Trains, trains, and automobiles Pt I.

Wow, what a week.

So C, D, B, and I all left toward the hop-out spot on Sunday night. We grabbed some Reese's Peanut Butter cup coffee (I know!) from 7-Eleven and waited for about an hour and a half at the spot before our train came. I was super excited because every time I've waited for a train in the past, it either never came, or never stopped. I was starting to think I was cursed. Turns out that may still be true.

B and I grabbed the first ridable car while C and D went ahead to find another one. About thirty seconds later a passenger train came whizzing by at about 120kph. I spent a moment in horror when I realized that if C and D didn't see it coming, they wouldn't have had any way to avoid getting hit by it. I didn't check to see if anything happened, we assured ourselves that they were probably fine because the headlights are visible from a long distance, but it was coming from behind us.

We waited inside the train car being quiet as mice for about two hours before we decided that if we weren't caught yet, we wouldn't be caught. We took out our sleeping bags and got comfortable, and at about 4:30am the train started to move, but not until after some weird truck was driving around making ungodly smashing noises. Still not sure what that was all about.

We fell asleep, and as the sun was coming up we awoke again and had some train breakfast, and then some more train sleep. The next time we awoke, it was because we were soaked with rain.

We whipped out our tarps and tried to keep our already wet as hell things from getting more wet. We didn't notice it was raining right away because we were sleeping with our sleeping bags over our heads to keep the heat in. One really great thing about having a sub-zero winter sleeping bag is that it can get incredibly wet before it soaks through.

More sleep...nothing else to do on a moving train in the rain while it's cold outside.

The rain continued off and on all day long.

At about 1:00pm Brendan and I were quite surprised to be woken by Celeste! The train was stopped in the middle of the woods for a few minutes and she came to say hello. I was glad they weren't dead. They got on the next car up from us.

We continued sleeping and periodically eating and peeing over the side all day and into the night.

At about 2:00am I woke up to the sound of the train stopping quite suddenly, and I heard the bells of a train crossing. I remember thinking it was odd to be able to hear a train crossing bell while stopped being in the middle of the train. Then I heard the cops catch C and D, and in a moment they found us as well.

The O.P.P. officer was quite nice, and was actually quite intimidated by us. He asked us not to run away and held a flashlight for us to pack up our gear. We were continuously asked about whether we were carrying weapons or drugs, to which the true answers were no aside from a couple of utility knives. At one point the officer said "I'm sorry if I seem a little jittery, I've never dealt with you drifter types before". It felt strangely good to have so much power over the fear of a person who spent years training to be in a position of authority.

Once the ordeal was done with, we were driven to the highway, which ran through the middle of Longlac, Ontario. What a fucking hole. We tried hitching for a short period, C and D went to find a place to sleep right away. When we realized that there wasn't any traffic we retired as well.

I found a spot on the side of a ditch next to a swamp that for some reason I decided was the right place to fall asleep. I didn't even bother pulling out my sleeping bag, face to the dirt for about three hours, about twenty minutes of which was actual sleep. At one point in the night I was awoken by a rustle in the bushes, I opened my eyes and managed not to jostle when I was face to face with a fox. It was the cutest thing ever! It seemed pretty content just staring at me, but after a while I figured I'd be more comfortable if it was gone before I closed my eyes again, so I flailed my arms a bit and it ran off. It was a cool experience, I guess I had enough "nature" smell to not be offensive to woodland creatures.

I awoke at the crack of dawn, it was now Wednesday.

To be continued...