Jim and Gabriela's Tandem Travels: More Memorable People

Two more memorable people we have met along this trail are Kenny King of Logan, West Virginia, and Trae Elswick of Fayettville, WV. Kenny took a morning off of work to meet us on a cold morning in Logan and drive us up to Blair Mtn, the site of an armed battle in 1921 between UMWA miners and hired company guards. As many as 10,000 armed miners marched to this place to seek revenge after sheriff Sid Hatfield, a pro union lawman was murdered in Matewan by company agents. The miners intended to seek justice and to organize the miners in Mingo county. They were met near the peak of Blair mtn by a couple of thousand heavily armed and entrenched company guards. Machine guns and the superior positions of the guards drove the miners back down Blair mtn, but the UMWA was able to organize the miners a few years later. Several dozen miners died in this battle, planes dropped crude bombs on the miners, and when they learned that the US army was coming to put down the "insurrection" and charge them with treason, they lost their guns and made their way back to their families.

Kenny met us at a nearby 7-11 and drove us to the pass. From there we walked to the site of the guard entrenchments near the peak, which can still be easily made out through the brush. We could barely keep up with Kenny as he raced up and down the mountainside with his metal

detector in search of the metal remnants of this battle so long ago. We found a few old "3006" shell casings and holding the cool metal in my hands made the battle feel real. Kenny told us of the local struggle to resist mountaintop removal, to organize miners, to gain any kind of voice in this land that is owned and controlled by coal companies. It will be hard to forget the thick woods and steep mountainsides of that place and to imagine what it would take to make ten thousand poor miners leave their work and families to march hundreds of miles through terribly difficult terrain in search of justice. Don't forget Blair mountain.

We needed a ride from Beckley to Lewisburg, WV., about 50 miles. The steep hills and coal trucks were taking their toll on our nerves and it was time for the serene Greenbriar River trail, which begins in Lewisburg. As we fixed a flat tire along the roadside, along came Trae Elswick in his pickup truck. He was on his way home from doing some work in Gilbert, a small town in Mingo county devastated by the floods of a week ago. Trae was also transporting his friend "Flash" home after his third stint in rehab for alcoholism. The first thing that Trae said to us was, "welcome to wild

and wonderful West Virginia!" He is different from most of the people we have met thus far, a 30 s0mething educated man who works in the tourist-driven rafting world near Fayetteville. Trae was on his way to Fayetteville, but immediately went to work finding us a ride to Lewisburg. He must have made ten calls on his cell phone to friends, all of which had nicknames: "chicken" "schlong" "flash"
No one seemed to be able to help us so he decided to take us to Fayettville and felt sure that we'd find a ride there. We did. His friend Steve Bershire was able to drive us to Lewisburg, but not before a lively hour in Trae's truck listening to stories of his adventures..........driving by the WV royal gorge, driving us to numerous waterfalls near his house. We arrived at his house and he showed us his creekside yard, a beautiful spot in a canyon that led down to the New River and the gorge. Trae was a kind of godfather figure of middle west virginia, dispensing favors and calling in those who owed him. He even called us on our way to Lewisburg to tell us where to eat and who to find who could help us there. "I'm a problem-solver," he said, "that's what I do." Trae was just about the most progressive person we have met in WV........eagerly sharing his ideas about environmentalism, gay rights, food quality, mountaintop removal. He referred to us as "crunchy," telling those he called that he, "had a groovy husband and wife from Colorado on their bicycle, good folk, who are willing to throw down some cash to get to Lewisburg tonight." Trae's views were not all libera

l. One of his dreams is to open, "West Virginia's first and only organic food and gun store..............they're right about most things, but not about guns," he added as we said our goodbyes, "I love you guys...............................Bershire is going to take care of you.......and Bershire, you come see me when you get back and we'll talk about how I can return the favor."