mix their Spiz but didn't push it too hard. They seemed in great shape. I was glad Amy was able to meet us at DuPont. I think Wes was glad to see her. I wish we'd had smores fixins to go along with that wonderful campfire.

Dad: I spent a few nights on the other side of the river at this location in my younger days. Brought back a few memories.

DUPONT to SALT WATER BARRIER at TIVOLI, 17.85 miles

Greg: The river downstream of DuPont appears to have a very severe slope to it. I have been told this is an optical illusion, but it appeared to me that we were headed down hill at a steep enough angle that I was looking down at Wesley. This may or may not be the case because this is also the area where I became very sleepy again. There were several hours in this stretch where I began to sleep paddle. I could see the river due to the bright moonlight, but it took Wes telling me left or right to keep the boat going in the proper direction. Wes mentioned that several times he had to tell me more than once which direction I needed to go. After a couple of hours of this, I broke down and took two caffeine tablets. I had managed not to take any caffeine up to this point, but I needed a little help to wake myself up. I normally drink coffee and had had no caffeine since Saturday morning of the race start. The tablets are equivalent to one cup of coffee per tablet. The tablets helped, and I woke up before we got to the tighter part of the river that takes a little more attention. When we passed the railroad trestle behind Bloomington, there was a lady on the bank who asked us if we were the Wynns. We told her we were but became confused about who she was. We thought she was probably one of the folks with Joy and Kim who were scouting to see where we were. We hurried up the pace a bit wondering if they were gaining on us. We came to the log jam we were expecting and had to get out in chest deep water to push the boat over the logs. I wasn't crazy about being out in this water because we had seen several snakes in the area, and we were approaching the part of the river known for alligators. We successfully made it through the logs and arrived at the Salt Water Barrier sometime around 3:00 a.m. We were tired at this point but decided to just walk around for a while, visit with Stacey and Dad, and then try to make it to the bay about daylight. We anticipated finishing the race about 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. Diane Patrisky was at the Salt Water Barrier waiting on her husband Pat and her son Patrick. She was the lady we had seen at Bloomington, so our fears about Joy and Kim catching us eased a bit. I know Diane but had trouble recognizing her on the bank. One more sign that we were getting tired. We left the Barrier at 3:42, almost 3 hours ahead of schedule. We had planned to sleep for two hours at this spot if we needed to.

Wes: The stretch from Invista to the Saltwater Barrier was pretty uneventful other than the first sightings of alligators and one small portage. Coming down off the day's high, we both became extremely tired, and it was difficult to stay awake. Looking back, we were mentally and physically exhausted by this time, but we continued to press on. I kept hallucinating and seeing things in the trees, on the river banks, etc. I think I took some caffeine pills along this route, and it seemed to help. At one point I remember having to look at the direction of the water flow just to make sure that we were still headed downstream. I had read stories of people getting disoriented and paddling back upstream, and now I understand how this could happen. It was all very confusing.

I could tell that Greg was tired and/or dozing off from time to time as he took longer than usual to steer the boat in whatever direction I was asking him to. I was excited to see the lights of the Saltwater Barrier two miles earlier than expected based on our GPS mileage. It was a nice surprise. I clearly remember seeing a submarine at the Saltwater Barrier -- another hallucination. At this stop I changed from my tights and swimsuit to a pair of cargo pants. I left the tights in a trash can at the Barrier. So long tights. You served me well. The last thing I wanted was a bunch of pictures of me at the finish line in tights.

Stacey: I really wanted the guys to try and sleep, but they had the end in sight and kept going.

Dad: Stacey and I waited at the Salt Water Barrier and tried to sleep a little bit. Several boats were in and out of the checkpoint.



