Metz and Mannington

 Leaving Cameron West Virginia, heading east on Route 250, I had a lot on my mind.  I kept the radio off and the CDs in their brown paper bag.  Driving is good for thinking.

Solo road trips are usually good for long deep thinks but driving Route 250 through the West Virginia hills requires a lot of attention.  I paid close attention to rectangular speed limit signs, those diamond-shaped signs with a drawn arrow describing the shape of the curve, and all the warnings about slope.  I’m usually not that cautious, and my caution soaked up more of my brain’s bandwidth than usual.  Thankfully, there was some left.

I began thinking about the Buick.  Between turning it on, twisting a key the old-fashioned way rather than carrying a fob and pressing a button, and twisting the key back to turn it off, I confess to ignoring the Buick’s engine and drive train entirely.  I check the oil when I fill up, and change the oil regularly, but that’s about the extent of it.  But talking with Bob in the café about his cars and extra wear and tear from the hills made me wonder how the Buick was doing.  I tuned in.

The transmission was shifting all the time, gearing down to take the rises, gearing up when it leveled off, back down to help control the speed on steep descents.  I thought of how different that must be from Illinois driving.  If the Buick were a person, it would say “where the hell have you taken me?”

I tried to remember the details of the transmission work I had done before the pandemic.  I’d had an intermittent check engine light I blamed on the gas cap being loose.  But after buying a new gas cap the light still came on.  I asked the guy at my go-to independent garage in Ottawa to plug the computer into the Buick and tell me what it said about that warning.  Turned out to be two faulty speed sensors in the transmission.  I blogged about it.  Tonight, in the hotel I should get out the laptop and reread that blog.  I did remember the guy at the transmission place in Morris, also independent (no warranty but cheap) pointed out the check engine light went off after replacing those sensors.  That was good enough for him. 

I used to notice a lag when putting the Buick in Drive from Reverse, along with a clunk.  It happened often when I backed out of my driveway and headed down the hill.  I knew it couldn’t be good, and I thought it went away after I had that work done in Morris.  But I wasn’t sure.  I have to listen more closely for that clunk, I told myself silently.  See if I still felt that lag.  So many thoughts go through your mind on a road trip.

Then my mind took me to Metz, a town I would come to up the road.  I’d researched the towns on Wikipedia.  There wasn’t much information on Metz, but what was there stuck with me. 

I remembered the town was founded as Bee Hive Station in the early 1800s by Jacob Metz, a German guy who was a beekeeper.  When the train line came through there in the 1850s the railroad approached Jacob to buy land for a right of way they needed at the time.  Jacob told them he wouldn’t sell them the land but would give it to them on the condition they put in a stop, build a station, and name it Metz Crossing.  He figured the stop would be a boon for his honey business.  The railroad took the deal but soon after the word “crossing” was dropped, and the town became known simply as Metz.

And then the train stopped running in 1959, they tore up the tracks in 1975, and in 2011 they closed the Metz Post Office.  It’s been downhill from there.  I took this picture because it best represents Metz today.

For all we know that could have been Jacob’s house.  It appears Metz is now best known as the name of a portal, or access point to the Marion County Mine, formerly Leveridge Number 22 Mine, an underground coal mine.  It used to belong to the Marion County Coal Company, now a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corporation.  That mine produces 6.1 million tons of coal a year.

The sign is at the intersection of Jonny Cake Road and Route 250.  I wanted to drive back on Jonny Cake to the mine entrance but decided to press on.  It was mostly because I liked the name of the road anyway.

I learned later that the Marion County Mine was one of three mines for which the previous corporate owner, CONSOL Energy, agreed to build a combined $200 million wastewater treatment system, and pay the state and federal governments $6 million to settle hundreds of alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.  The fines included payment to the W. Va. Division of Natural Resources for damage to Dunkard Creek.

