Kevin Elardi: River Guide and Manager
February 10th, 2006 by Malina
The problem with writing a bio for Kevin here is that were he to do it himself it would be much funnier. But in addition to making you laugh, he can also clean an underground oil tank. Life started looking a whole lot more interesting when he gave up that choice profession and came on over to AO. Kevin has done a whole gaggle of stuff for AO: booked trips, managed the South Fork operation, guided river trips, and cleaned fifty million helmets and PFDs. He has even graced the front of our postcards. Really, what doesn’t he do?
Kevin has lived in New York, Florida, South America, and now California. He is a proud graduate of Burger King University.
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Sammy came to us by a unique path. After starting off in culinary school and finally getting his B.S in Outdoor Recreation (1999) from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, he gave us a call from his homestate of Illinois and moved out to California to be an intern (to finish his Degree) in our office in Walnut Creek and guide a little. From there he naturally migrated to a nearly fully time position in 2000 as the head honcho of the AO eNews. From there he migrated to Webmaster and now onto his own business… 
Hunter is the genealogist of All-Outdoors. Have a complex question about your Grannie’s 2nd cousin twice removed? Hunter will clear it up in a jiffy. We realized he had this unique talent when he first started working for us and someone asked him how he got the name Hunter, which is somewhat unusual. “Well,” he replied in that ever so slight Southern drawl he has, “I was named after my Grandfather…his name was Hunter…..” And thus a legend was born.
CAN: Spin a yarn (words, not merino), play the digiridoo, organize an 
You know the saying that behind every great man (or in this case, company,) there’s a great woman? Exhibit A: Claudette, the Grande Dame of the Walnut Creek office. Much like Duct Tape, she can pretty much do it all. From booking trips to year-end reports and scheduling, Claudette keeps it all together; we would be lost without her.
Left: Scott A, leading by example
George is our founding father–AO has been the official family business since 1962. Although he handles a lot of paperwork and behind-the-scenes stuff, George still guides a few trips every summer and keeps everyone driving the speed limit and double checking equipment lists. Gregg keeps everybody in our booking (aka the “Walnut Creek Office”) in line and if you’ve ever called us with a special request you probably talked to him (though it may have been his brother Scott–they sound so similar it’s downright scary). He rafts, skis, and, until they migrated to college was kept busy raising the Armstrong triplets: Jonathan, Brenden, and Laura. We were lucky enough to snag one triplet and get her up to the river. Laura became the youngest Armstrong family guide in 2005 and we fully expect to see more of her smiling face on the river. Who needs a “real job” when this is your family legacy?
Quick to laugh, jump in the fray, lend an ear and answer the phone in Spanish, Professora diVittorio matches guides with trips, trips with boats, boats with guests, guests with busses, and busses with someone to drive them. Then she does it all over again the next day. Sometimes, if class gets out early, and she can find her heirloom sun visor, the guide she finds is herself.
How many people do you know that can drive a tractor, plant daffodils, pair wine with food and guide rivers with the best of them? Oh–and design t-shirts and gardens, plan events and parking lots, draft plans, and be continually good-humored and gracious through gopher holes, spilled coffee and river carnage of all kinds? One suspects that “Generous” may be Stu’s middle name–recent polls suggest upwards of 90% of all AO employees have borrowed his gear for private river trips, hikes and weddings.