Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Preface To It's A Reach: This Definition

According to the Wikipedia, a reach (geography) is "a length of a stream or river, usually suggesting a level, uninterrupted stretch.  The beginning & ending points may be selected for geographic, historical or other reasons – & may be based on landmarks such as gauging stations, river miles, natural features, & topography."

The same article mentions that there are "334 place names in the US with the characterization of a named 'reach,'" but only gives one example: Hanford Reach.

For some reason, I feel like I knew about this definition of the word "reach" before I first saw this definition although if you had asked me to define "reach" I wouldn't have necessarily given this particular one.  Which leads me to believe one of two things: a) my brain doesn't work & it's convinced about something that isn't true, or 2) in my life I have been somewhere that someone has described as a "reach."  If it's the second one, then I can't really remember where that might be.  Moreover, I'm not able to find any of the 333 other place names using the word "reach" in a simple manner.

What I have found is an acronym.  This is the case with REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, & Restriction of Chemicals, the acronym of which would actually be REARC.

Now, REACH of Fort Worth doesn't actually appear to be an acronym, though its descriptive subtitle, "Resource Centers on Independent Living," feels like it wishes it were the expanded acronym.  But that might be ReCoIL.  Which I am cool with.

& there a United Nations initiative called REACH which seems to do good work that's pretty immune to my snark.

Wait!  I may have found something.  According to this website, which focuses on revitalization efforts pertaining to the San Antonio River called the San Antonio River Improvements Project, or (SARIP):

SARIP is comprised of four distinctive reaches: The Museum Reach, a four-mile segment of the river from Hildebrand Avenue south to Lexington Avenue; the Downtown Reach, a segment of the original River Walk from Lexington Avenue to Houston Street; the Eagleland, a one-mile segment from South Alamo to Lonestar Boulevard; & the Mission Reach, a eight-mile section of the river extending from Lonestar Boulevard south to Loop 410 South.

The thing is, I've only been in San Antonio like five times in my life.  Are there signs on the riverwalk that say "Downtown Reach"?  Because that's the sort of thing that would settle in the low-import puzzle section of my brain.

Or are there sections of the Colorado & Trinity called "reaches" that I can't seem to find just stumbling around online?

Not sure.  But this has gone on long enough, don't you think?

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