Those violations remained alleged because, under the terms of the settlement, CONSOL Energy denied responsibility for a 2009 toxic bloom that killed countless fish, salamanders, mussels, and other aquatic life in Dunkard Creek, a tributary to the Monongahela River.  Yet they paid the money.  Coal and the mining of it does more than foul the air.   

Metz was a short stop.  There was little to see.  Neither a hive nor a honeybee in sight.  Jacob Metz would hardly recognize the place.

The road was changing.  From Metz, the Buick and I found ourselves following Route 250 between the hills in a small valley formed by Buffalo Creek.  The road flattened out.  Mannington appeared, population 2,063, and with it came a noticeable change, the appearance of national brand businesses, Dairy Queen, CVS, BP, Dollar General, and hallelujah, McDonald's.  If the town of  Cameron could have but one of those businesses, it would be such a boost to their community.  But someone somewhere has run the numbers and it is not in the cards.  I kept going.

 As the Buick and I approached Farmington this sign appeared on the outskirts of town. 

Such a big national figure from such a small town.  I thought Farmington was bigger.  Population 369.  Sadly, Farmington’s claim to fame is not Joe Manchin but a tragedy that still haunts the community.

On November 20, 1968, at the nearby CONSOL Number 9 mine, an explosion killed 78 miners, one of them Joe Manchin’s uncle.  Annually, Joe Manchin and members of his family attend a memorial service held on that day.  The pain and trauma of the Farmington Mine disaster never go away.  Most families of the victims killed in the Number 9 mine accepted final settlements of $10,000 per miner offered shortly after the explosion by the mine owners.   However, the catastrophe in Farmington led to the 1969 consolidation of safety laws for various industries under a single agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Act Administration, or OSHA. 

The Farmington Disaster is but one of many mine disasters that haunt the people of West Virginia.

On December 6, 1907, the largest West Virginia mine disaster in history, an explosion and collapse in the Monongah mine south of Farmington, took the lives of 362 miners, nearly all of them recent immigrants to the United States. The largest ethnic group among those killed were 171 Italians. The list of coal mine disasters is long.  I describe here only four among scores of catastrophic events. 

On January 2, 2006, an explosion in the Sago mine near Buckhannon, West Virginia trapped thirteen miners for two days.  One survived.

At the Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia a coal dust explosion 1,000 feet underground took the lives of twenty-nine of thirty-one miners on April 5, 2010.

As I learned these facts, my new friends Bob’s words as we were eating banana cream pie rang in my ears. 

“We’ve had to fight for everything we ever got in West Virginia.  We fought to form unions…fought for safety in the mines…fought for years to get Black Lung recognized as a disease.  We’re tired of being ignored.  It’s like we’re being thrown away.” 

From pain comes determination.  I think I get it now. Not only does the coal industry contribute to climate change and pollute rivers and streams, but it also kills the people who work in it.  The experience of working people in West Virginia with the American Dream is hollowed out by death and sadness at the expense of a country hungry for energy at any cost.  Why can’t we find a way to take care of each other in this country?

By the time the Buick and I got to Fairmont, a big town of 18,400 on the Monongahela River, I decided to give the Buick a break and put it on a big multi-lane road with gentle rises and falls, gradual curves, and long straightaways.  I found an entrance to Interstate 79 South and took it, hoping to make it to Beckley, a soft motel mattress, and a good restaurant before it got dark.

I hope I get back to those hills.  Maybe I’ll find another way to get to Fairmont and take Route 250 on up to Cheat Mountain and into Virginia.  I’m sure if I do, I’ll meet more good people along the way and understand them even more.  

The Talk Turned to Politics

There in the Bridge Street Restaurant, I had a feeling my new friend was about to send me to school on West Virginia politics and while I had asked for it, I was a little wary about the next part of our conversation.  I thought maybe dessert would help the conversation remain civil.  Besides that, I saw a sign when I walked in saying they served homemade pie.  That doesn’t happen in America much anymore, and when it does, I do all I can to support it.

