Little train hoppin' girl

the above posters have given you some great advice. I've hitchicked across America and Mexico and travelled all over Asia and Europe, sometimes in comfort and sometimes not. My kids have travelled a lot of the world and they got me and the wife to join Couchsurfing.com (we are brenda-pat if you are ever in Northern Utah). When my son was on the road I asked him what would he do if he got fucked with as a cross country hitchiker, and he had a knife out in a second. I said that's nice, but I saw that knife clipped to your pocket and a criminal would see it too and plan on taking it or blocking it. He then told me about the other two knives he had handy. He's also a black belt in karate. My daughter, also a black belt, doesn't hitchike; she ride-shares and couch surfs with her girlfriend and carries pepper spray and sometimes sling shots and knives. And has had to use them.

Sometimes ride sharing isn't all that safe, imho, but it's a hell of a lot safer than trains or thumbing it. What I'm trying to say is that there are safer ways to hit the road and I hope you do it as safe as possible.


I don't think that you need a big male, since year ago I did time with a little biker guy who never got fucked with. As he said, they could overpower me and rape me but they don't because they know that as long as I was alive, I'd kill them, one way or another. It's how street wise and tough your buddy is, not how large.

 

And if you do carry a blade (highly recommended), practice getting it out, open and thrusting, over and over, hundreds of times, if not thousands of times. You can pick a tree and practice getting the blade out and slashing, and as you learn to do it, do it faster and faster. I'd go for the forehead as most guys wouldn't expect it to be a target and if you slash it the blood will blind the opponent and give you a chance to escape.

I'd advise you and everyone to get a black belt in some good fighting system (not wing chun, systema, kung fu, strip mall karate, tae kwon do etc as they almost always suck) but in brazilion jiu jitsu, good karate (schools that fight hard and don't waste too much time on forms [kata]), or good a good kempo/kenpo school or kickboxing. The school has to fight hard, that's the important thing, not just dance and bullshit. I haven't had to use much on the street, but having mastered left jab many many years ago it had been very handy a couple times. It takes planning and effort on your part, but you don't have to be a champion; once you actually master something like left jab, in a serious self defense situation you just keep a finger out instead of in a fist and poke the attacker's eyes. Easy enough, but it takes a lot of training to get the muscle reflex hard wired.

 

find a ride share on craigslist

 

Well, you give awesome advice, but I don't think this is out of necessity, she doesn't NEED to go anywhere, she wants to because it seems romantic and much easier than it really is to hop a train and skip town, when feeling smothered.

 

Thank you all very much for your concern. I'm not sure what I'm doing or where I'm going or if I'm going by train or car or thumb or foot... all I know is I'm ready to be with family... and ready to be in the woods.. and ready to be completely free. Its eating at my soul. Babylon just isn't for me... While train hopping crossed my mind and if not for some of these posts and some good friends I may have already left but I think I have found a ride.. some traveling brothers and sister who offered me companionship as long as I will help with food and flying for gas.. I will make it home no matter what it takes. And RooRshack, you seem to know a lot about me.

 

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I wouldn't do it if I were you.It used to fun and safer years ago when the hobo generation was around.Now there is alot of lowlifes[people running from the law,gansters,train gangs ect.] that hop trains.It is not just dangerous to hop the trains ,or be with dangerous people but you have to watch out for police.I heard it is a felony to do that nowadays .You don't want to be in jail at such a young age.If you do go ,I wish you luck, and be positive !!peace and love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This thread amuses me.

I love how people who have never hopped freight always have a bunch of commentary and advice. The internet is such a ridiculous place.

I've hopped freight off and on for 15 years, junk freight, short lines, and IM's from coast to coast, i've rode in boxcars, coal cars, gondolas, grainers, units and everything in between. I've been in train yards all over the USA and made it through UP's hub "security" yard in North Platte, multiple times........i've rode suicide for days on IM's without dying.......

