howdy from humboldt

[bastardmaker]

Well I guess I’ll say hi. I’m Jason I’m 32 from texas currently in norcal. I’ll do my best not to ask stupid redundant questions. But I have one question right off the bat that I was hoping to get some feedback on. To make a long story short, I am a combat wounded veteran with a broken back and a lower, lumbar spinal fusion. I can walk and am mobile; however I am a bit slower, stiffer and more rigid than I was before. I also took shrapnel in the knee in a couple spots, I am not crippled but I am substantially slower than I once was. My questions are somewhere along the lines of how physically demanding is catching out? Can someone in my physical condition conceivably hop trains and travel? Right now I am bouncing around various family member’s couches and spare rooms, but I’m getting restless and feel like a stain in these people’s lives and would like to get going. How long does it generally take to figure out what I’m doing out there as far as finding safe squats/travel partners/existing safely etc…
Anyways that’s that for now. Much respect and safe travels

 

[coricidin]

hi jason! i'd say catching out (only a small part of the train hopping experience) is moderately physically demanding. depending on the yard you're catching out from (say the bull is super tough on us) you should be able to run, jump (definitely if hopping on/off on the fly), definitely climbing and lots and lots of sitting around. if you can climb a ladder (or grabiron in our case) relatively quickly and can pull yourself up onto/over things, i'd say you can do it. if you can barely do any of these i would advise against it, since you could seriously hurt yourself if you're moving too slow and the train moves or jolts.