“I think I’m going to have a piece of pie and coffee.  Want to join me?”

“I shouldn’t.  But I will.”

“How is their pie.  It’s homemade I see.”

“It’s all good, but my favorite is the banana cream.  Great meringue if you like that kind of thing.  They zap it in the microwave before they give it to you.”

I flagged the waitress down and ordered two slices of banana cream pie and two coffees.  He leaned forward.  I kind of wished we’d kept talking about the best route west.

“There is a lot to say about Joe Manchin, but I’ll start with this.  It’s not the party that matters when it comes to him it's where he’s at in the Senate that matters.  You remember Robert Byrd?  Former senator from here?  He was in the Senate for 51 years, served in the House 3 years before that.  Died in office at age 92.  Byrd had clout.  Just like Manchin does now.  A state like us needs politicians with clout.” 

“West Virginia only has three electoral college votes you know.  Nobody cares about us much.  We know that.  So, when we get someone in Washington with seniority, heading up committees and such, we hesitate to start over.  I don’t care what party he’s from.  Know what I mean?  Manchin is Chair of the Energy Committee.  That means a lot to us.”

“It means a lot to everybody.  I think the decisions we make now about energy use in this country, and the world, are going to end up meaning what kind of world our grandkids live in.  I think climate change is the most important issue in politics.  And whether to stop burning coal is at the top of the list.  It’s the dirtiest fossil fuel there is.  So, Joe Manchin makes big money selling coal to power plants, still does, and he’s in charge of the committee reviewing and approving legislation about it.  Does that work?  You really think he can be impartial?”

“Do you think I don’t worry about my grandkids’ future?  I worry about climate change too.  And most everybody knows coal is on the way out.  But it’s a matter of speed on this switch to green energy.  You can’t do it fast.  Nearly all our power is made from coal.  We generate more electricity than we need from coal plants and sell it to our neighbor states.  You gonna shut down the coal business in West Virginia and leave us with nothing?  It may not matter to you but it damn sure matters to us.  You gonna make us turn around and buy electricity from someone else?  That’s not right.  We’re a poor state man.  Besides that, what are we gonna accomplish if America shuts down fossil fuels and China and India don’t?  I’ll tell you what, nothin’.  Fixing climate change isn’t just up to us.   Do you think the world revolves around the USA?”

“No.  But they look to us.  I think we have to show them how it can be done, do it, and then help finance the change, along with Europe.  It would be a great investment.  China doesn’t need our money, but other countries will.  It’s a global problem, and it’s in our interest to be a part of fixing it.  In our grandkids’ interest more than ours really.  And when you ask where are the incentives for West Virginia to drop coal and go green, they’re probably in the climate change proposal the Democrats are pushing that Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is holding up.  I bet he could get you what you need.  What’s his problem?  He’s acting like a Republican.”

“He’s acting like a conservative.  He’s always been a conservative.  He represents a conservative state.  He hasn’t changed, the Democratic party has changed.  He walks a fine line.  He voted twice to impeach Trump. You think that went over well in West Virginia? You know how big West Virginians voted for Trump right?  He made it through the 2018 election when Trump was President, won by a few percentage points.  Got just less than half the vote, which isn’t like him, but still won.  And he runs again in 2024.  We’ll see.  He’s got to play his cards right if he wants to stay in office.  And if he’s anything like Byrd he’ll stay till he dies.”   

The waitress brought the pie, and I had a bite.  The meringue felt like a sugary cloud in my mouth.  The banana cream was rich and warm.

“You know anything about Manchin besides his politics?”

“I feel like I do.  Maybe that’s why West Virginians like him so much.  His granddad went to work in the mines when he was nine years old and his uncle was killed in a coal mine.  Joe started out in the carpet business with his brothers, ran into trouble there, went into politics. Started out selling gob coal to power plants and went on to get rich as a coal broker.”

“Gob coal?”

