My first catch out was a bust but adventure must go on | Squat the Planet

My first catch out was a bust but adventure must go on

Matt Derrick

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First catch out was A bust I have a new respect for train hopping but the adventure not over had enough money for a one way ticket to LA West Coast links ?

is this a question?
 
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Koala

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Would definitely love to hear the story! First freight fails and first trains are awesome stories.

My first real tries (and fails) were 1) stalking around a siding in Australia for hours seriously trying to get a grain train that I knew nothing about and that turned out to be completely unrideable and it still sitting there 8 hours later after I woke up on a nearby abadonded string after giving up. That adrenaline and ignorance was so fun!!! And 2) also in Aus after getting some basic info, I crouched at the n throat of a yard and waited to try and hop on the fly onto a mesh-sided autorack. When it came, it was pulling out fast, but I ran beside it. Realized I couldn't keep up, my pack was too heavy, and the ballast was too steep. So watched it leave without me. 3) I was on a metro train out of a city in Aus after trying and failing to get something in a high-security yard, and noticed a freight stopped on the mains right near where I was sleeping the night before. I backtracked from the next station but by the time I got back to the yard, the train had left. I ended up catching it exactly 1 week later from the same spot! :)
 
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Tell the story if there is one, cuz you cant be Afrohobo without the hobo! Then I will tell a funny story about the 2ND TIME I tried to hop a train, (because the very first time was amazing. My story also involves impatience.
 

Afrohobo

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Alright lady’s and germs so boom I’m in Topeka ks waiting to catch out I was there for a good day and a half seen trains going to fast seen trains going to slow as soon as I nod off boom the bull finds me and he’s with 2 cops I get a warning after that I was tired and cold so I said fuck that grabbed a one way ticket to LA Thisbe is my second day squating meet very cool and interesting people not sure where I wanna sleep tn but last night I slept in Santa Monica on the beach very peaceful link up soon headed to San Fran next bby sorry it wasn’t long and full of deatails like you guys currently typing this at a park LA IS THE WORST PLACE TO TRY TO CHARGE YOUR PHONE ANY SUGGESTIONS!?
 

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Deleted member 24782

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Alright lady’s and germs so boom I’m in Topeka ks waiting to catch out I was there for a good day and a half seen trains going to fast seen trains going to slow as soon as I nod off boom the bull finds me and he’s with 2 cops I get a warning after that I was tired and cold so I said fuck that grabbed a one way ticket to LA Thisbe is my second day squating meet very cool and interesting people not sure where I wanna sleep tn but last night I slept in Santa Monica on the beach very peaceful link up soon headed to San Fran next bby sorry it wasn’t long and full of deatails like you guys currently typing this at a park LA IS THE WORST PLACE TO TRY TO CHARGE YOUR PHONE ANY SUGGESTIONS!?

I don't blame you for buying a ticket, cops/rail police will most always kill your spirit. I have met SOME good ones though. If you wind up in the Bay Area, West Oakland is a fantastic location for 1st time riders heading east bound. So many homeless living off of Wood St. there down by the yard that if your catching a train you kind of just fit right into the landscape.

MY REALLY LAME 2ND RIDE STORY!

2nd time I ever tried to hop a train. Pensacola, Florida. Me and my girlfriend drove down close to the yard in her car, we left the car parked at a skatepark nearby, we figured hey we will only be gone for a few days, nobody will fuck with it. Were waitin' a couple hours at the south throat of the yard and start to get a little impatient and hungry. So we make the long walk to Taco Bell. By the time we get back the stack train we were waiting for had already arrived and crew changed and was on the move! We were like oh fuck! So we haul ass to the car then literally start chasing the train through town, we get passed it and find this church to park at, then we wait for the train to come by. Its going way to fast but we try to catch it anyways, we still have the Taco Bell bags in our hand and everything. The train kind of drags her and she falls, I didn't even try to get on. We gave up, and went back to the car pretty bummed out but super stoked to eat Taco Bell burritos only slightly smashed up!!!! Got to start somewhere, hey I have over 150,000 miles in now....but I don't count really anymore.
 
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Afrohobo

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I don't blame you for buying a ticket, cops/rail police will most always kill your spirit. I have met SOME good ones though. If you wind up in the Bay Area, West Oakland is a fantastic location for 1st time riders heading east bound. So many homeless living off of Wood St. there down by the yard that if your catching a train you kind of just fit right into the landscape.

MY REALLY LAME 2ND RIDE STORY!

2nd time I ever tried to hop a train. Pensacola, Florida. Me and my girlfriend drove down close to the yard in her car, we left the car parked at a skatepark nearby, we figured hey we will only be gone for a few days, nobody will fuck with it. Were waitin' a couple hours at the south throat of the yard and start to get a little impatient and hungry. So we make the long walk to Taco Bell. By the time we get back the stack train we were waiting for had already arrived and crew changed and was on the move! We were like oh fuck! So we haul ass to the car then literally start chasing the train through town, we get passed it and find this church to park at, then we wait for the train to come by. Its going way to fast but we try to catch it anyways, we still have the Taco Bell bags in our hand and everything. The train kind of drags her and she falls, I didn't even try to get on. We gave up, and went back to the car pretty bummed out but super stoked to eat Taco Bell burritos only slightly smashed up!!!! Got to start somewhere, hey I have over 150,000 miles in now....but I don't count really anymore.
Brooo the same thing happend to me I was walking to the other side of bridge to wait cause I was impatient as soon as I was on the top I saw her she was the one but everything happened for a reason are you still traveling? Let link
 
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I only done 5 hops in my life: (1) Savannah to Midway, (2) Waycross to Jesup, (3) Brunswick itself, couldn't even leave town, (4) Brunswick to Odum, and (5) Brunswick to Waycross.

I logged at least 145 miles of rail so far. The only reasons I hopped short distances is not only to get the hang of train hopping, but also to understand how all types of freight cars are handled. I only dealt with auto racks, grainers, and IM's because those were the only ones I was able to work with at the time.
 
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