A quick note before we get started: This is the first in a series of posts about locations that appear in the Jake & Boo books. I’m going to try to give you a little information about each location, show you some pictures, and talk about that location’s significance in the books. I’ll do that last bit in as non-spoilery fashion as possible. But if you don’t want to know anything about the story, or you’ve got an image of what places look like that you don’t want changed, then by all means give these posts a miss. But I hope you’ll take a look, and that seeing these locations will make Jake and his world more alive and relatable to you.
See that picture up there? The one of the Houston skyline as seen from a bridge?
That’s one of the hike/bike trails in Houston. This photo was taken from the middle of the old train trestle bridge that goes over White Oak Bayou.
This particular photo was taking on July 4, 2018, during Houston’s July 4th Flood. You can see that it’s flooding if you look down at the lower left corner. See how the bank looks like grass? It shouldn’t look like that. The bayou is usually a trickle running through a concrete trough. Like in this photo by Patrick Feller from Humble, Texas, USA – Old MKT Railroad Trestle over White Oak Bayou, near Studemont & I-10, Houston, Texas 1405091104bw, CC BY 2.0, Link“>:
That’s a view of the bridge from, as far as I can tell, Studewood Drive.
Going back to my picture at the top, see that red sculpture, also on the left? You can also see it in the first few seconds of this video:
You can see the trestle bridge at the 0:13 second mark – just clearing the water.
This is the video I couldn’t stop looking at last year while I was in Miami. I was supposed to be enjoying my vacation, but I was stressed out because I couldn’t get home and the flooding looked like that only half-a-mile from my house. My house was fine.
In case you haven’t heard, Houston floods. A lot.
But what’s so special about this bridge? This is the bridge where Jake and Don found the three-legged kitten who would become Don’s little buddy, Bridger, in Not a Werewolf.
So, I mention in the back matter of my books that locations are either real places, real places with their names changed, or have some kind of inspiration in actual locations. This is one of the first kind – a real place, depicted as accurately as possible.