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KaBar

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Here's a few stupid teenager videos---this is how people get hurt: being deliberately stupid.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLpiznoyljo&NR=1

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zybqvgZc-M&mode=related&search=

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyakdq7TYt8&mode=related&search= These geniuses think the train is stopping because they've been spotted. LOL

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3O_BzWkEfQ&mode=related&search= Exceptionally excited uburban teenager reports to his Mom all about his great trainhopping adventure. LOL. "Dumpster dive?" (O my god, it's so exciting.)

 

This is a 23 minute fiction film--not bad, but--a.) the tramp wears a stupid hat, b.) he has no BOOTS (what the fuck? Idiots.), c.) no GLOVES and d.) his coat is worthless for winter weather. Oh, and he must be suicidal, as he drinks from a gallon bottle of wine he FOUND in an abandoned house. Absolutely, never do anything this stupid.

 

On the other hand he gets extra points for having a MSR Whisperlite stove. Good stove.

 

"Don't need no ticket." Sloppy, but they lucked out and avoided the bull.

 

Beautiful Canada and Jimi Hendrix. Cool.
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I can remember Rufe telling me "Never ever walk between two cars that are uncoupled," and me going right over there and doing it, and telling him "If I pass between these two open couplers, I am exposed to danger for a split second. The chances of me getting crushed at that exact second are incredibly small!" And Rufe looked at me like I was some sort of mental defective and said "Yeah, that's true. But if you don't pass between two cars that are uncoupled the chances do not exist at all." At age 20, I could not understand his logic. Why would I be afraid of such a small chance?

 

But once I got older, and had some life experience, I realized that the consequences if you lose are SO FUCKING HORRIBLE than taking any chance whatsoever is totally unjustified.

 

I'm always hounding my crewmates about both rail safety and paint-mission safety, whether it's the superslim chance of death, or an easy precaution to take that won't be necessary 999 out of 1000 times, but will keep you 30 seconds further ahead of pursuers that 1000th time. I always took those easy precautions because I planned to paint a thousand trains, and in fact I've done more than 1500 now, and some of those one-in-a-thousand situations have come up. So far I've beaten them all (no injuries or arrests), but some of my boys who are less cautious have experienced both of those consequences.

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Here's another video story. Two college kids decide not to ride Wal-Mart floaties down the Mississippi and choose the Hobo Life instead. Don't miss Crazy Eddie's story--it's great. I have met quite a few guys like Eddie while hopping trains. Crazy as shit, but relatively harmless. Just kind of boring.

 

 

Hey, Cracked, good to see you here. I wasn't sure you ever heard my stuff anymore!

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Their adventure kind of sounds like my tramp trip this summer. Granted I had enough sense not to hop a bottomless car but got stuck 35 miles to nowhere when the coal car pulled into a power plant. http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/baskone/IMG005.jpg

 

I let myself get suckered into the returning merchandise hustle. I say "let" because i was running this one back in '93 so I knew what was up but since I developed morals somewhere, I don't do the actual theiving any more but I needed some funds so I went for it. Now I can't return anything to Home Depot without a receipt.

 

I did meet some OK bums but when you tell them you don't panhandle, they acted like they were going to slap us around 1940's hysterical female style. http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/baskone/IMG007.jpg (i'm behind the cam)

 

Invest in some hiking boots.http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/baskone/IMG014.jpg

(me)

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This is a great little trainhopping video, but it is in Swiss German. The tramps are professionals about the way they hop. Notice that in some shots they are up against the bulkheads (walls) of the boxcar, and in others they are sort of hanging back just past the edge of the door. This is because if they stay "behind the angle" of the boxcar doorway, they can see upcoming passers-by, cars sitting at crossings, cops, foamers and so on BEFORE THESE ONLOOKERS SEE THE TRAMPS. Most casual on-looking observors are looking straight ahead at the passing train. The tramps are looking at an angle forward about fifty yards or so, so that when they see someone they can take cover up against the bulkhead and avoid being spotted.

One of the first few shots shows the "A" end of a Cadillac grainer. Note that the walls go all the way to the end of the car. They are not cut down at an angle, like a regular Canadian grainer. And there is a little "window" to look out of. In another couple of shots, showing a rolling train, they show a Cadillac grainer and a Canadian grainer coupled up. Good comparison.

