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Speaker 1: This episode deals with some heavy content, including substance abuse

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Speaker 1: and sexual violence, so please take care while listening. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I mean kitn here. That was fruit, but I heard

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Speaker 1: it fruit from heard that name. And then there's the

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Speaker 1: three amigoes. Who are they? Randy Man, eight Ball, and

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Speaker 1: Serge all dead. Randy Man he was murdered. Eight Ball

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Speaker 1: he died of malnutrition, and Serge Agent Orange took him.

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Speaker 1: So he's a Vietnam vat CECI writer who spent more

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Speaker 1: than twenty years riding the rails. Is looking through her

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Speaker 1: photo albums, there's Peter Billy on a gondola, dustin the

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Speaker 1: winds dead ghost is dead Oswald, he just disappeared off

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Speaker 1: the face of the earth. I kept asking every train

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Speaker 1: writer I met what it would take for my daughter

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Speaker 1: Ruby to survive on the rails, and some of the

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Speaker 1: older hobos told me I should find cc. She knew

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Speaker 1: more than anyone else what it was like for a

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Speaker 1: woman out there the other shallow pop culture. Reason I'm

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Speaker 1: excited to meet her is her name. See what you don't?

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Speaker 1: She must have earned it somehow, So I've traveled out

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Speaker 1: to have her Montana with Winner coming on to learn

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Speaker 1: what I can from CC. I met some nice people

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Speaker 1: from the rails, but I also knew they were criminals

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Speaker 1: who rode the trains, and there were railroad gangs who

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Speaker 1: fought each other for territory. What would it take for

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Speaker 1: Ruby to survive out there? What would hobo's expect of

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Speaker 1: my daughter, a newcomer in their world? And what should

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Speaker 1: she watch out for when she threw her sleeping bag

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Speaker 1: down in the box car? Who would be standing nearby?

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Speaker 1: To understand? In hobo life? Today I had to track

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Speaker 1: down more riders. I'm de El Morton and this is

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Speaker 1: City of the Rails. Are you hungry? I got chicken

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Speaker 1: noodle soup homemade. I'm hungry. I think I'm Cecy's reputation

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Speaker 1: is huge, but she's tiny, not even five ft tall.

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Speaker 1: She has straight gray blond hair tucked under a cap

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Speaker 1: that's decorated with patches of long ago railroads markers of

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Speaker 1: how long Ceci roade. She invites me into her trailer

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Speaker 1: out of the cold of October in Montana and settle

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Speaker 1: down in one of the plush, comfy chairs for a smoke.

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Speaker 1: So you keep here? You keep your cigarettes in the freezer? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: keeps it fresh? Yeah, Cecy keeps the windows in front

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Speaker 1: door open so that she can smoke inside and you

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Speaker 1: can hear the trains passing on the tracks nearby. The

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Speaker 1: trailer is full of Cecy's relics and keepsakes left by

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Speaker 1: writers who have passed through. This is a bracelet that

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Speaker 1: some kid made me for my birthday out of beer tabs.

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Speaker 1: Oh look at that, It's actually wearable. The walls are

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Speaker 1: tagged with drawings and graffiti like still crazy after all

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Speaker 1: these beers, many hoboes have lightened their loads by leaving

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Speaker 1: something behind. Distribute to Cecy. Even have hair. This chick

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Speaker 1: cut off her hair and give it to me, and

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Speaker 1: it got arrowheads, real arrowheads on it. People passed it

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Speaker 1: in present, take to the rails, on a whim, on

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Speaker 1: a dare, or on the run. I mean it's a

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Speaker 1: bit of all of those like I suspected with Ruby.

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Speaker 1: They knew hundreds of writers, and she knew their stories.

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Speaker 1: Maybe she could help me understand more about why Ruby

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Speaker 1: ran off to hop trains. So we began with how

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Speaker 1: Ceci started writing. It was in Amarillo, Texas, and what

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Speaker 1: Cecy told me sounded like a country song, but a

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Speaker 1: sad one. My boyfriend and his brother beat me up,

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Speaker 1: and after I got a little bit well, a friend

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Speaker 1: of mine took me to a hobo bar and to

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Speaker 1: get back at my boyfriend, I kissed this tramp on

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Speaker 1: a Friday, screwed him on a Saturday, hobo marrieding Sunday,

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Speaker 1: and then I took him to a judge on a Monday.

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Speaker 1: Who knows what the difference was between a hobo wedding

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Speaker 1: and an actual wedding, but with her new husband, Broken Arrow,

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Speaker 1: Cecy had both. And then he says, do you want

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Speaker 1: to go and watch me catch out? I went, yeah,

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Speaker 1: So you know, I got mommunu skirt on high heels,

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Speaker 1: my makeup, my hair is all done, and uh, I

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Speaker 1: go to the catch Out dog there in Amarilla, Texas.

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Speaker 1: Get up on this box car with me and check

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Speaker 1: it out. So he coated me up there, and the

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Speaker 1: next thing I know, I hear and a jerk. Quick,

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Speaker 1: what is that? He says, Well, you're riding now. Cecy

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Speaker 1: might not have been prepared to start writing, but she

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Speaker 1: decided to continue traveling with Broken Arrow, and he showed

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Speaker 1: her right away she'd have to give up her old

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Speaker 1: life if she wanted to come with him on the rails.

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Speaker 1: My first backpack, I had my lingerie, some dresses, some heels, makeup,

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Speaker 1: curling iron unit. Look, what are you gonna plug that

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Speaker 1: into a tree? I'm warning four hundred dollar high heels

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Speaker 1: to let us. We'll get the Pueblo, Colorado. How am

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Speaker 1: I gonna walk on these railroad rocks? So he breaks

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Speaker 1: off my high heel? Not talking man? Yeah, So I

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Speaker 1: went from high hill to combat boots to having money

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Speaker 1: to hold and cardboard. Cecy's linked to the regular world

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Speaker 1: got broken off with those high heels, but that didn't

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Speaker 1: scare her. She was ready to leave her old life behind.

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Speaker 1: This new life broken Arrow promised her was unpredictable but exciting.

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Speaker 1: She was eager to enter this unknown world. And after

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Speaker 1: she did, she stayed for two decades. But Ruby hadn't

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Speaker 1: been swept onto the rails by a man, at least

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Speaker 1: not as far as I knew. But what did I know?

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Speaker 1: Young women now are different from Cec, who hasn't ridden

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Speaker 1: in decades. So I also looked for younger women closer

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Speaker 1: to Ruby's age. You could tell me about writing today.

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Speaker 1: Through a friend I met at a party. I found Morgan,

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Speaker 1: who had ridden for two years. Hi can you hear me, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can. Okay, how are y'all? I'm good. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: agreeing to talk to me. Now do you know what

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Speaker 1: I'm doing? Morgan Ceci took a blind leap onto the

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Speaker 1: rails and then scrambled to catch up with her new reality.

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Speaker 1: And like Cecy, Morgan turned to the rails when she

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Speaker 1: needed to make a break for it. She had struggled

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Speaker 1: with heroin addiction in her teens and spent a year

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Speaker 1: in jail for drugs when she was eighteen, and like

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Speaker 1: pretty much all writers, Morgan's journey onto the rails began

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Speaker 1: with her leaving her possessions behind. It started when Morgan

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Speaker 1: was strung out again back home in Maryland, trying to

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Speaker 1: hold onto her car. Funny enough, I actually the night

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Speaker 1: before had gotten a bunch of drugs and I hold

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Speaker 1: the drug dealer that I would give to my car.

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Speaker 1: So really, when it all comes down to it, it

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Speaker 1: was that moment of waking up and saying holy shit,

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Speaker 1: and him and I both knowing, you know, I am

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Speaker 1: not giving him my car. We called my friends, who

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Speaker 1: both were trained hoppers, and I said, we want to leave.

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Speaker 1: What do we do? Where do we go? So we

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Speaker 1: were like, we're just going to drive until we really

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Speaker 1: can't drive anymore and try to make it disported to

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Speaker 1: this guy that was going to put us on our

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Speaker 1: first freight train. But way they got to Georgia, someone

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Speaker 1: stole Morgan's car and she had a decision to make

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Speaker 1: go back home to Maryland and try to make it right,

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Speaker 1: or jump a freight and leave it all behind. The

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Speaker 1: car was gone, everything that was in it was gone,

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Speaker 1: and all we had was the quotes that we had on.

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Speaker 1: Morgan decided she was going through with it, and her

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Speaker 1: friend Kayla gave her a quick lesson and the kinds

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Speaker 1: of things she needed to get before she hopped a train,

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Speaker 1: like cotton underwear because you're not going to be able

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Speaker 1: to change so much and they're just breathable, and any

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Speaker 1: other material. But something else, Kayla said, stuck with Morgan,

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Speaker 1: something she didn't want to consider but knew she had to,

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Speaker 1: something that she stressed to me that was like, I

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Speaker 1: remember kind of sinking in myself when she said this,

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Speaker 1: But she said, you really, as a woman, want to

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Speaker 1: dress as much like a man as possible. You don't

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Speaker 1: know where things form fitting. You know, you really need

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Speaker 1: to protect yourself because you're you know, you have to think,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I didn't think too far into this,

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Speaker 1: but we're going to be in like the biggest cities

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Speaker 1: in the country and in the most dangerous spots in

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Speaker 1: the United States. With these warnings, Kayla was advising Morgan

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Speaker 1: and how to fit in with the other travelers, but

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Speaker 1: Morgan didn't have what she needed. She was on the

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Speaker 1: run with her car stolen. I think I had like

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Speaker 1: three skirts and like three shirts and a few things.

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Speaker 1: So Morgan's high heels to combat boots. Moment came standing

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Speaker 1: in a Walmart. It was the moment when she embraced

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Speaker 1: just how brazen she'd need to be to survive on

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Speaker 1: the rails. I remember my first pack. I stole it

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Speaker 1: from Walmart and it was such a just in the

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Speaker 1: moment thought, and then I was just like, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna try this because it's less than a

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars, so if I do get caught whatever. She

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Speaker 1: went through the store of stuffing the backpack with cotton

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Speaker 1: underwear and hoodies and jeans, all boxing and loose everything

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Speaker 1: she'd need. Once it was full, she faced the big moment,

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Speaker 1: walking out past the cashiers I remember my brain saying,

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Speaker 1: walk out like it's yours, no one, it won't bring attention,

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Speaker 1: and who who's crazy enough to walk in and do that?

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Speaker 1: And I kept it so cool that it was like

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Speaker 1: inside of me, the biggest adrenaline rush. I remember it

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Speaker 1: being just my heart pounding, pounding, pounding, and I got

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Speaker 1: away with it. And that was my first pack, and

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Speaker 1: I had it all the way up to my first

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Speaker 1: trip to California, um hoping trains and hitchhik and so

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Speaker 1: I had it for a very long time. Walking into

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Speaker 1: the parking lot with that backpack, Morgan had crossed the

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Speaker 1: threshold into the life she was taking on. Yes she

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Speaker 1: would be homeless, but not just because she was down

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Speaker 1: on her luck. She'd walked into it willingly, eagerly, both

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Speaker 1: feet first. Around the same time I met Morgan, I

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Speaker 1: met another writer, Alexei Would. Alexei was at different kind

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Speaker 1: of traveler. He was more like the writer's Mike Brodie

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Speaker 1: told me about early on the kids choosing to live

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Speaker 1: in poverty, to see the country that way, Even as

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Speaker 1: a teenager, I just was like, that's bullshit. There's got

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Speaker 1: to be something better than this garbage. Mike Brodie said,

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Speaker 1: there were plenty of hoboes like this from middle class homes,

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Speaker 1: families with assets. My daughter was one of them. So

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Speaker 1: I was eager to hear how Alexei ended up writing.

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Speaker 1: Maybe I could learn something about Ruby. Alexei told me

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Speaker 1: he left right out of high school, just like Ruby.

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Speaker 1: He looked out at the working world ahead of him

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Speaker 1: and knew he didn't want to life bound up by

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Speaker 1: the pursuit of money. I wanted to travel, and I

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Speaker 1: didn't want to pay for hotels. You know. I worked

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Speaker 1: hard to not spend money versus jobbing could make money.

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Speaker 1: So I learned how to do things myself and find food.

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Speaker 1: And he learned to live with very, very little money,

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Speaker 1: and I feel like it was the freest I ever lived.

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Speaker 1: Living without money gave Alexei freedom he'd never felt before,

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Speaker 1: freedom from living in the runt of the straight life.

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Speaker 1: In a way, it was a form of protest, but

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Speaker 1: it was also a thrill to be fully in control.

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Speaker 1: It was high adventure all the time. So I was

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Speaker 1: hitchhiking and you know, just train hopping, dumps, you're diving,

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Speaker 1: you know, just living well off of the decads of

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Speaker 1: the society. I'd usually hitchhike during the day and then

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Speaker 1: try to find a train yard or something and then

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Speaker 1: hop a train and just sleep on it all night

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Speaker 1: long and be cruising. Well, the feel of it is

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Speaker 1: the grittiness, the you know, hiding from bulls and trespassing

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Speaker 1: and just living in the cracks. But like Ruby's friend

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Speaker 1: Aaron told me, it goes way beyond living free just

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Speaker 1: because you could. For some riders, this is a political act.

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Speaker 1: As I was finding out among hoboes, there are a

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Speaker 1: lot of anarchists, you know. I knew tons of punks

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Speaker 1: who just hated money, wouldn't even touch money. Once you

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Speaker 1: get past the idea that you need money, you just

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Speaker 1: have your own It's your own life. You you have

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Speaker 1: your own time. If time is money, then time rich

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Speaker 1: Alexi was happy living by his wits, open to whatever

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Speaker 1: life brought his way. Even his very first ride affirmed

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Speaker 1: his new sense of freedom. I was going from San

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Speaker 1: Antonio to Houston, and I was on a grainer, and

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Speaker 1: I remember it had gotten to night time, and I

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Speaker 1: got up on top of the grainer and it cuts

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Speaker 1: right on the east side of the Houston downtown um,

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Speaker 1: and I just remember the seedy escape and all the lights.

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Speaker 1: He'd just been off the top of his train. I

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Speaker 1: just remember specifically falling alone with train hopping with that

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Speaker 1: He's the skyline, and I just felt like I could

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Speaker 1: go anywhere and I could do anything. Alexei had seen

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Speaker 1: that skyline a hundred times before, but from on top

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Speaker 1: of a freight train. He was feeling the power of

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Speaker 1: this boundless new life and attached to the mundane world.

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Speaker 1: He was hooked, and so he kept going for nine years. Yes,

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Speaker 1: he was giving up the comfort of knowing where he'd sleep,

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Speaker 1: when he'd get to where he wanted to go, and

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Speaker 1: who he'd spend his time with. When you give up

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Speaker 1: everything you know and leave behind the people you love,

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Speaker 1: what do you gain. There's places on train tracks that

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Speaker 1: you can't go on a regular road, you know. I

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Speaker 1: think back, and I'm like, you can't. I'll never be

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Speaker 1: able to see this again. One of the most beautiful

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Speaker 1: views I ever saw in the coolest moments was crossing

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Speaker 1: the Salt Lake and realizing that it was pink and

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Speaker 1: I was crossing it, you know, in a box car

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Speaker 1: and looking down and just completely surrounded by just like

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Speaker 1: pink water and just feeling like outside of this world.

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Speaker 1: I guess like I was floating on like clouds. Hmmm.

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Speaker 1: When you first step into the City of the Rails,

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Speaker 1: you see a world unlike any other. But this beauty

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Speaker 1: was a surprise to Morgan. She was first drawn to

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Speaker 1: the rails by the promise of a new adventure. I

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Speaker 1: had always imagined all the you know, adventure part of it,

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Speaker 1: and and just like how cool the pictures were, and

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Speaker 1: how big the trains were, and how small we are,

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Speaker 1: and how how big that must feel to be a

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Speaker 1: part of that. That feeling of being part of something

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Speaker 1: big is what draws a lot of drifters to the rails.

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Speaker 1: The late author Lucias Shepherd captured it well in his

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Speaker 1: book Two Trains Running. I especially love this quote, which

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Speaker 1: I thought sounded better in JP Right's voice, the voice

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Speaker 1: of a railroad man. There's no doubt the riding on

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Speaker 1: a freight car as it carries you through some moonlight

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Speaker 1: mysterious corner of the American night is a rush like

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Speaker 1: mystical whiskey for anyone with half an imagination. It's a loud, uncomfortable,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of the time it's damn cold, but

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Speaker 1: it's also romantic. You're riding with ghosts, those of Jack Carolak,

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Speaker 1: Jack London and Ernest Hemingway, and all of the ghosts

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Speaker 1: so famous hobo's only hoboes have heard of, and the

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Speaker 1: fact that it's illegal and a little dangerous makes the

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Speaker 1: moonlight extra silvery Beyond the hobo Shepherd mentioned. Other surprising

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Speaker 1: people who spent time on the rails include actors Clark

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Speaker 1: Gable and Steve McQueen focusing our burrow Ey's for you oldies,

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Speaker 1: and even one of John D. Rockefeller's sons for me.

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Speaker 1: The most surprising hobo was Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas,

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Speaker 1: who rode the rails during the Great Depression as part

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Speaker 1: of the Children's Army of two hundred and fifty thousand

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Speaker 1: box car kids. In his autobiography, he described hobo's as

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Speaker 1: kind and compassionate, adding that they had higher ideals than

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Speaker 1: some of the men who ran our banks and were

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Speaker 1: elders in the church. When Douglas became a Supreme Court justice,

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Speaker 1: in the press called him wild Bill for opinions that

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Speaker 1: definitely were shaped by his time on the rails and

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Speaker 1: striking down in nineteen seventy two Florida vagrancy law that

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Speaker 1: prohibited wandering without a stated purpose. Douglas wrote, wandering encouraged

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Speaker 1: lives of high spirits rather than hushed, suffocating silence, even

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Speaker 1: with decades of distance. Once sh' a hobo, you're always

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Speaker 1: a hobo, and that tie goes through the years. I

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Speaker 1: once told a hobo I interviewed about William O. Douglas,

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Speaker 1: and his response was, we have a Supreme Court justice.

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Speaker 1: That's the community, the wei that people like Ruby and

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Speaker 1: Morgan ran off to join. And when you're a hobo,

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Speaker 1: you don't need much, but you do need your traveling partners.

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Speaker 1: From what I'd learned, the best way to survive the

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Speaker 1: trains is not to travel alone. You need your friends

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Speaker 1: around you to protect you and to keep you from

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Speaker 1: making some dumb mistakes. And even though Morgan hadn't been

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Speaker 1: traveling long, she wasn't alone in that box car floating

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Speaker 1: over the Great Salt Lake. She was with three friends

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Speaker 1: that when she traveled with everywhere for years, because, as

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Speaker 1: Morgan told me, the people you travel with become family.

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Speaker 1: When I was in Subsidy and I met Shiny and Harper,

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Speaker 1: they never left me like we'd leave each other, like

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Speaker 1: from town to town and come back together, but they

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00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,840
Speaker 1: were they were like my traveling family. It was like

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Speaker 1: us for against the world till the end. Morgan said

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00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,840
Speaker 1: that if you're traveling alone, the first priority was to

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Speaker 1: find a fellow traveler, and if you just find one

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Speaker 1: traveling kid and you meet up with them, then you'll

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Speaker 1: find the rest. And then that's your community and that's

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Speaker 1: your family. So no matter where you go, you have

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Speaker 1: the ways it means to like find your community of

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Speaker 1: traveling kids and you're safe within that. Finding your traveling

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Speaker 1: family meant having people to watch your back, keeping you

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Speaker 1: safe when you were drunk and preventing you from making

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Speaker 1: a fatal mistake. I was seeing from Alexei Morgan and

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Speaker 1: Cecy that there were so many different travelers, starry eyed hippies,

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Speaker 1: hardcore kids who like to fight, and eccentrics, including oddballs

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Speaker 1: you might recognize from a coffee shop or a music festival.

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Speaker 1: Morgan described some of them you got your like old

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Speaker 1: timey boat kids like I remember seeing my first like

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Speaker 1: old time folk kid, which with some sort of he

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Speaker 1: had like a ukulele or or a mandolin or something,

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Speaker 1: and an actual cat that just sat on his shoulder

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Speaker 1: and looked like he looked like Oliver Twists the way

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Speaker 1: he dressed. No matter which type of hobo, the way

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Speaker 1: they get information doesn't change. It's spread by word of

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Speaker 1: mouth or and online forums like Squat the Planet or

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Speaker 1: Read It, Morgan told me. New writers also learned from

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Speaker 1: the people they met traveling. When they rolled into town.

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Speaker 1: The experienced writers knew where to go to tap into

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Speaker 1: the network. There were bars where travelers hung out, and

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Speaker 1: since people come on and off the rails, writers who'd

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Speaker 1: settled down for a while welcomed people passing through. Like

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Speaker 1: me with no knowledge going into l A, I was

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Speaker 1: by myself when I got there, and I thought to myself,

335
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: where would traveling kids be? So that's where it went.

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Speaker 1: A lot of them were hanging out actually in Hollywood,

337
00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,359
Speaker 1: and so I found one, and then I found another,

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Speaker 1: and then eventually, by like the next day, I knew

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00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:15,720
Speaker 1: every single squat in Hollywood. Squats are an important part

340
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: of the hobo network, a place to stay for the night,

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00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 1: usually in rougher neighborhoods. So a squad is with any

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00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:28,680
Speaker 1: abandoned building, any abandoned shelter building, how that you go

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Speaker 1: into and take it for your own, whether it be

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Speaker 1: a short period of time one night, or some people

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00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,080
Speaker 1: squat in houses without being caught for years. Not every

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00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 1: traveler got let in on the secret of where the

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00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,120
Speaker 1: best squads were. Morgan said, you had to think carefully

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00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 1: about who you told. Even outlaws have hierarchies, and in

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Speaker 1: the traveling world, experienced writers are at the top. At

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Speaker 1: the bottom of the heap are Google's, the newbies, the loud, bumbling,

351
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,360
Speaker 1: clueless kids who don't know what they're doing. They get

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Speaker 1: drunk and may noise, drawing attention that puts everyone at risk.

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00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,080
Speaker 1: And if an Google proved to be too much trouble,

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00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 1: that Google would be left by the side of the

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Speaker 1: track at the next stop. If you're cool, not it

356
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:16,080
Speaker 1: didn't matter. But like you're annoying, Maybe you are a liar,

357
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 1: you're somebody that blows up the spot, like you're super

358
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Speaker 1: loud and like tell people you don't need to be saying,

359
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,680
Speaker 1: or you know, like people would be like, you don't

360
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 1: tell him where we're going, Like let's lose them. No

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00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 1: matter where they stand in the hierarchy, writers are always

362
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,639
Speaker 1: sizing up everyone they meet. There are some scary people

363
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,200
Speaker 1: mixed in among the characters, with cats on their shoulders

364
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 1: and squats aren't the only places hobo's come together. Many

365
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Speaker 1: big train yards have places where hobo's camp out nearby.

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Speaker 1: But knowing where camp is doesn't mean you know who

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Speaker 1: else will be there. Your campmates might be criminals or

368
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Speaker 1: people who have a score to settle with another writer.

369
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,239
Speaker 1: You need to keep your wits about you. I met

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Speaker 1: another hobo named Cherry Blackburn's sort of a modern CC writer.

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Speaker 1: I kept hearing about Cherry from other hoboes before I

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Speaker 1: finally got to meet her. But what I did. Cherry

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Speaker 1: told me about a night in camp with her boyfriend Eric.

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Speaker 1: They were just hanging out waiting for a train near Roseville.

375
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,880
Speaker 1: But when word got around that a notorious hobo named

376
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,919
Speaker 1: Dirty Mike was coming, the whole mood at the camp changed.

377
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: It's kind of a crazy night. There was a bunch

378
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: of us under the Antelope Street bridge and if we're

379
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: all drinking, and somebody said, oh, you know, Mike's coming

380
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: down here. Sure enough, Mike showed up down there, and

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00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 1: he immediately like ran up to Eric and was like,

382
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,639
Speaker 1: we need to talk. Jerry could see that Mike had

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00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 1: a real problem with her boyfriend, so she tried to

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Speaker 1: keep the peace. He pulled Eric aside and they started

385
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Speaker 1: walking away, and I could hear them like escalating and

386
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 1: then arguing, and so I like walked up, like, hey,

387
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:56,679
Speaker 1: what the hell, you know, what's what's going on? You

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00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,719
Speaker 1: guys need to chill out what you guys don't need

389
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 1: to fight? And out of nowhere, and Mike pulls a

390
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: gun out, so he points a gun at me first,

391
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: and then he was holding the gun at Eric's head

392
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 1: and I was and everybody at this point noticed what

393
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: was going on. I was like, oh my god, and

394
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: everybody ran over him like, dude, you need to calm down.

395
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 1: I'm right. At that same moment, my friend Jason noticed

396
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:21,120
Speaker 1: that his dog was missing, and he's like, oh my god,

397
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Speaker 1: my dog. Where's my dog? The lost dog was just

398
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,679
Speaker 1: enough to break the tension. Everyone started to look for it,

399
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,400
Speaker 1: even Mike. Mike kind of forgot about what was going

400
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:32,680
Speaker 1: on for a second because Jason was good friends with

401
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 1: Mike and so he we all like started looking for

402
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 1: the dog, and then they found the dog dead on

403
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,639
Speaker 1: the overpass, and my friend Tim went to go buy

404
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 1: a shovel so that we could bury the dog under there,

405
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,120
Speaker 1: and then Mike helped Mike was like really bummed out

406
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: for our friends, so he helped dig the hole to

407
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 1: bury the dog can from being like a crazy gun

408
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,239
Speaker 1: wielding maniac to distraw trying to help out somebody, and

409
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 1: like in like a half hour period, a night in

410
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: camp could be that unpredictable. So any season hobo knows

411
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 1: the size up the scene when they arrive. Who's around

412
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: the fire? How well do you know the people you're

413
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,440
Speaker 1: with if a fight broke out? Could you trust them

414
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 1: in that climate? Cherry might have saved Eric's life? Did

415
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 1: we be have companions whould look out for her like that?

416
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,439
Speaker 1: But there's another hurdle that not everyone faces. Like the

417
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,440
Speaker 1: rest of the world, the hobo community is deeply patriarchal,

418
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 1: and being a woman could be a liability. The women

419
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: I spoke with were so strong, so confrontational. But despite

420
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 1: how badass these women are, men run the scene. So

421
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 1: CC writer has some advice for younger women about how

422
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 1: to survive in camp. Gotta have your etiquette, keep your

423
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 1: hands to yourself, don't make googlias at anybody else. Just

424
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 1: don't be stupid. And that's what I've tried to teach

425
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: other women out there. Don't be flirting around, you know,

426
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,720
Speaker 1: do not cause chaos in camp. You do that on

427
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 1: your own with your men, y'all go off and beat

428
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: each other up. I don't care, but you're not doing

429
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: it in this camp. Cecy spent years as the only

430
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,160
Speaker 1: woman allowed to travel with her husband Broken Arrows Railroad

431
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,399
Speaker 1: Gang the Wrecking Crew. Sometimes, as she put it, that

432
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,400
Speaker 1: meant knocking some sense into other female writers to save

433
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 1: them from worse violence. One woman, we're in camp, the

434
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: six of us, two o'clock in the morning, night here.

435
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 1: My brothers, if you don't shut the funk up, we're

436
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,679
Speaker 1: gonna kill you. I roll over and say, broken there,

437
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: how I gotta do something. So I got up and

438
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: I said, my brother's told you to shut the funk up.

439
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: I suggest you do. She opened her mouth and I

440
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: put my fist in her throat, And when I was

441
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,040
Speaker 1: done with her, I told her the only reason, and

442
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,639
Speaker 1: I whooped your asses to save your life because you

443
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 1: would not shut the funk up. On top of the

444
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: danger in the yard, there was violence at its edges,

445
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: a blow that could come from any direction. But what

446
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,960
Speaker 1: a wild move from CC punching a woman in the throat.

