West Virginia

[Xanupox]

Who here has ties to West Virginia?

Did you ever live there? Travel to the state? Have a friend or relative living there now? Know someone close to you that is from there? Besides the fact that WVU is going to win the College football national championship this coming year, what else about WVU amazes you?

Oh, I spent 17 years in the state. Loved it, then hated it but missing it now that I have been gone for 16 years.

[Sabek]

Besides the fact that WVU is going to win the College football national championship this coming year,

LAWL

[Arborealus]

You mean "West by-God Virginia"...

[Ashur]

My parents are both from the Charleston area. They got out in the 60s and never moved back.

[Sylvus]

http://www.slate.com/id/2192830/?from=rss

[Xyphir]

WVU Class of 1997. My father is from Parkersburg. He joined the navy out of HS (c.1967) and never moved back. I live in Colorado now, which has similarities to WV in that both depend on tourism and the oil/coal industry have huge lobbies in both states. I love certain things about WV but would NOT want to move back there. I do miss pepperoni rolls. I just can't seem to perfect them.

[Boogahz]

I do miss pepperoni rolls. I just can't seem to perfect them.

My mom's ex was a WVU alumn, and had lived in the state all her life until moving to Lubbock in the Mid-80's. She used to say that a local chain's "peproni rolls" were as good as anything she had back home.

[Canelek]

West Virginia

Whew! ahahhahaahhahaahehehehehehehehhahahhehahehhe





Thanks!

[Xouqoa]

My parents both graduated from WVU, and I visited once but it was long ago. From what I remember (I was quite young) it was really pretty there, though.

[Morgrym]

I went to school at ye ole WVU. My mother and her sister went to grad school there and we have a friend of the family that is one of the few women to have had her basket ball jersey retired there.

Awesome school and killer night life...at least it was in the early 90's. I have not been back in several years.

And yes, they are going to win it all this year. The speed out of the backfield is going to be ungodly.

[Clatis]

pfft... buckeyes are going to win

[sarlen]

What amazed me about West Virginia was how back woods some of the little towns are. I had the displeasure of coming down the east side of the Appalachian mountains driving a lowboy with 8 tons on. About 1/3 of the way down my trailer brakes went out and I eventually took a sand trap to keep from killing everyone on the highway.

I ended up walking about 2 miles to a little piss ant of a town to use a phone. When I walked up to the gas station it looked just like Jed Clampets 1 room shanty. On the porch was a guy about 300 pounds and all of 5'2" and a teenage girl who was pretty hot except she was spitting chewing tobacco and had black teeth (the ones she had left anyway).

Finally got a wrecker crew out to dig my truck up and half dozen guys all in bibs pile out of a semi rollback. They proceed to all stand around and look at my truck and trailer like they have never seen one before and ask me how dumb I must be for taking a sand trap all the while spitting what must have been 20 gallons of chew spit all over the ground and side of my truck.

While I didn't really get a chance to interact with the city people I got to say the country folk are ass backward!

[Funkmasterr]

What amazed me about West Virginia was how back woods some of the little towns are. I had the displeasure of coming down the east side of the Appalachian mountains driving a lowboy with 8 tons on. About 1/3 of the way down my trailer brakes went out and I eventually took a sand trap to keep from killing everyone on the highway.

I ended up walking about 2 miles to a little piss ant of a town to use a phone. When I walked up to the gas station it looked just like Jed Clampets 1 room shanty. On the porch was a guy about 300 pounds and all of 5'2" and a teenage girl who was pretty hot except she was spitting chewing tobacco and had black teeth (the ones she had left anyway).

Finally got a wrecker crew out to dig my truck up and half dozen guys all in bibs pile out of a semi rollback. They proceed to all stand around and look at my truck and trailer like they have never seen one before and ask me how dumb I must be for taking a sand trap all the while spitting what must have been 20 gallons of chew spit all over the ground and side of my truck.

While I didn't really get a chance to interact with the city people I got to say the country folk are ass backward!

That's pretty similar to my experience in Pennsylvania... Sorry fash/mid

[Aardor]

That's pretty similar to my experience in Pennsylvania... Sorry fash/mid

Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, and Alabama in between, is how the old saying goes.

[Oliadar]

the New River Gorge Bridge! I've got somewhere around 60 base jumps off it. I've been to Bridge Day every year for the past 3 years as a jumper and was one of the base jumping safety coordinators last year.

There's also some insane 75mph+ street luge runs out there. In the winter we're out there at least 2 weekends a month for luge/base jumping. The 5 hour drive each way is completely worth it.

[laneela]

WV can be very pretty in parts and Deliverance'ish in others. I have a house in the Appalachians in VA and there's a cheeeap flight from Ft Lauderdale to Huntington Tri-State. I get the hell out of the tri-state area QUICK -avoiding the Mothman and the bumpkins. I do however love Greenbrier County, with Lewisburg being a place I wouldn't mind living. Snowshoe Mountain and the New River Gorge are pretty too.

[Zamtuk]

pfft... buckeyes are going to win

gospel has been spoke

[Truant]

You mean "West by-God Virginia"...

Hi sir.

[Xanupox]

I grew up in Lincoln county. A rural poor county in the southwestern part of the state. The only thing I had keeping me sane was the fact I could drive to the capital city of Charleston in less than 15 minutes. I was lucky enough to live on the northern fringe of my county, others that lives in the extreme southern parts of the county and state were really something out of the bizzaro world.

I think the same 3 families have held all political/judicial offices in the county for the last 50 years. Corruption? Defined.

I honestly miss it though, at times. I think my dream right now is to retire from the military (less than 4 years now) and move back somewhere near Morgantown, near WVU. I'd like to just take some part time classes at the school and make use of my GI Bill benefits while I am at it.

Moving back to those rural areas though, I don't think I could handle that. Being in the military, whenever you go back home it seems like things should be just like they were when you left... but like everywhere else, time passes and people change, leave and go other places. Each time I return home to West Virginia, it feels less and less like home.

So, in essence I am still debating on whether or not I should actually return back to the state after I retire or just find a brand new place to stink up with my ninja//training//PKing skills.

[Arsecn]

"Almost Heaven"