Long Day's Journey into Appalachia

Long day's journey into Appalachia‏

Fri 4/02/10 6:51 AM
Hi guys, (family)
Got home safely yesterday (April Fool's Day) around 5 p.m. Wide awake this morning at 5 a.m. although it's still dark out. SO glad to wake up in my own bed. We left Raleigh Wed morning eagerly looking forward to getting home by mid-day on Thursday. Not to be. South of Beckley, W. Va., interstate 77 was blocked. After taking an hour to go 4 miles, we got off as soon as an exit was available to use a restroom. A woman waiting with me in the line told me she had come from Louisville (opposite direction from the way we were going) and that the road was blocked all the way back to 64. So, rather than sit in traffic for another several hours, we decided to take the back roads. BIG MISTAKE - it took us 6 hours to go 140 miles - OMG, we saw what coal mining towns in rural West Virginia really look like. I've seen movies about the poverty and the oppressive presence of mining operations, but this was really depressing. Hairpin turns going up mountains, down again on the other side. Only one road and no road signs. (I guess they figure since there's only one road it doesn't need to be labeled.) But the signs for the streets, lanes, and gulches were clearly marked which helps if you're looking for one of those. After what seemed like forever, we still hadn't found Mullens, so I stopped and asked a young girl playing in her yard. She said "just keep going straight up this road." Straight???? Are you kidding? What seemed like an hour later (or maybe it really was an hour) we found Mullens, so we knew we were heading NW to Huntington which was our goal for the night. The areas that aren't big enough to call towns are labeled "unincorporated ________." Every few miles, we saw a cluster of houses, a PO and a church. Although we left the interstate at 1:15 p.m., by the time we got deep into mining country, school was letting out, and kids were happily greeting their dogs. One young boy with a shaved head was playing in the yard with a man, probably his dad, who also had a shaved head. They seemed very happy. From my perspective, these people are incredibly poor and deprived. From their perspective, they don't seem to notice.There are evidently no waste hauling companies or landfills because everything that's not currently being used is strewn about the yards and hills. Not just old cars and appliances, but actual trash. The homes have to be built right next to the road because the mountains are so steep. At one point, we saw a big sign proudly advertising "Six flat acres" for sale. With the houses so close to the road, we felt like we were driving through their yards. I could literally have reached out and touched chain link fences. The mining operations consist of lots of dark buildings, long conveyor tubes and huge piles of black stuff which I didn't stop to identify. Train cars filled with coal are everywhere, some moving, some sitting still. Ironically, I am involved with a local group of citizens trying to prevent our electric company from building a coal combustion waste landfill next to the Missouri River, and my assignment is to research uses for "fly ash" (waste product of coal combustion.) AND what was on the news when we finally found a motel? Ads for "clean coal technology." Another big lie. When we finally found a town big enough to have a gas station/convenience store, we asked how far to Huntington. The man with no front teeth told us 85 miles but said it was "good road." And, after what we had been through, it really was a good road - reasonably straight and two wide lanes. It was almost 7 p.m. by the time we got to Huntington and found a motel. We ate the leftovers from the restaurant meals we'd enjoyed the day before by warming them in the microwave in the breakfast room. We were NOT about to get in that car again to go look for food. Lesson learned: next time the interstate is blocked, DON'T take the side roads. My big fear was that the car would break down or we'd run out of gas and have to find someone to help us. I'm sure the people are very nice and helpful, but I have to admit that whole side trip was so depressing, I just wanted to get back to something familiar.
Later: On Monday, April 5, there was an explosion in a Massey mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia. That is just a few miles from the route we took through Mingo County. I looked up the median household income for those two counties online. People in that area live on less than $25,000 a year. Given how much the owner of the mine makes (tens of millions per year,) one can only conclude that he uses the miners as disposable pieces of equipment. Twenty-five miners are dead and four still unaccounted for. Everyone is up in arms over the fact that the mine owner ignored warnings and fines that were issued. But the outrage will die down and more miners will be killed by the insatiable greed perpetuated by our "free enterprise" system.