“Yeah.  Gob coal is waste coal more or less.  It's what’s left lying around when they close down mines, when they clean up coal yards.  They scrape it up with all the dirt and crap laying around and sell it cheaper than regular coal.  It all burns up in the power plants.  Some people say gob coal is better left in the mines and on the ground than burned and released into the air.  It’s dirty stuff.  Manchin’s a complicated guy.  He’s from just down the road you know.”

“I knew got rich in the coal business but didn’t know he grew up here in the hills.”

“He’s from Farmington.  You’ll go right through it on Route 250.  Not a fancy place.  But you don’t need me to find out about Joe Manchin.  There are smarter people.  Hell, look him up on the internet.  It knows more than both of us.  But I’m telling you it’s not his party that matters.  It’s who he is.  We know him. He’s been in politics a long time.  Started out in the state legislature and worked his way up.   He’s a pretty straight shooter.  And he knows us.  Here’s what I think he’s doing.  He’s holding out to get investment in the state that will help us live through the change to green energy.  You can’t just pull the rug out from under West Virginia without making up somehow for the loss of the coal industry.”

“Have the feds started making up for it at all?”

“Not that I can tell.”

“Did Trump do anything in his four years to get that going?”

“No.  But neither did Obama and he had eight years.”

“What about Obama?  Wasn’t Obamacare a big help to West Virginia?“

“It may have helped some people afford care.  But it sure as hell didn’t help us get more medical providers.  It’s a damn thin health care system out here.  Especially mental health.  And the amount of substance abuse treatment is just pitiful. 

“You can say that again.  Speaking of health care, can you figure out why our health care system isn’t talked about anymore?  Rural health care is a mess.  But it’s dropped off the radar.  Except for drug prices, it’s like health care doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I think the health care lobby shut down that discussion.  But I don’t know.  I was hoping you could tell me.  Why aren’t the Democrats bringing it up.”

“It disappoints me that they don’t.  I think you may be right about the health care lobby.  And I’m sorry I don’t have more answers for you, but I do have a few more questions.  Like this one.  I can see why West Virginia might have gone big for Trump the first time, because he made coal an issue, said he’d save the coal industry.  I don’t think that was ever going to happen, but I can see the attraction of the coal mining community back then.  But he never made good on that promise.  Why would West Virginians vote for Trump even more in his last campaign than his first?” 

“Because we want to raise a stink however we can till things change.  Mayor of Cameron here in the ’30s was a socialist.  Don’t think we didn’t catch hell for that.  But people noticed.  We’ve had to fight for everything we ever got in West Virginia.  We fought to form unions.  Then we fought for safety in the mines.  Had to fight for years and years to even get Black Lung recognized as a disease, let alone get money to treat it.  We’re tired of being ignored.  It's like we’re being thrown away.  I got a mother living here to take care of.  I got kids and grandkids here.  You can’t just walk away from these little towns and the people in them.  We won’t let you.”

“You’re saying the Democrats are no better?”

“Democrats did a lot for us in the past.  But that came to a grinding halt.  I think they’re all for the cities now.  They figure that’s how they’ll win elections.  To tell you the truth Republicans have done damn little either.  But Trump is like neither one.  He’s like a third-party candidate running within the system.  He runs as a Republican but he’s not really one of them.  Sort of like Manchin and the Democrats.  I think Trump has the GOP's nuts in a vise, and he'll use it to help people like us.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know really.  And then he pulled that January 6^th shit.  Not sure I should have voted for him the second time, and not sure I’d do it again.  But who else is there?”

“Young people.  Let’s turn it all over to them, vote out everybody over fifty.”

He laughed. 

“You may be on to something there.”

I finished my pie and had a swallow of coffee. 

“How’d you like that pie?” he asked.

“It was wonderful.  Reminded me of my mom’s.  Who do you suppose baked it?”

“The cook here.  Bakes them at home in her kitchen, brings them in every day.”

