River trips and space aliens. Somehow, they just go together. In my head, anyway. This is a story I've been writing for about 10 years now, inspired by a petroglyph I saw on the way to a Green River trip in Dinosaur National Monument. So there's dinosaurs in it too! Well, dinosaur fossils anyway. ​Many of the scenes in this story are events that ACTUALLY HAPPENED. To me and my friends on river trips throughout the west. Except the parts with Aliens. I made those up...or subconsciously channeled them from wisps of memory that still exist, carved into the rocks, echoing through the canyons, and swirling within the waters.
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Check it out on Apple Podcasts, where you can subscribe and download episodes for free, or listen to it right here!
Just hit PLAY below the Title Image...
and BIG THANKS to my friends over at KHOL,
Jackson Hole Community Radio for all their
help letting me record in their studio!
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BACKGROUND
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Things that actually happened? How about that exploding meteor. My friends and I witnessed this event, just as it's described, on a trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, the largest in the lower 48 states. Other than river rafters, and the fishermen that fly in on single engine 4 seater Cessnas, there's really nobody else around, and we're all at the bottom of a river canyon with only a sliver of visible sky. The 12 of us may actually have been the only people on Earth to see this event.
​In Episode 2, our rafters encounter another set of petroglyphs, and spend some time trying to decipher them. One appears to show a strange unknown animal, and the other a map. These also exist in our world.
Look, I'm not
saying that this is
an absolutely
accurate layout of
the Alien
Mothership, just
that it could be.
IMAGES
STORYLINE
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We begin below an exploding supernova with the carving of a petroglyph, then spend a little time in the Old West with some Irish outlaws before jumping to the present day and meeting all the characters in our story. We end with an exploding meteor overhead...or is it something else?
This episode starts in the roiling maelstrom of Hance Rapid, moves to camp for a philosophical conversation about Vishnu and Schist, then up into Blacktail Canyon for a concert and a ghost story. The next day brings a discovery that sets entire worlds in motion.
Episode 3 brings us to a burning scar in the landscape, where the inhabitants of different worlds intersect, leaving their mark on the Earth and finding refuge in the landscape. Shamanic visions are witnessed, world changing discoveries are revealed, and a long hibernation ends in mystery.
Another thing that happened for real? This WILD RIDE around the back of bedrock rapid. To me. And my friend Amy, who was tired of running her inflatable kayak and decided to jump in with me for the day. She wound up regretting that decision, and never set foot in my boat again. I cant blame her. It was sheer adrenaline fueled mayhem, start to finish, and went down exactly the way it's described in the podcast, right up until the alien stalker jumps into the raft and slashes Hardley's chest open. That part is fiction.
Here it is, with Big Brian checking it out. The Vishnu Schist. Not Dr. Brian, the Planetary Geologist, although he's a real human as well.
Another petroglyph, encountered for real on a Green River excursion. What is it? A Hammerhead Turtle? An enslaved food resource from a long range alien Mothership? A noble race of enslaved telepathic beings from another world that can see through solid rock with their mind's eye, ready to sacrifice their entire population in order to defeat their oppressors and help humankind take a stand against them? All of the above? Stay tuned and you'll find out.
Repercussions from the discovery of a lifetime drive our rafters forward, pursued by strangers from another reality. This reality is revealed to an astronomer from Mumbai at an observatory in Hawaii, as well as the clandestine military. It becomes part of OUR reality on a wild ride through Bedrock Rapid.
We begin in Dubendorf Rapid, where all our characters collide: Rafters, Aliens and Black Ops team, then re-live a horrific scene from a thousand years ago, the first time three species collided, to either consume or be consumed. The Vishnu Schist reveals its secret, and the military mobilizes for next time.
A river rescue, meetings and partings, and the discovery of a lone survivor begin this episode before it moves again to the ancient past. In that past, scenes of horror and despair, and a bond of trust between human and alien. One of them anyway. Then back to now, where the Mumbai Astronomer is given a mission.
OK, some more actual real stuff: Mauna Kea Observatory is in reality only one of one of eight different observatories at the top of this mountain. A Lockheed long range Cheyenne helicopter can fly 1,225 miles. A McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet can travel 1,800 miles using supplemental fuel tanks. It's 2,612 miles from Mauna Kea to Area 51. The USS John C. Stennis is a Nimitz Class nuclear powered Supercarrier named after the same Mississippi senator as his grandson John Stennins.
Here's a photo illustrating a lightening strike in Brazil, clearly showing a few positively charge leaders reaching upwards.
First we spend some time in the Alien Mothership, then Area 51, the USS John Stennis, an F-18 fighter jet, Blackhawk helicopter, Upset Rapid and Earth Year 1054 before landing back at the Battle Site, where we reconnect with an old friend. An old friend with a story to tell, a story about aliens and death.
A flashback to the 60’s reveals a backstory, the strike force enters the canyon finding both a ghost raft, the Artifact, and destruction from out of nowhere. The Mumbai Astronomer receives otherworldly assistance at great cost, and helicopters drop headless bodies on each other. Sacrifices are made. Earth First.
A pair of dream sequences a thousand years apart start us off, then painfull admissions about who our protagonists really are as they try to outwit the alien Hunter. Then, the confrontation, same as it was back in 1054. Played out again, with the same result, the conclusion of our story, memorialized in triumphant artwork, be it Petroglyph or Graffiti. Or is it...Triumphant...
Our Milky Way Galaxy, side view from far out in space. The opening image of a significant dream, or very distant memory. I wonder who could have snapped it?
IMAGES
In no particular order, here are the first images I created to
illustrate elements or scenes within the storyline. Let me
know what you think!
FEEDBACK
Got any? We'd love to hear from you!