Hobo Shoestring rides the rails
October 23, 2023 5:52 PM Subscribe
Best ride to Ohio! I've been riding freight trains since 1989 and have since ridden over 2,700,000 [miles] of steel rails in 49 USA states, eight provinces of Canada and 14 states in Mexico. The Mighty Train Wrecks musical tribute. Youtube playlist of his journeys.
Shoestring is a hobo, not a bum. Hoboes travel and they work, vagrants travel and they don't work unless there is no choice, and bums don't do nothing not even travel unless they have to. Not all who wander are lost, but there is a structure to those who wander. Shoestring clearly works and has enough resources for a decent kit and lacks the signs of an inveterate drunk.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 6:56 PM on October 23, 2023
posted by Ignorantsavage at 6:56 PM on October 23, 2023
I rode the rail across the US in late 1970's.
Met a chill hobo in montana that started "a $3 breakfast, yes, a $3 breakfast just up at that church" Big smile. A great tip for free food.
posted by brewsterkahle at 6:56 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Met a chill hobo in montana that started "a $3 breakfast, yes, a $3 breakfast just up at that church" Big smile. A great tip for free food.
posted by brewsterkahle at 6:56 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
A fitting post since today was Stobe the Hobo's birthday. Rest in peace, Stobe.
posted by signsofrain at 7:16 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by signsofrain at 7:16 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Shoestring was in hospital earlier in the year - acute Helicobacter pylori runs and cramps. On the don't do this away from home front, Pete Stein of the TallyHo shipbuilding project used to ride freight-trains until he lost both legs in an accident.
Apparently my charming but spendthrift grandfather rode the rails round America during the 1900s between serving in the Boer War and WWI. For him, it was all boom-and-bust: he won a section of the Hollywood Hills in a card game but his winnings were dissipated buying drinks for everyone in the bar etc. So I guess that makes him a vagrant? When my father was growing up in the 1920s, they would never pass a beggar without giving. Somewhat sententiously Grandpa would say "I've been there myself m'boy and may be again". Cannot verify any of that as the vagrant died when I was three.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:38 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Apparently my charming but spendthrift grandfather rode the rails round America during the 1900s between serving in the Boer War and WWI. For him, it was all boom-and-bust: he won a section of the Hollywood Hills in a card game but his winnings were dissipated buying drinks for everyone in the bar etc. So I guess that makes him a vagrant? When my father was growing up in the 1920s, they would never pass a beggar without giving. Somewhat sententiously Grandpa would say "I've been there myself m'boy and may be again". Cannot verify any of that as the vagrant died when I was three.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:38 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
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Hallelujah, and ain't we all a bum.
posted by MonsieurPEB at 6:16 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]