He looked at his watch.

“I got to get going.  My grandson’s ball game is going to start soon, and he’ll be looking for me in the bleachers.  Hate to eat and run, but it was nice talking to you.  Be careful on the road.  And keep asking us hillbillies about politics.  Maybe we’ll figure ourselves out that way.”

He smiled, shook my hand, stopped at the cash register to pay, and left.  I finished my coffee, collected my atlas, and walked over to my waitress standing at the cash register.

“You had a Reuben and milk, right?”

“Yeah.  With two pieces of pie and two coffees.”

“Bob paid for the pie and coffee.”

“Is that right?”

See?  We can still talk to each other and get along.  And we didn’t even know each other’s names. 

Bridge Street Restaurant

Bridge Street Restaurant in downtown Cameron, West Virginia isn’t much to look at, but I wasn’t going there for ambiance.  I needed food and a table to spread out my Rand McNally Road Atlas. 

You may think you don’t need paper maps anymore but try planning a route across several states using the screen on your I IPhone.  I needed to see how far east I wanted to go before heading south.  Along with that, I needed to figure out where I might end up at dark and if there would be a place to stay when I got there.  Why didn’t I have these things planned before I started?  Because that’s not how I travel.

It is not hard for a small restaurant to get busy fast.  There were only a few old guys sitting around having coffee when I walked in.  But soon after me came two groups of men who looked to be work crews of some kind.  They wore those bright vests and serious work boots.  They pulled tables together.  The waitress came to take my order but kept looking up at what they were doing.  I think she was counting them under her breath.

“I’ll have the Reuben sandwich and a glass of milk.”

“It comes with fries.  That OK?”

“You got any slaw? Could I maybe trade fries for an order of coleslaw?”

“Sure.  You want that milk when you bring your meal?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

When she left I opened up my atlas.  I hadn’t come very far, and it was going on 12:30. I was only about 28 miles past Wheeling and going slowly.  It was 75 miles to Elkins.  Trouble was, I didn’t know how long that would take me.  Depended on the road.  And then there was that local Dave warning me about the road past Elkins.

I looked around at the walls.  They were fairly empty save for stuff about Cameron Schools.  Cameron’s team mascot is the Dragons.  That made me smile.  The school mascot in my hometown, Danvers Illinois population 800 (then, 1,044 now but without a high school) was also the Dragons.  They had a Cameron football jersey on the wall, probably the number of some young local hero, along with athletic schedules and a group picture of the cheerleaders.  It was good to see some hometown pride.  But back to the map.

I could take a bigger, no doubt straighter and faster road when I got to Fairmount.  Make it to Beckley.  I’d stayed somewhere by Beckley last time in that 2016 West Virginia snowstorm. 

My food came.  The cook had toasted the rye bread which I like, and there was plenty of shaved corned beef and Swiss cheese.  Little skimpy on the sauerkraut, but plenty of thousand island dressing.  The slaw was good, but the waitress forgot my milk.  I flagged her down.

“I have a glass of milk coming.”

Shoot, I do that all the time.”

She saw the atlas open beside me.

“You’re not lost, are you?”

“Not exactly.  I just don’t know where I’m going.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Yeah.  I know where I am.  I just don’t know where I want to go next.”

“Well, if you need help, let us know.”

“Thanks.”

I was working on the second half of my Reuben while figuring out where I might cross into Virginia when the table of old guys drinking coffee slid their chairs back from the table and started leaving.

“You need help?”

I looked up to see a man with a nice smile.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Where you headed?”

“Florida in the end, but for now I want a good route out of these hills that will put me somewhere with a place to stay when it gets dark.”

“Where you coming from?”

I hate to even say where I’m coming from because people look at me like I’m crazy.  Hopelessly lost at a minimum.

“Illinois.”

While his face took on a blank look, but before he could ask another question, I followed up.