One shot shows "thousand-miler paper" being used to insulate them from the freezing steel floor of a boxcar. (It is very thick cardboard, about three inches thick, like honeycomb.)

 

Also notice the number of times they tell the Swiss videographer to be quiet and to take cover and hide. Their behavior in general is good, although I don't think going up on the decks of the grainer was a good idea. I'd bet cash money that they just did that to show off for the camera, or because the film crew wanted a more dramatic shot and asked them to do it.

 

NOTE THAT THEY ARE WEARING GLOVES, BOOTS, HATS AND JACKETS. And they have rucks, sleeping bags, water, and a scanner.

 

In general, these guys get a great big "A" for excellence. RIDE SAFE!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzdXZsLOJ0&NR=1

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I got run out of a yard by a homeless dude posing as a worker. I had my doubts that he was legit, and I suspected he was just annoyed that we were painting in the day and therefore risking his spot getting blown up. But he talked the talk and I wasn't 100% sure so we left. Two days later I saw him pushing a shopping cart along the highway, wearing the exact same clothes.

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ok im a little late into this whole discussion and scuss me if im missing some shit, but first

one of the first posts talks about how there isnt any hobos or tramps left, man if you really ride trains you would know that is not true. at least as far as i know and have been learned (ive been riding since 95) there has been a resurgence in freight riding since the late seventies early eighties. and are hundreds if not thousands of riders out there, which compared to the earlier half of the 20th aint that much, but it makes for enough of a community to find your freinds (and enemies) wherever you might go. especially the last 7 years it has been geetting very popular again im not calling you out but i see this post was started in 2001 or 02 thats 5 or six years of keeping up with this, pretty seriously. again im just curious because as you would know serious riders dont really get that chance so often...obviously you know some shit but youve been in houston presumably for six years continuously updateing this shit. and you talk about these old timers and gatherings and pictures, but i see no mention of any of the youger generations, who still some have been on the rails since the eighties and early nineties. So im just wondering whats the deal? are you an old timer who desnt know whats up with the new school (which is hard for me to belive since the true ogs keep an eye on shit) or are you rail fan turned hobo fan just pulling shit off the internet? Again im just curious and dont realy wanna go through 30

pages of dialoge. a little curious

~hobo soul

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zombiefetus---

 

I did most of my riding years ago. I just ride now for fun. Last year I was out for a month. The year before that, like three weeks. If that's not enough riding to qualify as a genuine rider in your eyes, then I guess I'm a poser.

 

Too bad you don't have the patience to read some of these posts. I think when looked at as a whole, it's pretty good.

 

The reason I say that there are no more "real" hobos is because most of the people riding trains now are either recreational riders like me, or they are tramps who don't work, they just basically ride trains, drink and get high. That's not hoboing.

 

Hobos travel in order to WORK. They were not part of some counterculture group that hated regular society. When you look at what those Depression-era kids did with their lives as they grew up, it's pretty inspiring. I worked a little, in my travels, but I was basically not out there looking for work, I was looking for adventure.

 

Most of the tramps I know have a deep and abiding respect for the old guys who they consider to be "real hobos." The old heads who rode in the 1940s and 1950's are dying---just a few days ago, "Slow Freight Ben" Benita Sankays passed away. She was in poor health and in her 90's. Steam Train died this year too. New York Greenie--a lot of the old timers are dying off.

 

Riding trains is dangerous, but not just because you could get hurt. The real danger is that you could spend the best part of your youth bumming around without getting any education, without getting a trade, without connecting with the rest of society. If that's what you want, fine, it's no problem for me. But don't ride for too long. If you wait too long, you lose out on regular life.

 

I didn't go to college until I was 36 years old. I figure, conservatively, that those 18 years of screwing around cost me a minimum of $180,000. Probably closer to a quarter million. Do whatever you want, but remember----

 

THERE IS A CONSEQUENCE FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO, AND EVERYTHING YOU DON'T DO. THERE IS A CONSEQUENCE FOR EVERYTHING.

CHOOSE WISELY.

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Here's another pretty good video. These people are all anarchists and their analogies and excuses are pretty weak, but it's not a bad video. There is a couple of places where people do some pretty stupid shit, like jumping from a moving boxcar door standing up, or jumping off a train WEARING A PACK. Stupid.

