Thursday, September 13, 2012

Riverboarding with Friends and Family

The Missoula Noonball Guys
While another great summer of river boarding is winding down, there is still great surf in the gorge and the water levels have held up great. Here a couple of photos from two trips with special significance.
The top photo include a few the guys I've played pickup basketball with for years at the Peak in (From right to left) Jason Pounds runs the graphic design and marketing company River Designs  and is a top level web page and graphic designer ( see our brochure and website!).
Michael Downs (aka 'the professor) is a creative
Me and Rey, My Five Year Old River Runner
writing professor at Towson Universityand author of The Greatest Show, Troy McDonough, a former all-american decathlete, used to guide for us, John McNulty ( aka Artest)
is a longtime Missoula pickup ball legend, and Jim Cearly (aka Railroad Jim) has a mean post game. We were missing a few key players such as the Mule, Pearl Jam Jeff (aka Big Sandy), Big Bob, Tim Hunter, and most of all Pat Glennon, who passed away this summer.

We are so lucky to be out here on this beautiful river. I am reminded that as much as possible we should all try to do what we love to do with  the people we love the most during the short time we are here.

In the spirit of that--in the lower photo, my five year old boy, Reynolds, is running the gorge with me just emerging from what he would call " the meat and potatoes" at Tumbleweed. Yahooo!
More on Riverboarding at www.montanariverguides.com

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

XSPORTS4Vets Riverboard Trips

For the past few years we have been lucky to participate in a program with Xsports4vets. Once a week during the summer, combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Campaigns come out to go river boarding and surfing on the gorge. We provide the guides and gear and they provide the guts and glory.
No matter how you feel about American foreign policy, once you spend a little time with our veterans you cannot help but appreciate their character and admire their sacrifice.  They are great people and we are lucky to run the river with them.