I wrote this piece in October 2020 after a stent away from the mountain state. Shortly after publishing this on my personal blog, I took off again and didn’t return to West Virginia until 6 months later. After being home for the past month, I find myself leaving again for another great adventure. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to return, but reflecting on my visit the same sentiment still reigns true. 

Almost Heaven, Always Home 

John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” isn’t just a fan favorite karaoke song, it’s a way of life. It represents a forgotten place and people, and until you know the pride of singing that song arm in arm with a fellow mountaineer you won’t fully understand it. There’s a saying in West Virginia, “Almost heaven. Always Home.” It’s a place that sends my soul soaring and with the mention of her name, my mind instantly runs to the embrace of her rolling hills. I instantly imagine the bubbling sound from her creeks, the gush of her waterfalls, and the silence in her forest. I think of a place so “Wild and Wonderful” that nowhere else I’ve been can compare.

After traveling over 10,000 miles over the last 4 months (now 20,000 in 10 months) I finally found my way back home. Originally, I wasn’t planning to spend so much time back home in the Mountain State, I was going to travel after leaving Yellowstone. And I did… for a week. After visiting some friends in Colorado, tasting the water at the Great Salt Lake (no surprise, it was very salty), and hiking under gigantic natural archways I made my way through Moab, Utah to Canyonlands National Park. I was sitting there looking over a great canyon, a magnificent scar on the surface of the earth, amazed by the blurred gradient of the desert sunset, but all I could focus on was the longing in my lungs for a breath of Appalachian air.

I immediately called my mom, and before she could even pick up the phone I knew in my heart it was time to go home. I packed a bag, caught the next flight back East, plugged in my headphones, and listened to Country Roads on repeat until my feet touched the familiar ground of my home among the hills. Since I’ve been home, I’ve been lucky enough to go white water rafting through class IV rapids on the Gauley River, ziplining through old-growth forest with some of my dearest friends, hiking with breathtaking views of the rolling hills, and seen some of the most beautiful fall colors known to man.

I was also able to read Dune by Frank Herbert, which was given to me by a dear friend I met in Yellowstone. While I was reading one quote really stuck out to me, “Parting with people is a sadness. A place is only a place.” It’s not just West Virginia that pulls on my heartstrings and makes my soul sing, it’s the true and unwavering love that I’ve come to know here. My parents, their parents, and theirs before them all call(ed) West Virginia “Home”. West Virginia just happens to be the place where I know people will be accepting of me regardless of our differences and love me without boundaries. A whole state full of people rooting for my success and I in return rooting for theirs. People who I know will always forgive me for my mistakes. People who fill me with passion, encouragement, and unconditional love. People who have never met a stranger and know what it means to treat everyone like a neighbor. President Kennedy said it best, “The sun does not always shine in West Virginia, but the people do”.

Today, I packed my bags in preparation of returning to Utah. I’m going back to finish the trip I started before finally beginning my new job in Arizona. (Currently, I find myself packing to start a new position in Glacier National Park but the sentiment remains the same)  While reflecting, I also remembered a different saying we have here in West Virginia, “No matter where I roam, country roads will always lead me home.” It’s not without sadness that I leave West Virginia again, but life still has other plans for me. One thing I do know is that no matter how much time passes before I’m able to return I will always know my way back home because of those country roads.