Pretty much, every Bo that rides has his own view about what it takes to be a hobo. Generally if you can't survive in the regular everyday life of the common citizen and you really don't care for a house, car, phone or back yard, you can move into this world and survive just the same with your own back yard being made of steel, wooden ties and creosote! The true by nature hoboes I have met out on the rails are genuine and get along pretty well, being that we all are so much alike, yet so different! Generally if you love trains and can survive anywhere and are not bothered by slain remarks made by the common, regular, everyday person that thinks they are normal because they have a home, then you are, (I believe), a true hobo! The following is more or less, just my overall "comical" view...
You aren't a true hobo until:
You have at least been involved in one derailment.
You have traveled by way of the rail no less than 100,000 miles.
You have been down the very same tracks more than once.
You have gone to jail more than 25 times for trespassing.
You have run across another person traveling by way of the rails that wanted to kill you, or slap you in the face for doing something really dumb while you were still a greenhorn!
You have gotten so drunk that you said things that you don't remember after having shit and pissed in your pants.
You have been given without questions asked, or answers given, a one hundred dollar bill at least once.
You have at least five warrants out for your arrest for trespassing somewhere along the rails.
You know what it is like to be hungry/alone/cold/lonely/happy/mad/angry and truly free.
You can get from any randomly given town to another randomly given town anywhere in North America without using a map by way of the rails.
It surely isn't for everybody! It takes a certain missing link in the brain to even want to as well, but I am free and happy even now that I have slowed my hobo-pace a bit, somewhat.
You aren't a true hobo until:
You have at least been involved in one derailment.
You have traveled by way of the rail no less than 100,000 miles.
You have been down the very same tracks more than once.
You have gone to jail more than 25 times for trespassing.
You have run across another person traveling by way of the rails that wanted to kill you, or slap you in the face for doing something really dumb while you were still a greenhorn!
You have gotten so drunk that you said things that you don't remember after having shit and pissed in your pants.
You have been given without questions asked, or answers given, a one hundred dollar bill at least once.
You have at least five warrants out for your arrest for trespassing somewhere along the rails.
You know what it is like to be hungry/alone/cold/lonely/happy/mad/angry and truly free.
You can get from any randomly given town to another randomly given town anywhere in North America without using a map by way of the rails.
It surely isn't for everybody! It takes a certain missing link in the brain to even want to as well, but I am free and happy even now that I have slowed my hobo-pace a bit, somewhat.
