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188 pages

English

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These are stories about trips the Kelley family has taken over the last 50 years on 50 different rivers in the United States and elsewhere.
In lively story-telling fashion, Pierce Kelley, author of over two dozen books, both fiction and non-fiction, tells the stories of how he and his three brothers have created a tradition of taking mostly white-water rafting trips with their sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, grand-nephews and friends over the last 50 years on over 50 rivers across the United States, and into other countries, like Ireland, New Zealand and Canada. In doing so, they have passed their love of the adventure to the next generation of Kelleys, and they have created a strong family bond in the process. Readers will enjoy the thrills of victories and the agonies of defeats as the various family members experience both successes and near-successes along the way. It is a book which all who love being in nature, on rivers, whether calm or tempestuous, or in mountains or on the high seas will enjoy. It will make everyone, young and old, want to get in a canoe, kayak, rubber-ducky or raft and go down a river, with their family and friends.

Sujets

Sport

Autres sports

Vie de famille

Relations familiales

Sports

Adventure (Guyana)

Descenso de ríos

River

Canoeing

Whitewater

Kayaking

Rapid

Recreation

Rivers

Adventure

Rafting

Nature

Informations

Publié par	iUniverse
Date de parution	03 novembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781663247155
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

RIVERS THAT RUN THROUGH US

A Collection of Short Stories

PIERCE KELLEY

RIVERS THAT RUN THROUGH US
A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES

Copyright © 2022 Pierce Kelley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4714-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4715-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919690

