1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: Have you ever thought, get me out of here. You 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: take a look at your situation and think there's got 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: to be something better than this garbage. Was this what 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: my daughter Ruby was thinking when she skipped town to 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,079 Speaker 1: have chains. It's just absurd that we live in a 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,240 Speaker 1: country with so much wealth and privilege, and young people 7 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: choose to live in poverty and explore the country that way. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: It's fascinating, But the rails are dangerous and unforgiving. Do 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: you want to play with the devil? You're gonna find 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: them their art, That's where they catch their prey. Like 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: I have to go where I'm just stuck on this train. 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: God knows where I'm gonna end up, and I jump. 13 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: What drew Ruby to this life where everything was at risk? 14 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: You force yourself to be stuck on this massive freight 15 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: train going through the elements? What aways be like? Why 16 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: are you doing this? Oh? My so I don't have 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: to do what you do. I thought my daddy was 18 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: rejecting me and the life I held out for her. 19 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: But Reyby wasn't running away. She was running towards something. Hello. 20 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: That's what I found when I followed her into the 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: city of the rail. This is what it sounds like 22 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: inside the box car. It's kind of like walking into 23 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: an early dimension, another world. Reclined, the ladder up on 24 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: top of the grainer, and it's just miles and miles 25 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: and miles of sunflowers. You couldn't see anything but sunflowers. 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,199 Speaker 1: I'm Denil Morton. I've been a foreign correspondent, written bestsellers, 27 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: and was a Hollywood reporter for People Magazine in the nineties. 28 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: In all those years, I've never seen a story like 29 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: the City of the Rails. Jumping a freight trains, like 30 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: it's like riding a dragon or something. As I was 31 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: drawn deeper into this world, I began to learn how 32 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: the railroads created modern life and shaped our country. I 33 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: think the railroad kind of symbolizes a long term history 34 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: of the It's just such a hero. So railroads show 35 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: you how it's done, to show you how to raise capital, 36 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: operate things on a very very large scale, and also 37 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: they show you how to cheat. Once you touch the rails, 38 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: they change you. But started out as a search for 39 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: my daughter led me into a world that made me 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: rethink everything I thought I knew about motherhood, about our history, 41 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: and about that thing we call the American dream. Come 42 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: with me as I find out what waits for us 43 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: in the City of the Rails. Listen to City of 44 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: the Rails starting January on the I Heart Radio app, 45 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.