Part: 1

So our group met at Trinity at 7am to begin the drive to WV. After some goodbyes we were off. Our first sight was in Clarksburg, WV where we stopped for gas. Across the street a car had hit a telephone pole and broke it at the base (see pic). So continuing on we eventually made it to WV that evening about 6 pm. We were housed at the Man High School and quickly set up our rooms. We also had access to the gym for some games like soccer and basketball. The official mascot of Man is the Hillbilly (a goat not a person) and the school set at the entrance to a rather large section of mines (more on that later) and directly across from the fire/rescue department. A little about Man WV. It was and is a mining town and is still one of the larger producers of coal on the east coast. Later in the week a group of us were able to go to the entrance and talk to some people who work for the mine and found out the this section produces over 400,000 TONS of coal a month. That works out to a full coal truck driving by the school every 4 minutes and they did. However even though the production if anything has increased the amount workers needed have drastically decreased due to advancement in technology. For example 1 deep mine at one point employed up to 5,000 miners, that same mine now employs less than 230 people and still produces more coal. Father Dave took some kids to Wal-Mart for supplies and for a Mr Coffee maker. (I think it was for Dave more than anyone else) As you can see the Wal-Mart really sat into the mountains and was surrounded by storm clouds. As if the unemployment wasn't bad enough, the night before we arrived a city block of stores that included apartments and Dr.'s offices burned to the ground (see picts). Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Now at Man the big source of income is the Hatfield and McCoy ATV trails. They are a group of trails that span a 25 square mile area if the mountains that draw riders from all over the US. It has become so popular that the fire department had to purchase their own ATV for rescues on the trails.

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