{"id":79373,"date":"2015-11-25T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yobeat.com\/?p=79373"},"modified":"2020-11-19T15:49:44","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T20:49:44","slug":"hump-day-train-hops-with-jason-robinson-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brookegeery.com\/?p=79373","title":{"rendered":"Hump Day Train Hops with Jason Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"\t

Archives<\/h1>\t\t

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Jerry of the day. Photo @instagarry<\/em><\/p>\n

When Jason Robinson isn’t racing down giant mountains in search of epic and endless pow, he craves adventure in other ways. He’s the kind of person who will meet a hobo on the street, befriend him, and end up bringing him to Oregon before taking a freight train (solo) to the Hobo National convention in Iowa. He’s shunned many modern conveniences to live the life he wants, and as managed to rack up some pretty crazy stories in the process. After hearing some of them third hand from Dakine Marketing maniac Scotty the Body, I figured a phone call was in order to get the details from JRob himself. Luckily, he does have a cell phone, despite what you may have heard!<\/p>\n

Brooke: I heard a rumor you were train hopping this summer? Is that real? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: Well, I did a little bit of that. I took a trip, yes.<\/p>\n

Brooke: Well tell me about your train hopping adventure. Where did you go? What was it like? Do you consider yourself a hobo? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: No, well I think there\u2019s very few actual hobos still. Like most kids traveling by train aren\u2019t really hobos. That\u2019s kind of like an old school thing, where that was people that were traveling for work or traveling to find work.The iconic black and white photos of 50 dudes in a boxcar, those were the original hobos.<\/p>\n

Brooke: So it wasn\u2019t like that? Tell me about your trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: Well, I\u2019d met a couple train riders in the past, like picked up some kids hitchhiking on my way up to Hood a couple summers ago, and that was the first close encounter I had with any people that had hopped fright trains. I was super interested and had a bunch of questions about it, and then last fall I met a couple people in Whitefish. The freight line of the BNSF railroad company cruises right through Whitefish from Seattle and Portland all the way to Chicago, so I grew up seeing the train yard and freight trains. You\u2019d see the guys with the big backpacks all dirty you\u2019d kinda assumed they\u2019d gotten there via freight train, but never actually saw anyone on one.<\/p>\n

How this whole trip really started though, I met this kid Hillbilly. I was just coming home from the gas station on my bike after grabbing a couple beers, probably like beginning of July, and he\u2019s like, hey man, you look like someone that might smoke weed, you got any weed? And I was like oh sorry man, I don\u2019t have any weed. He had a big beard, a big backpack and it looked like he\u2019d been traveling for a while just by himself, and it seemed like something was up. He almost looked like he\u2019d been crying or something. I just was like is everything alright, like you doing okay? And he was just like, oh man not really, I just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

Brooke: Oh man.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: I was like, holy fuck. I gave him a hug and we talked for a couple minutes and I went on my way, pedaled off on my bike to my friend’s house. I made it like a block and I was like wait. I\u2019m just gonna go meet my friends, I can see them all the time, this guy just got gnarly news, he\u2019s a long way from home, I\u2019m gonna see if he wants someone to talk to. So I turned around, like hey, I just live a couple blocks away if you want someone to talk to. I don\u2019t have any weed, but I have some beers we could bullshit or whatever. So I walk my bike and alongside him over to my house and we\u2019re just bullshittin\u2019, we\u2019re trading stories, he\u2019s telling me about riding freight trains and he started telling me about the Hobo National convention and I was just like what? That\u2019s a thing? It\u2019s in Iowa and he told me about the hobo jungle and hobo stew and the hobo king and queen and this whole like culture that I had no idea really existed and was super fascinated by. Anyway he was like, hey can I sleep under your house tonight? And I was like for sure, no big deal. You can sleep on my floor if you wanted, or in the grass. So I wake up in the morning, and he\u2019s like hey man, I gotta get going, and I don\u2019t see him for like a couple weeks. I just assumed he l went home or traveled on.<\/p>\n

Then I\u2019m kayaking down this river with a friend and I see these dudes hanging out on the river bank and there’s Hillbilly right there. I was like, hey man! I pull up on shore and we bullshit and I\u2019m just like man, if you ever make it back to Whitefish, let me know we can hang out or whatever. The next morning I wake up and get a knock on my house, and it’s him. I was actually going to Mt. Hood that day with Leland MacNamara for the Bode Merrill thing<\/a>, and I was, I\u2019m going to Mt. Hood today I don\u2019t know if you\u2019d wanna come or not… He\u2019s like, oh man I love Oregon, I\u2019ll come! I took him all the way out there and he hiked like all the way up to the quarter pipe and was just super stoked. Erik Leon was his favorite snowboarder, he was so hyped on him, and he was at Charlie\u2019s kicking it with everyone, and he\u2019s just still stoked on the snowboarding. It was his first exposure to snowboard culture, which is really pretty similar to hobo culture. Like everyone is camped out and sleeping in their cars, kinda the same thing, but different.<\/p>\n

