I always find amusement in the stories of how one was introduced, initiated, indoctrinated, and or inducted into the community we call Uptop. The stories all have the same endings, but the beginning of these stories is what captivated me most. I thought I would share my own introduction in this first post.
Once upon a time ( September of 1989) I lived in a rather sad part of Baltimore called Hollins Market. My name was on the lease for a three bedroom house. One day my room mate and I returned home to find our third room mate had decided to move out. His timing was incredible since the rent, gas, and water were all due. He just packed up and left without a word. My name was the only one on the lease.
The next day I went to Maryland Institute College of Art and put up an ad for a room mate. Donald Trump hadn’t invented the internet yet so one did these things in person. Three days later the phone rang. A pleasant sounding guy said he needed a place to live(badly) I told him we needed two months rent as a security deposit and the next day Michael Patton became our room mate. Michael left two things out of his introduction; he had a dog named Slag and a 6’ tall pot plant as pets. We needed that rent and the dog was very well behaved.
That evening as the pot plant got shorter and shorter we talked about many things under the sun. The discussion quickly went to some place called Uptop. Uptop what? Uptop West Virginia by God.
A week later I was sitting in an ancient 4x4 Ford pick up. In my lap was half of Slag the dog. This was a time before I68 connected Hancock Maryland with Morgantown West Virginia. The drive was very long and slow on Route40. The drive took about 4 and a half hours, today that same drive takes about 3 hours ten minutes.
Very little worried me in those days, however when we turned onto Salt Lick Rd, I thought that I had just entered that movie staring Burt Reynolds,Warren Betty , and a canoe. Turning onto Pete Jones Rd I thought, this is where it ends. It was actually where it all began.
As we pulled out of the woods, there was a beat up old tractors cutting the bowl below the house. This was the last time the bowl below the house was fully mowed. Nature has been trying hard to reclaim it since. I was also struck by an old wooden house that clearly had a lean, though slight, towards the down hill. This house looked just like the places in the book I was currently reading, Shelter by Lloyd Kahn. Ironically, Shelter was the first book my eyes landed upon when I went up the stairs into what was then a gigantic library of books essentially to dropping out and tuning in. It was an incredible reference library of all things important to sustaining a healthy and happy mind. I always wonder where all those books went. I hope who ever took it, reads Shelter when not reading the field guide to every subject under the sun that used to be on those shelves. I found a place to roll out my sleeping bag in a little alcove of musty books. It also happened to be the part of the house that leaned out furthest towards the edge. I slept like a rock.
I owe Michael Patton so much gratitude for turning me on to a life with Uptop.
