This is a collection of stories by, and usually about, river guides and outfitters. The tales focus on river related events that usually have little to do with whitewater. Many don't even take place on a river. All say a lot about the culture of guiding and the people attracted to wild places and the odd things that happen once they get there. These are the stories shared around a campfire after a day on the water. Some are funny, some sad, some quirky, but they all come from personal river experiences and lifelong friendships. Join some guides on their day off when they decide to take a raft over a dam to see if they can make it right-side up. Dive into a vast garbage dump to find the $500 drysuits you threw out with the trash from a 21 day Grand Canyon trip. Try to explain how your employees set a Forest Service employee on fire during a torch-lit dance on a picnic table. Share an evening with an outfitter who is about to lose his business because one of his guests has disappeared on a hike and has been missing all night. Get ready to set your underwear on fire if precipitation stays below average because that's how you end a drought. Take the Vice President of the United States down a river but never get him or anyone else wet. Be part of the wedding of two guides who really only wanted to sleep together but found themselves ?together forever.? Steal a bus and lead a wild chase down a mountain canyon highway looking for a group coming off the river. Drive home from the airport naked and try to sneak into the house without your wife noticing your lack of attire. Not every story is about good times. A few are tributes to friends who are no longer with us but belong around our campfire. You probably never heard their names but you will enjoy meeting them here. They told great stories. There is an odd thing that brings folks back for river trips. They usually come the first time because of the excitement of rapids and whitewater. They come back for another trip because of all the other stuff that happens. This book attempts to capture some of that magic, the memories and good times running a river with friends fosters.

A heartfelt middle-grade novel from New York Times bestselling author Barbara O’Connor about a boy whose life is upended after the loss of his older brother—timeless, classic, and whimsical. Walter Tipple is looking for adventure. He keeps having a dream that his big brother, Tank, appears before him and says, “Let’s you and me go see my world, little man.” But Tank went to the army and never came home, and Walter doesn’t know how to see the world without him. Then he meets Posey, the brash new girl from next door, and an eccentric man named Banjo, who’s off on a bodacious adventure of his own. What follows is a summer of taking chances, becoming braver, and making friends—and maybe Walter can learn who he wants to be without the brother he always wanted to be like. Halfway to Harmony is an utterly charming story about change and growing up. Don't miss Barbara O'Connor's other middle-grade work—like Wish; Wonderland; How to Steal a Dog; Greetings from Nowhere; Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia; The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester; and more!

Halfway Across the River is a compilation of fascinating stories that detail Dr. Annette Childs's nearly twenty years of work with they dying. From deathbed visions, to messages sent from beyond the veil, these poignant tales offer a perfect blend of truth, mystery, and wonder. Readers will find themselves misty with emotion one moment, and dissolving into laughter the next. Indeed, Halfway Across the River achieves a nearly perfect balance between the mundane and the extraordinary. The true accounts Dr. Childs describes are meant to bring peace to the dying, hope to the grieving, and true food for thought to the rest of us. Halfway Across the River evolved in response to the unlikely relationship between Dr. Childs and Don Borwhat. Mr. Borwhat was the skeptical husband of one of Annette's dear friends, Margaret, who died in 2006. For years Don had sarcastically referred to Annette as the Godwoman' due to the skeptical eye he cast toward what he calls the foo foo' philosophies that she shared with his dying wife. After Margaret's death, Don's world is turned upside down by an extraordinary foo foo' event, the type he had spent his entire adult life scorning. As his previous worldview crumbled around him, he was left no choice but to sheepishly approach Dr. Childs for a bit of spiritual tutelage. Dons cantankerous attitude is a fine balance to the ethereal world in which Dr. Childs has one foot firmly planted. Let the Godwoman and the skeptical businessman take you along on their journey toward understanding the astonishing messages that Don's beloved wife Margaret, so eloquently sends to him from the other side. It is a ride you will not soon forget!

Winner of the 1974 National Book Award "The most profound and accomplished American novel since the end of World War II." - The New Republic “A screaming comes across the sky. . .” A few months after the Germans’ secret V-2 rocket bombs begin falling on London, British Intelligence discovers that a map of the city pinpointing the sexual conquests of one Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop, U.S. Army, corresponds identically to a map showing the V-2 impact sites. The implications of this discovery will launch Slothrop on an amazing journey across war-torn Europe, fleeing an international cabal of military-industrial superpowers, in search of the mysterious Rocket 00000.

Halfway to Halfway & Back is a collection of river stories that capture the essence and mood of river guiding and like an old friend and the river itself, lure you back for another trip. This second book builds on the success of Halfway to Halfway & Other River Stories, an award winning compilation of river guide tales published in 2012.

The essential guidebook

"Previously published as The decameron project."