Forks of Coal

So, Monday, like a lot of mornings this time of year was just a dreary and foggy morning. I was on my way to a town called Alum Creek to work on some meters. As if it were fate, I missed my first turn off from Corridor G that I was supposed to take and the GPS rerouted me down a different road. While traveling down this road, I passed under an old suspension foot bridge that I thought was pretty cool. I turned around, found a place to park, and took a few photos. The first two I took were of the trees along the river. It was nothing special, it just gave me an Evil Dead vibe.

The next set of photos are of the bridge, the reason I stopped in the first place. The first is the original photo, which I really like in itself, but the 2nd is one that I added a filter to and was extremely happy with the outcome. Considering my background of taking a few years of photography courses in high school, working with 35 mm film and developing all of my own work, I never expected my favorite photo that I've ever taken to be done with a smart phone.

I did some research and found out this area is known as Forks Of Coal, WV. This name comes from this specific location, as this is where the Little Coal River branches or 'forks' off of the Big Coal river. The bridge in the photo is actually one of two bridges, one going across each river. These were built in 1920 as a way for children to get back and forth to school.

(The above photo is the only photo in this post that was not taken by me. Photo credit and more information on the bridge available at https://www.carbidecamps.net/Cliffside/DoubleBridgeCliffside/TheDoubleBridge.htm)

I noticed while taking the above photos that the entrance to this side of the bridges was fenced off, so I was curious  how to get to the other end. and thanks to Google maps, I was able to do so.

I got back in my truck and went on about my route in Alum Creek. When I finished that route, I decided to take lunch before heading over to my next one. I ate my lunch quickly and headed over to the other side of the bridge (which was more driving than you would expect) to do some exploring. To my disappointment, the entrance to the bridge is closed off, which is understandable, as from this end, it was easier to see the state of disrepair that it was in.

Despite my disappointment of not being able to walk across the bridge at all, I was still able to snap a few cool pictures before leaving. It was still pretty cool to see

All in all, it was a fun day for me. I will also add that the town of Alum Creek was a beautiful town as well. I may go back and explore some more sometime.

A little about what I do

I probably should have started off with this post, but whatever. Just deal with it. I'm originally from Maryland, but about 6 years ago, I moved to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Then, about 3 months ago, I moved to Charleston, the capitol of West Virginia. Growing up in an atmosphere where where WV was one of those states you always made fun of, I never imagined I would move there, but here I am, and in all honesty, I've grown to love this state. Yes, it has its flaws.... all states do, but it doesn't take much traveling in the state to see its beauty.

So, when I moved to Charleston, I took a job as a contractor for the local gas company. My job consists of installing electronic readers on the gas meters. My work routes tend to vary. Sometimes I'm in town, and others I'm in more rural areas... which pretty much make up the majority of the state. Having worked in warehousing for the last 15 years, being a field worker has been quite a change up. As cheesy as it sounds, some days are like an adventure, and every day has a story that's at least remotely interesting and funny. This is accentuated for me, being the selfie whore and social media junkie that I am.... Hey, at least I'm willing to admit it, right?

If you don't know, the photo above is a gas well, usually located in the middle of a field, and also usually pretty high up on a mountain. Some days at this job are easy, and some are hard. While it is more physically strenuous, I actually prefer the days on rural routes where I have to do a lot of walking.... even if that walking does often leave me out of breath, hating life, and kicking myself in the ass for being a smoker. #EveryDayIsLegDay

The photo above is a prime example. The red line is the road I was parked on, which was at the bottom of the hollow, or holler as we call it here. The red circle is where the meter I had to work on was. The walk was not a straight line, I followed that winding path you see up to the field, and then all the way across that field. Oh, and did I mention that field and meter were also at the top of a ridge? It kinda becomes like a scavenger hunt, and it can be fun. I probably put a little more effort into it than I should... occasionally looking at google earth and searching for a gas well or meter to make it easier for me to find it. You would honestly be surprised what you can see from a satellite image.

What can also be amusing with this job is that often, you deal with animals. Its mostly dogs, which range from ones that want to give you kisses, to ones that want blood. There are also times where you have an audience, be it horses, cows, or other farm creatures.

Animals aren't the only interesting part. I also run into some interesting people and see interesting places. Some of which I wish I had more pictures of, but going forward I will definitely document more. For example, there was one day I was doing a few meters in a trailer park near Sissonville... And no, I dont mean mobile home park. It was a trailer park. Campers, RVs, etc. The older fellow who ran the park with his wife was a very nice man, so as much as I wanted to take a photo of the sign at the front of the park, which read "Eden's trailer park" and below that "Let me tell you about Jesus!", I didn't. While I found the sign amusing, I didn't want to offend the guy, as he was very nice and helped me figure out where some of the meters I couldn't find were. Which brings me to another interesting aspect of this job. The notes on the work orders are often out of date, and have the old addresses before the 911 updates, which can be a struggle in itself.

