ROOTS, RAIN, & THE BEST SIT DOWN RESTURANT IN MULLENS WV

Lots of things to talk about today. In a nutshell we had a busy, successful, and interesting day Geocaching yesterday. Grab a coffee, turn on the Ipod and let's get started.

Early morning (there are some who consider 9:30a.m. as early) found us back on the road. The first pic is, I suppose, kind of an Easter only cache, but it worked on a nice Sunday in June too. The cache is in the largest egg. Quick grab and go. This one was in the cache owners front yard so no problem with reaching into his property.

One of the caches on our "must seek" list for the day was located at the site of the baseball diamond at Tams WV, just a mile (or less) up the "holler" from Stotesbury. So we took the time to visit Stotesbury while in the area.

Quite some years ago (about 1950 to be exact) our dad worked for the Koppers Company as a company store manager. At that time he was based in the coal camp town of Stotesbury WV. Stotesbury, and its attendant mine was founded by the E. E. White Coal Company. There is a long and interesting history of Stotesbury available on line. Check it out here. The photos alone are worth the visit. Neither one of us had been back to Stotesbury since we were little kids and have fond memories of Dad and the store where he worked so hard.

BatikFreak10 (sister Sally) told me about going to the store for the day with Dad during the Christmas Season and touring the third floor toy display. The display must have seemed like a visit to Santas' workshop. I remember Dad taking me to the buyers display in Beckley WV where he would make toy selections for the coming Christmas Season at the Company Store. I'd look briefly at the toys for the "little kids" but would move quickly to the real stuff--the sleds, paint by number sets, and of course the forbidden B. B. guns. What a time!!

Dad and the friends and hangers on around the Company Store usually played horse shoes during their lunch break. Dad was supposed to have been one of the top players and had a "dead on" aim for the peg.

We knew that Stotesbury had pretty much ceased to exist many years ago--the mines long since played out and most everyone moved away. The church above now occupies the site of the Company Store. The store itself burnt about 1960. Interestingly, the church was moved from a nearby ridge (hillside to flatlanders) and positioned on the store site. Dad would have played those horse shoes right about where the picnic shelter now sits.

Stotesbury now consists of about 5 well maintained and properly kept up homes, but their origin as company housing is still quite obvious. Most of us picture coal camps as places of misery and squalor, and sadly sometimes we are right. But coal camps could also be places of happiness with a strong sense of community.

Our cache assignment was located at the Tams Ball Diamond site. Now completely reforested, the site gives little hint as to what it once was. But push through the rank undergrowth into the trees and civilization can be glimpsed. Cut stone, rusting sheet metal, broken tools are in evidence if you will but pause to look. We made a quick find and were on our way, leaving Tams and Stotesbury to the quiet past in the memories of those who lived, played, and worked there. More about Tams.

And now for the rain part of our adventure!! The shot below was snapped in extreme haste. I was far up on a ridge top, BF10 not far behind, with the almost constant crackle of thunder in our ears. Seconds after taking this shot we were deluged in a major Thunderstorm.

I signed some piece of paper I found in the cache for both of us. I have no idea whether it was the actual log or not, and then we dove for cover behind some nearby rocks. We were 50 feet or so below the top of the knob so weren't too worried about being struck by lightening but were scarcely out of the rain at all.

How do you photograph wet? Neither of us are professional photographers and all we had was our digital cameras, but we are well and truly wet to the core.

I have an idea: Want to experience how wet we were? Head out into the back yard, turn the hose on full force and have someone spray you--head to foot and everywhere in between-- for 15 or 20 minutes. Turn frequently, leaving no spot unsoaked. You'll get the idea.

But at the same time we were not overly uncomfortable. The day was warm, the rain warm also. In due course the rain stopped, clothes were wrung out and we continued on. Most of us think we simply cannot be wet, after all Mom said that it was so. But being wet in the summer can be a fairly negligible experience.

Fortunately lunch was actually before our shower. We are at the very best sit-down restaurant in Mullens WV. Like much of coal country, Mullens is not in the very best of shape economically. Truthfully I think this is perhaps the only sit-down restaurant (or perhaps the only restaurant of any kind) in Mullens WV.

Finally, we had a nice day and found some nice caches. We found some of our roots slightly the worse for wear, but still bright and shiny in our memories. What more can you ask.