Word: hobos
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Welcome to the eccentric world of recreational hoboing. The tramp from Beverly Glen is Actor Bobb Hopkins, 39, founder of the National Hobo Association. He drives a Mercedes and until recently lived near affluent Century City in Los Angeles. On the road he carries a secret credit card, which he used once to fly home for a role. Hopkins' companions are a Palm Springs horse breeder and a journalist. Across America, weekend hoboes include a Connecticut schoolmarm, a Florida minister, a Washington State college professor, even a Denver shopping center developer who hops freights to find remote fishing spots. They...
...part of the scenario. "You step back into Jack London's time," says Hopkins, who first hopped a freight during his student acting days to attend his grandfather's 90th birthday. "Each trip has edginess, adventure and beauty." Hopkins and his companions are headed for Yuma, Ariz., a wintertime hobo haven along the Colorado River. Since the bull had promised 30 days in jail and a $2,000 fine if further annoyed, everyone hid, returning well after midnight to catch the train. They succeeded, but with difficulty. Comfortable boxcars are giving way to sealed containerized loads. The riders settled...
...accommodate track workers laying ties. Fearful the workers will throw rocks, a constant terror, the riders hide and jump off in a remote rail yard. Campground "jungles" located in trackside patches of scrub and a riverside park for relaxing and washing clothes are nearby. A notable addition to the hobo community this weekend is Tudor Williams, 44, former chef to Movie Director Steven Spielberg. A tramp's poem recommends making mulligan stew by putting "Whatever you've got/ In the pot/ Heat it 'til it's hot/ Eat it." Williams improves on the formula. He keeps a store of spice...
After a restless night in a patch of salt cedar scrub near the westbound line, home and family beckon. The three grimy hobo-hobbyists trek to the old Yuma prison for some middle-class sightseeing. Well-groomed tourists stare uncomfortably. Afterward, westbound freights are said to brake for a curve and easy boarding just past the Colorado River. Eight hours later, when the tourists are having dinner, the hobo-hobbyists are still waiting for a slow freight...
Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep go hobo in the drab Ironweed. -- Woody Allen gets serious about family life in September...