This job definitely fits well with my odd sense of humor and the things that I find amusing. As I mentioned above, I've grown to adore West Virginia, but it's also fun to make fun of at the same time. For instance, one town I was working in was Poca. Yes, Poca, West Virginia; named after the Pocatalico river. Thier high school mascot is none other than The Dots. Seriously, you cant make this shit up.

There were two other things in this area that I found amusing. One being the huge power plant that is visible from most of the town, which I couldn't help but imagine as Chernobyl (despite knowing that the Chernobyl reactor didn't have the wide stacks.

Then there was the nearby area of Black Betsy, which only brought one thing to mind.

So, going forward, I plan to make more of an effort to document more of the musings and interesting things I come across while doing this job and seeing more of my current home state. I hope you enjoy it. If not, well, nobody is forcing you to read it. I'll leave you with this last little musing. One other thing I've learned in my time spent in rural country, it's not uncommon to see a road become a creek. Always fun to see as it either means finding another way to your destination, or just making the rest of your way on foot.

Yes.... that is a road. 

Ghost Holler

This one kind of has a funny story behind it. Where Jackson, Putnam, and Kanawha counties meet, there are 3 towns. Given, Liberty, and Kenna. I was working in this area for about two weeks. I did a lot of work on Jim Ridge Rd and pretty much every road that branched off of it.

The first day, my route started closer to the interstate, but the continuation on the following day was further out on Jim Ridge Rd. In my work truck, I mostly use a Garmin GPS system, but I also switch back and forth between that and Google maps, depending on signal strength.  I used the Garmin to get to my route on the 2nd day and it took me a crazy back way that had me saying to myself "Where the fuck am I?" It ended up taking me on a road called Ghost Hollow Rd. Being a horror fan, I immediately thought the name was cool. Ghost Hollow Rd is a one lane dirt/gravel road that runs through a holler. This first morning driving through it, it was a bleak and dreary day with a slight fog, so it made the road seem super creepy. What added to the creep factor was that, much like a lot of areas in rural West Virginia, there was no signal, so driving on a road like this, in a vehicle that isn't 4WD, and also going around curves with a drop off on one side, it can have you driving with your fingers crossed. Now, there are houses and farms on this road, but they're very spread out. Top that with the fact that while driving on it, I didn't see a single person or vehicle, it almost made the road seem like it was abandoned. This abandoned look was further enhanced by what you'll see in the photos below.

That's the problem with these areas. There are so few customers on the power grid, that these lines will probably remain like this until they end up getting split or disconnected.

I'm sure it'll be fine......


Oh, there was also this, which I apologize for the crappy picture, but I had to document this as well.

Anyway, as I continued down the road, my trip slowly came to a roadblock.

Had I been in a lifted vehicle, I may have attempted crossing, but alas, I was in a 2wd company vehicle, and I didn't want to risk having to walk to wherever there was a signal and call my boss to get my truck towed. At this point I did what most people would do, I turned around and hit the detour option on my GPS. This still turned out to be frustrating as the first detour it gave me was to turn left on a road named Pennington Rd. This was problematic as you can see below.

It's a little tough to tell in this photo, but this dirt road was very muddy, and I wasn't risking driving it, so yet again, I hit the detour option again and it took me back out to Clendenin Creek Rd. I took this to a road called Divide Ridge road where I came across an amusing sight.

A giant cock on the side of the road...

The laughter soon subsided as Divide Ridge Rd ended and I found myself back on Ghost Hollow Rd, only on the other side of the creek.

As you can imagine, this was a bit frustrating, as I had to yet again, hit my detour option. I eventually found my way out but not before seeing this. 

For those who don't know, in a lot of rural areas, a hollow is referred to as a holler, so I give props to this person for putting Ghost Holler Rd on their mailbox rather than Ghost Hollow Rd. What made this whole thing more interesting is that later on that day when I actually had a signal on my phone, I pulled this area up on Google Maps to get an idea of where I had been and learn the area, I find out that while Ghost Hollow Rd shows on a Garmin, it does not register on Google Maps. It is instead listed as a fork of Clendenin Creek Rd. 

Needless to say, this area confused me and it felt as if I had entered some other realm. After working in the area for about two weeks, I got to learn my way around pretty well and grew to like the area. It's quite a nice area and the people I got to talk to were all pretty cool. There were other cool sights I saw as well, including Wolfe Creek Rd, but this was a few weeks ago, and the thought hadn't crossed my mind to start a blog on this stuff yet, so I regretfully have no more photos from the area. I do plan in the future to be better in taking more pictures for entries to come.