iUniverse rev. date: 10/28/2022

***********
“Rivers flow not past,
but through us.”
John Muir
***********
“The River has great wisdom
and whispers its secrets to
the hearts of men.”
Mark Twain
***********
“The first river you paddle runs
through you for the rest of your
life.”
Lynn Culbreath Noel
***********
“Rivers run through our history
and folklore and link us as a people.
We are a nation rich in rivers.”
Charles Kuralt
***********
“Life is like a river. Sometimes
it sweeps you gently along, and
sometimes the rapids come out
of nowhere.”
Emma Smith
***********
“In rivers, the water that you
touch is the last of what has passed,
and
the first of that which comes,
so it is with present time.”
Leonardo da Vinci
***********
“Be still like a mountain and
flow like a great river.”
Laozi
OTHER WORKS BY PIERCE KELLEY
Anima, (iUniverse, 2022)
Elysium, (iUniverse, 2021)
Pilgrimage, (iUniverse, 2019)
Hiding in America, (AuthorHouse, 2018)
Hunted, (Xulon Press, 2017)
Massacre at Sirte (iUniverse, 2016)
To Valhalla (iUniverse, 2015)
A Deadly Legacy (iUniverse, 2013)
Roxy Blues (iUniverse, 2012)
Father, I Must Go, (iUniverse, 2011)
Thousand Yard Stare (iUniverse, 2010)
Kennedy Homes: An American Tragedy (iUniverse, 2009)
A Foreseeable Risk (iUniverse, 2009)
Asleep at the Wheel (iUniverse, 2009)
A Tinker’s Damn! (iUniverse, 2008)
Bocas del Toro (iUniverse, 2007)
A Plenary Indulgence (iUniverse, 2007)
Pieces to the Puzzle (iUniverse, 2007)
Introducing Children to Tennis (iUniverse, 2007)
A Very Fine Line (iUniverse, 2006)
Fistfight at the L & M Saloon (iUniverse, 2006)
Civil Litigation: A Case Study (Pearson, 2001)
The Parent’s Guide to Tennis (F&W Pub., 1995)
A Parent’s Guide to Tennis (Betterway, 1991)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank my family for their participation in helping me put together all that is contained herein into a book that we can enjoy for years to come. I also thank those close friends who have accompanied us on many of the adventures that we have shared over the last nearly fifty years. When all is said and done, nothing is more important than family and friends.
Times spent with family and friends on rivers are like the messages from those commercials we see on television reflect -they are “priceless.” As in life, there are times when a canoe tips over, or we’ve gone down a particularly perilous rapid backwards, or we’ve fallen out of the boat but, somehow, with the help of family and friends, we’ve managed to get back in the boat, make it down the river, and get on with our lives. Life goes on, just like the rivers which keep on flowing.
In the pages that follow are stories of some of the good times, and some not so good, shared with family members and friends on rivers. Those are times to be remembered and cherished. It’s extremely enjoyable, and impressive, if I do say so myself, to look back and see all of the places we’ve been and the things we’ve done on rivers over the last fifty years. Somehow we’ve managed to escape any serious injuries, though there have been many mishaps.
I thank all of those family members and friends who have supported and participated in this project by providing their insight and perspective. I wish to specifically thank my three younger brothers, Chris, Allan and Bruce, as they have been an integral part of nearly all of these stories right from the start, and they have stories to tell of which I wasn’t a part. These are some of our favorites.
Pierce Kelley
PREFACE
The Kelley clan, consisting of the male offspring of Robert Pierce Kelley and Marjorie Sullivan Kelley, has been gathering together for several decades for one special weekend a year to break bread and celebrate our common bond – family. Trips down rivers in North Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have been the stated purpose for such gatherings in recent years. Many rivers, across many states, have been traversed in canoes, kayaks, rubber duckies and rafts over the years, beginning in the summer of 1973, when Allan and I took that fateful trip down the Shenandoah River together.
What follows is a collection of the short stories from those trips. Each and every member of the family who participated in those trips has offered their insight and perspective. Each has a story to tell. Each has a different perspective. Each is a different tributary of the same river.
It began with the four sons of Bob and Marjorie, namely Chris, Allan, Bruce and me, way back when. Carol was never one to join us on the rivers, though she was very much interested in the outcome, especially when, in 1973, her oldest son, Bob, received his baptism of fire on the Haw River when he was a very young lad. He was the first of the next generation of Kelleys.
Years later, in the ‘80s, the other two of Carol’s sons, namely David and Eddie, joined the four of us. A decade later, in the ‘90s, my sons, Patrick and Brendan, joined us, as did Allan’s oldest son, Michael. In the 2000-2010 decade, Bruce’s son, Brian and Allan’s youngest son, John, were old enough to come along, and so was Christopher’s daughter, Sarah. She has been the only female member of the family to participate, which she has done on a couple of occasions, with her spouse, Garrett, thereby greatly improving the physical appearance of the group, and raising the average IQ a few points, as well. Garrett has come on his own several times now and he is, officially, one of the crew.
A few select friends have participated over the years, too, most notably, our host in North Carolina, Dave “Waags” Wagener, and John Kish, Christopher’s buddy from Archbishop Curley High School.
Then, most recently, in the decade of 2010-2020, along came the next generation, consisting of David’s sons, Conner and Jack, with the class of 2020-2030 not far behind. David’s youngest son, Tyler, is anxious to be allowed to participate, maybe next year, with more to follow, as Eddie’s sons, Bryce and Cole, grow older. Kelley girls, and there are eight of them, Meagan and Caitlin (Pierce); Sarah (Christopher); Shannon, Kate, Kristen and Anne (Allan); and Jocelyn (Bruce), have had or will be having children who will be with us before we know it, and so will the males from that generation. Michael has three sons now, Luke, Stevie B., and Matthew, and they are chomping at the bit to be allowed to come with us. There are others, too.
At this point, I want to apologize to all of the females in the Kelley clan. There is no excuse as to why we, the Kelley brothers, haven’t taken our daughters on their own, separate, get-togethers, as we have done with our sons. I, as the oldest, bear the greatest amount of responsibility for that oversight, and I am sorry about it. I truly am. We have all taken them places and done things with them (Please see Chapters 14, 19, 28, 31 and 32), but never collectively with just them, and we should have. We love them just as much as we do our sons. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Going down rivers has become a family tradition, and it’s a great tradition to carry on. As Emma Smith so aptly said, “Life is like a river. Sometimes it sweeps you gently along, and sometimes rapids appear out of nowhere.”
I agree - rivers are like life, and it seems as if they are infinite, that they will keep pouring out pure, clean water from innumerable springs, coming from the tops of mountains, or out of the ground below, endlessly, just as our family has spread its roots out so far that it will continue on, and never end. Rivers can be a source of peace and tranquility, to be appreciated and enjoyed, or they can be a dangerous manifestation of wilderness, an untamable force of nature, not to be trifled with. We have seen many of both over the years.
Having an appreciation for the beauty and wonders of nature, as well as the thrills and excitement which going down rivers almost always involve, is something worth passing on. For us, those adventures have become a bond between us. The rivers we paddle down unite us. As John Muir said, they run through us.
What follows are stories from fifty (50) of the rivers that members of the Kelley clan have done over the years. There are more left untold, for now, and those stories from the past may be told in the years to come around campfi