Tag: West Virginia
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young people like to commit suicide by jumping off that big bridge.
if you travel to West Virginia, or you plan to travel to West Virginia, and you pick up some brochures…or go to a website…and look….I can almost guarantee, with certainty, that a photo of that bridge will be on a cover, on an ad, on a brochure, or on a commercial. you can’t miss it.
there’s that bridge.
you can go to a restaurant overlooking it. you can go to the edge of it on a hiking trail…on both sides. you can even jump off the bridge…on a bungee, and swing back up. in theory. but you cannot jump off the bridge without a cord, without a parachute, and expect to have a good chance of surviving the fall…from the country’s highest single span bridge.
young people like to commit suicide by jumping off that big bridge.
today I was far from that structure…but close to it in memory…as I listened to an old woman who grew up not far from the place where the bridge was built. she told me she did not like driving over the bridge. on windy days, if you are in a small vehicle, it is not particularly pleasant if road work has limited it to one lane on each side, which I have seen. it is also not particularly pleasant when you look out the window, and instead of focusing on the vehicles and the fog that lies below you, you see someone near the edge of the bridge.
young people like to commit suicide by jumping off that big bridge.
but the planners probably never imagined that the towns nearby would become another stop on the opioid express, and the bridge itself, would become a link between the substance and the result of that substance. because when you have given up on life, and you want to end it quickly, what better spot to do it than a super-high bridge with a walkway, where people jump off on a bungee cord for a thrill?
if I ever drive across that bridge again, I will be watching. and, I hope, someone else will be watching. watching daily. watching to rescue the broken. and just like the temptation of that bridge for those who have given up on hope, those of us alive, in every sense of the word, should be watching, ready to take not just a step of compassion, or kindness, but one of rescue.
wherever we go, wherever we are.
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a palette of flowers…on a soggy spring afternoon…
with purple trillium…and…
little blue and chartreuse colored spring wildflowers along the rail trail…
….a vibrant carpet of fresh scent, fresh color, and fresh experiences...
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(from a Middle Island meadow, looking back to a bridge over the Ohio River)
A photo journey to Middle Island in the Ohio River, part of a national wildlife refuge…
(home to numerous wildlife….)
(Headland Trail, Middle Island)
(spring trail-side flowers)
(reaching the northern end of the island- looking out into the Ohio River)
(looking back on the trail…can you spot the robin high on a limb, or the children’s playground slide across the channel?)
(at the entrance to the wildlife refuge road)
…now, it is time to cross the bridge and find some supper…
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Aubrey Benmark started out from Brooklyn, New York, on Saint Patrick’s Day, and crossed the bridge over Blennerhassett Island into Ohio today. I saw her this morning, but did not know it- she crossed the highway with some kind of thing that looked like a baby carriage. When you’re going 60 mph, it is difficult to focus on a far moving object on the other side of the road.
Today I traveled the four lane to a popular hiking spot in Ohio…
where i took photographs and watched other people taking pictures of each other with a wild natural wonder in the background. After they all left the area, I snapped this shot of Ash Cave from the trail leading back to the parking lot.
I also saw strong evidence of Ohio’s growing preoccupation with converting rational interchanges into troublesome roundabouts… all in a state known for erratic driving habits. While your Ohio farmer is driving 25 mph down the unnecessarily narrow road, weaving into the other lane…another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction will top out at over 80 mph on curves in the shape of a twisted colon…
…which makes being obsessed with roundabout creation….even double roundabouts…in a state where 99% of the population have never seen one…a very dangerous proposition.
Heading back toward “Almost Heaven,” it was nearly mid-afternoon when I drove past a figure walking west on the berm of US 50. I pulled off at the next exit and turned around, made a turn and stopped a hundred feet in front of the now stopped cart. When I slipped out of my seat, I discovered that the walker was a woman and her cart declared that she was “walking across america.”
She said she was walking across America to prove that there was still kindness in the world…
After giving her some supplies, she told me that she was relying on the kindness of strangers.
When I asked her about West Virginia, she said that some people in Pennsylvania were telling her she would be in danger in West Virginia. She learned first hand that many in the media degrade the friendliest state I have ever been in, which is quite sad. She told stories about how people in the state had been so generous, one even letting her stay in a luxury guest house for free.
