Transitions are predictable if you listen. You can sense them. You can feel them. You can pray for them to come, or for them to delay; but they come at their own pace and in their own way. Look around… life is subtle but it is also predictable for those who pay attention.
And so I knew the day was coming for me to leave West Virginia, this time for good, to cross the Continental Divide to the East and establish our home in the mountains of southwestern Virginia.
Still in Appalachia, still in the hills and their culture that raised me…but different. But before leaving, I got to spend time on the water with my Wife and my Uncle on one of the streams I got to know well.
So now the adventure starts anew… new mountains, new streams, new trout, new stories…
I will return to West Virginia waters. I will always fish with my old friends. But Old Dominion is calling. If I listen, I hear it. Transitions… to peace, to contentment, to what comes next.
Bookend closed. Bookend opened.
Appalachian Mountain Brookies 
Beautiful scenery and fish! So what fly is that? It looks like some sort of quill body.
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Not sure Darrel – had that bug in my fly box for years and last few trips out it has been a magnet.
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Yeah, it looks like it’s been in a mouth or two. At first, I thought perhaps an old Mosquito Dry Fly but it doesn’t look like there’s any grizzly hackle on it. My best guess now would be some sort of Blue Quill.
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Some great looking fish and portions of stream there Blaine! Looks like a few memories were created on this outting. Sounds like you’re moving away from the area but I suspect you’ll come back sometime. Special places never leave your memories – seems like in my opinion. So if you are moving out of the area, good luck. But, you’ll be back… sometime. UB
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Thanks UB. I plan to go back for at least one trip a year – promised my friend John I would. Now begins the fun of chasing new blue lines. Well, once I get done unpacking boxes. …
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