# the past couple months pt. 1



## xRastaxRuggzx (Nov 2, 2010)

In late September, I got the urge to go to the west coast once again. I had just been off ramblin around North Carolina when I wound up in Ohio for the Foghat show. That was nice. Got back down to NC, and when I got to Raleigh, met up with a friend, Whyspers,(spell check) who was wanting to travel again. We were busking one night on Hillsborough St. when we met two other kids, Illy and CC who were going to Colorado. My intentions were to go to California. We went to a few shows over the next couple nights, including a friend, Dwight's, band "Blind Boy Chocolate and the Milk Sheiks" who play ole timey swing and folky tunes. Lost my cell phone that night. We also met up with a kid Jedd, who was heading to the west coast as well. Having a huge group, we decided to all split up and meet in Greensboro. CC and Whyspers hitchhiked there that night. Jedd and I got free amtraks there the next day after no success on freight. We got into GSO, where we spent a couple days hanging out near the hop out. One morning, a WBD stopped.Jedd and I hopped on it.As I was getting on it, i tripped over the track in front of me and broke my acoustic guitar in half. the neck snapped and i left it on the tracks. It was my dog Ella's first train, and it was a suicide miniwell. she did remarkably well with staying still, even when we fell asleep. We wound up in ATL, where we got a warm welcoming of dog food, sharpies, and beer. Next morning, we caught out to Mobile, where we got out thinking we were in Pensecola. The trussel pulling into Mobile was beautiful. Manifested a ride to New Orleans, where I finally got to experience the Big Easy. it was mind opening. the music was great, I had the chance to busk with other peoples instruments, and the city just stuck to me. There were quite a few fights though, moreso then in any other city ive been in for only a week or so. had to teach one kid why not to litter in a public park after repeated warnings. From NOLA, we got itchy feet once again and took the cheap bus to Baton Rogue. The college side of town there was pretty dank. Jedd, Hannah Montana (his pup), and Ella loved the Canes Chicken there. Met up with some pretentious hippie kids that housed us up one night and we got some dank nug. caught freight the next morning going to Shreveport, but ended up getting off in Alexandria. We continued hitchhiking up to Shreveport, when we get a ride halfway there. This exit was ridiculous. We saw no cars for four hours straight. Finally the next morning, we just wake up and see a truck pull on the on ramp. we try and wave him down and he turns around and goes the wrong way on the ramp to pick us up. That gave me a good idea of how slow this ramp was. We get a ride to the next exit which turned out being like nine miles away. From there we got a ride to the TA at shreveport, where we got kicked down mad subs, cigarettes, and snacks from the employees there in exchange for not being on the property. We tried hitchhiking all day to Dallas, and right when we were about to give up, I told Jedd, "Dude this green truck is definately gonna pick us up. " sure enough he did. he was heading straight to Dallas and let us ride in the bed and kicked down forty bucks when we left. Dallas sucked, we were out of booze, in bad moods, and found out it was a dry county. Caught the nearest greyhound to Waco TX where we split up. The hitchhiking sucked in Waco the good thing was there was cheap booze and tons of produce kicked down. Jedd gets a ride three cars into his hitchhiking when we split straight to Austin. Ella and I stay there and hang out with Mr. PBR all night busking in front of the Pilot station. Made a killin, but no chance of a ride. Finally two days later after wandering around waco looking for rides, I finally get a ride to temple, having to spend thirty bucks in gas. The couple was nice, but very hesitant in picking my dog and me up. From Temple, we went to the animal hospital in the Petsmart, where we got Ella free shots and medicine, as long as getting out of the store right in time for a tofu chinese meal and taxi called for me by a retired UP conductor. He gave us a right straight out to Austin in a taxi. It was tight. Part Two will come up soon. Running out of time on the comp.


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## xRastaxRuggzx (Nov 2, 2010)

