Virginia is for lovers, or shovers, or something

So here I am in Virginia. More precisely, I'm in southwest Virginia, like, the bit that sticks out and borders with West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennesee. It's a lot different here than anywhere else I've lived, that most of the places I've lived have been flat and politically liberal, and apparently here it's mountainous and conservative.

I took this picture while I was driving on a highway.

Anyway, when I found out I had a job offer and was possibly moving here (so, back in April) I looked up the nearest roller derby league to this town. Actually, my job choice was essentially a function of 1) how good the actual job was in terms of job security, salary, whether they would pay for my health insurance, etc.; 2) what the actual city was like; 3) how far the nearest roller derby league was. For the record, #2 ruled out Detroit.

That said, Detroit is about to get a Robocop statue, so
I might have to visit there anyway. Check it out here.

Anyway, so the nearest league to me are the NRV Rollergirls (NRV being New River Valley, which is some general description of this entire area which is surrounded by the Appalachians), and I've been in contact with them about training and stuff. They asked me about my bouting/scrimmaging experience, eep. And they train three times a week and do 30-60 minutes of scrimmage EACH TRAINING. And they train Sunday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays so there's minimal recovery time. Holy crapballs. I am going to die. I'm not skating with them yet, because the university hasn't given me my fancypants employee health insurance, and knowing how munted I get I am not skating without health insurance. Also, from my experience with BAD, WFTDA insurance is supposed to be supplemental to your own insurance, so were I to get munted I wouldn't be covered anyway. But once I get my health insurance sorted out, I'm going to go and skate with them and I will report back.

Part of the Huckleberry Trail.
It looks okay, but hilly.

Another thing is that this place is unintentionally skate-friendly, even with the hills. There are a lot of bike tracks, and they're usually asphalt and (more or less) sealed. There's a particular trail I'm going to test on the bike called the Huckleberry Trail that goes into the next town (I think it's like a 12-13 mile round trip), but that one seems to be okay with skaters. At least, it's apparently okay for "inline skaters" so presumably quad skaters won't die on it. It'll probably cure my fear of outdoor and hill skating.

I am also considering skating to my classes and to work but the sidewalks here are sometimes mega-shitty or actually just flattened dirt for a block or something. And they're quite narrow, so if I plow stop I'll take up the entire sidewalk, and that's with my stumpy legs. Still, I'll have to scope it out. Also I have work Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays, so in theory I can be on skates four days a week, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I will be on skates for most of the day. Hooray indeed.

Finally, I am in the process of changing my derby name! Don't worry, you can still call me Mouse. But keep your eyes peeled on that one...