Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums

[KaBar2]

reminds me of manson

You're kind of late to the party. I wrote that SIXTEEN YEARS AGO, ha ha.

[theprotester]

The past keeps us young, kabar

[KaBar2]

The past keeps us young, kabar

Are you going to try to make it to Britt, protester? It ought to be fun. And aggravating. And full of pointless drama. What would the Hobo Convention be without some pointless drama, eh? Come on down!

[theprotester]

It's a long arse haul from Australia. But I'm sure before my days are out I'll see it live.

[KaBar2]

It's a long arse haul from Australia. But I'm sure before my days are out I'll see it live.

They usually have a little contest about "who traveled the longest distance to get here" contest at the opening ceremonies of the convention. Australia would definitely win, ha ha. This year I only came 1,025 miles. Pathetically short trip, I admit.

[simon sandleshit]

have you ever been to rhode island if so is there any good yards ive read about 30 pages of this thread so far and i havent found a train shop in my area where i could ask around

 

go explore. jesus you have the whole internet have you ever heard of google maps before? if you have to ask these questions you should probably not be riding trains until you gain more knowledge/wisdom

[One Man Banned]

You sound as if you're trying to run away from home...?

[theprotester]

Kid is fifteen.

 

Go do it mate. Run.

[One Man Banned]

If you have a sister in SF get a train/bus ticket there and go.

There are too many factors working against you to hop a train at this time, too many to explain here, not the least of which is lack of experience/knowledge on the topic. Do more reading/research.

[One Man Banned]

fuck hobos!!!

 

I see from your posts that you're at that awkward stage where you don't know how to talk to people.

Relax. Chill.

[theprotester]

fuck hobos!!!

 

Woah. Breathe little fella.

[Baxte Stockman]

<##########> bump britt, IOWA<#######>

[Baxte Stockman]

[KaBar2]

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I haven't been on here in quite a while, it looks like the traffic has slowed to a stop. I just wanted to remind everyone that the annual Amory Railroad Festival is coming up on April 12--15, 2018, in Amory, Mississippi. Many tramps consider Amory to be the "spring opener" of the riding season. (The "closer" is usually considered to be the Arizona Combat Rail Fans' New Years Eve party at Shawmut Siding in Arizona. Bring your own booze. Bring your own *everything* it's twelve miles out in the desert from the nearest town. Don't forget EAR PLUGS, because ACRF blows up enough fireworks on New Years' Eve to re-enact the Battle of Stalingrad.)

 

Anyway, back to Amory. Amory was a huge railroad town back in the day. The city's main park is right on the tracks. It's called Frisco Park. They have a huge steam locomotive on display in the park. Years ago there was a large jungle there (one year I went there were like 50 tramps) during the festival, but last year there were only 10. The town itself is a dry town in a dry county. No alcohol. Lots of food, though--there are tons of food booths, a carnival, live music and a bunch of cool people. Amory has a big railroad museum,. too. There are permanent restrooms about half a block from the "jungle." It's possible to ride a train in, but you would have to be very, very slick. Much better at night.

 

The last leg of the catch to Amory is at Tupelo, and if the train doesn't stop at Amory, the next stop is at Birmingham or Mobile, Alabama; or Pensacola, Florida. We used to ride a train to Tupelo and then hitch to Amory. We rode the CN from Memphis to Fulton, KY, then switched to the short-line Tennessee RR north to Corinth, MS; then south to Tupelo. There are trains directly from Memphis to Amory on BNSF, but they don't always stop. You might wind up in Pensacola. The catch out in Memphis is under the Union Street bridge east of S. Hollywood Street. The bulls watch it, so keep it stealth.

[KaBar2]

I've talked to a number of people who normally frequent the National Hobo Convention at Britt, Iowa every August who say they are definitely going to be at Amory this year. ( The NHC is held every August during the second full weekend. This year the "second full weekend in August" will be August 9-12, 2018, but people start straggling in about a week early.)

 

April in Mississippi is pretty warm, so if you go, be prepared for hot weather. I got sunburned last year, wearing shorts and a t-shirt and running shoes with no socks.

 

The NHC in Britt is designed to at least partially support those tramps who are truly broke, but Amory is not a "hobo" event, it's a railroad festival at which we just happen to show up. They do cut us some breaks, like free camping and public restrooms close by, and they let us park vans in the city parking lot south of Frisco Park, but that's about it. As usual, if you come you need to be prepared to support yourself. There are lots of churches involved in selling food though, and in times past we did score some awesome free chow, but it's not a sure thing.

 

Showers are hard to come by, but there is an exterior spigot on the outside of the public restrooms. A piece of water hose and a "shower head" type of sprayer on the end would make getting a shower pretty easy.

[xen]

Currently in Salina KS with every intention on hitting Amory but you know, you plan and god laughs. My '08 CCG still has valid info at least as far as Salinas goes. I never flew a sign til this unplanned life excursion but i tell you what, where have you been all my life?

