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.