“I swung out here on purpose to see how you’re doing in West Virginia small towns.  I come from a small town myself.  West Virginia has been in the news a lot because of your Senator.”

“Yeah, Joe’s soaking up the spotlight all right.  So, what are you finding out about our small towns?”

“I haven’t come to any conclusions, but it looks like things have gotten tough out here.”

“Oh, I don’t know.  It’s always been fairly tough living in these hills.  Matter of degree.  Want me to tell you what I know about that map?”

“Sure.  Sit down.”

I don’t judge age well, but I figured him to be a bit younger than me.  He seemed relaxed, it was the middle of the day, and he was in no hurry to leave.  He had all the characteristics of a retired guy.

“I’m trying to figure out if I can stay on Route 250 on into Virginia and make it into a hotel somewhere by dark.  Guy in the grocery store parking lot told me the road gets a lot harder to drive after Elkins.”

“I’m not sure I agree with that.  I usually don’t take it past Elkins, but I have and don’t remember it as being so bad.  It’s different.  You’re up on Cheat Mountain and the national forest.  Longer climbs and bigger drops than what you’ve done to get here.  Mostly though, there’s little out there.  Beautiful.  But not much for towns or services.  You could google it, but I’m thinking you wouldn’t find a hotel till Staunton, Virginia. Let me see that map.”

He ran his finger down the line that was Route 250. 

“Yeah.  From Staunton you could get on 81 going south or cut over to 29 and head to Lynchburg.  Slow going.  What are you driving?”

“2006 Buick.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“No kidding.  Got that big V-6?”

“Yeah.”   

“How are your brakes?”

“Seem to be OK.”

“Yeah, well I’d be careful just the same.  Driving these hills can be hard on cars.  When we were kids, we bought stick shifts so we could work on the trannies.  We were always burning out clutches.  It was all about clutches, trannies, and brakes.  If you didn’t learn how to put in a set of brakes back then,+ you’d go broke.”

I didn’t respond, but I was thinking of the transmission work I had done on the Buick.  When was that?  Before the pandemic for sure.

“Should be a nice drive though.”

“So have you lived here your whole life?”

“Yep.  Started in the coal mines when I was 18.  Just retired, took my pension.  Feel damn lucky to have made it through.  I was lucky to never get hurt bad.  I’m afraid I might be among the last bunch to retire out of the mines.  Coal mining is drying up.”

“If you don’t work in the mines, where else is there for work out here?”

“Hardly nothing.  You gotta drive.  Wheeling or Fairmount if you’re lucky, maybe farther.  Clarksburg, Parkersburg.  Hell, at the end there I had to drive a long way to get to a working mine.  My last mine was nearly a hunnert n’ twenty miles round trip.  And with the price of gas now?  Straight loss of spending money for people stubborn enough to keep living in these towns.  You can buy a house cheap, but you can hardly afford to live in it now with this damn inflation.  And then you can’t sell it for much.  It’s a shame to watch it happen.”

 “How’s retirement?”

“Best job I ever had.  I have grandkids.  That’s what I’m doing here today.  I live out of town, and I came to see my oldest play a ball game down to the school.  Figured I’d come early and have coffee with my friends.  We don’t see each other much anymore.  I don’t miss work, but I miss the people I used to see there.  Well, most of them anyway.”

He paused, then went on. 

“What did you do?  Seeins you’re on a trip in the middle of the week I figure you’re retired too.”

“Yeah.  I retired as early as possible.  I ran an agency that helped troubled families.  We did counseling, foster care, daycare, stuff like that.”

“That’s important stuff.  Heartbreaking though I bet.  Did you do much with substance abuse?”

“Yeah.  Not many problems are more destructive to families than addiction.  Hard to be a decent parent well when your full-time job is figuring out how to get more drugs.”

“We for sure know that here in West Virginia.  Lot of people my age are raising their grandkids.  My wife and I aren’t, thank God, but we have friends who are.  Hell, we have good friends that lost a kid to an overdose.  I don’t think they know to this day if it was an overdose or suicide or what.  First, it was Oxycontin, now it's Fentanyl.  I can’t keep up.”

