Since you'all are draging your poor tired hineys anywhere but here, I see if I can kick start this thing over. I just moved to the upper right hand cornor of West Virginia, to a wide spot in the road named Purgitsville which is about a days foot travel from Romney. There is no stop light, theres not even a stop sign; we don't even have a convience store/ gas station; it is 6 miles to a place that sells coke cola. But you can be burried here, we do have a cemetary, its just an ordinary one though.

I have been here about 3 weeks so far and my record for not seeing another person is all ready up to 6 days, I think cows outnumber people about 6 to 1, theres not much here for resources except for trees and rocks; in Romney theres the usual small town stuff, couple of motels, 2 (count them) 2 auto parts houses, the usual under stocked hardware, video rentals, car repair shops, ect.

Out here at "Hermits Roost" there is nothing but deer, crows, skunks, fox, and an occasional bear print, no bears sighted yet. One GOB (good ole boys) told me a tale of him mowing and decited to rest down by the creek a spell and had left his cabin door open. He walked up to get a drink, of whatever GOB's drink, and did find a deer inside eating a box of corn flakes that had not been put back in the cabinet yet.

I find West Virginia to be a bit different than I have been lead to believe; not a one of them have horns; they speak (their version of) English; they all practice 24-7 driving which has nothing to do with days or time. On these mangled spaggeti type two lane roads around here it is mandatory and a point of pride to keep 24 feet and 7 inches as the distance from any vehicle you are following. It dosen't matter if you are driving a 60,000 pound logging truck or a mo-ped the distance stays 24-7. Up hill down hill, sliding around a curve, whatever.

This state has beauty, rolling mountains, sheer rock faces, creeks with water so clear you can count the stones on the bottom. The people have pride, their houses are in good repair, there are not cars up on blocks being ignored. These people are not wealthy in the sense of having material things; I do not see where they need them. These people have each other, what else do you need....

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), October 03, 2001

Answers

Sounds pretty darned good to me, Mitch. If you don't mind my asking, what made you choose where you are now? Seems to me you were in Florida, weren't you? WV is quite a change from that. Was there anything special about the place that drew you there?

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), October 03, 2001.

WoW Mitch sounds like ya found a real nice place. Now remember that them W. Virginnies are good folk unless you rile them. I got a relative or two up thata way. Usually people moving up thar are so full of city bs that they overlook the clear criks and game trails.

Once accepted your treated bettern most families and thats the gospel truth. If'n the GOB are talking to ya You must being doing sumptin right. BTW there inglish ain't so bad. :o)

In all reality Mitch Enjoy the "quiet". It's good for the soul.

-- K & S (healthywizard@earthlink.net), October 03, 2001.

People, the reason I moved here is that I have people in the D.C. area (106 miles) and as for Florida, I choose to move back to America. Right now if you go to Fla. you had better speak spanish, and jordanian, and bangdeleshian, swaheli, bolivian, farcie, germain, swedish, bulgarian, esparanzo, yankee and cuban. Visit downtown Miami the new third world wonder, go to a city council meeting- learn spanish. Everybody in Alabama, Georgia and S. Carolina go get your biggest tractors and three bottom plows, cut a canal at the upper state line and turn it over to the navy for target practice. The excess of regulation, dirty politicans, stupidity, immigrates, and general bull feathers has made Florida unfit for habitation. What was the other question?....

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), October 03, 2001.

I have allready posted but now I think of the second question: does K. & S stand for Karen and Sally, or Ken and Stan? From this end it looks like something is being hid....

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), October 03, 2001.

Now Mitch we were doing just fine until this -

People, the reason I moved here is that I have people in the D.C. area (106 miles) and as for Florida, I choose to move back to America. Right now if you go to Fla. you had better speak spanish, and jordanian, and bangdeleshian, swaheli, bolivian, farcie, germain, swedish, bulgarian, esparanzo, yankee and cuban. Visit downtown Miami the new third world wonder, go to a city council meeting- learn spanish. Everybody in Alabama, Georgia and S. Carolina go get your biggest tractors and three bottom plows, cut a canal at the upper state line and turn it over to the navy for target practice. The excess of regulation, dirty politicans, stupidity, immigrates, and general bull feathers has made Florida unfit for habitation. What was the other question?....

Admittedly we've been doing a slow retreat out of South Florida for years now but if you get away from the major urban centers there's still plenty of the real Florida around. Get into the small towns and cities of North and Panhandle Florida and we're pretty much the way we've always been. Even Central Florida hasn't changed all that much if you get away from the greater Orlando and Tampa areas. Big cities in any state of the Union don't look a terrible lot like the populations of the states they're in away from the urban centers.

Part of the reason you're seeing so few people up there in those Appalachian hills is that they've moved elsewhere, many of them here.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), October 04, 2001.

Your description of West Virginia sounds a like what people who have traveled through there tell me. . . lots of space, hilly terrain, independent minded people. Does sound like paradise. Enjoy it and get some rest; moving a couple of states away is a BIG move.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), October 04, 2001.

Sounds great. You can solve the hilly rocky part with terraces and homemade topsoil. A fella I worked with got some TN "rockytop" and used the rocks to make small terrace SFG plots and filled em with worm soil.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 04, 2001.

Jay, Ann and I are gonna need to use these ideas at our new homestead, although there is some meadow-land where we'll be gardening.. It is also in W VA, in the Spencer area. As far as the worms and top soil go, I'm gonna go through the archives like a worm in a compost bin.

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), October 07, 2001.

Actuall K&S stands for Ken & Stella. Works on the Library internet connections.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), October 10, 2001.