SALT WATER BARRIER TO SEADRIFT, 15.86 miles
Day Four

Greg: We left the barrier with both of us in pretty good shape. We estimated we would arrive in Seadrift between 7:30 and 8:00. Quite a few folks had called Stacey and wanted to know what time we would arrive. We agreed that we would shoot for 8:00 a.m. If we were a little early, we would slow down a bit as long as no one else was contending for the Novice prize. We paddled past HWY 35 and toward the bay. We began to see quite a few alligators of various sizes. Wes could see them before I did because he had the headlight on. Their eyes would reflect back at him better than at me. Most of those we saw were probably four foot or less with an occasional larger one thrown in. You could actually hear the smaller ones calling for their mothers. We must have seen between 50 and 100 alligators of various sizes but had no incidents with any of them. Just as were reaching the area close to the bay, a larger gater, probably six foot in length, surfaced just in front of the boat, and Wes made some comment about it. We couldn't slow down in time, and the bow of the boat ran right into it. It slapped the boat and then was gone. Nothing like a little close up encounter with nature. We arrived at the area where we needed to find the cut into the bay just before daylight, and I got lost. We ended up missing the cut we needed and took Trailer Cut into the back of Mission Bay. Once in Mission Bay, I knew pretty close to where I was but had trouble reading the difference between a close up tree line and the tree line across the bay. I was afraid I was in one of the smaller bays and not actually in Mission Bay. I had us wander back and forth along a shoreline looking for the cut I needed but did nothing but waste about an hour. Wes made several suggestions, and this is when I let my tiredness get the best of me and became a bit aggravated. To this point we had worked very well as a team. I wish I could have a few of those words back. After wandering around for a little while, I gave up on finding the cut I wanted and was able to differentiate the two tree lines and knew where I needed to go to get to Seadrift. I was embarrassed by this event because if there is anywhere I should know how to navigate, it should be in my own back yard where I used to fish with Grandpa. The delay cost us about an hour, but we moved on toward Seadrift. At this point I had two concerns, the first being that there were a lot of people waiting for us who had taken off work etc. to see us in, and I hated to keep them waiting and keep them worried. My second concern was that Joy and Kim had found the correct cut and had passed us and were on their way to Seadrift ahead of us. It turns out that the only boat that passed us during that time was the Patrisky boat. Pat and Patrick beat us to Seadrift, and Stacey asked if they had seen us. Pat told her they had not. Both Pat and Mike Felchack assured Stacey that we must have just missed the cut and ended up in the back bay. They were exactly correct. We made it about three fourths across the mouth of Mission Bay, and the wind picked up enough that we got nervous about swamping the boat. We paddled behind Foster point and got out and attached our spray skirts to the canoe. The skirts gave us some problems but worked sufficiently to get us to Seadrift. We rounded Fosters point and headed to Seadrift. We spotted Bob Ridgell along with Carolyn Adrian watching for us way down the seawall. As we got closer, we saw our kids and families along with many other well wishers. I became very emotional and wiped quite a few tears from my eyes as I began to realize that a dream I had had for several years was coming true. I gathered my composure as we reached the seawall steps and was able to hold myself together as I shook hands and gave hugs. I'm reluctant to mention all who were in attendance for fear that I might miss someone, but I'll give it a try. Ron and Carolyn Adrian, Keith Stacey, Mabry and Jean Cain, Bob Ridgell, Jerry Studer, Allen Vecera, Dale Schoener, Chris Rath, Jeff Clevenger, my Mom and Dad, Stacey's Mom and Dad, Stacey, Amy, Ashley, Aubrey, Callie, and many other Safari folks I did not know. (By this time, Sarah was in New Mexico at church camp and missed the finish.) We arrived in Seadrift at 9:12 a.m. on Tuesday, 72 hours and 12 minutes after the start, 2 hours and 23 minutes ahead of our plan, winners of the Novice class, 32nd place overall. Only 53 of the 95 boats who started the race actually finished the race. Only 5 of the 12 Novice boats finished. Joy and Kim finished the race with a time of 82:26. They were quite the competitors and finished 2nd place in the Novice division. Rusty and Jim Boger finished the race with a time of 85:46 and placed 3rd in the Novice division. We walked around in a daze for a while and then did our best to help Ron and Dad clean up the boat. As I was carrying my life jacket to the boat, I saw Grandpa's name on the back of it again. I propped the lifejacket showing Grandpa's signature against the back of the boat where the WB brand was painted, and pointed to Dad to take a picture. I simply didn't have words to even ask him to do that for me because of my emotions. He took the picture, and I will cherish it forever. What a fitting end to a great adventure!!

Wes: This was the home-stretch and one would think an emotional high, but mentally I was pretty wiped out and numb to the world. The events that led us into the back bay are very much a blur to me. That morning I remember closing my eyes and paddling for a while, opening them briefly, then closing them again. I think they call this sleep paddling. I was pretty frustrated when we came out into the back bay mainly because I was ready to get the race over with, and delaying it by an hour or two seemed like an eternity. I was also worried that we were going to lose our chance at 1st Novice after working so hard the previous day.

Greg and I had two different theories on how to get out of our situation. He wanted to stay in the back bay, work on the problem, and figure out the route to Seadrift from there. I wanted to backtrack to see if we could find the main Guadalupe River channel, and follow it out to the San Antonio Bay. We were both very frustrated and our physical/mental states at the time weren't helping the situation much. Two of my other theories/suggestions involved firing off our emergency flares and breaking out/unsealing our cell phone, both of which would have led to instant disqualification. Thanks for not embracing those theories Greg. Clearly my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders at the time. At some point, I decided that I would hold any opinions (however reasonable or insane they were) and that competing methods of dealing with the situation were doing more harm than good.

I realized that being from Port Lavaca, the bay area was Greg's realm, and that he was more qualified to make the call. When I heard him say, "Grandpa and I used to fish back here," I knew we would be okay. I was relieved when we figured out which way Seadrift was and knew we were once again underway, even though we had lost an hour or so.

