Swim in the Ruhr, just about die, get some cool full body tatoos - what a grrrreeeaat Saturday

<!-- @page { size: 21.59cm 27.94cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From Ruhr.Swim</td></tr></table>

There was a moment there i thought i might die.

Not exactly how I saw this day going when I woke up. It was coolish first thing but cozy in the sun with coffee and the weekend paper. Heike wasnt super talkative and I was in one of those moods where I couldnt stop talking.

Finally she said "why dont u go jump in the ruhr!"

So yeah thats more or less how we decided this would be the day. The day I would swim in the Ruhr.

I added it last week to this list I have, this sort of a bucket list; called the 1001 day project. You set a 101 goals you want to accomplish in 1001 days. yeah crazy. a whacked out kind of new years resolutions list. so far i only have 28 goals on my list. which seems a lot anyway. i mean 101 goals could get to weighing a fella down.

but the list was a big help to me this morning. when we got down to the river, to a little dock where we usually let lasti go swimming, i wasnt so sure i wanted in there. they say its clean but this is the ruhrgebiet, the industrial heartland of germany... really who knows what is in there... and the rocks were kind of slimy and... so many little fishies swimming round... but then i remembered the list; which was just a sort of ersatz, a sort of reminder of what i wanted, and so i jumped in...

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From Ruhr.Swim</td></tr></table>

there was, to be totally honest, a cache on the other side of the river which can only be reached by canoe... or swimming... so i jumped in and lasti followed me - at first it was great to finally be in the ruhr, this long cool river which i have been walking beside for three years now

i have walked every single inch from mülheim to kupferdreh, with bike ive been every single inch from mülheim to the other side of dalhausen - 40 km of the 200 km long river - id sure love to walk every bit of it...

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From Ruhr.Swim</td></tr></table>

anyway it meant a lot to actually get in this river id just been looking at for so long - and it was cool and fun - i love the water - but then lasti started "saving" me - i guess he figured i was drowning - he bit my ear, nose, anything he could get a hold of and was trying to pull me back to shore - he also clawed the hell out of my back and legs

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From Ruhr.Swim</td></tr></table>

things got a little tense there for a while - i was pushing him away with one hand, swimming two strokes and pushing him away - if i didnt watch it he climbed on my back - and i was getting seriously scared - then for a moment i thought he had gone under - and then he was biting me again - when things were at their tensest, i let one of my crocs float off - keeping lasti away, keeping the croc on and keeping air in my lungs all became a little too much

finally made it to the other side - it was only 20m but it had turned into the longest 20m of my life - i dragged the dog up onto the beach - i just wanted to go home but i first i needed a rest - so i spent my rest time looking for the damn cache - and no sadly i didnt find it - i did manage to get a lot of stinging nettles on my leg - but my legs were cooled and my adrenaline pumping so high i never felt a thing - a day later they are still tingling - as if a small electirc current is running up and down the hairs on my legs - weird feeling

the swim back was much more relaxing - i told lasti to "find heike" and he swam ahead of me about 5 metres - he turned once to try and save me again but i loudly yelled at him to find heike...

not til i got home and looked in the mirror did i have any idea how bad he'd scratched me up...

im super happy to be alive, pleased to have checked "swimming in the ruhr" off my list, and couldnt care less that i didnt find the cache - i will - what pisses me off is losing my croc...

<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px">Ruhr.Swim</td></tr></table>