By Rich Creason | For The Times-Post
We were having dinner with some friends at a local restaurant recently. One of them asked “Of all your travels and adventures, which ones stand out as your favorites?”
Of course, my reply was, “How much time do you have?”
But, it did get me thinking. Since I would have to go back about six decades, I’m sure I can’t remember all of them. Although, a few will always stand out in my memory.
My brother, Butch, and I bought our first horse when I was about 12. I had a mentor who taught me everything I needed to learn about horses.
When I was 14, he taught me to be a blacksmith. I learned to make horseshoes and put them on the horse. I began breaking horses and riding rodeo and in obstacle races. I got a job working with harness horses, driving and racing them.
Jumping ahead about 50 years, the doctors discovered I had a broken neck. It was decided I probably broke it at some time when I fell off a horse and landed on my head.
In high school, I started dating Susie. We went out for a while, then, I left for college. She followed me to Purdue a year later, and we began going out again. When we graduated in 1970, she told me she was tired of chasing me and we were going to get married. And we did. I suppose that was my greatest adventure, and we are still married 53 years later.
Susie was a city girl and hadn’t spent much time in the outdoors. I took her to Canada to a boat in/fly in, hunting and fishing camp. No roads. I told her she better enjoy it because we were stuck in camp for a week until the boat took us out. We fished and walked logging trails; I showed her bear and moose tracks, how to paddle a canoe; and many more outdoor activities. She was never a city girl again.
Shortly after we married, her parents and younger brothers moved to Florida. We went to visit over every Christmas vacation. While there, our first year, I booked a deep sea fishing charter. The captain told me the price was the same whether it was just me and Susie or a total of six people. So, we took her dad and three brothers with us. At the end of the day, we had boated 44 fish, the smallest which was 10 pounds. Susie hooked a 30-pound wahoo, the biggest of the day. Even the captain admitted it was probably his best day on the water.
In 1978, we began metal detecting. She didn’t know at the time we would still be detecting now. I began writing stories and columns for magazines and newspapers about our outdoor adventures in 1980. Obviously, I am still doing that, also. We expanded our horizons by panning gold, searching for geodes, and splitting rocks in a Wyoming quarry to discover fish fossils. While visiting the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, we discovered we could join them in South Dakota and dig for dinosaur bones. We did that for six summers. Hard work, but great fun.
As an outdoor travel writer, we visited about 35 states to fish, hike, canoe, kayak, detect, hunt for rocks and gems, and a wide variety of other outdoor fun. We really enjoyed our visits to Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. The far southern states were also high on our travel destinations. The people there are extremely friendly and their food is outstanding.
We have made probably hundreds of new friends across this country and Canada. I have written stories about many of them. Many of them are other outdoor writers, and I have a shelf full of autographed books written by more than a few.
While I have never written a book, I have had many other authors tell me I should and have offered to help. I was told a book of our travels would be an interesting read. But, I’m afraid some of my stories would have to go in the library under “fiction” because no one would believe they were true.
Rich Creason is an award-winning outdoors and travel writer whose work has appeared in local, regional, national and international publications for 40 years. Born in Anderson, he is a graduate of Markleville High School. He lives in South Madison County with his wife, Susie. He may be contacted at [email protected].