[KaBar2]

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peterpopoff--Those are photos of two of my favorite people in the world----Stretch Wilson, Burlington Dog and Tattoo Slim. Slim was up at Amory earlier this April, with a buddy of his named Zig-Zag. I gave them a ride from Tupelo to Amory, and when the festival was cancelled because of a big-ass thunderstorm with tornado warnings, I gave them a ride back up to Tupelo and dropped them off at the Farmer's Market right down the tracks from the catch-out.

 

We had eleven tramps down at Amory this year. It's too bad the city cancelled it, but I understood. Amory doesn't have enough tornado shelters to shelter 10,000 tourists, so they pulled the plug. After dropping Slim and Zig-Zag off in Tupelo, I headed west to Texas to get out of the weather. I put 3,250 miles on my van in March and April. It's been a lot of fun, but I need to stay in one spot for a while and recuperate financially. I'm trying to get some exercise, eat right and live healthy. More salads, less tequila.

[KaBar2]

Kabar- John I met around 2009 thru Gerard. When John would winter in southern az. I would always meet him every year and hang out in the yard every chance I could when he was here. A stand up guy he was. With a ton of great stories!

 

Just checking in. I'm up in Maryland, but the weather is still pretty warm--it hit 90 degrees today. I think I'll head over to the coast. It should be cooler, I hope. Ride safe!

[KaBar2]

I'm planning on going to the NHC this year.   I'm not going to be able to go early, though.  I'll probably get there sometime on the 6th or 7th.

 

You can never tell what  the NHC is going to be like.  One year it will be great, then the next year it may be a dud.  You just have to show up and see how it goes.

[KaBar2]

I am leaving for the National Hobo Convention on August 5th.  The Convention will be held August 9th through 12th , 2018 in Britt, Iowa.

 

Free camping.  Men's and women's restrooms with showers.  A covered picnic pavilion building, and a cook shack.

 

The jungle feeds two free meals a day during the Convention, mostly dumpster-dived food brought in by Collinwood Kid.  Collinwood is a Zen-Master-level dumpster diver.  He dumpsters perfectly good food from commercial suppliers, most of it in one-gallon "restaurant sized" cans which have an expiration date which will expire about a month after he finds it in the dumpster.  The commercial suppliers can't take the risk of accidentally selling a customer a bunch of expired cans of beans or corn or whatever, so they cull their shelves of cans about thirty days before the cans' expiration dates.

 

There are numerous activities during Britt's "Hobo Days" celebration.  It's a lot like a small-town Fourth of July celebration.  They have a parade on Saturday morning with fire engines, VFW color guard, Scout troops, 4-H kids on horseback, antique tractors, hot rods with local Harvest Princesses, high school marching bands and so on.  It's great fun.  The tramps always have a float, and we throw hard candy to the little kids along the parade route.  If you come, bring candy to throw.

 

There is always a carnival set up on the main street of town, with food booths, vendors, swap meet, etc., etc.

 

There's too much going on to list everything, but Friday there is a Hobo Memorial Service at the cemetery for tramps that have passed away, and sometimes an internment or two.  Following the Memorial Service there is the meeting of the Hobo Council of TU63, up on the hill in the cemetery.  Saturday after the parade, the election of the King & Queen of Hobos is held at the city's gazebo, behind the Library.  There's music in the jungle, and the kids keep the camp fire burning day and night during the Convention.

 

If you've never been, you should go at least once.  As Ted Conover said in his book, "Rollin' Nowhere,"  "It ain't real.  But it's still fun."

Edited August 3, 2018 by KaBar2

[KaBar2]

Just checking in.  Looks like this thread is pretty dead--not much traffic.

 

I am thinking about heading to Salt Lake City.  Anybody live out there?

[glorydays]

12 hours ago, KaBar2 said:

Just checking in.  Looks like this thread is pretty dead--not much traffic.

 

I am thinking about heading to Salt Lake City.  Anybody live out there?

this entire thread is fucking crazy

[El Jefe Uno]

How's life KaBar? Good to hear from you!

[KaBar2]

El Jefe Uno, good to hear from you.   I don't always check 12 Oz. every day, mostly because there's been so little traffic on here.  I think that this thread has been here so many years that most of the 12 Oz. regulars who cared to read it have already done so.  I have a couple of Reddit threads that I frequent--/r/Vagabond and /r/Vandwellers.  

 

It's odd how the same issues that I was coping with in 1970, and that we were discussing on here in 2001 (31 years later), are *still* being discussed on these other tramp-hobo-trainhopper threads today (48 years later.)  Tons of things have changed in those 48 years, but the basics of trainhopping remain more-or-less the same, and the skills necessary to survive as a tramp are still very similar.  What sort of things didn't we have, in 1970?

 

Cell phones.

 

Satellite GPS.

 

iPhones and the internet.

 

The Crew Change Guide.

 

Railroad Atlas map books and internet rail maps.

 

Credit cards and ATM technology at banks.

 

Advanced technology sleeping bags, bivys and cold weather gear.

