This is an old school book. Written in 1907. Jack London’s “The Road” is about his life as a hobo. Jumping trains, begging for food, escaping the railroad “Bulls” and enduring the rough aspects of life on the rail. It was mostly miserable in case you are wondering. I wouldn’t last five minutes. No Wifi, Starbucks or plugs to charge my barrage of electronics. But London lived this life with swagger. He felt a calling to be out there, to be on the road and to live an uncommon life. Remember kiddies, there was no reward for him to do this. No celebrity waiting in the wings. No revenue. Not until much later when he had returned to “normal” civilization and had reengaged with society. I did enjoy this book, and I think you can get it online for free. Read it and then get your ass out to the railyard and go for it. That’s an order.
Read: The Road
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Read this book back in the mid 70’s, which in itself was a fairly miserable time. Anyway, we moved to KY once Pop retired from the Air Force and smack through the town a train passed several times a day. For some unknown reason, even to this day, I thought it would be a great idea to hop on for a ride. I gave no consideration to how I would get back or when. Made it onto a car that was open, but certainly not empty. Scary isn’t quite a good description of what I found. Suffice it to say, as soon as it slowed down at the next town I was off quicker than you can imagine. It was a very long walk back. Jack London’s book instilled a sense of adventure for me though and they are still some of my favorites.
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Larry,
Always pegged you for a hobo. We used to put pennies on the tracks at Grandma’s until the train STOPPED one day. We ran.
My hobo life was very short-lived. Pennies on the track here as well. Never had a train stop though although I was always told I would make one come off the rails…. Not a pleasant thought.