# west colton to roseville!!1: a trip of strangeness and failure and learning



## connerR (Feb 9, 2010)

I haven't ridden a train since last June (2009), when I went with NickCofphee, Tad, and JoeGerminate up to Portland. When I returned to Southern California, I got a job and settled into some kind of normal life, and promptly found myself yearning to ride trains again. So, this weekend, I got four days off (they like to keep me from full-time; less benefits!) and, with the acquisition of some new gear, I decided to go on a quick trip up to Roseville. My plan was to get to Roseville, head out to Sacramento, check out the railroad museum, then come back on Amtrak in time for work.

Well, none of that worked out at all.

It was Monday night and my friend John had told me he'd drive me to Colton. After landing on unemployment, he had nothing better to do. He picked me up around 7:30, with his friend Holly in the passenger seat. After a quick detour (pot; I don't smoke, but they are _connoisseurs_, if you will), it was off to Colton.

A certain nervousness or anxiousness was bouncing around inside of me. It had been with me all day, and confused me, more than anything else. Perhaps it was the aspect of riding alone for the first time, even though I had done the same journey last year. Or perhaps it was the feeling of having multiple people inside of me at the same, the "leave it all behind and travel all over" person, the "get a good job, a nice place to live" person, the "I'm too lazy to do anything today" person...but then the hypothetical world collapsed and I was crossing the railroad bridge by Pepper St in Colton. 

The air was cool and haze filled the air as if I were inside of a memory. The spot I remember from last June was now well-lit, and the light seemed to transform it into a completely different place. I crept through shadows around the light and spent the next hour walking around, trying to find the best place to wait for my midnight train. The spot I settled on wasn't well covered, though, so I went back to a tree to wait. 

As I sat down and took a sip from my water bottle, coldness began to sink in. Then, while watching a double stack glide by, I noticed something move on the railroad bridge. A few moments passed, then it moved again. It was a person, likely another rider, I thought to myself. I stood up to get another view when I saw a flashlight flicker on and scan the area. Shit, I thought to myself, crouching back down in the mass of tree branches. Maybe I had been seen? For probably half an hour, I watched the silhouette appear, then reappear. As no advances had been made, I began to feel less apprehensive. Maybe it was just a tagger? 

I got my gear and walked up the embankment to the top of the tracks, concealed by another tree. As another doublestack passed by, I suddenly saw the dark figure walking out from the bridge. He walked right down the tracks, through the lights, and down to the base of the hill that NBD's climb. After a few moments of observation, I decided to meet up with him.

He was drunk, belligerently drunk. In his drunkenness, he called out to me: "you alright, bro. I like you train rider kids." Fuck, I thought. A drunk.

"Are you catching out right here?" I asked, taking a few steps closer. He was big, probably six feet tall. He introduced himself as Rick, I think. Boxcar Rick. (anyone ever seen this guy?)

"Yeah, man. Where ya headed?" This was the start of a series of mind-numbing questions and statements that made me feel drunk, even though I hadn't had anything to drink in more that twelve hours. 

"Where ya headed?"
"North. To Roseville."
"I'm goin' north, too, man. I'm goin' to Oregon. You should ride with me, man, I'm a cool guy."
"Yeah, definitely." 
"I don't like those kids that just get drunk all the time. Fuckiiiiin, I just like to chill with cool people, you know what I mean? You seem like a cool guy. Where you tryin' to get to?"
"North. To Roseville."
"Wherever you're tryin' to go man, just let me know. I've been riding for 14 years, I know everything you need to know about this place. You wanna go north? Take this track right here. You wanna go east? Take that track over there. You wanna go..."
"Awesome."
"You met a good motherfucker, man. I've been doing this shit since I was 14 years old, and I'm 32 now. I used to travel with a dog. This is what it's all about, man."
"Cool."
"Where you from, man?"
"This area."
"I got family in this area. I could call my sister right now and sleep in a fuckin' bed! But fuck that, this is what it's all about, just bein' out here with the trains, fuckin' train riding, man. Let me show you my tattoo."
"That's okay."
*shows tattoo of dog in boxcar doorway*
"Where you tryin' to go, man? You wanna ride with me? I'm a good road dog, bro."

This went on for about an hour. He took pictures, played his harmonica, smoked and walked around in plain view of everyone and everything. This is going to be bad, I thought, we're going to get caught. 

Around 12:30, I saw the headlights of UP 5375 pull out from the departure yard. 

"This is our train, man," I said to my drunken friend. He was smoking a cigarette and talking about panhandling in Oregon. When the units came by, he stood up, which was a miracle in itself, and walked to the ballast. 

A few moments passed and he pointed to a grainer. He went for it, but failed, as he was unable to run in any kind of straight line. I thought he was going to kill himself.

"It's going too fast," he said. Thank God, I thought. I didn't want to see him throw it all away.

As he stepped back, a trio of gondolas rolled by and, determined not to have to wait any longer in Colton, I went for the middle one. In a matter of seconds, I was up the ladder and sitting in a pile of scrap metal. I looked back for Rick, but he was gone. I can only hope that some sense managed its way through the inebriation and he waited for the next train. 

Once on the train, I realized I had to get out of the gondola. The one in front of me carried long tubes and had large flat spaces on the front and back of them, so I switched over to that one and unrolled my sleeping bag. My feet were frozen after stepping in a puddle in Colton, so I threw some handwarmers in my bag and tried to get warm as I rolled through the Cajon Pass. 

