Hey all. Looking to head out to West Virginia.

[Haarlem Venison]

Hey folks.

I'm currently in Brooklyn living on my friend's floor, but am gearing up to move southward for the cold months. I make (some) money writing academic papers online, so the idea is to live in the poorest/cheapest places possible and travel for free-ish.

First stop is West Virginia. Anybody know what's good out there? Primarily in the North-West quadrant of the state, centered around Morgantown? I'm actually headed there first as part of a weekend-long roadtrip with a bunch of idiots, so if anyone's got some wisdom on what the hell to do with ourselves, that would be quite gracious. Coolest places to go?

More about me: I'm 24. Attended Slugters University in NJ, and then lived in the middle-e for 1.5 years. As such, I bring to the table experience in the art of living for free in places like Malta, Egypt, and Israel.

 

[bryanpaul]

morgantown is a partyin college town........

 

[180 Degrees]

If you find yourself venturing further down southeast, I'd recommend southeastern Kentucky. Clay county in particular has actually be voted a couple times as the poorest county in all of America. However, starkly contrasted, it also has many jobs available in the coal mining industry. Pike county Kentucky is another poor/cheap area and it is across the state line from Mingo County, West Virginia. Famous for the legendary Hatfield-McCoy fueds back in the day. Rather you're writing about these areas or just looking for a cheap place to vagabond for awhile, the whole of West Virginia and Kentucky has plenty areas of interest that you can check out. Cheers!

 

[acrata4ever]

the state flower of west virginia is the satellite dish

 

[180 Degrees]

.... I thought it was the tobacco stalk???? ....

 

[fr33rang3r]

just got to KY a few weeks ago. staying with family till i have to move on. rumor is the welfare system in KY is pretty widespread b/c of the poverty and lack of education. so it might be easier to get on the dole here.
ive been to downtown Lexington once, and it looked pretty nice, not sure how hobo friendly it is or what the rent is like.
Berea is an artsy college town just south of there. it has a weird artisan, section8 housing aesthetic to it. but i dont know much else about it.

 

[Raging Bird]

What do you write about?

 

[Haarlem Venison]

Holy hell, I just realized that this thread hasn't been touched in year, even though I'm basically in the same damn position. My life is a blur. Since I first posted this, I was living in an Orthodox Jewish (chabad) cult for 3 months and got addicted to GHB, and since left my hovel in NYC after getting laid off from the job I had this summer, right when I was about to have enough money saved up to put on a play in NYC. Was already casting people and stuff. Gotta love the uncertainty of living life on a flying trapeze.

It looks like I'm leaving Philadelphia, heading to Iowa and then North Dakota with a couple people in my conversion van on Sunday.

fr33rang3r has me partially sold on Berea, Kentucky. Section 8 aesthetic sounds like the sort of inspirational beauty I need to revitalize my life. I guess I'll maybe jackknife back in that direction if I fail at finding a job and start freezing to death in the North Dakota.

I'm not really sure what I write about at this point. I wrote/directed a couple plays during my senior year of college, usually about racist schizophrenics mingling with hipsters or else about love triangles in Nazi computer simulations of hell. Most of my "fiction" is unhealthily autobiographical for being as out-there as it all is.

 

[Haarlem Venison]

Plus, that gov't dole is sounding real great right now. Maybe I can get the bastards to pay me for all the months of foodstamps they were supposed to give me this summer.

 

[travelingjoe]

I'm in w.v. looking to head west. Warmer climates. Just n nice to be on the road. Hate it here