This week we welcomed New York Times Best Selling Author, Andra Watkins. Andra is from Charleston, South Carolina but has family roots in Dayton, Tennessee. She has always enjoyed reading, but never fell in love with it until she read Undaunting Courage at the age of 33, about the real-life expedition of Louis and Clark. It was then that history came alive for her and she decided she wanted to write a book. She wanted to tell the real story of Meriwether Lewis, whose death is still one of America’s greatest unsolved mysteries. But she also wanted to make things up in a fictional book too, so she wrote To Live Forever -An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis.
To promote her book, she decided to walk 444 miles along the Natchez Trace, beginning on the day her book was released. Her plan was to blog about it and do YouTube videos showing real places from her book, that would hopefully go viral. But her publicity stunt did not go as planned. Because she would walk 15 miles per day for 34 days, she would have to have a wingman to drop her off and pick her up each day. The only person she could recruit to do it was her disinterested 80-year-old father, whom she did not get along with. She endured freezing temperatures, windstorms, hail, sleet, several close attempts at giving up and countless arguments with her father; but nevertheless, she finished.
What she really experienced along the journey changed her life. By week two she had hit bottom and found herself laying on the side of a road in a field of dandelions, before things started to turn around. She realized she had spent the whole trip rushing through and focusing on the misery she was feeling, instead of embracing magical experiences with nature along the way and slowing down to enjoy the journey.
Andra didn’t get her New York Times Best Seller with this book, but she did with the next book in which she wrote about her experiences with her dad along the journey, Not Without My Father. The best thing that came out of those challenging 5 weeks, is the time she got to spend with her dad, really connecting for the first time in her life. Only a few short years later, he is in bad health and would’ve been unable to make the trip now. So, she encouraged everyone to stop waiting to do ‘that thing’ later on. Instead, go and do ‘that thing’ NOW while you still can go on adventures and just enjoy life!
MembershipWe had no visitors in attendance this week. |
AnnouncementsBill needs a head count for the Social by next week! Our first Rotary Social Event of the year has been planned for Friday, September 6th at 6 pm. It will be held at the Eslinger house in Clinton. He has a pool and nice patio area to host a fall social! If you and/or your guest can make it, please give Bill a head count by next week so they can plan for food and drinks. Statements have been sent out for Q3 Rotary Dues. If you did not receive this via email, please let Jerry or Michael know. There are still a few unpaid invoices. Please be sure that you have paid them or made arrangements with Michael. |
Club BusinessA few committee updates:
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Interact and Rotaract NewsThe 2019 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) has been set for Saturday, September 21, at Camp Nakanawa in Crossville. Registration and breakfast begin at 7:30 AM Central time, and the seminar begins promptly at 8:15 AM. Be looking for information on how you can help or see Tom if you are interested! |
Upcoming SpeakersAugust 20Vivian Gwinn – Big Brothers Big Sisters August 27Atomic City Sportsman Club September 3No Meeting in observance of Labor Day holiday September 10Scott James |
Rotary Club OfficersRon Eslinger Club Support OfficersTrey McAdams |
District NewsDue to the rainout of the July 22nd Tennessee Smokies game, Pack the Park for Polio has been rescheduled for Monday, August 26th. If you were unable to go in July, you may now be able to help attend! The game will begin at 7:00 pm against the Birmingham Barons. Ticket vouchers for the game are $12 each, and $5.50 of that amount will go to the fight to end polio. With the match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that's $16.50. Each voucher comes with a $6 stadium credit and lots of fun! It’s Dollar Dog Night, so you could gorge on six hot dogs with your stadium credit! District seminars are set for this Saturday, August 17th. All Club Membership, Youth Services, Foundation, and Public Image chairs are encouraged to attend the District Seminars on Membership, Youth Services, Foundation, and Public Image set for August 17 at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville. Registrations begin at 8:00 a.m. with sessions beginning at 8:30 and ending at 12:30 PM. October 24 is World Polio Day. Many clubs around the world hold special events to commemorate this day. At the district level we will once again run the Purple Pinkie Donut Project. More details will be coming your way very soon. |
Clinton Rotary Club
Meeting Address: 101 S. Hicks Street Clinton, Tennessee 37716
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 524 Clinton, Tennessee 37717
