Up the creek.....but which one?

My personal blog, 6/29/14

So, last weekend my dive club (“BAD”) had a group dive at Athens Scuba Park. While the viz wasn’t too good, we still had lots of fun. We drove up I-45 until we got to Buffalo, then took highway 79 into Palestine and then highway 19 into Athens. Now, any true Stephen King fan will be able to relate to me wanting to get a photo of a highway 19 sign. If you don’t get it, well, your local library should have plenty of Sai King’s works to help you figure it out. Yes, the library (or an ebook). Please don’t cheat yourself out of some fantastic reading by googling it.

Driving up I-45 and highway 79, we crossed many creeks. Now this in and of itself isn’t particularly noteworthy except for what I happened to notice about their names. We crossed (in no particular order) Beaver Creek, Otter Creek, Bear Creek, Wolf Creek, Catfish Creek and Boggy Creek. Wow, lots of animal names here, don’t you think?

Before I get too much further, though, I’ve always wondered why some people pronounce creek as “crick.” The double-e in the name should impart a long e sound, like street, right? I mean, I’ve never heard someone pronounce street as “strit,” so why is creek referred to as “crick?” Just curious, that’s all…..

Anyway, after passing the third or fourth creek with an animal name, I started laughing, because it was amusing to me. My wife was studying and glanced at me, wondering why I would just spontaneously start laughing. I had to explain why I thought it was funny.

Now, right off the bat, no pun intended, three of these creek names immediately reminded me of something other than what Wikipedia refers to as “a body of water that is a small to medium sized natural stream.”

Boggy Creek, to me, will always be a movie about a “bigfoot” type of creature that I saw as a child with my eldest sister (the movie not the actual critter). I’m tempted to try to convince my sister, as well as my wife to attend an annual festival for this creature. In all honesty, I didn’t know this festival existed until I googled “Boggy Creek” for a suitable reference. Naturally, I looked at google maps and see that it’s just over a 5 hour drive from the house. So, who else is with me? Road trip, anyone?

Beaver Creek is a ski area near Vail, right? At least that’s the image my mind conjures whenever I see “Beaver Creek.” I never actually got a chance to ski Beaver Creek, but I did ski Arrowhead, which is now part of the Beaver Creek resort area. Since I’m writing about Colorado, I should mention why Wolf Creek is something more than just another “small to medium sized stream.”

C.W. McCall is best known for his song Convoy, released in 1975. Ironically, his song Wolf Creek Pass on his album of the same name made the top 40 before Convoy did. Wolf Creek Pass is one of my favorite “fun songs” and while I haven’t had a chance yet to drive across the real Wolf Creek Pass, I’d sure like to one day, just as I’d like to take a rafting trip through Lodore Canyon. Yep, that’s the setting for another song by Mr. McCall, and the imagery of a rafting trip on this wild river makes me want to sign up for the next trip.

Hhhmmmm, Stephen King and C.W. McCall……

The obvious connection between these two guys is Colorado. Our last road trip to Colorado in 2010 allowed me to experience a little “real life” magic by visiting places either directly mentioned by one of these gentlemen or at least served as an inspiration for one of their works. This, my friends, will be the subject of my next blog, or the one right after that.

Until next time…

carpe cerevisi