'Kid' - Baldwin, FL homebum

[Koala]

Hey all, I was attempting to catch out of Baldwin to Nola a few weeks ago and as I was running a train I ran into 2 kids coming towards me. One of em was shining a flashlight at me, and as I realized I was too far back to get on anything rideable, I stopped to chat. The kid shining the flashlight claimed to know a lot about the trains there but didn't know shit. Then he started smoking crack. I ended the conversation and walked away, back to where I was staked out in the woods. The other kid with him was a traveler / hitcher not from around there. From the woods I could see the 2 kids walking back and forth around the spot where we had met. After a while I went back out to the tracks to watch some stuff roll through the junction. And the 2 kids came back. The crackhead started demanding money from me, and threatened to take all my stuff. My stuff was still in the woods. He grabbed me by the neck and put me in a chokehold. At that point I thought I was dead meat but the traveler with the crackhead started prying the crackhead off me. I started screaming as loud as I could and the crackhead (known as 'Kid') ran away down the tracks towards the Dollar store. I'm lucky to have made it out not hurt at all and with all my stuff.

So anyway, in Baldwin look out for a scrawny guy with dark hair, usually wearing flip flops and a white shirt, who sleeps out front the McDonalds and flys the median between the McDonalds and the truck stop. Apparently he's 19 years old but looks significantly older.

 

[AlwaysLost]

Ouch I am glad you are okay.

 

[croc]

Thank you for the heads up! I'm so glad to hear you're okay and nothing was stolen from you.

 

[Dmac]

Crackheads, never a dull moment. Seriously, I'm glad you are ok and still have your stuff. Avoiding crackheads is always a good thing in my book.

 

[Art101]

Glad your ok and yeah cracky mckraken there needs to meet a "tax collector".

 

[creature]

yah.. def glad yer ok, too..
i don't know about anyone else, but flipflops are kind of a give away, or shitty, busted up sandals..

there may be exceptions, but folks traveling in flipflops or bathroom slippers are generally wonked.. dead give away, not for whether they may be good or bad, but to put up the shields & go into reverse..

you can tell a lot about folks from gear..
what sucks is when folks look questionable because their stuff was stolen, and.. i dunno.. i've seen a couple of hardcore barefoot folks, but.. flipflops and goddamned bath slippers are something i'll never forget...

 

[rooster831]

fuckin baldwin . . .

at least you're not hurt and got your shit

i hope this "kid" doesn't blow that median up thats a good fly spot

 

[Koala]

Yeah no totally coulda been a lot worse @rooster831

Well kid's allllways there, the grass on the median is beaten down from the path he walks when he flys. I don't think anyone messes with him for it tho. I had a friend flying for a couple days in the same spot a little while ago and nobody bothered him.

 

[rooster831]

@Koala yeah that spot does get used a lot but all it takes is one shitty crackhead to fuck it up for all of us

but it seemed like it was mostly out of state traffic so that's a factor to take into consideration

 

[Koala]

yeah Baldwin is really just a truck stop when it comes down to it, hey. for ppl hopping on 95 or going down to Gainesville or west on the 75. apparently cracky has been there for a long time, months and months, the workers at the McDonalds and the gas station next to the McDonalds knew his name and everything and they're sick of him @rooster831

 

[James Meadowlark]

I drive from Gainesville to Jacksonville and back at least once a week been doing it for at least a few years- Barely any of the spangers there in the last six months even bother to walk the median now- Just sitting on their bags at the stoplight. The problem with Baldwin is that there's usually a minimum of a football-field long line of cars (an understatement for sure) aiming for I-10 East when I go by, and when the light changes, that same hundred+ yards of cars moves forward with another one replacing it. There's sweet cash to be had there, but if you just sit on your ass, you're only going to have a few cars see you behind all the tractor trailers, and no one is going to get out and walk the distance to hook you up in the time it takes for the light to change.

I always kick down- Bottles of water, cash- whatever I have on hand- But if I can't see you when I grind to a halt a hundred feet away, I can't kick down. The last time I hit the brakes in the middle of a moving line of cars to try to hand off some cash, I caught nothing but horns and acrimony from the line behind me, so the next time, I balled up some cash and literally threw it at the guy, so I could pass without incurring the wrath of those behind me in line and hopefully help a fella out.. The traveler gave me the finger and was probably right to do so since I literally threw something at him- I was just trying to find a medium, and Baldwin sucks for that.

Barely anyone spanges the South-bound median right after the cars hit 301 S exiting the freeway, and it's been that way for years, maybe there's a reason for it, but I always catch a red light and sit for a few minutes under the bridge... If you fly a sign there, flag me down and I'll take you to the nearby waffle house for a meal fit for a king.

 

[rooster831]

apparently cracky has been there for a long time, months and months, the workers at the McDonalds and the gas station next to the McDonalds knew his name and everything and they're sick of him @rooster831

lol sounds about right