W.Va

Not gonna lie, I was secured in the navigation with the use of the paper map. The lost art of the hand drawn routes. Everything is put into the devices now. Eloquently microchipped as we carry around these tracking devices. I prefer to be unplugged, down in the stream bed. My paper maps always get service and their battery never dies. Always at 100%. I'm not really lost, the world is round and I won't fall off. But, this day, I found myself close to the George Washington National Forest in West Virginia. The air might be more pure here, but the day was hot and suffocatingly humid. Our work had me upstream looking down. The map had the answers. The workday was D-U-N, I took a breath in the creek bottom. Away from the fellas, to refocus myself for the ride home.

Not far from here, there are log cabins built by the CCC in the 1930's. I heard that a natural spring fills the swimming pool at the State Park. The water must be ice cold, but on a day like this one, all I can figure is the refreshment after the Nestea Plunge into the pool.

I have a difficult time understanding that the CCC camps were segregated by race. I am so thankful that our country has come to an understanding on race. Discrimination is against the law, however it still occurs. I got children who are Puerto Rican, how would they fall on the scale of discrimination back in the 30's? I gotta convey to my kids the significance of their achievements in the face of a country that has a long way to go in regards to equality. The dynamic of my household is deceptive. I feel like an outlier, a mix of the future. When we all mingle and mix it up, deepening the vast melting pot. It's natural, the wave of progression.