You actually miss being stuck in traffic on the New River Bridge on your way south for summer vacation. Being in a standstill hasn’t been as scenic since.
Winding roads make you feel the feels. Driving is too easy everywhere else and you long for the serenity of driving along those mountain mama curves.
“What do you mean I have to work? It’s West Virginia Day!” You spent an entire year in West Virginia History class to earn this day off every year, but you moved and now no one cares.
While many experience the seasonal transitions in the US, they don’t do it like West Virginia. The mountains are on fire and every time you round the bend on a winding road, another burst of color greets you. The mountains come alive in fall, strutting their stuff like a herd of peacocks rising above the horizon.
Restaurants everywhere boast of ramps on their spring menus, but they never taste as good as they did when you picked them fresh from your backyard.
You haven’t been to a bonfire in a while where someone offered you their homemade moonshine and a s’mores while you shouted the Mountaineer version of Sweet Caroline. Sweet Caroline, EAT SHIT PITT.
All you want to do in summer is get two teams together, throw a greased up watermelon in the nearest lake and see who can successfully make it to the other side. Everyone else thinks you’re crazy for suggesting this.
There’s no lonelier feeling than when you scream, “Let’s go!!!!” from across the bar and people just stare at you.
Enough said.
There might be WVU fans all over the world, but there’s one Mountaineer field. You yearn to stand beside the fiery gold and blue clad fans singing Country Roads, played by the Pride of West Virginia after a home win.
Nothing makes you more homesick than hearing this anthem outside of West Virginia. Whenever you experience it out of context, say in a discoteca in Prague or a norebang in Korea, it blows your mind and steals a tiny piece of your heart at the same time. 