Nailed It! [West VA] - Day 7

January 11, 2014

AND WE DEPART. Just as we came, we piled our stuff in the car (the windows are not frozen on the inside this time), and headed out. We took a breakfast stop at Biscuit World, where we ate what were quite possibly the fluffiest, thickest, butteriest biscuits to ever exist. We had a couple minutes to slouch comatose in the trucks afterwards before stopping by the New River Gorge Bridge visitor center. After learning some things, we started the real trek back to Jersey.

Our two trucks inched out onto the highway as our GPS’s told us to “continue. for ninety. nine. miles” in that haltingly distinctive GPS speech. Settled in, we chatted or sang loudly to the tunes everyone chose from my iPod. 

We stopped by the West Virginia University campus for a bit, to pick up some West VA gear/souvenirs. Hills galore!! That explains why everyone has trucks and big cars. Some of the buildings were pretty, though it can’t beat Rutgers, obviously. (RU RAH RAH)

We continued on our way. As it got really dark out, we needed to refuel. A sign for gas at the next exit appeared, so we innocently took that exit. Upon approaching the “gas station,” we realized there was no station. Or buildings. Or human beings (woodsmen may have been present, that fact is as yet unconfirmed). There was the thickest, densest blanket of fog drifting, covering half of the only things present – unusually small gas filling stations. Also, it only provided diesel. Looking like the perfect type of place for a truck of 6 college students to conveniently disappear in, we hightailed it outta there. The subsequent Flying J gas station was nicely lighted and populated.

We eventually made it back to the Rutgers Student Center at 7:30pm. One by one, we did our byes, “see you soon!”s and hugs, and headed home. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I had a conversation all about the atmosphere of West VA with my parents during the long-ish drive home. Upon getting home, I found myself being amazed and grateful for the most mundane things. Cable & TV? Wow, such luxury. Comfy couches in the family room? Oh boy. Central air? Incredible. 

Literally, the most normal things, my family, my dog – I felt beyond blessed for it all. I have personally never experienced such an immediate, profound influence from anything such as this. I can actually feel how I have grown, and how my perspectives of poverty, homelessness, and service have drastically changed. Or at least become more delineated.

I came into this trip believing it would be a fun way to meet new people with similar interests and to contribute to a community. The real experience was definitely that, but so much more. We will never forget the memories from Oak Hill, West VA, and I hope to maintain the new relationships I made with the amazing, impressive, and greatly like-minded 12 individuals I spent Jan. 5-11 with. I am glad we were able to help SALS move closer to their goals. The sooner the facility is used to serve people of the area, the better. Thankfully, we were given the opportunity to assist them.

Our wonderful site leaders

During our last reflection, Nikita mentioned how she looks forward to how the pictures, blogposts, and notes we wrote each other will solidify the memory of this past week. I sat down today to read the messages written to me, and they rang with the same clarity with which they were spoken a few days ago. I hope my blogposts have served their purpose for my group members, and that they have opened the eyes of those reading who may not have been directly involved, but are still interested in service. The flood of pictures captures the important moments, and our minds will fill in the rest.

Everywhere we look, there is opportunity for service: whether by smiling at a stranger or renovating an entire school in another state for a week. The ultimate goal is to inspire the action of service everywhere, and Alternative Breaks is definitely on the path to doing so.