The actual bay crossing was pretty uneventful other than the wind and waves picking up rather unexpectedly. I remember looking over my shoulder a few times and seeing a boat or two in the distance, always fearful that Joy and Kim were going to make a last minute pass and take 1st Novice. We completed the bay crossing without spray skirts on the boat, but if I had it to do over again I would use them. We eventually skirted up at Foster's point, went around the bend, and Seadrift came into view. I kept scanning the shoreline looking for the flagpole; all we had to do was make it to that flagpole. As we got closer, I could see Dad and the kids running along the bank cheering us on. I remember feeling very happy for Greg at this point because I knew that his dream of finishing the Texas Water Safari was being realized. I was happy for myself as well, but mainly tired and ready to get out of the boat. The flagpole slowly came into view, appeared closer and closer, and then somehow, we were there, and the race was finished.

Stacey: It was hard to wait. When Pat came in and said he hadn't seen them, I got worried. But he tried to put my mind at ease right away by telling me they probably missed the cut. Mike told me the same thing and assured me everything was alright. It would have been a scary wait if they hadn't reassured me. We had a great group there to cheer them in.

I expected the race to be a lot worse than it was. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. I had a wonderful time with Gerald, and I am so glad he was with me. He made me feel safe, and I would have never made it without him. I also know God gave me a wonderful gift - one that included safety, fun, adventure, no bugs or snakes, beauty, fellowship, and fantastic memories. I can't count the number of times I said, "Thank you," those few days. He is so good!

Way to go Greg and Wes! I am very proud of you!

Dad: I have to admit to being a little worried when they didn't show up at the time they planned because they had been so accurate with their time projections so far. I didn't know if they had had boat problems or were lost but felt a little better when Pat told us he had not seen them. I knew they must have just taken the wrong cut to the bay. Sandra and I were greatly relieved when we spotted them coming across the bay. I was very proud of their accomplishment and felt much like I did when they were in high school competing in athletics. Win or lose, I knew they had given it their best. I told Stacey that she had done a great job and that she could be my team captain any time. I was surprised that she would walk around in the dark amongst the poison ivy and snakes. She was a real trooper! It felt great to be part of a team again. Thanks for including me.


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Greg and Wes

Our families made many sacrifices to give us the chance to do this. We sincerely thank you for your patience and support over the last year. This was truly a life changing experience that we will always treasure. Dad and Stacey, thanks for taking on the dirty job in all of this. You did a magnificent job!
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It took us longer than we expected to get this story out, so we have now had time to reflect on the race. These are our thoughts a couple of months after the event.

Greg: I was well enough physically to do some water skiing the Saturday after the race but was still nursing a few minor issues. My hands peeled over and over for about a month. I finished the race with seven blisters on one hand and six on the other. I was surprised that many of the blisters were between my fingers where my fingers rubbed against one another. My toes were numb for several weeks after the race and are just now (Sept. 1) almost back to normal. The back foot brace in the boat is just a piece of tubing. If I do this again I will install some flat plate to push against, I must have pushed against the supports harder than I had anticipated. I slept very well for a few nights after the race and was completely able to get the race out of my mind. For the next couple of weeks after that I woke up in the middle of the night several times thinking that I needed to get up and get back in the boat. I thought I was under the bridge at Cheapside and it was time to get going again. Seeing the ceiling fan as I would start to get out of bed would bring me back to reality. The poison ivy was my worst ailment. I had it in several places and struggled with it for quite a while. I have been able to quit thinking about the race for a while and am glad it is behind us. I called Wes to see if he was interested in doing the Colorado River 100 mile race on August 30th and he said "I have nothing else to prove as a man." I took that as a no, and we both decided not to participate. I did not mention the 2009 Safari, but Wes brought it up this past week. The discussions for 09 are under way.

Wes: I always thought that after the Safari I'd go home and sleep for a couple of days straight then get back to normal. I didn't sleep well for over three weeks. Like Greg, I kept waking up all through the night and finding myself back on the river. For weeks I had to re-assure myself in the middle of the night from the comfort of my bed and air conditioned room that the race was over and that it was okay to sleep. I have been told by other Safari veterans that this is not uncommon.

Physically I came out of the race okay, but for a couple of days, my feet were pickled from being wet. I won't elaborate on the effects of sitting in wet clothes for four days, but it was pretty significant. Muscle soreness was similar to that after our training runs. Mentally I was pretty beat-up. As of today, three months after the Safari, I am just now starting to consider doing it again. The mental and physical exhaustion was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. As Greg likes to quote Vince Lombardi, "I firmly believe in man's finest hour his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle victorious."

That feeling is addictive. I want to feel it again.

IF YOU READ THIS FAR, YOU ARE A VERY PATIENT PERSON! THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT.

That has to be the most epic TL;DR in the history of Texags.