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I was born and raised in WV, and I live here now. You could draw a circle 10 miles in diameter, and all the homes I've ever had would fit within them.

Many of these ideas are true. West Virginians, though they are rednecks through and through, are very friendly. I would think nothing of asking any one of them to help me out should I need it, and they feel the same way.

That being said, we mind our own business, too.

I don't lock my doors at night. I leave the keys in my vehicle. Right now, I have about $600 worth of musical equipment in the back of one of my vehicles that I left there last night, and I don't give it a second thought.

Some of my neighbors even know how to get into my house without the key, should they need to do so for some reason.

We're all heavily armed, too. Mostly this is for hunting season, but everyone here appreciates guns of all types. I have only one friend who lives here who is unarmed. He's a member of the NRA, and is saving to buy a pistol.

I once stopped my vehicle to talk to a park ranger at a local state-owned campground. He saw my Ruger wedged between the driver's seat and the console. "Nice piece of iron", he said. "What does one of those set you back?" You could literally throw your carry weapon on the dashboard and carry it there and probably no one would say much about it.

When I fish or tromp around in the woods, I often carry openly. Last month, I was fishing under a bridge, in full view of the passersby on the road, without so much as a comment being made about it.

The wilderness here is incredible. A 10 minute drive from my house puts you in the middle of nowhere. I know the rivers in my county by heart, because I've been on almost every one of them in a canoe. When you do float them, by the way, you probably won't see another person all day.

There aren't a lot of people here, and that's a good thing. When the leaves are on in the summer, I can't see another house.

Property is cheap. I bought 6 acres from a logging operation that had been "thinned", i.e., selectively cut so that it wasn't totally wrecked. I paid $11,000 for it.

Tax on that property, by the way, and for the 3 bedroom house that sits on it, was $211 for the year of 2001.

Yes, there are a lot of bad things about this state, and most of it has been caused by the Byrd/Rockefeller combo in Congress. Even with all that, I refuse to leave for the reasons I just stated.

I would love to see political changes in West Virginia. I just don’t think it will happen. From my own experience, I’ve found that most are democrats because their mom, dad, granny and grand pappy were democrats. It’s almost a tradition. Also, I’ve found that if I discuss individual issues (abortion, death penalty, taxes, etc.) most of the people actually have republican beliefs, but they still vote democrat…why, I don’t know. Perhaps with the right leadership, changes can be made.

We're all heavily armed, too. Mostly this is for hunting season, but everyone here appreciates guns of all types.

I agree. Not only does everyone appreciate guns, but also they learn to use them and respect them. When I was 10 or so a man tried to break into our house while my parents were gone. I simply went to the gun shelf that my dad kept hanging on the dining room wall, took down a loaded shotgun and fired some warning shots at the stranger. When he left, I put the gun back and carried on about my business. Today, parents go to jail for keeping a loaded gun accessible.

I’m glad you’re happy. I would love to be living back in West Virginia, but the economy is just too bad. So until retirement, I’ll just enjoy our little place on the river and hope the next 30 years passes by quickly. : )