Mountain Strong

I'm an avid reader. I practically inhale books. That being said, I'm not a big magazine reader, never have been. Yet I do subscribe to one magazine that I devour rather than inhale. It's the Our State Magazine, and unfailingly it has the most fantastic articles relating to North Carolina. I enjoy reading about places I've been. I also get ideas for new places to go and things to do. The day it arrives in the mail, I hurry through it, flipping to see what is new and exciting and enticing enough to bring me back for a long read over a cup of hot tea.

When October's issue arrived last week, I began the usual page flipping. I soon found that this issue was different. At the top of the cover is the statement, "Special Issue: Healing After Helene" and below the subtitle, "Celebrating North Carolina," in large bold print, are the words MOUNTAIN STRONG. This photo taken by my friend and co-adventurer, Sara, and reinforces how much being strong meant to recovery.

I didn't make it far into the pages before I began mentally dog-earing pages to return to and read later, but when I got to page 174, I stopped dead in my tracks. Sara's photograph was taken at the same place as the location of an article in the magazine. The title drew me in first, "River Reclaimed," and then I saw the pictures. We had been on the very same river back in July and I even blogged about it a few weeks ago. If you didn't get a chance to read it, click on the link and check it out before you read any further so you'll see why I'm so excited to share with you now.

This mountain-strong story featured one of the characters (chapter 39) in my newest book, Southern Fly Tyers. Her name is Kelly McCoy, aka Rivergirl. In my book, she wrote her own biography, and it is dripping with love of river and fly fishing and all things nature. In the magazine article, author Katie Reynolds interviewed her and masterfully captured Kelly's love of river and fly fishing and all things nature. 

Back in July my friend Sara and I went tubing on the New River through Rivergirl Fishing Company, Kelly's company. Sara took this picture of the Rivergirl main building.

See the canoe on the front porch? There's a story behind that canoe as recorded in the article. Here, look at it more closely:

This is a page from the magazine with the canoe's picture taken by staff photographer, David Uttley. I took the other picture of the front of the business the day we were there.

See the heart on the canoe? Kelly painted it there after Hurricane Helene, after she rescued the canoe from the tree that caught it in the flood. It's a reminder that's visible to her every day. Stay strong. Stay safe. You can overcome.

Just like our state!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen