The First Time I Rode a Freight
Train & other hitchhiking stories
By Tim Shey
Published January 2012
PublishAmerica
Baltimore
Here are
some excerpts from The First Time I Rode a Freight Train & other
hitchhiking stories:
Page
8: "The cop dropped me off in the middle of somewhere. It was ten
o'clock at
night, it was hot and humid and I forgot to fill up my water bottle back in
Central City. I was not a happy camper. I thanked the officer for the ride and
he turned around and drove west into the Nebraska night.
When the cop dropped me off, the last thing he said to me was, "Remember: pray without ceasing."
"The next town was six miles away. So I walked past the corn fields and
the hay fields of eastern Nebraska. I was thirsty. The noise of diesel
engines roaring away pumping water into irrigation circles could be heard as I
walked back east.
"Eventually, I made it to the small town of Duncan. I found a water hydrant and drank
a ton of water. I then found a pickup parked next to the railroad tracks. I
climbed into the cab of the pickup and slept there that night.
"The next morning, I walked to the shoulder of U.S. 30 and began thumbing
for a ride to Columbus. Within half an hour, some guy
walked up to the pickup that I had slept in the night before and drove off in
it. Sometimes it is a good idea to get up early in the morning.
"I got a ride to Columbus. This guy took me to the bus
station. I met a lady there that helped me pay for a bus ticket to Des Moines. I got on the bus and it went
through Omaha. I got off in Adel, Iowa that evening. Adel is just west of Des Moines on U.S. 6.
"I phoned a friend in Ames. He picked me up in Adel and drove
me back to Ames. He thought that it was funny that I hitchhiked to Nebraska and hopped a freight train. He
thought it was really funny that a cop told me to get off the train. I didn't
think it was so funny."
_____
Page 22: "My backpack has shown a lot of wear and tear
over the years. There are rips in it; it is somewhat dirty. There are places
where I sewed it up with monofilament fishing line and there is a piece of duct
tape on the bottom of the pack. Without duct tape, we would be a people no
more.
"I believe the weight of my backpack averages around thirty-five pounds,
so I get some good exercise every day when I have to walk several miles on the
highway. The guy who gave me the backpack told me that he spent $200.00 for it
back in 1979. It is still hanging in there pretty tough. It is an interior
frame backpack. I don't know the brand name.
"It has been through rain, snow, dirt, mud, sand (e.g. I slept on the
beach at Cambria, California), crude oil (in the
back of a pickup in New Mexico), hundred-degree heat,
and twenty-below-zero cold. I use it as a pillow when I sleep outside. I use it
as body armor when somebody drives by and sprays me with submachine gun bullets
(just joking). My body armor is a wall of fire that surrounds me--the Holy
Ghost Fire.
"My backpack and I have hitchhiked countless thousands upon thousands of
miles throughout the United States. Somebody once offered
to buy me a new backpack two or three years ago. I graciously declined their
offer. I'm going to keep this backpack as long as I can. You see, it never
argues with me, it never disagrees with me, never talks back. It is very low
maintenance. When I get tired of carrying it, I stop, take off my backpack and
sit on it on the side of the road and rest for a while.
"When I die, it doesn't look like I will be able to take it to heaven with
me--I guess this is something that I will just have to accept."
_____
Page
35: "This past week I was hitchhiking in Montana and I ended up in Ennis. I went to
the library and typed up some stuff on my Digihitch blog and then I
walked to the Exxon gas station.
"I
was inside the convenience store buying something to eat, when this older man
walked up to me and asked, 'Are you the traveler? Is that your backpack out
front?'
"I said, 'Yeah.'
"His name was Arthur and he said that he had done some hitchhiking in his
younger days. He was originally from San Diego and did a lot of surfing at one
time. Arthur used to hitchhike with a guitar. He asked me if I needed a place
to stay for a while. He told me he needed some work done on his ranch and that
he had a bad back; he had been in a real serious car crash years ago.
"So I told him that that would be great and that I would like to work for
him. I grabbed my backpack and we drove around six miles to his ranch. He had a
housemate named Hal who had lived there for five years; Hal was married and
divorced and pretty much retired. Arthur used to be a miner years ago.
"I fed the horses hay and grain while I was there. Arthur and I hauled
some garbage to the local dump and we did a lot of cleaning up of some trash in
the house and rearranging some boxes for storage.
"I ended up staying two nights and then hit the road. I hitchhiked south
and made it to Driggs, Idaho where I met up with a friend. I
stayed at he and his wife's place in Drummond last night.
"Yesterday, I checked my email and Arthur sent me a very kind and
thoughtful note; here it is below:
"'Hello
Saw man we are glad in the lord and holy power for leading you to us. We are
very much lovers of good men who follow the path in life that few dare to seek,
I find in you the good warm energy that god has bestowed upon you, follow your
path no one else can, and remember us in your prayers we shall forever be in
your kindness and have no regrets for the time you and we shared with you. Be
always welcome in our tee pee. We enjoyed you and the god & man energy to
shared with us. Have a safe and full filled life and some day return to us that
we may share what god has given us to share with his chosen few. you are
special in our hearts and minds so be good to yourself and we will not judge
you but find in you faith to carry on and struggle with our human condition and
remain thankfull to god first and the life of mammon second.
"'your
friends Arthur And Harold.
ps glad you liked my cooking. pax goldbear'"
_____
The First Time I Rode a Freight Train & other hitchhiking
stories
By Tim Shey
Paperback: 178 Pages
ISBN-10:
1462661718
ISBN-13:
978-1462661718
Language: English