“You know, this isn’t a clinical term, but when that kind of death happened in the families we were trying to help at the agency, I used to think of it as accidental suicide.  They may not intend to die, but their lives put them so close to the edge that death is always close by.  It’s awful to watch.  Addiction and mental illness both.  They don’t commit suicide, they die from their disease.”

“Awful for the ones that are left behind I know.”

We were both quiet for a moment.  I changed the subject.

“I just had my first grandchild.  Little girl.  Turned one in February.”

“Oh man, that’s a wonderful age.  Mine are all older than that now.  But heck every age is wonderful.  Look at this.”

He got out his phone, poked it a couple times, and turned the screen towards me.  On it were three smiling blonde kids on a bridge with mountains and a huge gorge in the background, their heads like stairsteps.  Little girl in front, two boys behind.

“That’s a handsome group there.”

“Lucky for us they live close.  They’re my son’s kids.”

“Does he work in the coal mine too?”

“No.  They both work retail in Wheeling.  He’s trying to work himself into regional sales.  We watch the kids for them when we can.  His Mom didn’t want him to work in the mines.  I wanted him to go to college, but he didn’t take my advice.  He had kids young.  The money is tempting in the mines but I’m afraid there’s no future in it.  Not sure there’s much future in what he’s doing now either but it’s safe and healthy.  They’re making it work.  We help as much as we can.  No pension in his future though I’m afraid.  I’m hoping I can leave him something.”

I looked up a picture on my phone.

“Here’s my granddaughter June.  First trip to the grocery store with her Mom a couple weeks ago.  Her Mom is my daughter.”

“Oh boy, she’s going to be a heartbreaker.”

“She already is.  When I saw this, I thought, first trip?  How’d they swing that?  But the pandemic you know?  Our daughter went through her whole pregnancy worried about catching the virus.  June’s Dad did all the shopping early in the morning before work.  They were very protective.  Still are.  We’re seeing her as much as we can.  We take a COVID test before we spend time with her. We live about 90 miles away.”

“Yeah.  These last two years were a hell of a time and COVID’s not over yet.”

“God, I hope it is.  I don’t know how much longer I can put up with living like I’m scared of my friends and neighbors.  Or a threat to my own family.  It’s a bad way to think, let alone live.”

“I feel the same way.  I got all the shots I could, but lots of people didn’t.  Some of ‘em paid for it too. 

That shut us both up.  COVID is a sobering topic. 

“So,” he went on, “if you want to know about Route 250, I can tell you you’re going to see a lot of trees and mountains, and towns like this one.  Some smaller than this, a few bigger.  It’s not a pretty picture.”

“I scouted them out some.  Phillipi?  Belington?  Pruntytown?”

“Pruntytown?”

He laughed out loud.

“You’ll be lucky if you know you drove through Pruntytown.  It’s pretty much just a prison.  Philip-eye, the way you’re sayin’ it, is in the bible.  Phila-pea is in West Virginia.  It’s got some size, maybe 2500 people nowadays.  Got a college there.  Floods bad though, Phillipi does.  It’s on that Tygart Valley River.  You’d find a hotel there.  Belington too.  They’re both better off than Cameron but not by much.  What are you really looking for?”

“Let me see if I can figure out how to answer that in a good way.”

“I’m trying to figure out West Virginia politics.  And your politicians.  Especially Joe Manchin.  We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, but I don’t understand how he’s a Democrat and is still being elected when West Virginia has voted for Trump in such a big way.  Twice.  And even more the second time.”

He sat back in his chair.

“I try hard not to talk about politics around here.  But then, I likely won’t see you again after today.  So, I don’t suppose I’ll be making an enemy I got to live with anyway.”

“I’m not out to be anybody’s enemy.  I just want to learn that’s all.”