MichiganRob
Member
Back in late october of 2015, I got evicted from my apartment in Michigan and was again looking at the prospect of being homeless (again) in my hometown.
I had some leftover money so I got a hotel for a night and bought some smokes and thought about what my next plan of action was. Do I really want to be out on these streets in the middle of winter? No way. So I took myself down to the bus station and bought a ticket for New Orleans, leaving me with 15 dollars, a really small napsack with a change of clothes and that was about it. I had never traveled before really outside of Michigan EVER and I didnt know anyone down there at all. I was kind of freaking out by the time the greyhound hit chicago, you know, like having doubts like "you cant change your mind now, too late."
Anyways several hours later and I look out the window and see lake pontcharain or whatever its called and Im like WOW thats amazing, it looks really nice down here so far....The greyhound pulled in at 11pm, it was dark as hell and I had no idea where to go. I remember walking up to some random homebums and asked them where the french quarter was and then pointed so I just kept walking and walking for what seemed like forever and boom there was the mississipi river, blew my mind seeing it for the first time. Then made my way to bourbon street and Id never seen anything like that either in my whole life, it was surreal. I promptly spent the last of my cash on a couple beers.
This is where it gets interesting I guess, or at least in hindsight entertaining. I should probably let you guys know that I was dressed kinda preppy obviously not a train kid...that definitely worked against me.
Fast forward a couple days and Im worn out already, riding on almost no sleep whatsoever, someone even did go through my bad when I did try to sleep.....
Ended up talking to some guy who knew the french quarter pretty well, said some stuff to me like "yeah dude just dont act too stupid around here or piss anyone off so you dont get run out of town and youll be all right."
Ended up hanging around jackson square for a while, eventually got some food and then was told by an old timer when and where I could get a shower. This was difficult as fuck. I had no idea where I was going in the beginning but after a few weeks I figured it out.
Spent one night at a squat with some train kids...then bounced.
Eventually, and this really did happen, people started saying shit like GO BE HOMELESS somewhere else!!!!
Other than that, most of the time down there was good for me...it was cool being able to drink wherever I wanted to, and the weather was really great...the cemeteries were really cool and the mississipi river were the highlights for me, coming from a small city in comparison.
There was never a moment down there where I was in fear for my life or anything, and most of the people were actually friendly.
This is getting hella long so Im gonna end it here. I did make it back home. However, I pretty much lost all my shit and got back on a greyhound bus with literally nothing. Had a nervous breakdown too. Then I was back where I started. Overall Im glad I did it, it was exciting as hell, my family hates me for it and a lot of people are just jealous that I actually DID that.
Yay.
I had some leftover money so I got a hotel for a night and bought some smokes and thought about what my next plan of action was. Do I really want to be out on these streets in the middle of winter? No way. So I took myself down to the bus station and bought a ticket for New Orleans, leaving me with 15 dollars, a really small napsack with a change of clothes and that was about it. I had never traveled before really outside of Michigan EVER and I didnt know anyone down there at all. I was kind of freaking out by the time the greyhound hit chicago, you know, like having doubts like "you cant change your mind now, too late."
Anyways several hours later and I look out the window and see lake pontcharain or whatever its called and Im like WOW thats amazing, it looks really nice down here so far....The greyhound pulled in at 11pm, it was dark as hell and I had no idea where to go. I remember walking up to some random homebums and asked them where the french quarter was and then pointed so I just kept walking and walking for what seemed like forever and boom there was the mississipi river, blew my mind seeing it for the first time. Then made my way to bourbon street and Id never seen anything like that either in my whole life, it was surreal. I promptly spent the last of my cash on a couple beers.
This is where it gets interesting I guess, or at least in hindsight entertaining. I should probably let you guys know that I was dressed kinda preppy obviously not a train kid...that definitely worked against me.
Fast forward a couple days and Im worn out already, riding on almost no sleep whatsoever, someone even did go through my bad when I did try to sleep.....
Ended up talking to some guy who knew the french quarter pretty well, said some stuff to me like "yeah dude just dont act too stupid around here or piss anyone off so you dont get run out of town and youll be all right."
Ended up hanging around jackson square for a while, eventually got some food and then was told by an old timer when and where I could get a shower. This was difficult as fuck. I had no idea where I was going in the beginning but after a few weeks I figured it out.
Spent one night at a squat with some train kids...then bounced.
Eventually, and this really did happen, people started saying shit like GO BE HOMELESS somewhere else!!!!
Other than that, most of the time down there was good for me...it was cool being able to drink wherever I wanted to, and the weather was really great...the cemeteries were really cool and the mississipi river were the highlights for me, coming from a small city in comparison.
There was never a moment down there where I was in fear for my life or anything, and most of the people were actually friendly.
This is getting hella long so Im gonna end it here. I did make it back home. However, I pretty much lost all my shit and got back on a greyhound bus with literally nothing. Had a nervous breakdown too. Then I was back where I started. Overall Im glad I did it, it was exciting as hell, my family hates me for it and a lot of people are just jealous that I actually DID that.
Yay.
