Roadside Dandelions
So many weeds line the road.
If you take the time to examine them, you won’t find any weeds at all.
Through the mud in their teeth, you could see the pride in their smiles.
Tucker County, West Virginia
Several families were hustling about the car wash in Davis West Virginia. Working hard to clean pounds and pounds of dirt from their all-terrain vehicles.
Meet Chris Hall, Shawna and Raelee Spence: a family that makes a tradition of setting aside time to get lost in the woods.
Making the trip from Culpeper Virgina four or five times a year they stay at a cabin they own locally, but there is little chance they are there long enough to do anything other than sleep. Navigating a vast system of off-road trails, they can be out in the wilderness ten or more hours at a time. Speaking with Chris you could hear the love in his voice; exploring these trails puts the rest of the world in its place and makes his family the only thing that matters.
Not everyone’s thing is to be covered in dirt, but with this family you could guess the one covered in the most mud, had the most fun. This was evident from the vehicles that were now sparkling clean and the not so sparkling clean, soaked through jeans of Shawna. She was visibly excited and ran back and forth between the families talking about the day and planning for the evening festivities.
In the short time we got to speak before they were off to squeeze in the last couple minutes of daylight, you could almost see the invisible bond between them. Out in the sun and elements all day working hard at having fun, the mud stains on their clothes will fade, but the memories will last.
