trip report-hobo days and creamed corn...a midwestern experience

[Deleted member 25993]

i was pretty exited to go up to britt iowa for the hobo days only because i'd heard about it for years(since 1996) and a memorial for an old friend was going on so i made plans to drive up from missouri and check it out.its just a tiny town in the cornfields not much doing.so why have the hobos been coming since 1933?well i learned a little about that while i was there.for one thing you can camp in the park for free.there is hot meals and bathrooms with showers.lots of interesting people and good music.if your 60 your young there and you got to have a walking stick.its seems very family friendly and a tradition for folks who had a hobo in the family or some connection to the train world.the scene at the hob nob bar was alot of older folks and some tramps a band was playing all was well.i still couldnt figure out why exactly they would come here...no trainyard,no river.walking back to camp i was feeling the effects of drinking in a wierd way and felt like i was in some place in between life and death.somewhere where time doesnt exist.turns out i had put my tent next to someone i lived with 20 years ago.i recognized there voice and i thought it was a doppelvoice.couldnt be the same person.but it was and i slowly figured it out.we had a bitter sweet reunion.someone from a part of my life i dont need or want to remember anymore.i get out of there early on saturday and missed the crowning of the king and queen,but i needed to get to winona for cream corn wrestling.it was a nice contrast to be on the mississippi river in minesota,in this beautifull little river town.the corn was cooked the night before by the next generation,my friends kids who are now 15-18.the party got started and the kids were wrestling and slamming each other in the corn...the adults were chearing them on it was hilarious.at some point a 10 year old with a mowhawk is on the microphone yelling"c'mon get in the corn,the older generation cant do it anymore(we could but its gross once is enough).an islander pulls up in a truck and unloads a canoe and empties 3 cases of beer and ice into the canoe but stands guard against anyone too young.ten pizzas are magically delivered to the island.i get to stay in my old cabin but the mosquitoes get in and just after i set up the bug net a bat gets stuck in the wood stove.after that i went to minneapolis to retrieve my upright bass i left there last summer.it takes up the whole passenger seat.i barley slept at my friends house and left 530 am to get my stuff in winona and drive the rest of the way to kansas city which somehow took 12 hours.it was a fun 5 days but i am so glad to be home.

 

[Deleted member 25993]

If you're glad to be home then it was totally worth it!

its always worth it.sometimes when i go travelling its sort of miserable or hard in some way but i end up remembering the time in the most special way.its good to get out there and make memories.

 

[train in vain]

its always worth it.sometimes when i go travelling its sort of miserable or hard in some way but i end up remembering the time in the most special way.its good to get out there and make memories.

Cosigned.