That being said I know what it's like to want to ride rails........I love it and I would never try to talk you out of it, but don't let wanderlust cloud your judgement. You more than likely don't have much to worry about from other train hoppers if you just have a little bit of street sense, stay away from dumb ass drunk kids and creepy dudes and you'll probably be fine in that respect, FTRA hasn't had a presence on the rails in 10 years or more, most of those guys are in prison and the ones that aren't are drunk homebums that hang out near yards. You are much more likely to have a train kill you than any person, for real do not underestimate the power of these machines, they are very very unforgiving. You need to know what your doing before you try to hop any train, it's extremely dangerous if you don't know what to look for, here's just a few examples:

1. Falling asleep in a boxcar when they break train and buck it down into the yard, ever hit a wall at 50mph??

2. Falling asleep when your riding suicide and falling through the hole in the well and being ground to bits on the tracks.

3. Not blocking the door to the boxcar open and having it slam shut on you........nobody will ever know and you will die of dehydration/starvation, don't underestimate this, i've had friends die this way.

4. Carrying too much weight when you try to hop (didn't I see some bozo a few posts back recommend a tent?? that's insane) and missing your mark and slipping and getting sucked under the train. (the only thing you should carry is food/water/very basic surivival gear, I hop with my dog so I carry dog food too)

Anyway, case in point don't do this by yourself until you know what your doing, get a crew change, learn the touchtrace numbers for UP, CSX, BNSF and how to use them. Find someone who KNOWS what they're doing, not some kid that just started hopping 6 months ago but someone thats done it for awhile that you can trust. The only way you can learn is experience, your not gonna learn this on the internet, or through "research"........people like to think they know what they're talking about but by and large it's just opinionated hogwash, be careful out there, kids DO still ride FREE.

Love and light kid

 

http://www.12ozprophet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55285

This forum's full of dickheads, but read through this thread, Kabar, Rolling Knowhere, Scary Letters & a couple of others seem to have some worthwhile knowledge if you can be bothered to wade through the bullshit. And although Kabar comes over as a self rightous wanker, he does know his shit .

 

Hey sister me and a friend are leaving for the Kentucky gathering this Thursday night. Might be a good spot for you to find some family to travel/chill/whatever with. He is coming up from Del rio and I am in Greeneville you are more than welcome to ride along to start your journey.

 

Ill give you Reps if you can find the word "COMPASS" in any the above posts..

 

I have rode the rails hitch-hiked & run into some rough characters along the way .Don't romanticize about the situation . Very Dangerous! Share a ride on a camper/school bus that is absolutely the best way to travel ,I'm a survival guy when I'm not working. knowing when not to step into a dangerous situation is the best defence .

 

Drews Highway Tribe are nice rainbows as are all the RV folks that cruise to the gatherings.

 

I Lived in a cave 05-06 that was pretty cool, ran into drew 06 n cruised with him awhile (great guy). I left highway child & drove night & day with my friend john to make a funeral in Rhode Island. We made it from coast to coast in five days without any money, I thank God for the people who helped us to make it. I made it from rhode Island to Louisiana hitch hiking and train hopping. That was part adventure part pure survival. This took longer than I expected. Once back in Louisiana I served a short prison sentence for flight on a rather large stack of petty warrants,I guess the parrish"wanted to make an example out of me" I worked construction and started a grow opp.in Austin. the stress of not being able to trust anybody finally got to me. I had seen to many things go drastically wrong ending up with several of my friends being shot to death. That was it, I broke down my opperation ditched out on my lease and moved to 30 acers farm land in Louisiana I inherited from my grandparents.I find it funny how plans and reality seldomly silhouette one another....I thank God every day for protecting me along my journey.

 

You're going to be swarmed by single traveling young men.

 

I got sent up river and served 5 months in calfax penitentiary olympic,and yes cruising with my rainbow friends was awsome littletrainhopgirl I wish the best of luck to you.