447
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 1: So men wouldn't come for her. Ruby is tough, smart,

448
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,720
Speaker 1: resourceful too. She makes fools of everyone, but she's not

449
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,679
Speaker 1: easy to fool. But after talking to Cherry and Morgan,

450
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: I saw that wasn't enough. In a world that was

451
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:39,119
Speaker 1: sent mail according to government survey of railroad trespassers, how

452
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 1: would she beat the odds and survive? Would she ever

453
00:27:41,960 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 1: get to be as old as cec h. Talking to

454
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,119
Speaker 1: former writers like CC and Morgan showed me the rules

455
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 1: and the risk of joining this mobile community like Ruby

456
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 1: did when she split a graduation. Outsiders might dismiss hobo's

457
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: as street beggars, never knowing that they have ideals, unspoken

458
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,159
Speaker 1: rules of conduct, and a social order. These were rules

459
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 1: with long traditions, and if a new writer didn't pick

460
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 1: up on these things quickly, she'd never graduate from Google status.

461
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: But either way, there was one thing Ruby couldn't shake.

462
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: She was a young woman. For women everywhere, that's a vulnerability.

463
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 1: It definitely was on the rails, but it also has advantages,

464
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: like when trying to make money on the street, she

465
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: could make a lot more money and faster than men

466
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: she traveled with. In the beginning of the day, writers

467
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 1: fanned out to spange, meaning asked for spare change. As

468
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,840
Speaker 1: Morgan described it, all her friends pitched in if everybody

469
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 1: goes off on their own to like make money during

470
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: the day. Harper would always joke around and with maca like,

471
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,600
Speaker 1: this is fucking bullshit, like I've been. I've been actually

472
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 1: like playing guitar ol day and this bitch fucking made

473
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: all this money and didn't do a goddamn thing. It

474
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: is unfair to say Morgan made money doing nothing. In fact,

475
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: she told me about a technique she used often when

476
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 1: that guaranteed should make a couple of bucks, and this

477
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 1: was something she could only pull off because she's a woman.

478
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 1: I would go to grocery stores and I would go

479
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 1: up to women and I would say I would go

480
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,680
Speaker 1: up and say, hey, just got my curios. I'm leading

481
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: all over myself. Do you have a tampon? And that's

482
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 1: all I would say, because here's what, here's the deal.

483
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,080
Speaker 1: A woman getting asked by another woman who's homeless, who

484
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: just wants such tampon. She's not even asking for money.

485
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: If I end up with tampons, great because I needed

486
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: them anything great. And then they're they're kind of pricey,

487
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 1: pracy enough that if they didn't have a tampons, they

488
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 1: were willing to give me five ten dollars. The people

489
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 1: Morgan traveled with would share everything, so it was a

490
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: big advantage for the group to have a woman who

491
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 1: could make a hunter us. It didn't matter if I

492
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: made twenty dollars and you made two dollars, and we

493
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: made twenty two dollars, like we all made this and

494
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 1: we're going to split it and get sucking alcohol, you know,

495
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: and we're going to get together. We're gonna get food together.

496
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: Money wasn't something you held onto, Morgan said, or even

497
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 1: thought it as yours. What little they had they held

498
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 1: together without saying like it wasn't even like a conversation

499
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 1: of like, al right, guys, we're getting the spear fucking

500
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: make sure everybody gets the same amount. People are like

501
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 1: don't know, traveling kids or people of the culture like

502
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 1: probably see them and think, like, while they're very scary,

503
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: but like, truly, some of these people are the most beautiful, kind,

504
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,320
Speaker 1: amazing people you'll ever meet. I could feel that the

505
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 1: draw to a world where everything is shared and where

506
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 1: people look out for each other. I was even grateful

507
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 1: for it, because maybe these people could keep really safe.

508
00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 1: And I knew she had people around her because she

509
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 1: was always calling me from other people's cell phones. So

510
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 1: one day, when I was trying to find her, I

511
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 1: went through the list of phone numbers I jotted down

512
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,760
Speaker 1: from the various times she called me. On my third try,

513
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 1: someone answered. I identified myself, said I was looking for Ruby,

514
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 1: my daughter. I could hear them calling out to her.

515
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 1: It's your other mother, other mother, it's really a herd.

516
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 1: Since she left, I wondered where I stood with her,

517
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 1: so to feel like I'd been replaced really stung. So

518
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 1: when she came to the phone, I confronted her, and

519
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,200
Speaker 1: she thought it was funny. Why was I so uptight

520
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:37,680
Speaker 1: about this? Of course she knew I was her mom,

521
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 1: so maybe I was being uptight, and maybe I should

522
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: be grateful. She had people so close that she thought

523
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 1: of them as family, but even that family was sometimes

524
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 1: not enough. The City of the Rails is a world

525
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: of extremes. It's a place where the beauty comes laced

526
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 1: with danger, with the same person who points a gun

527
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 1: at you helps you find your lost dog minutes later.

528
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 1: For women on the rails, this meant choosing who you

529
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: traveled with carefully, so in my experience, I usually had

530
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: a boyfriend and and and usually the groups of people

531
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 1: that I was with were people that I knew. Morgan

532
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,480
Speaker 1: was with the same guy for most of her time

533
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: hopping trains. She was attracted to him, yes, but there

534
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: was something pragmatic about the man she chose, and I

535
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 1: met him the most attractive thing, Like he had a

536
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 1: great personality and his fun and stuff. But like I

537
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 1: think it was just so attractive to me that like

538
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 1: if like with him, he could just take me anywhere.

539
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: But like that's what attracted me. If you knew what

540
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 1: you were doing, that's where I wanted to be because

541
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 1: I wanted to learn from you and I wanted to

542
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 1: be safe. Morgan's boyfriend was more experienced than she was.

543
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,240
Speaker 1: He acted as both her guide and protector. This is

544
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 1: typical for relationships between men and women on the rails.

545
00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,840
Speaker 1: In fact, a woman by herself on the rails is

546
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,720
Speaker 1: expected to find a man. Morgan told me about one

547
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: time when her boyfriend ended up in jail. I was

548
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: on myself for the first time, and I called my

549
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 1: friend back home, who had train hopped a little bit

550
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 1: when she was younger, and she was like, you got

551
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: to find a guy. I was like, okay. She found

552
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 1: an older writer who agreed she could tag along with him.

