Wolf Creek Pass and Pagosa Springs

[Older Whiskey]

Back in the day, I bought feed at the Pagosa Springs feed store, on more than one occasion. I also hauled a few cows over Wolf Creek to South Fork. For some strange reason, probably old age related, I had CW McCall's song in my head this morning. I had forgot most of the lyrics. so I looked them up.

"Wolf Creek Pass" C.W. McCall

Me an' Earl was haulin' chickens on a flatbed out of Wiggins
And we'd spent all night on the uphill side of thirty-seven miles of hell
Called Wolf Creek Pass. Which is up on the Great Divide?
We was settin' there suckin' toothpicks, drinkin' Nehi and onion soup mix
And I said, "Earl, let's mail a card to Mother then send them chickens on down the other side
Yeah, let's give 'em a ride"

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, Earl put down his bottle, mashed his foot down on the throttle
And then a couple'a boobs with a thousand cubes in a nineteen-forty-eight Peterbilt screamed to life
We woke up the chickens

Well, we roared up offa that shoulder sprayin' pine cones, rocks, and boulders
And put four hundred head of them Rhode Island reds and a couple a' burnt-out roosters on the line
Look out below; 'cause here we go

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, we commenced to truckin' and them hens commenced to cluckin'
And then Earl took out a match and scratched his pants and lit up the unused half of a dollar cigar and took a puff
Says "My, ain't this purdy up here"

I says, "Earl, this hill can spill us. You better slow down or you gonna kill us
Just make one mistake and it's the Pearly Gates for them eight-five crates a' USDA-approved cluckers
You wanna hit second?"

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, Earl grabbed on the shifter and he stabbed her into fifth gear
And then the chromium-plated, fully-illuminated genuine accessory shift knob come right off in his hand
I says, "You wanna screw that thing back on, Earl?"

He was tryin' to thread it on there when the fire fell off a' his cigar
And dropped on down, sorta rolled around, and then lit in the cuff of Earl's pants and burned a hole in his sock
Yeah, sorta set him right on fire

I looked on outta the window and I started countin' phone poles
Goin' by at the rate of four to the seventh power
Well I put two and two together, and added twelve and carried five
Come up with twenty-two thousand telephone poles an hour

I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide, his lip was curled, and his leg was fried
And his hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard
I says, "Earl, I'm not the type to complain; but the time has come for me to explain
That if you don't apply some brake real soon, they're gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon"

Well, Earl rared back, and cocked his leg, stepped as down as hard as he could on the brake
And the pedal went clear to the floor and stayed there, right there on the floor
He said it was sorta like steppin' on a plum

Well, from there on down it just wasn't real purdy: it was hairpin county and switchback city
One of 'em looked like a can full'a worms; another one looked like malaria germs
Right in the middle of the whole damn show was a real nice tunnel, now wouldn't you know?

Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine
Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen
And we took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp
Went down and around and around and down 'til we run outta ground at the edge of town
Bashed into the side of the feed store... in downtown Pagosa Springs

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side
Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

 

[Faster horses]

We are old enough that we were around when that song was popular.

We had a teenager kid working for us one summer and he could mimic C. W. McCall to a T.
He kept us entertained at lunch every day! That kid had talent.

And he was funny. He had 2 ferrets that he named "Who" and "Askem". He had a lot of fun with that. "What are their names?" He would reply "Who" and they would say, "your ferrets" and he would say "Askem."

He was a good kid, good worker, we really liked him. He worked for us a couple of summers. He was game for anything. We have lost touch with him, which is strange, because most of the kids that worked for us stay in touch. I can't remember his last name,
only that his brother was a Border Patrol agent. We didn't know anyone that did that line of work before. I guess that's why it sticks in my mind.

 

[Puzzled]

I don't remember a Wolf Creek Pass, but I did like Convoy.

 

[Faster horses]

I don't remember a Wolf Creek Pass, but I did like Convoy.

Oh yeah, he could sing that one too. I guess I will look up and find out what happened to C.W. McCall.

