***The following post(s) will stray from the previously structured timeline***
Greetings, fam. Sorry I've neglected this thread lately. It's hard to keep up. It was also feeling a little redundant as much of the content I've posted here was previously covered in my blog. What I'd like to do is a quick photo recap of what I've been up to recently. I've been working on and off at a farm with limited internet access. I've managed to have a few adventures while also trying to address some family matters that wouldn't likely interest you guys. I'm not sure if I'll continue the previous story on here or just let you guys get caught up on the website. I'd like to get to the point where I post here regularly once I'm on the road full-time again. Either way here's what I've been up to more recently.
Farm life has been a trip. I'd find myself grateful for the opportunity to work with these amazing people. Everyone of which has a fascinating and unique story. Then I'd find myself yearning for the road and hating the feeling of being tied down. Constantly weighing pro's and con's. Often feeling stuck between two seemingly simple options.
1. Hunker down, bust ass and hit the road with some money again. The money will create new opportunities on the road.
2. Don't sweat the money. Shit always works out. Hit the road. This job is holding you back right now.
One thing that kept me around this farm was the sense of community. This place felt more like a "home" than anything I had experienced in a very long time. While I can't say that was something I was actively looking for, It was very interesting to stumble upon it
here.
I still lived in a tent and shared one common room with sometimes 30+ people. Some of whom I'd come to call family. It wasn't paradise, but it sure wasn't hell. It was work. It was passion. It was friends, enemies, lovers, highs, lows and politics. It was business. It was life.
SO many good dogs!
Again, this place is so much more than a job. There's a formal hierarchy of management, admins, legal teams and grunts. It's also incredibly hard work. For those of you who don't know conducting freight railroad operations is extremely physically and mentally demanding. You're constantly solving a puzzle with changing components and you're doing it while getting on and off moving equipment, throwing rusty switches and maintaining important communication with your crew. I'm no stranger to hard work. When I first started training as a conductor I reached a point where I could confidently say, with an aching body and brain "this is the hardest I've ever worked in my life."
Growing cannabis commercially is harder.
If you think it's as simple putting plants in the dirt and turning on the irrigation then you're smoked out. I'll always be grateful for the opportunity, though. I learned a lot and so far this season has been a wild ride. I've worked with some extremely professional cultivators and have been lucky enough to contribute my photography to a humanizing campaign to show the rest of the world that it's not just lazy kids with dread locks or thugged out cartel affiliates growing commercially out here. The director of our farm doesn't even smoke. It's a trip to be invited out to various farms with a camera when these people used to make every effort to stay in the shadows, under the radar. As I mentioned above however, I'm dying to get back on the road. I miss meeting new people (outside of the cannabis community) everyday. I miss not having a schedule. I miss not knowing where I'm going to sleep each night. I've committed to being off the farm for the rest of the month and I'm not sure I'll return.
Hemingway, I managed to sneak off the farm a couple times for some some conservative travels. Basic car camping stuff mostly. No hitchhiking. Here are a few photos.
Santa Cruz Boardwalk, CA.
Santa Cruz Boardwalk, CA.
Santa Cruz Boardwalk, CA.
Twin Lakes, Mammoth Lakes, CA.
Crowley Hot Springs, CA.
Sacramento, CA.
Sacramento, CA.
Hiero Day, Oakland, CA.
Hiero Day, Oakland, CA.
Wheatland, CA.
Mono Lake, CA.
Hwy 88 or 89, CA.
Grass Valley, CA.
Sacramento, CA.
Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA.
Note: All of these photos had to be resized to be compatible with this site. I used a third party website to do it and I apologize if it compromised quality at all.
As of now I'm taking a few days in Sacramento to hopefully get the new website finished and launched. I've found myself with some travel "plans" which I usually try to avoid. "Shooting from the hip" has always worked best for me, but we'll see if I can successfully manage an itinerary.
Later this month I'll attempt to hop my first train out of Roseville. Don't particularly care if I end up east towards Sparks, NV or north towards Dunsmuir. Don't want to be too picky for the first ride. I'm confident in my ability to stay safe. I've spent a lot of time in yards and studied the GCOR religiously. We used to say most railroad rules were "written in blood" meaning someone else fucked up and they made a rule out of it to try to prevent someone else getting hurt, killed or damaging equipment. My biggest concern is negotiating the yard and finding a ride without being seen.
Note: Before anyone feels the need to get high and mighty about me catching out for the first time please realize that I'm an experienced railroader. I know the drill. I'm not here to glorify or compromise the culture. I'm not asking for handouts. I don't want to do this because it seems "cool" and I'm not doing it for a means of identity. I have the 2013 CCG (do NOT ask me for it) and working experience that I think will help keep me safe. If you have any CONSTRUCTIVE insight to offer you're welcome to message me directly, but I'm not trolling for beta. Please do not post any tips, tricks or yard info, etc. in this thread.
Hope you're all having fun and being safe out there. I'll try to post more frequently when I have more to share. Thanks for all the kind feedback. It means the world to me when people tell me I've inspired them.
Happy travels, my friends.
-B.
