Austin and I are pulled off the highway and staring down an unused West Virginia gravel road, listening to Utah Phillips and the sound of the morning, and waiting for Ed Wiley as he marches from Buckhannon to Phillipi. Today Ed will be burnin away the last miles of Upshur County as he passes into the County of Barbour. Just like how in western North Carolina folks know their home country by the creeks (“up near Flat Creek,” “on passed Middle Creek,” etc…) lots of folks we’ve come across in West Virginia know their home by counties. Pocahontas County, Raleigh County, Wyoming County, Clay County, Braxton County, Boone County, Mingo County, Logan County? Yeah! They know where that is!
Found a three-point deer skull at the last stop. Ed loved it and was immediately able to point out the deer trail heading down into the hollow, we were at, as well as the bobcat tracks that followed it. His hunting stories are both hilarious and legendary.
We spent last night around the fire trading stories about the mountains – these people, these hills, these roads – the history. His history and the mountains’ and the coal and the hollows and the battles and the money and the politics. I have a million questions and Ed is eager to impart his answers and insight into the fascinating history of the West Virginia hills and the equally fascinating history of Ed Wiley. He’s been a bull-rider, state champion wrestler, defensive end, worked the railroads, worked on mine-sites, cooked, hunted, worked his butt off, and never been in a hot tub. His family has been in the area nearly 300 years – before people even thought about mining coal. And he knows every bend and crook and bear den in his hollow. Think about that next time somebody mentions that the exploited people of West Virginia, and suggests that they “just leave.” They were here first.
We woke up this morning and were pleased with a cacophony of birdsong and creek water. Gold finch and Indigo Bunting lit up the field where Ed began day number 11. No place in the world could be as pleasant.
Ed might be the most determined man I’ve ever met. I know he’ll make it. We just have to continue supporting him along the way, and be there when he walks in. Whether you can contribute a few bucks to help Ed and his road crew get a hot meal, or you have a place to stay along the route, or you just make a single phone call to the governor, every individual is instrumental in the success of Ed Wiley, Pennies of Promise, and the Children of Marsh Fork Elementary.

Its too late to turn back.