She is heading through southern Ohio for Louisville…so if you see her, do as a disciple of Jesus would do and offer her what you have, take her to lunch or dinner, or give her a spot in your home or cabin out back. I ask all disciples of Jesus within southern ohio and northern Kentucky to be on the lookout and be ready to bless her.
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this is for the great masses who enjoy diverse forms of poetry. i confess to not being very talented at formulaic verse, since my passion to write is more iconoclastic…preferring poetic fiction, poetic prose, and subject matter inspired by subject or character rather than form. still, i did promise to write some specifically structured verse while http://www.kirstenuninterrupted.wordpress.com – and others- participate in a particular “poetry month.”
i have chosen to write a quintet, a poem containing stanzas or an entire poem of five lines. since i am in no way English, i decided to title this type “Mountain,” as in “Mountaineer,” as in “one from West Virginia.”
(On a trail near Bear Heaven, West Virginia)
MOUNTAIN QUINTET # 1
the red roads round the map of state
and cross the deep divides of form…
splattered with pockets of pea-green paint
lands over which boots and backpacks reign
land of the rhododendron domain.
(typical mountain foliage)
(Bear Heaven, West Virginia)
(Kumbrabow State Forest, West Virginia)
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it is not for the faint of heart to travel some of the more rugged and remote roads of West Virginia…but so many are waiting for you and I…to travel down that corridor…into wild and wonderful mountain landscapes, with surprises and photo-op views around nearly every bend…
and the journey becomes as adventurous as where you plan to go for the night….or day…
like Helvetia, this wonderful Swiss-American settlement deep in the high mountains…or this rugged rural road that travels through high mountain forests, passing historic sites, and giving such wonderful scenic views...
…and this…at Bear Rocks in Dolly Sods...
where you can climb up to what seems like the top and see this from your car window…or go explore the wilderness…
…dreaming of spring…slan go foill…
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Pickle Street, Hewett Creek, Guyandotte, Jodie,
Kanawha Trace, Ogden, Oley, Bowdie,
Wheeling Creek, Whitmer, Whymer, Cobb
Hico, Hicks Ridge, Huff Creek, Johnny Knob.
Tea Creek, Stonecoal, Shawver, Swiss,
Millstone, Mountain View, Minden, Bliss,
Klondike, Keeny’s Creek, Burnt House, Dailey,
Five Forks, Frankfort, Frametown, Hominey.
Names of West Virginia,
names of a far-fetched place
many a name no history known
settled in this mountain place…
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As I walked along the trail today, vicious dogs threatened, ignorant rednecks stared, and a host of people invaded my search for peace…on a trail supposedly maintained by the state government.
Which brings me to my premise: Do we, as human beings, not have a right to privacy in a place to relax in peace?
As peaceful as a picture may seem, it does not tell the whole story…for, not far from this scene, a yapping creature came bounding across the divide and onto the trail to challenge me…
…not far from this spot actually. Perhaps the owners of the dog failed to understand the rights of the trail user. Or, perhaps, it is because so many of these “rail trails” do not have good containment areas in suburban or built up areas…
In those places, it is much better to see this…
…a fence erected by the adjacent landowners…
Nevertheless, this is a problem in particular areas where residents do not have the respect necessary to ensure a safe, pleasant trail environment. It is unfortunate that hikers like me have to drive miles to other sections in order to have a wee bit of peace and quiet…
but…I am really thinking more of others- families with children, boy or girl scouts and clubs, cyclists out for a pleasant ride, and even those on horseback…all threatened by an ignorant anti-trail climate perpetuated by ignorant people. Like Jesse DuPlantis says, I believe I have met some people with “the spirit of stupid.”
Along about ten miles of the start of this trail, in one of the safest places in the USA, it is not safe to travel alone- by bike, hike, or horseback- a trail over 70 miles long. It is time to take back the trail, to ensure peace in our time. If you live near one of these recreation greenways, do your part- gather in groups when you go, and press forward, re-enforcing your rights to travel on public property….
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Happy Thanksgiving Day!
…from West Virginia…
Photo: Blennerhasset Island State Park in the Ohio River
The Lost Kerryman 