You have to or you want to?

What? Volunteering for the SHARE program
Where? Pulaski
When? Third Saturday of each month.

The wife of one of my colleagues is in charge of managing the SHARE program. http://www.swva.net/nrca/pages/SHARE.HTML
In a nutshell, SHARE is a grassroots initiative to obtain food for charitable organizations at incredibly reduced prices. The charitable organizations (mostly churches and 3rd-age residences) select the type and amount of food that they want per month from the webpage referenced above. The SHARE program puts all the orders together, and gets the food by the truckload. This turns out to be very cheap.

Once a month (usually the third Saturday of each month), trailers come with the food in big pallets. This is where my involvement with this program begins. The pallets need to be taken from the trailer into the warehouse, and the orders for each charitable organization need to be put together from the different pallets. I usually work in the walk-in freezer, where perishable goods such as meat, fish, and pies are stored. Of course, I am such a doofus that the first time I was not wearing two pairs of socks, gloves, or a hat. Unlike the goods described above, it turns out that humans are extremely perishable when left in a walk-in freezer, so I had a rough time.

A particularly attractive feature of this program is that it hosts a variety of teenagers who need to do community service for getting in trouble, along with prisoners who want to be outside for a few hours. The troubled teenagers are particularly interesting to work with. I worked with four of them recently. They looked like just simple, plain teenagers, of the kind that one can see in TV series. However, for whatever reason, they got drunk and stole their dad's car, or beat somebody up. I really wanted to learn what was behind each of them, and see if I could help them. So, I tried to strike up conversation with the ones that seemed more upbeat. The first question that I was asked was: Are you here because you have to, or because you want to? When I said that I was there because I wanted to, they looked at me in disbelief, and added that they needed to be there to avoid jail time. Some of them were good boys, but some of them were really troubled. Particularly, there was one who would not do anything at all. He would just seat around, don't look at you in the eye, and refuse to collaborate. The sad part of the story is that we are supposed to report if this happens, and then they might go to jail. Of course, I did not report anything. I just wish I had known how to say the right words to help that boy. I have a lot to learn.

Building community in remote SW VA

What? Being bailed out the mud by locals
Where? Remote SW VA
When? February 6, 2008

I still don't know very well why I found myself towing a derelict car on a van on a wet and cold February night along gloomy roads 15 miles southwest of Abingdon, VA. But I did, and I was determined to make the most of it. I did not know the road, the van I was driving, and I was emotionally agitated. Unsurprisingly, I did not want to drive fast. When I saw a car inching forward behind me, I decided to use SW VA courtesy, and pulled off the single-lane road to let it pass. To my dismay, when I tried to return to the road after I was stuck in the mud. Van plus trailer plus car in tow were probably about 4,000 pounds, so there was no muscling it out.

Driven by pressure, I thought that if I unloaded from the trailer the 2,000 lb SUV I was towing, the van could get out. It didn't. Cold, wet, and muddy to my knees, I thought I was not going to get out of this without professional help that night. Just then, two locals drove by and inquired if their help was needed. "This truck is aaaaaallllll wheeeeeellll driiiiiive" the driver said, with the thickest accent I've heard in months. And he bailed me out. You should have seen the pride in his face when he pulled me out of the mud. The look in his eyes transmitted the reassuring notion that getting an AWD truck had been the right choice, no matter he couldn't afford it, and his wife let him know about it every day. It might also had transmitted "Oh boy. Another loser from the city playing grown-up adventures. Can't The google get you out of this one?", but I prefer to believe the former.

Having lived in several places throughout the world, I can say that Appalachian hospitality should not be taken for granted. Make sure that you keep it going. Give.

Two States

What? Foot travel along the AT
When? Friday, January 11
Where? Peter's Mountain Wilderness

Part of my duties as the faculty advisor to the Outdoor Club at Virginia Tech involve keeping an eye on 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail between the Pine Swamp Shelter and Rd 460. This is a remote area, most of which pertains to Peter's Mountain Wilderness. A highlight of the section is that goes over a ridge that separates VA and WV. From the trail, you can admire the geography of both states simultaneously.

I decided to start the pre-thru-hiking season activities by going on a one-day hike of those 20 miles. The trail is in pretty good condition. There are a few blowdowns here and there, but nothing to write home about. The views, particularly those of WV at Symm's Gap, remain breathtaking, even in a chilly, damp, Friday in winter.

You should not reject your next opportunity to hike this section.

11 miles of joy; almost

What? Hiking the Rock Castle Gorge Trail
When? Sunday, January 6
Where? Jefferson Natl Forest

After the prescribed vacation hiatus, I finally found the necessary peace to keep learning about the place where I live. Ever since I moved to SW Va, some three-odd years ago, I had been wanting to hike what is supposed to be one of the most strenuous and spectacular trails withing shouting distance: Rock Castle Gorge. Until now, I had always found the perfect excuse not to do it: I'm not in shape, It's too far away, It's going to rain. Motivation was easy to find this week: I have spent most of the last seven days of my life in a hospital room, looking after who I dearly refer to as my 'belay bitch'. He had emergency brain surgery ensuring a freak car accident. He is still convalescing, but he'll get better.

So it is not surprising that the dreaded Rock Castle Gorge Trail actually felt short and unchallenging. The mosaic of scenes I witnessed will remain unparalleled for some time though: blinding bright sun fighting off iced waterfalls, lots of water running in the gorge and scorched vegetation 2000 ft up in the grassy knolls, steep and narrow trail obliterated by mammoth rhododendron and overlooks with a 50-mile unobstructed view.

Of course, I am such a doofus, that I slipped crossing a creek and banged my right patella 'real bad' against a rock. Although it was hard to complete the last five miles of the hike with an ailing knee cap, I think I built some stamina that will come in handy when I go mountaineering this year.