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Scenes from the road. Photo @j_robble<\/a><\/p>\n

Brooke: Yeah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: The whole trip I\u2019m asking more about this Hobo National Convention and all this shit, and he\u2019s like well you shared your whole snowboard world with me, I\u2019ll take you out there if you wanna go. So I\u2019m packed up ready to go, and I have a friend drop me off in Whitefish. I\u2019ve got my backpack and my hobo gear and whatever to train hop \u2013 like sleeping bag, and all that shit, and I can\u2019t find him anywhere. He doesn\u2019t have a phone or anything, I went where he hangs out and they’re like, no we haven\u2019t seen him in a few days. I was like shit man, maybe he left without me. I told myself, if I can\u2019t find him, I don\u2019t know if I should go. It\u2019s too risky I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing. I put down my sleeping bag and was just gonna sleep along the river by where I last saw him, hoping maybe he\u2019d show up in the morning. Then I hear a freight train rolling in and I was like oh shit, alright. I knew from him that the trains that are stacked two shipping containers high are going from inner Seattle or Portland all the way to Chicago. I knew that was the type of train he would want to catch, cause you don\u2019t just wind up in the middle of nowhere, it\u2019ll take you all the way there. So I ran up and I started getting all excited. I packed my sleeping bag, put my pants and hoodie on and just freakin went. It was a full moon, the super moon actually, so like a huge bright sky. I get on the train, and it\u2019s pretty much like a semi truck trailer on top of a train. I crawled in there lay down so I\u2019m hidden behind these tires, and all the sudden it just starts making a wooshing noise, which are like the brakes airing out. Then it starts cruising, past the train station, past all the employees, and we\u2019re picking up speed and I\u2019m just like all by myself. I got a decent little buzz from when I was looking around for Hillbilly and I ran into some friends and had a few beers and so now I\u2019m just on another planet it feels like. I\u2019m just on a freight train for the first time by myself, no idea where I’m doing or what\u2019s gonna happen. I\u2019m just off into the unknown, you know?<\/p>\n

Brooke: Yeah.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: That was super exciting. I was so stoked and but yeah, it was kinda gnarly. The 1st day I woke up right near Glacier National Park, the sun was rising on the right and there was that amazing full moon. Just cruising through Glacier park, you could see the river and the rapids and it was all illuminated and I was just like on this crazy natural high. We\u2019re on this train bridge and I peek out and I see this bald eagle like soaring below me. I\u2019m like 300 feet in the air on this bridge and like a hundred feet below me still, like 200 feet off the ground, this bald eagle just soaring. It was crazy and I can\u2019t really explain it.<\/p>\n

Brooke: It sounds magical.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: It really was, everything below the eagle was still in the shade, but from the sunrise it was illuminated. I thought it was an omen, like, okay this is cool, I\u2019m on the right path I guess, whatever that may be. There were some moments everyday, at least one point where I just wanted to give up and turn around. I don\u2019t think I cried, but there were at least moments where I wanted to. I just wanted to give up and turn around and ride a train home or get a greyhound home or something. But I just kept going. There would be little feeling just like you\u2019re fucked, like what am I fucking doing, this is insane. I\u2019m gonna get busted, I\u2019m gonna get in trouble, but then once you kinda get past that little hurdle you just feel so good and it\u2019s all worth it. It took me five days to get to Iowa, but I made it. I did spend like $24 in transportation. I made it all the way to Saint Paul pretty much on a freight train and then I took some local transit and started hitch hiking. At one point I was at a truck stop at like 3am trying to ask truckers for a ride South, and obviously no one took me. Everyone was just like uuhhh, I\u2019m going North dude, and then I would see them merge onto the highway going South. But I couldn\u2019t really blame them, I probably wouldn\u2019t like it if some fucking sketchy kid covered in train grease asking for a fucking ride at 3am at a fucking truck stop in Southern Minnesota either. I slept there that night, that was one of the moments where everyday I was just like oh fuck what am I doing. I\u2019m like asking these truckers for a ride. I slept at the truck stop in the grass and made a conscious effort to sleep on my back for obvious reasons. I didn\u2019t wanna wake up a rape victim, but I didn’t, so that\u2019s good. I don\u2019t know, I could talk about this one question for like 3 hours.<\/p>\n

