Four-wheeling in Appalachia

          The Appalachian Mountains offer twisted dirt roads that you cannot find throughout the whole country. In Appalachia, a popular hobby among country-folk locals is four-wheeling around the wooded mountains. Instead of going out and spending money all the time at a typical movie or expensive bowling games, me and my family sometimes would go four-wheeling when I was younger.

          To get ready for a four-wheeling trip, my mom would hook the heavy trailer on the hitch of the jeep. I slowly drove the four-wheeler up the wooden trailer so my mom could tightly strap the four-wheeler down on the trailer. We would drive ten minutes up the road towards the outskirts of Morgantown near Grafton. The best trails are houses near Grafton with the deep woods behind them.

         We parked the jeep at the local convenience store my dad owns. The convenience store had a strong sense of community around the near homes and neighborhoods. It is common for four-wheelers to drive up and fill up their tanks with gas. We unloaded the large yellow four-wheeler off the trailer leaving the trailer at the store.

        My dad would drive the four-wheeler with me and my mom on the back seat down a bumpy road that led into a small neighborhood behind the store of double-wides and modular’s. The sound of the motor running echoed past all the homes on each side of the road. We passed by all the houses to see houses disappearing and more large rocks and colorful trees in our eyesight. For whatever reason, every time we would pass a specific rock 2 minutes after the houses disappeared, there would be a new carcass of an animal that had such a strong stench. I always tried to hold my breath when we passed by. Once off the neighborhood road, the road turned into dirty dust and rocks of all sizes. All I could see either way I looked was trees with leaves of burnt yellow and brick red. Between the trees, I could see the mountains that were covered in trees for miles. Driving down the path was always bumpy and scary down some of the steep hills that were not meant to be driven on. Down the steep hills, I would tightly grab onto my dad’s black slick leather coat a beef jerky company once gave him for work and my mom would hold onto me. Throughout the trail, my dad would stop the four-wheeler occasionally so my mom could pick up the heavy rocks by the creek for the pond at our house while I played in the water trying to find lizards. We would usually pass one or two four-wheelers while riding on the path 20 minutes away from the homes we first drove by. I would excitedly wave at the others knowing we both shared the autumn woods together.

         Four-wheeling is a common activity throughout the Appalachian Mountains. I find myself lucky to have enough wooded land covered in trees and back trails to be able to ride them in our state. In other large cities like Los Angeles, one can’t drive a four-wheeler to a convenience store on across a main road to get gas. Looking at the leaves and the feeling you get when the air swipes quickly across your face as one goes fast on the four-wheeler is an infinite feeling. One can only get that feeling when they live in the Appalachian Mountains.

          -M