 

These folks are pretty young, naive and inexperienced. LISTEN CLOSELY TO THE STORY OF THE GIRL, ALI, WHO CAUGHT ON THE FLY FOR THE FIRST TIME. She could have easily been killed or lost her leg.

 

 

Here's another one, with a pretty good look at the life of people who "ride too long." They get kind of stuck. McJobs is a good way to put it. "Smile, smile, smile, and dial, dial, dial!"

The one girl shows an excellent example of how NOT to mount a boxcar door. Putting your hands flat on the boxcar floor and then trying to swing your legs up is NOT THE CORRECT WAY. It's dangerous, because if you slip, you go UNDER THE CAR.

 

The correct way is to use the door latch, grasping it with both hands, and then lifting your legs and lower body up into the doorway and inside the car. (Throw your gear in first.) This is sometimes difficult for girls, who have less upper body strength. In that case, they should use a plastic 5-gallon bucket as a step stool, and then pull it up into the car behind them with a string.

This video shows a good example of "yaw", violent shaking of a car from side-to-side. The same thing, front-to-back is called "pitch."

These tramps are also pretty dirty, and do not take care to stay clean.

 

Nice frailing banjo. Lousy vocals--the guy can't sing worth shit.

 

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Re: OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW

 

I really like Old Crow Medicine Show. Just enough bluegrass to make it interesting.

 

I love this one "Tell It To Me" ("Drink corn liquor , let the cocaine be . . .")

 

"Wagon Wheel" cheezy video LOL.

 

A pretty amateur good cover of "Wagon Wheel" by Tyler Herrin

 

"Down Home Girl" a little weak

 

"Fall On My Knees"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rmTvXcMd0c&mode=related&search=

 

"Soldier's Joy"--this tune dates from the Civil War. It's about morphine. They play it pretty fast for my taste, but it's still good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLio4CfUqZ4&mode=related&search=

 

"I Hear Them All" good tune, I like it.

 

Live at the Ryman--"Wagon Wheel"

 

Old Crow with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings "The Weight"--ooh, takes me back to the 70's.

 

"Gospel Plow"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtn5-qMQVes&mode=related&search=

 

"Tear It Down"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtOcBO80pnI&mode=related&search=Old%20Crow%20Medicine%20Show%20Woodsongs%20Gospel%20Plow

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Crawford County Newspaper on the Web...Week of Oct. 29, 2007

 

Obiturary for Gas Can Paddy

 

Lawrence Meierhoff

 

Lawrence "Gas Can Paddy" Meierhoff, 90, Robinson, died about 9:10 a.m.

Sunday, October 28, 2007 at Crawford Memorial Hospital, Robinson.

 

Visitation is from 1 -2 pm Friday, November 2, at Goodwine Funeral

Home, Robinson. Memorial service is 2:00 p.m. Friday following

visitation at the funeral home with Rev. Jerry McDaniel officating.

Burial is in Robinson New Cemetery, Robinson

 

"

 

 

Gas Can Paddy caught the westbound. He was 90 years old.

Attached are some pictures of him and pictures of his famous "hobo bindle gas can." He used to hitchhilke with the gas can, and people thought he was a stranded motorist and would pick him up. When they realized the gas can was a prop, and was actually his suitcase, they were usually so amused they gave him a ride anyway. Paddy was of the opinion that "a real hobo doesn't need a Montana bindle, but can scrounge up whatever he needs in whatever town he lands in." He rarely carried a blanket roll (a "bindle") at all, because he usually travelled north in summer and south in winter. Paddy was an extremely personable guy, and prided himself on being able to make friends and get along well regardless of what sort of company he was in. He was friends with "swells" and tramps alike.

 

There won't be another one like Gas Can Paddy Meierhoff.

gascan.jpg

 

download?mid=1%5f18457%5fAM5Wv9EAAC6ARyYAtAXDpCkvCw0&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1

download?mid=1%5f18457%5fAM5Wv9EAAC6ARyYAtAXDpCkvCw0&pid=4&fid=Inbox&inline=1

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I know. They were up for about 48 hours and then they disappeared and were replaced by that "x" in a box thing. I'm no computer jock, so can anybody explain to me why that occurs? It happens to me a lot. I copy & paste a picture, and then a few days later it gets "x"ed out. Why?

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