Winter in Appalachia = Ice, Snow, and Mud

First a recap of the weekend:

On Friday I went into the office at one o'clock because it had snowed the night before and the roads weren't clear in the morning. Shanna had already planned to come up and work with me, so she came in a little later. After work we went to Berea and Richmond to have dinner and kill some time before meeting up with Jen and Amy (two former volunteers, now CAP employees) at the movies. We saw The King's Speech which was very good. Then on Saturday the Rockcastle House celebrated Stacey's bday in Richmond, and I got to know the newest McCreary housemate, Megan (Yes, there are two Megan's on the west side now. Very confusing). Sunday I went hiking at the Pinnacles outside Berea with Carl and Sarah.

Lately work has been pretty slow, but luckily the Jackson crew came by this afternoon to look at a possible work site in Rockcastle County. I love it when any of the Housing crews come to visit as it breaks up the monotony of the day and they're always good for a laugh. I love all the Housing volunteers and crew leaders. And today Rachel (a recent volunteer) was traveling with them, which made the visit extra special and fun. The participant is living in his mother's home with his 2 year old daughter while he works on building a small home further back on the property. We had to go over and look at the house which meant walking several yards through nothing but mud. Unfortunately, when this day started I had no idea I'd be traipsing through mud and I didn't wear my boots. It was a legitimate sea of mud. Needless to say, we all had very muddy feet and pant legs by the time we got to the house. While walking back, Rachel said how funny it would be if I just faceplanted in the mud. I almost wished I (or someone else) had, just so there Rachel would have a hilarious last CAP story before starting her new job post-CAP.

The Jackson crew goes by the moniker "The Easy Crew" complete with coordinating nicknames: Big Easy, Easy Money, and Easy Button. For months now I've been begging Ross for my own Easy Crew nickname. Today I got it, but it wasn't one I was expecting. I am now known within the Easy Crew as Muddy Buddy.

Well, we're expecting 3-5 inches of wet snow tonight, so I'm planning on being grounded at least tomorrow morning and probably all day. Hopefully it will all clear up by Friday though because I have big plans this weekend - traveling to South Bend, IN with a bunch of CAP friends to see the Avett Brothers in concert.

And I'll end with this: Monica is a CAP volunteer at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Jackson County. This was her Facebook status tonight - "There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good."

The Berea Holler

I really slacked off on blogging, and I hate that. One of my resolutions for 2011 is to be more consistent about blogging even if it's only once every other week. Now before I begin the story of the Berea Holler I'd like to do a quick wrapup of 2010. It was certainly a momentous year for me:
- Graduated from a college I loved and was honored with a few different awards
- Fulfilled a lifelong dream when I traveled to Europe, had adventures, made some awesome friends (you know who you are, Wolf Pack!), and saw lots of wonderful things (Thanks, Mom and Dad!!)
- Moved across the state and began volunteering with CAP, which entailed making even more wonderful and supportive friends, having even more adventures, and learning tons of new skills (including driving a truck, killing a mouse, and using power tools such as a chainsaw, circular saw, and nail gun.)
I can only hope that 2011 is as fun as 2010 was!

Now, the Berea Holler.

Most people who've been to Berea, KY will tell you that it is not really mountainous at all and not quite part of Appalachia. Shanna Rose would disagree with you.

My Friday was full of trainings: Bloodborne Pathogens, CPR, and First Aid. It was kinda boring, but also fun because almost all the housing volunteers had to be there as well. I had fun laughing with them while we practiced rescue breathes and chest compressions on our dummies. There had been a dusting of snow, but the roads were fine, so Shanna and Janean from McCreary drove up in the afternoon. Shanna and I went to Blackfeathers to figure out what we're going to do post-CAP. I still have no clue, but at least Shanna seems to have a vision. Blackfeathers is a cool little coffeeshop in Berea that is overrun with hipsters. Then we had dinner with Seth at Papaleno's which is another cool little Berea eatery. It began to snow while we were talking and, before we knew it, it was 10:30 and the snow was coming down thick and fast. It was beautiful, but we realized that we had better be heading to our houses.

It's a somewhat confusing story, but Seth didn't want to drive his car back because he'd already gotten stuck that day out in the country. So he called Annie who was driving Jane back from the airport and got them to stop in Berea, but he wanted Shanna and I to drop him off at this gas station so it wouldn't be too out of the way for them. So we do that and say hi to Annie, Ian, and Jane. The only problem was that we were now at the bottom of this steep hill covered with packed snow and a little ice with no other way out of Berea. Shanna tried to drive up it several times (even in 4 wheel drive) but we just couldn't get out. We were two Southern girls in a Toyota Camry who had no experience driving on snow or ice.

I could tell Shanna was majorly stressing. I tried to stay calm and called Carl who I knew was able to drive on snow and ice since he's from the North. He said he'd drive out to us and I said we'd walk to the top of the hill. I didn't want to risk Carl getting stuck too. I convinced Shanna to park in a nearby residential neighborhood and we proceeded to walk up the Hill from Hell and through Berea College. We must have walked a mile or more in the snow at 11:30. Shanna wasn't thrilled of course, and I can understand why; I wouldn't have wanted to leave my car overnight either. But still, I was actually having fun. It was quite the adventure and moving helped us stay warm. I told Shanna it was like we were pioneers and now we could appreciate what the first Appalachians went through. At one point we were walking along silently and we both just started laughing hysterically at nothing at all. It was just that sort of night.

Eventually we met up with Carl, looking like a couple of refugees with freezing feet, and got back home safely. Carl took us out the next morning to pick up the car and all the roads (including the Berea Holler Hill from Hell) were completely clear. I'm thankful that Shanna's car was uninjured and that we didn't end up sliding off the road or into anyone on Friday night. And I'm so glad that I got to spend an entire weekend with Shanna since she and Janean slept over Friday and Saturday nights. I know that the Berea Holler story, though one that Shanna doesn't enjoy as much as me, will always be one that I remember and cherish.