Austin was our destination for the ATA. the ATA is on 52nd and Cameron and it provides free companion care and food for anyone in need. I arrived there on a Wednesday, and was dropped off on 6th st. I immediately tried busking up some money when I got there. Did ok, thought it was pretty tough though with all the musicians around. It seemed like every block had a different band or style of music going on. I then went to Veggie Heaven on 20th and Guadalupe, where I was told I may find the drop in over there. Found it the next morning off of 23rd, and hoped to find Jedd after chowing on some amazing whiteboxes from Veggie Heaven. Found Jedd and Hannah the next day, right after Ella was accepted into the vet for her spay procedure. The next couple hours seemed to drag on all day waiting for Ella to come back. Hannah had done the surgery a couple days before and was still a woozy lil pup. Finally Ella comes back and gets a great welcoming from her companions. Thursday night we randomly caught the CrumBums show at Red 7. Jedd had a blast there even though the staff was really weird and ended up kicking us out along with numerous other people for no reason at all. Jedd was kicked out for shaking the band's hands after the show and thanking them. We later have a blast in the alley behind the venue with a kid we met. We then hear about Austin City Limits, and decided to head out there on Sunday. We made it down there in time for the last show, The Eagles. Before the show, we were playing beside a glass vendor. One of the blowers from the tent came out to talk and play some music to take a break. He was playin some chill gypsy style jazz but had a ridiculously hard strumming pattern. The A string ended up breaking, and in reimburcement, he brought me a nice chillum he had just finished and packed it full for me. I thought it was a great exchange, and just in time for the Eagles. They were still kickin. I ended up groundscoring 16 bucks at the show. After the show, we caught the early mornin train to Ft. Worth and had good hospitality waiting for us. Didnt stay in Ft. Worth long at all. When we found the yard, we waited a day watching from the park outside Centennial. They were doing construction all throughout the west side of the yard, all night long. I thought we werent gonna be able to get out, but later on we walked over the overpass to the other side of the yard to find an immensly wide creek. about half mile down the bike path we happened to find some convienently placed stones across the water. Dropped a gallon jug of water right as we get over the bridge, but luckily we caught IM to Pecos. Got off in Pecos, and decided to call his family in Carlsbad NM. Got smoked up by the people who let us use the phone right beside the cc. Then a couple hours later, we were in a car to Carlsbad. Took a week off then, in Carlsbad, where I spent some time at the national caverns there. It is beautiful. Six bucks for an unguided tour, definatly worth it. Jedd decided to retire, so I got a ride from his family to Roswell. Roswell was dead as a doornail. The only good thing goin for it was the Walmart. Couldnt make a dime playin music anywhere there, not enough time before got kicked off. The light outside the Walmart is a great spot to fly though. Couldnt hitch out after a few days and just caught a greyhound to Albaquerque, where I puffed tough for like two days and didnt really like it much, so I went south to Belen and hopped out the next morning to sunny L.A., where my new instrument broke gettin off the train. In venice now, update more later.


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## JohnnyNemo (Nov 4, 2010)

Many moons ago, I lived near 52 and Cameron in Austin.
I once attended a party at the The Krumbums house, which was near there, as well.

On the rare occasion that I ate out, I always ate at Veggie Heaven, because they give free brown rice to the street folk.
For a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, they sure do use a lot of MSG in their food, however.


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## xRastaxRuggzx (Nov 23, 2010)

