Kankakee River ( #AtoZChallenge )

       "Can you come to Kissimmee in Kankakee?"  Maybe there's a song there somewhere?    

 

West Virginia state Capitol in Charleston on the banks of the Kanawha River  (source)

Kankakee River

         The Holston and the French Broad Rivers converge in Knoxville to form the Tennessee River.  I suppose those who named the rivers back in the early days of the American conquest of itself (or was it self discovery?) could have very well named the river the Knox or the Knoxville River but they didn't.  This naming would have worked out for me in context of my A to Z Challenge K post, but that foresight wasn't there.  Thankfully so I might add.

         Still, there are plenty of "K" rivers from which to choose using the criteria of rivers that I've crossed, seen, or had some affect on me in a personal way.  There is the delightful sounding Kissimmee River in Florida, a river that I've crossed over a few times.  Or I might add the equally musical sounding Kalamazoo River in Michigan.  I don't have a girl in Kalamazoo, but I've crossed the river a few times and who doesn't like saying "Kalamazoo"?  Makes one want to sing a song.

        The Kansas River--also known as the Kaw River (that's two "K" names for one river!)--is one that I've crossed over a number of times but barely noticed if at all.  Personally I'm glad that the name Kansas River has been the preferred title over Kaw River.  The latter makes me think of a crow's call which is harsh and not particular romantic sounding.  Maybe Kansas doesn't sound all that exotic either, but at least it's a more than one syllable name.

         A good choice for me might have been the Kanawha River in West Virginia.  I've crisscrossed over that river many times while traveling through West Virginia and it is a very scenic river.  One particularly memorable view of the river is the one I've seen in Charleston, WV, the state capital and the birthplace of my father.  I don't exactly recall why he was born in Charleston and since his parents apparently returned to their hometown of Clarksburg fairly quickly, my father didn't have any great attachment to the city.  But it's in Kanawha County on the banks of the Kanawha River.

         However my choice for "K" is the Kankakee River in Indiana and Illinois.  For one thing the name has 3 K's--what a tribute to the letter K!   This river begins in Indiana and passes through the area of Indiana where I lived back in the 1960s.  After entering Illinois the river passes through Kankakee County passing the city of Kankakee until it eventually joins the Des Plaines River to become the Illinois River.

         I hope that wasn't too much of an overdose of Ks for you.  I was O K with it.  

       Are you familiar with any of these K rivers? Can you think of any songs that mention some of these K names? Is there any state in the U.S. that you think of as being particularly boring?