\"DAKINE_JROB\"<\/p>\n

Snowboarding intermission. Photo courtesy @dakine_snow<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Brooke: Did you make it to the hobo convention? What was that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: I made it, yeah. There\u2019s probably 200 people there, and the average is people in their 50s, 60s, even 70s. It’s people who actually were hobos, not people who are currently riding freight trains, but they did back in the day, when hobo-ing was a thing. So it\u2019s just a reunion for them. I was the only one that went there intentionally that rode a freight train. There were two other kids that rode freight trains and got kicked off the train like 20 miles from there like a week before the event. They spent the night in jail then they made the cover of the paper in Mason City, Iowa. I guess someone was like you\u2019re a week early, the Hobo national convention is here next week. So they ended up sticking around and I met them, they were super cool. They were the only other two people who arrived there via freight train, even unintentionally, and there were a couple people in their late 20s, early 30s that had recently ridden freight trains.<\/p>\n

Brooke: Crazy.\u00a0Wait \u2013 what happened to Hobo Jim, or whatever, the initial dude who started you off on this whole adventure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: Oh Hillbilly? I don\u2019t know, I didn\u2019t have contact with him. He\u2019s actually here now, it\u2019s kind of funny he\u2019s sleeping about 100 feet away from me in the shed. He just showed up in Montana like a week ago at random, I hadn\u2019t seen him since I went on this hobo trip. He called me a couple times and just checked in and then he just showed up in Montana, like hobo-ing it. It’s almost December, and I was like dude… But he\u2019s ready to settle down, he\u2019s trying to get a job up on the mountain and he\u2019s been traveling for 15 years like this so he\u2019s ready to settle down.<\/p>\n

Brooke: What a random story. I love it. You said he slept under your house. You live in a tiny house right, or is it a trailer? What is your setup?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: It\u2019s essentially an aluminum box off an old 1950\u2019s delivery truck. We converted it into a little house. Insulated it, put some big windows in it, and it\u2019s really coming along. I\u2019m almost done actually. I setup 12 poles and some wires for all the lighting and stuff and a little heater out of an old sail boat and I have solar panels on the top that are about 15 feet long and 8 feet wide. I don\u2019t really know exactly what I\u2019m gonna do with it, but it\u2019s my only house. I\u2019ve been living in it for two years, so it\u2019s pretty much paid for itself – I haven\u2019t paid rent in 2 years.<\/p>\n

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Fuckin’ Hippie. Photo @lelandmcnamara<\/em><\/p>\n

Brooke: That\u2019s awesome. Yeah, where do you park it? It is modular or\u2026?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: Yeah, it\u2019s mobile. It\u2019s on a flatbed, like a duel tandem Maxwell flatbed trailer. So it\u2019s mobile. I haven\u2019t driven it anywhere yet. Right now it\u2019s parked.<\/p>\n

Brooke: Why did you decide to go the tiny house route?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason: I was living in a tent. I found this guy on Craigslist and I was just renting the corner of his farm. I just had a tent and this little tarp place built and a little fire pit and I was out there with the llamas and horses and pigs. I was pretty much one of the farm animals. He called me the villager, that was my nickname, but it was getting really cold. It was almost this time of the year in Montana, and I was still living in a tent.When I\u2019d wake up I could see my breath and I was just like alright 1-2-3 get out of my sleeping bag, run, start my truck, then drive off to the coffee shop or something. I realized that wasn\u2019t really gonna work for much longer, but I didn\u2019t wanna sign a lease or find a house. Winter started in a month and I\u2019m just gonna be gone most the time, it doesn\u2019t make sense to get a house and pay rent, sign a lease, blah blah blah. The guy was so cool who owned the farm, he was like yeah you could drive a school bus out here and build a shack or shed or whatever the fuck you want to do. I was paying $100 a month. No water, no plumbing, no electricity, no anything, just a little space amongst the farm animals. So I called my friend who I knew was a really talented carpenter and had a lot of construction experience, and was gonna build this sort of combo between like a geodesic dome and a yurt – just something I could build on that property, but take it down and move it if I needed. I was gonna live in that for the winter, but I talked to my friend Scott and he was like dude, that\u2019s gonna be so hard to keep dry and insulated, but there\u2019s this aluminum box for sale down the block from my house for $600 bucks. I\u2019ll help you turn it into a cabin. Originally it wasn\u2019t gonna even be on a trailer, I was just gonna have a tow truck take it out there at $100 bucks a month rent, which was pretty reasonable and I have like a little base camp whenever I want, but it all evolved and has changed a lot during the process and now it’s on wheels and I have the truck I got specifically so I can like tow it around a little bit.<\/p>\n