 

And so on.  Catching out has changed so much, but at the same time, it's still basically the same.  It's hard to believe this thread has been running since October of 2001.  And I had other, older threads about tramping before this one, that were lost in the Great 12 Oz. Crash of 2001.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by KaBar2

[Urbanophile-666]

Some crazy rando on the side of the tracks playing with his nipple piercings in 35 degree weather. 

[sp]

this is the kind of the thread i come on here for man 

 

great flix lots of character

[morton]

 

Old documentary about Seattle street kids before the dot coms. 

[Urbanophile-666]

I shit myself... 

[KaBar2]

I sure wish I could go this year, but my wife has health issues that prevent it.  I especially wish I could be there for the memorial service for Frog, Tuck and the other tramps who have caught the westbound.  I sent Jewell a donation for Tuck's funeral expenses.  The Convention starts in three days, but a lot of people are already up there getting the jungle ready.

Edited August 5, 2019 by KaBar2

[GuitarroAnonymous]

On 10/15/2001 at 11:22 AM, Fox Mulder said:

kabar i was just asking because you seemed to have a problem with stealing from a large corporation but not a problem with painting on them. both things cause the business to lose money. i personally don't see anything wrong with writing or stealing from large companies.

Stealing from a Corporation in Godly, Shame on moron,s who worship Corporate Greed. A ferocious & awe-inspiring text, Against His-Story, Against Leviathan! is author Fredy Perlman's magnum opus. The book describes the many acts of Maniacal Genocide that The U.S.A. has perpetuated against the world. this kabar1 guy is ignorant of U.S. reality.

Colonialism Imperialism Marxism Native Issues Third Worldism 

J. Sakai: The Original Introduction to Settlers

April 22, 2021 LOOP Afrikan Liberation Support Committee, Afrikan Peoples Party, Amiri Baraka, Black Liberation, Black Liberation Army, Black Panther Party, Ethnic Studies, Imperialism, Kwame Ture, Masses, Prison House of Nations, Proletarian, Revisionism, Sakai, Union of Democratic Filipinos, White Left

[LOOP is pleased to publish online for the first time the original introduction to J. Sakai’s important critical labor history Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat. The text here is transcribed from the first edition of Settlers, published under the title The Mythology of the White Proletariat: A Short Course in Understanding Babylon in 1983 by the Chicago-based Morningstar Press. The difference between the two introductions is substantial: the introduction included in subsequent editions, including the recent Kersplebedeb republication, cuts over 2500 words.

What is significant in the differences? Among a number of expanded discussions, Sakai’s original introduction situates the text in a concrete political context – as an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist contribution to the Asian movement aimed at fostering and defending a revolutionary class analysis of the United States. The text is polemical at points, which in part frames Settlers as a critique of attempts within both the Asian movement and wider socialist movement to undermine the Black liberation struggle. Recognition of the US as a “prisonhouse of nations” as a dividing line between revisionism and anti-revisionism, and the consequent primary of anti-colonial struggle to communist politics, is underlined in these discussions. “Settlerism” – a category still yet needing further elaboration, especially in relationship with the work of Native theorists on settler colonial ideologies – is clearly defined.]

 

When the Asian Movement made the great leap to Marxism-Leninism in the 1970s much was gained, but much was also lost. Many feel that the militant “heart” of the movement has chilled. Taking up Marxism-Leninism paradoxically reconciled angry young militants to living in White Amerika; that is, in the effort to break through to clearer, scientific socialist concepts of how to make the revolution, comrades have become more confused and less revolutionary-minded.

This is because the particular “Marxism-Leninism” that has been taken up is the “classic” Euro-Amerikan revisionist analysis – which falsely pictures the 1980s U.S. Empire as though it had the same class structure and political dynamic as 1848 Germany or 1871 France. Of course, in the “classic” class analysis of 19th Century Europe the Europeans of all classes are there – but we are not. No wonder comrades have gotten misled and miseducated by this misapplied European analysis of a century ago. The misapplication is no accident, but is another tactic in the Euro-Amerikan ideological domination of the oppressed.

Other Third-World movements have met similar problems (although our experiences have not been identical). In fact, the 1960s breakthrough of “ethnic studies programs” at universities has been dialectically turned around and used against us. We are getting imperialist-sponsored and imperialist-financed “Asian studies,” “Black studies,” “Puerto Rican studies,” etc. etc. pushed back down our throats. Some of the most prominent Third World intellectuals in the U.S. Empire are getting paid good salaries by the imperialists to teach us our histories. Why?

U.S. imperialism would rather that all Third-World people in their Empire remain totally blank and ignorant about themselves, their nations, their cultures, their pasts, about each other, about everything except going to work in the morning. But that day is over. So instead they oppose enlightenment by giving in to it in form, but not in essence. Like jiu-jitsu, our original demand that our separate and unique histories be uncovered and recognized is now being used to throw us off our ideological balance. The imperialists promoted watered-down and distorted versions of our pasts as oppressed Third-World nations and peoples. The imperialists even concede that their standard “U.S. history” is a white history, and is supposedly incomplete unless the long-suppressed Third-World histories are added to it. Why?