eating roadkill? just another day in WVa

The Roadkill Cookoff.  Something I've been looking forward to for months.  The Possum Trot 5k.  Something I've been training for for months.  This was finally it.  I register for the race, drink the rest of my coffee, throw on a vest, and head to the start line.  OH YEAH!  PUMPED!  Not as many people signed up for the race as I would have thought.  Only about 20.  And I didn't know anyone, but I figured that was better.  I'd only embarass myself in front of people I didn't know.
Runners on your mark.
Get set.
GO!
fast forward 20 minutes.  The race was an out and back, not a loop.  So once you got to a certain spot, you would turn around, thus being able to see who was behind you.  But guess what....that's right....nobody was behind me.  Nobody.  You know what that means, LAST PLACE BITCHES!
pause story.  Now  had been training for this all summer.  Not hard core so I knew I would be bad.  I figured the average runner has about a ten minute mile.  5ks are just over 3 miles.  So to give myself some room for error, I wanted to finish my first 5k in under 40 minutes.  Totally doable.  Then I thought to myself, wouldn't it be really funny if I got last place?  Of course, I wouldn't try to get last place, but it would be funny if it ended up that way. 
return to story.  I have a watch on and I know that my time is good.  I'm gonna finish before I want to.  Even though I'm the last person to cross the finish, I am freaking stoked.  People cheering for me, me cheering for myself.  Whatever, it's all fun and games.  Then comes the time to hand out the awards.  Overall winners blah blah blah.  Winners from 14-19 blah blah blah (yeah that's right.  a 14 year old beat me).  Winners from 20-29.  Megan Ramsey.
wait...what?
that can't be right.
I was in last place!
Yeah but you were the only female in your age group.
wha.......HELL YEAH!  HELL FREAKING YEAH!
Sometimes when you lose, you win!

my new hood ornament

Mwuahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

Moving right along.  After a quick shower at some friends' house, and eating some of their food, I headed back to the Cookoff because, being the great humanitarian that I am, I had promised Emily that I would volunteer at the Chamber of Commerce tent.  About an hour later, Andew Zimmern shows up with his film crew.  For those of you who don't know Andrew Zimmern, he's on the Travel Channel and eats bizarre foods.  You can read more about his show at the travel channel website.
He was shooting a story about the Roadkill Cookoff and he was one of the judges as well.  Once Zimmern got there, people went nuts.  But I didn't really care about a semi famous dude.  All I cared about was food.  I mean, I ran 3 miles; I felt it was time to consume weird meats.  Mink, alligator, crawdads, crow, bear, rabbit - all cooked in awesome way.  There was gumbo, chowder, kabobs, grilled, sauteed.  I was disappointed that I couldn't find any possum or raccoon.  But maybe next year.

mink

your eyes are not deceiving you: it says deer poop soup

After the Cookoff, some of my Ameri Corps buddies came down from Elkins to hang out and attend the Vest Virgina Vestival.  Note: I've recently become obsessed with vests.   It was a grand ole time.

vests everywhere!

Marlinton has been hosting a traveling Smithsonian exhibit called "The Way We Worked" and it centers around employment in America: why we work, how, where, with who.  And the Pocahontas County Historical Society made a supplementary exhibit focusing on logging in our area.  It's a really interesting idea and I got to be the docent for the exhibit the day after Roadkill.  I got to wear a dress from the early 1900s and welcomed people into the exhibit.  Super easy, and I was glad to be a part of this exhibit as Marlinton was the first place to host it.  It will continue traveling around the state and will eventually make it to Lewisburg early next year. 

After a busy weekend in Marlinton, it was time to think about moving.  At some point, I would have to relocate to Lewisburg.  Driving 45 minutes each way in the mountains to work every day was just not gonna cut it.  Finally, I spent my last night in my trailer on Tuesday September 27.  I had lived in Pocahontas county just over 4 months.  In that small amount of time, my life changed dramatically.  Now, this blog is not about my personal journey and how I've become this new person.  This blog is about telling you all about my sometime ridiculous, but always entertaining adventures.  Moving to Lewisburg was going to be moving back to civilization.  It's a bustling town.  There's several traffic lights.  Options for grocery stores.  I mean there's like 8 restaurants.  It's huge!  Life in the 'burg is gonna be different than life in PoCo.
So as I've made this big move and settled back into life with cell reception, cable TV, and traffic jams, I've tried to decide whether or not to keep my blog.  For the past 4 months, I've attempted to entertain you with all the wacky situations I've gotten myself into.  Now that I'm back to reality, I feel as if I'm just living the same old life as everybody else.
So I'm leaving it up to you, my readers, whoever you may be.  Should I keep the blog?  Or should I say a final goodbye to the summer of my life?
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