553
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 1: He was nice. They drank and went to an anarchist bookstore.

554
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: It was fun, but when the evening came to a close,

555
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: her protector went to payback. When it was time to

556
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 1: go to sleep. Um, he like kind of you know,

557
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: it was kind of like suggestive, like, hey, you wanna

558
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:37,400
Speaker 1: sure sleeping back because you know it's it'll just be warmer.

559
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 1: And I remember feeling really intimidated and you know, scared

560
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,480
Speaker 1: a little bit just in general because I'm by myself

561
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: and I feel like almost you are protecting me, so

562
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: I need to just do whatever you're you know what

563
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 1: I mean. I don't want to upset you and be alone.

564
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 1: And it didn't go all all the way, but but

565
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: there was some you know, physical uh you know, things

566
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: that happened that I did not want to happen, but

567
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 1: did not feel strong enough in many different ways to

568
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:17,480
Speaker 1: um kind of stick up for myself. And sometimes you

569
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: were consciously trading sex for protection. Absolutely definite. So do

570
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 1: you think a lot of women end up making that sigon?

571
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:34,359
Speaker 1: I'm sure I can imagine, especially women that are new

572
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: women new to the world have trains. I mean I

573
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 1: have their road dogs. Yet for them every night is

574
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: like that one when Morgan's boyfriend was in jail. Morgan's

575
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:49,840
Speaker 1: stories of tampon, panhandling, and coerced sexual encounters aren't unique.

576
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 1: Generations of female writers have faced the same dangers and

577
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: taken advantage of the same opportunities. Of course, this is

578
00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,280
Speaker 1: something that happens to women everywhere. We make trade offs

579
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: to survive. For Morgan, she tried dressing like a man,

580
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:09,320
Speaker 1: but that wasn't enough control. Back in her trailer, Cecy

581
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 1: told me she took it a step further. She decided

582
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,320
Speaker 1: to act like a man. And I think you asked

583
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:18,720
Speaker 1: me the question, why have I done manly things? Because

584
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 1: I'm getting my anger out. All these skills come in

585
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,480
Speaker 1: handy when you get on the rails. Mm hmm. I

586
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 1: got an attitude. I don't want none, don't need none,

587
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 1: But if you want them, come and get it. But

588
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 1: even a tough old bat like Ceci traveled with a

589
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: protector broken arrow. His gang, the Wrecking Crew, was a small,

590
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,120
Speaker 1: violent group that worked the rails in the nineteen nineties.

591
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 1: At that time, there were several vicious gangs like the

592
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 1: freight train riders of America and the Dirty who fought

593
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:59,200
Speaker 1: each other for dominance on certain big rail lines. So

594
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,720
Speaker 1: after pulling See See up into a train and breaking

595
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 1: off her stilettos, Broken Arrow still made his bride earn

596
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 1: her place beside him. They didn't break me in as

597
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 1: a woman, he broke me in as a man. He

598
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 1: broke me in as he was broken. I had to

599
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 1: carry a case of bottled beer for two months without

600
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 1: breaking any I mean, would drinkle, but would replace them

601
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: despite the hazing. Cecy's loyal to the Wrecking Crew to

602
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 1: this day. She even has Wrecking Crew tattooed on her ass.

603
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 1: Broken Arrow was violent but a great protector, and Cecy

604
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:37,400
Speaker 1: needed him until she didn't. After twenty years of riding together,

605
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: their time came to a close. She was getting older

606
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,840
Speaker 1: and increased security was making the rails harder to ride.

607
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,360
Speaker 1: So when Broken Arrow beat her up again, Cecy decided

608
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 1: she was done. It took me forty years to grow up, mother,

609
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:57,800
Speaker 1: and to find what I wanted to do. Granted ahead,

610
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,200
Speaker 1: get my ass beat again. That I finally found my

611
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 1: whole mm hmm, and I also love me and me

612
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 1: said stop it, so I started all over again, and

613
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: now I'm a homeowner twice. Cecy bought a trailer and

614
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,120
Speaker 1: a piece of land in Montana, not far from the tracks.

615
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,359
Speaker 1: And even though she's settled down now, Cecy hasn't left

616
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 1: the rails. She hosts travelers and she still keeps in

617
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:32,800
Speaker 1: touch with her fellow train hoppers. None of us ride anymore,

618
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 1: none of us were all on a crew. Change somewhere,

619
00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:39,880
Speaker 1: and I go and see him where they come and

620
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:43,560
Speaker 1: see me the ones that are left. I can count

621
00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:49,440
Speaker 1: on two hands that I rode with, that I camped with,

622
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:54,719
Speaker 1: swap gear with. At age sixty two, Cecy's seen a

623
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,799
Speaker 1: lot and lost a lot of friends while she'd been

624
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,440
Speaker 1: brought into this life by broken Arrow. This world is

625
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,799
Speaker 1: hers now, and she's seen how much it's changed. But

626
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: she enjoys her new position as the grand old lady

627
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,759
Speaker 1: of the rails, and she's got words for the new

628
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 1: class of writers. Today. It's not a good day to

629
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 1: right freight. It's just full of stupid kids out there.

630
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:22,440
Speaker 1: You know, you get drunk and you get on a

631
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,080
Speaker 1: train that means you've got a good chance to be

632
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:29,240
Speaker 1: and pulled under the train and lose a lamb or life.

633
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 1: Every culture has its elders who want to explain things

634
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,760
Speaker 1: to these whipper snappers, but it comes from a place

635
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 1: of love. And I was surprised that, despite her tough exterior,

636
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 1: being in a position to help writers touch a soft

637
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 1: spot in CC. I know that all of the works

638
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 1: that have done for these kids, coming off the tracks

639
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 1: and stuff, I'm gonna be less than I'm gonna be blessed.