It had been three hours since I got on and we were going fast. Dust and icy air was dancing all over my body and I decided that at the first siding, I'd run back to something more accommodating. 

It's the logic that's damned me from birth, that voice inside of my head that says, "you can do better than this, ConnerR, trust me." It's happened with jobs, girlfriends, and lovers, never working out for the best in the end. And it was about to happen to me again.

We weren't at a siding, but at a crossing. The horn that I heard wasn't an oncoming train, but a crossing one, and it wasn't freight, but Metrolink. I had found an open boxcar and climbed in, but both doors were open. Wanting to have as little draft as possible, I got out and looked for a different ride, assuming I'd still have plenty of time because the supposed oncoming train hadn't come yet. That's when that malign hiss of air shot out and the train lurched forward. I was in the middle of nothing rideable: empty lumber racks, closed boxcars, flat cars. I spotted what looked like another gondola, but my heart sank when a flat car with axles on it rolled by. 

The train sped off, and a Dash-9 DPU waved goodbye as it disappeared into the darkness. I walked down the tracks until I hit a street that led to a cluster of lights. A CVS was open, so I went in and asked an old woman where I was and she told me: Palmdale. Palmdale? I had only gotten to Palmdale? The anxiousness and nervousness from earlier had been synthesized into the cheap analog known as disappointment. 

After much deliberation over what to do, I decided that I would go back home. I wouldn't have had the time to get up to Roseville and back in time for work, unless I wanted to just get off the northbound and jump on the southbound. With rain in the forecast, I told myself that I'd put it off for a better day. 

As I walked to a row of cheap motels, I noticed something interest. Three different shadows stemmed from my feet, and the one in front was wearing a pack, trudging on in lock step with myself. But there wasn't disappointment in my shadow, something that made me feel hopeful.

"There's always next time," I said with a smile. 


----------------------------------

It's probably a lame story for most of you, but a great learning experience for me on a number of different levels. In a few weeks it should be a lot nicer and I plan on ACTUALLY getting to Roseville. >:3


----------



## Tad (Feb 9, 2010)

aww, that sucks man. I wouldn't consider it a failure since it was a learning experience. but yeah, as far as your goal of getting to roseville I guess it was hahaha. next time, conner! also, you're a good story-teller.. even though not much happened, I was interested the whole way through


----------



## connerR (Feb 9, 2010)

I talked to your brother today, Tad. When I told him what happened, he said, "you pulled a NickCofphee!" 

I got a good laugh out of that...

haha


----------



## Tad (Feb 10, 2010)

hahahaha, yeah he's been known to lose trains by looking for a better ride


----------



## macks (Feb 10, 2010)

That's too bad, it sucks to have short stints in which you can travel. Much better to have an open schedule for trains. But it's cool you got to ride anyway, better luck next time.


----------



## socialjustice911 (Feb 10, 2010)

Well at least you tried man and that was a good story. I just got laid off recently and i want to take a trip myself but i have never hopped a train so i dont think i'll do it alone cuse i dont want to kill myself. I used to live in colton off of riverside drive that was a long time ago now im in la puente . If you go again let me know maybee you could teach me the ways?


----------



## connerR (Feb 10, 2010)

@socialjustice911: Really, I don't think it's too difficult. I think if you just spend a couple hours there and get a feel for the area, you should be fine. 

@macks: It does suck, but it's the best I can do for the time being. I plan on quitting in a month or two, though. I'm treating these short trips as practices, I guess, figuring out what gear I'm gonna need, getting familiar with yards, etc.


----------



## MrD (Feb 10, 2010)

A similar thing happened to me.
I got off of my ride, when i was sure we were stopping, to only going about 10 cars back
It was going slow enough to step off, and turn arround and put my pack on, while it was resting on the floor of a boxcar.
too bad it was not stoppping, it soon started to pick up speed again 
by the time the car i wanted came by, it was going wat too fast
It was on a nice incline and when i grabbed the ladder, i started to get pulled, and the ladder was way too high for me to catch going that fast.
In the end i walked for a few miles to find the nearest highway to hitch back to a town.
It is a shitty feeling


----------



## SmokeCrackRideStacks (Feb 10, 2010)

hey this box car rick.... did he have a blondish mohawk? and a cool hat? a realtree camo pack? I know a guy named ricky but he usually goes by spoon, I was with him in colton before christmas, haha he could still be homebummin it there.


----------



## connerR (Feb 10, 2010)

im pretty sure he didnt have a mohawk, and if he had a hat he wasn't wearin it. i didn't get a good look at his pack, but im almost certain it wasn't camo.


----------



## bote (Feb 10, 2010)

one thing ¨boxcar Rick¨ said actually does apply to your story: 

that is what it´s all about sometimes

classic Colton story man.


----------



## NickCofphee (Feb 13, 2010)

You should've just caught the rear unit straight out of Colton. Epic fail, but well written story!


----------



## connerR (Feb 13, 2010)

Hence the _learning_ part of the learning experience. 
Haha.


----------



## JahDucky (Feb 16, 2010)

I really enjoyed this. It makes me wanna hop the train that runs through my neighborhood and just head on out to fairbanks....or sewerd...whichever. i dont care.


----------



## connerR (Feb 19, 2010)

Do it!!!


----------



## JahDucky (Feb 19, 2010)

I would if i werent pregnant. I swear since i got pregnant ive been craving beer, restraining myself from hopping on the train as it runs through my neighborhood and loving second hand bugler smoke...is this kid in for it....


----------