 

[Puzzled]

Back in the day, I bought feed at the Pagosa Springs feed store, on more than one occasion. I also hauled a few cows over Wolf Creek to South Fork. For some strange reason, probably old age related, I had CW McCall's song in my head this morning. I had forgot most of the lyrics. so I looked them up.

"Wolf Creek Pass" C.W. McCall

Me an' Earl was haulin' chickens on a flatbed out of Wiggins
And we'd spent all night on the uphill side of thirty-seven miles of hell
Called Wolf Creek Pass. Which is up on the Great Divide?
We was settin' there suckin' toothpicks, drinkin' Nehi and onion soup mix
And I said, "Earl, let's mail a card to Mother then send them chickens on down the other side
Yeah, let's give 'em a ride"

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, Earl put down his bottle, mashed his foot down on the throttle
And then a couple'a boobs with a thousand cubes in a nineteen-forty-eight Peterbilt screamed to life
We woke up the chickens

Well, we roared up offa that shoulder sprayin' pine cones, rocks, and boulders
And put four hundred head of them Rhode Island reds and a couple a' burnt-out roosters on the line
Look out below; 'cause here we go

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, we commenced to truckin' and them hens commenced to cluckin'
And then Earl took out a match and scratched his pants and lit up the unused half of a dollar cigar and took a puff
Says "My, ain't this purdy up here"

I says, "Earl, this hill can spill us. You better slow down or you gonna kill us
Just make one mistake and it's the Pearly Gates for them eight-five crates a' USDA-approved cluckers
You wanna hit second?"

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, Earl grabbed on the shifter and he stabbed her into fifth gear
And then the chromium-plated, fully-illuminated genuine accessory shift knob come right off in his hand
I says, "You wanna screw that thing back on, Earl?"

He was tryin' to thread it on there when the fire fell off a' his cigar
And dropped on down, sorta rolled around, and then lit in the cuff of Earl's pants and burned a hole in his sock
Yeah, sorta set him right on fire

I looked on outta the window and I started countin' phone poles
Goin' by at the rate of four to the seventh power
Well I put two and two together, and added twelve and carried five
Come up with twenty-two thousand telephone poles an hour

I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide, his lip was curled, and his leg was fried
And his hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard
I says, "Earl, I'm not the type to complain; but the time has come for me to explain
That if you don't apply some brake real soon, they're gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon"

Well, Earl rared back, and cocked his leg, stepped as down as hard as he could on the brake
And the pedal went clear to the floor and stayed there, right there on the floor
He said it was sorta like steppin' on a plum

Well, from there on down it just wasn't real purdy: it was hairpin county and switchback city
One of 'em looked like a can full'a worms; another one looked like malaria germs
Right in the middle of the whole damn show was a real nice tunnel, now wouldn't you know?

Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine
Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen
And we took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp
Went down and around and around and down 'til we run outta ground at the edge of town
Bashed into the side of the feed store... in downtown Pagosa Springs

Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side
Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Did CW McCall ever do a sequel to Wolf Creek Pass ? Like maybe go back and check on that top layer of chickens.

 

[Older Whiskey]

Oh yeah, he could sing that one too. I guess I will look up and find out what happened to C.W. McCall.

CW died from cancer at age 93, 2022, I think.

Did CW McCall ever do a sequel to Wolf Creek Pass ? Like maybe go back and check on that top layer of chickens.

Remember that top layer stacked at thirteen nine, hit a concrete tunnel top at 12 feet high at 110 MPH. No sequel, since only feather fragments remained. Next song was about hauling hogs to Omaha and long haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse micro bus. No mention of feathers on Wolf Creek Pass since the heavy cross winds probably blew them away. A few feathers might have got hung up in the snow drift fencing, but winter set in before any investigation took place. The case went cold, so to speak!

 

[Puzzled]

Remember that top layer hit a concrete overpass at 110 MPH. No sequel, since only feather fragments remained. Next song was about hauling hogs to Omaha and long haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse micro bus. No mention of feathers on Wolf Creek Pass since the heavy cross winds probably blew them away. A few feathers might have got hung up in the snow drift fencing, but winter set in before any investigation took place. The case went cold, so to speak!

Hmmm That makes sense.