Book club book on New River

Sometimes when I am reading three or four books at the same time I realize I just have to chose one and read to the end, finish that story and put that book down. Today I read the last page of Far Appalachia, by Noah Adams.  The reporter from NPR’s All Things Considered took off for a season to travel along the New River from North Carolina to its end in West Virginia in 1994.

 I grew up in NC and lived in West Virginia for six years, crossing the New River Gorge on the New River Bridge quite often.  Driving across that bridge was the highlight of each trip in and out of the state, and many times we would stop at the park to look out over the river before crossing. If we had time we would hike the trail, and eat lunch on the picnic tables.  My deep regret was that I never rafted on the river, and also that I never walked on the bridge during the festival called Bridge Day.

 Once a year one side of the bridge is closed to vehicles, and a festival is set up along the road.  Pedestrians can walk along the bridge, and crazy people can sign up to do the bridge jump, sailing off the bridge with only a parachute to stop them from crashing into the ground or the racing river.  I wanted to go, to watch, but hated the idea of so many people and so I never did get to see that.

 When I was in the 4^th or 5^th grade I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper, begging the world to save the New River.  My Aunt sent the letter in, and it was published, so I view the river as part of me.  I’m not even sure what I was saving from, perhaps another dam for hydroelectric power.

  In this book the author travels along the waterways.  He visits people that live along the river, he paddles in spots with a canoe, a kayak, and of course he goes on all the white water rafting trips.  I deeply enjoyed the book, and I am determined to drive along that bridge again, and hopefully attend Bridge Day very soon.