Belen was really nice even though I didnt spend much time there. The Valero on the other side of the overpass from the yard was very friendly. Ended up not finding too suitable a spot to sleep that night so we camped on the side of some brush off a main road. Some traffic stopped in the morning and awoke me to wonder what the thing they saw was, and were concerned it was a dead body. Sure enough after assuring them I was fine and getting a couple kickdowns, the ambulance come to investigate a dead body. they see im alright and the accompanying police run my name, and tell me where the yard is. We walk to the yard and see two WBD IM's and by the time we find a suitable spot the first pulls off. We managed to get on the second and after about ten minutes wait, we were ready to roll. The ride was beautiful through the desert. Coming into Beaumont, CA, we were stopped in the yard, after we had commenced moving again, I judged out what I thought to be three miles. I poke my head out of the car at just the wrong time. A BNSF worker/bull was at that intersection. He quickly prompted the train to stop, and went to investigate my car. Ell and I had dipped to the right down a gravel hill and dropped back like 20 cars just in time. We got on a gnarly container. It was yellow with a red 103 in the middle of the suicide well. there was only one beam diagnoally connecting it, so I was a bit worried about our stabability. Somehow before we got a movin, I managed to wedge my guitar and Pack in a corner of the car, and Ell sat on my lap balancing on the beam. after about twenty miles, my pack started to tilt and turn back and forth. Worried it was going to fall, I leaned over to hold it up. I heard a horrid yelp after that and looked to my puppy. I held her to my chest, and her leash had got pulled in on the rails. Then after seeing everything else was alright, we moved to the deck of the car, and hid among the brake mechanisms until we sided again. After arriving to Los Angeles, I got off in Vernon right in the BNSF yard. Thought I was already in L.A., so Ella and I got off, somewhere around this time I broke my guitar but not too sure when. We walked down the small sidestreet from there when we see some workers drive by in a van. They stop and roll down their window, "You appeared from nowhere" they exclaim. I told them I just moseyed in, not sure of their intentions. They turned out being cool and told me of directions towards L.A. My train had left by then, but we were still right beside the tracks. Sure enough, another train came on the same tracks, so we got into yet another train, and rode this one past that overpass about four miles. We arrived to Commerce, where Ell and I considered this would be as good a stop as any to dip because of constant slowing down and siding due to Amtraks. We dipped down the embankment onto a main road, and walked over to Taco Bell. Found a good spot to camp then I got Ella mad beef an bean burritos. L.A. was alright, didnt stay there as much as I would have liked to, spent more time on the board walk in Venice. After a few days without an Instrument, I was feeling weary. Got a ticket in Santa Monica for tying my shoe in the median, and when I rose from that, a police officer had seen me and assumed I was panhandling bc my dog was tied to my pack and i had signs held into my frame. I tried to dispute it, and he said it would be best for my dog's sake to just dispute it in court. what an asshole. Not having a source of income and failed spanging attempts got me worried and considered heading up north. We came across a guy, Don, who was an enthusiastic 30 somethings stoner that approached me at the board walk. We began talking about medical marijuana, and sure enough he had a card. we went to his car to blaze up, when he offered to give me a ride to the dispensary. I went with him, and he came out with 35 bucks (an eighth) worth of Blue Dream. This was astonishing for me, as used to East Coast prices, hadnt experienced this consistency so much. He then told me about the prosperity of Humboldt, and mentioned I still had time to make it north and get some work trimmin. He gave me a ride to Santa Barbara, and from there Ell and I caught a quick ride to Santa Maria. We werent plannin on stoppin for a while until San Fran, but got to San Miguel seeing it was dead as disco. The library was great there, or most likely great timing as it is only open like tuesday wendsday and thursday, and I picked up "The World Without Us" which is an exciting read about life without and before humanity and what would happen to the world. Almost done with that book now. Seeing San Miguel was pretty dead, we slept out on the river bed. El and I wandered the next morning, and found a few really cool stones. Met a couple local bums who really enjoyed some Rummy. That morning, we caught a ride back to Paso Robles. Our ride, Tweety, dropped us off at the music shop off of spring street. While waiting for the music shop to open, I started drinking, and came across the resident homebum of this shopping center, Richard. He seemed like an older bo that had quit the trail due to the great conditions of Paso. We played alotta cards and drank some booze. Managed to get a somewhat broken guitar at the guitar shop the next evening. There was a small hole in the back, but it is fixable. That day, the police in Paso stopped Ella and I as we were walking with a kid we met. They said it would be in our best intentions to leave town. I asked why, and he walked up to me and said in my ear, cuz they dont like my fucking kind around here. I got pissed, but he offered a ride outta town south. I had decided on going south, as the 60 mile stretch between San Miguel and King's City didnt seem to appealing. We got to the exit that evening. Ella was walking beside me unleashed, due to her harness breaking earlier. she went out in the street, and i saw a car coming. i ran in front of it, the car saw me and swerved and clipped Ella as she was trying to go back towards the curb. The car didnt even fucking stop. I tried to hold Ella and screamed my fucking lungs out at oncoming traffic, when one car stopped and the occupants rushed out to help us. We went to Atascadero Animal Hospital, where they diagnosed she had a broken femur. they gave me the option of A. signing my rights over to the hospital to give her care, or B. taking her and getting arrested for animal cruelty. I told them to hold on, as I called my parents frantically and applied to credit cards. To no avail. I was becoming increasingly unruly. The police had come, and were getting tired of my drunkenness and profanity. The vet had said it would be a 5000 dollar procedure to help her. I left Ella at the hospital that night, and hoped to panhandle at least some money during the night and following morning for her. I got drunker and fell asleep beside the chevron that night, and in the morning before checking on Ella, Made about thirty bucks without doing much. They had said she would be placed on pain medication and my credit card attempts had been denied. They were going to perform the surgery on Monday(she was hit thursday night), and had to figure out a good home to put her in. They were also considering whether or not to amputate the leg or do extensive reconstruction on it. I left in tears thinking I had just lost my best friend. The next two days, I checked on her a couple times a day, and then got a ride back to Paso Robles Target in hopes of spanging up some help for the vet bills. Flying a sign near the jack 'n the box, I decided on checking out some local churches in hopes of getting a fundraiser going for her. I went to a local church, New Day Center, on Sunday, and walked in during the middle of their service. An usher, David, had welcomed me and talked with me about the ordeal whilst the service went on. At the end of the service I explained to the pastor and everyone what had happend. David and his wife, Joyce, had decided to take me home with them that night, (only a mile or so away) and get a shower and a hot meal. They are an older couple, really involved in their church. Really great people. I stayed there that night and we played alotta cards. I got them intrested in a vege/vegan diet. Joyce was alot more receptive to it. The following morning, we went to check on Ella. David and I went to the vet that evening, and they said she had been already looked upon by another family that was really intrested in helping her out. she would need extensive rehabilitation and couldnt tramp around with me. we walked back to his truck in despair, and a lady from the vet, Kelly, came out. she told me they were strongly considering giving her back to me and to come back the next afternoon. David and I came back tuesday afternoon, when the doctors told us that since I was with the family and had a stable place for Ell to rest, they would let me get her back. When I saw Ella again for the first time after the surgery, it broke my heart. she had a huge scar over almost all of her back right hip, where they had placed two plates, multiple pins and rods. She has six weeks to heal up, five weeks now, and we are staying with David and Joyce until then. They are great people and love the pup, which is awesome. Ive been helping out with their church regardless of my opinions, and i'd have to say its pretty neat. just seeing the emotion these people have with their convictions is great. so this is pretty much how its been since then, been homebummin Paso Robles Target area for about a week. if anyone comes by hit me up.


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## JoshyWashy (Nov 23, 2010)

thats some bull shit about the spanging thing and it sucks about your dog! i hope she heals up ok.


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## xRastaxRuggzx (Nov 23, 2010)

yeah dude. i lost the ticket as well so i have to figure out where the courthouse is now. woulda blown it off if i wasnt gonna be here a while longer. thanks for your support about Ella. post some stories... always glad to read other's adventures.


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