640
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:04,440
Speaker 1: When I take the west wind, I'm gonna be riding high. Sorry,

641
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: I just try to be righteous. So all these years later,

642
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 1: Cecy still makes sure she has enough space for any

643
00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:17,600
Speaker 1: writer's passing through, even the new kids. But whoever you

644
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 1: are and wherever you're going, when you stop by, have her.

645
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:24,719
Speaker 1: The price of admission is a lecture from CC. I

646
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:32,200
Speaker 1: tell them what you gotta do. First priority is you.

647
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 1: You gotta be righteous with thyself before you can be

648
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:40,759
Speaker 1: righteous with others. That's the first thing I say, be

649
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: righteous with you. You understand that I don't ask for respect.

650
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:51,759
Speaker 1: I'd be manned respect for the simple fact I've earned it.

651
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 1: I'm CC rider for Christ's sayings. I don't put up

652
00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 1: with stupid ship. After that visit with c C, I

653
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 1: had the answer to my question. When we we threw

654
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: down her sleeping bag. I bet she had people she

655
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,279
Speaker 1: knew and trusted nearby. This was a comfort to me

656
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: that she had joined a community that lived by a

657
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 1: code of loyalty and compassion. There was a network to

658
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: tap into a web of generosity and support. She hadn't

659
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:25,160
Speaker 1: just run off on the life she knew, but toward

660
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 1: a life she wanted. There were dangers in this world.

661
00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:31,719
Speaker 1: Google's had to learn quickly or be left behind. And

662
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:33,360
Speaker 1: the women I had met from the rails were some

663
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: of the fiercest females on Earth. They'd have to be

664
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:39,080
Speaker 1: or they wouldn't last long. By now, I had a

665
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:41,640
Speaker 1: pretty good idea of the train yard inside and out,

666
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,880
Speaker 1: and the hair trigger insanity of the camps, and I

667
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,760
Speaker 1: understood that this community might protect an Google like Ruby.

668
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:49,839
Speaker 1: At least I prayed that she was with people who

669
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,400
Speaker 1: were watching out for her, guiding her between squats and

670
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 1: train yards. Because no matter who you traveled with, the

671
00:40:55,840 --> 00:41:00,840
Speaker 1: point was the hot train, all right, and we're in.

672
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 1: We're in. We are now tress to understand the realities

673
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 1: of train hopping. I know what I have to do next.

674
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 1: I'm going back to Roosevelt to find out what it

675
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 1: actually takes to hop a train. Hello, this is what

676
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:19,440
Speaker 1: it sounds like inside the box car. You know, you

677
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 1: just run next to it. You grab the ladder and

678
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:23,880
Speaker 1: you just run with it until you get your balance

679
00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:26,120
Speaker 1: and you just kind of like swing on. I wasn't

680
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: even doing nothing, honestly, except taking him back. He was

681
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 1: being a little fucking handy with me, you know, like rough.

682
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 1: So I remember throwing my pack and I just right

683
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 1: in that moment, I had to go right then, and

684
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:44,040
Speaker 1: I jumped. That's the next episode on the City of

685
00:41:44,040 --> 00:42:20,600
Speaker 1: the Rails, as well to drinking gas. Look what You've done.

686
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:24,640
Speaker 1: City of the Rails is hosted and written by me

687
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,400
Speaker 1: Danielle Morton and developed in partnership between Flip Turn Studios

688
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,279
Speaker 1: and I Heart Podcasts. Having a strong reaction to this episode,

689
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,880
Speaker 1: I think we got it all wrong. Call in and

690
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 1: tell us. Especially if you're a group of badass women

691
00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 1: who ride without men to protect you, I definitely want

692
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:42,840
Speaker 1: to hear from you. The number is seven oh seven

693
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 1: six five three oh three three nine. You might end

694
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,759
Speaker 1: up on the show at I Heart. Our team is

695
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:53,760
Speaker 1: executive producer and showrunner Julian Weller, Senior producer and editing

696
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 1: master Abooza far and our excellent producers Emily maronof Sina

697
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:02,280
Speaker 1: Ozaki and Zoe Denkla, who survived hours and hours coaching

698
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,760
Speaker 1: me how to speak with production support from Marcy de Pina.

699
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:10,239
Speaker 1: Excellent original music every episode by Aaron Kaufman. Our theme

700
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:14,040
Speaker 1: music is Wayfaring Stranger, performed by Profane Sass thanks to

701
00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:17,640
Speaker 1: Scott Michaud at Flail Records. Our logo is by Lucy

702
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: Kingtonia and uses a photograph by Mike Brody. For all

703
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:22,799
Speaker 1: of you can make it to the end of the

704
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,160
Speaker 1: credits every episode, I have some good news. Mike got

705
00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:28,560
Speaker 1: in touch with me. He made a bold move and

706
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,839
Speaker 1: dished his cell phone but not his email. Shout out

707
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 1: to CC writer for bringing me out to have her

708
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,800
Speaker 1: Montana for the first time ever, and also to Morgan

709
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,480
Speaker 1: for being so candid and available to answer all my

710
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 1: many follow up questions. Our executive producer at flip Turn

711
00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:45,600
Speaker 1: is Mark Healey. If you want to follow along, find

712
00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at flip turn Pods and at I Heart.

713
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:53,279
Speaker 1: Thanks to Nikki Etre and Bethann Machaluso. Want to help

714
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:55,760
Speaker 1: us out, you can do it very quickly by leaving

715
00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 1: us a rating or review wherever you're listening to this.

716
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:00,799
Speaker 1: It will help more people find the show, and it's

717
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:02,760
Speaker 1: a big deal to all of us making this show

718
00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:06,000
Speaker 1: every week. We'll be back next week in Roseville because

719
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 1: it seems like I'll never get the funk out of Roseville.

720
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:10,200
Speaker 1: Next week on City of the Rails,