Sup y'all, I'm Pepper, I used to post here pretty often but haven't really been doing the reddit thing the past couple years ANYWAYS..

I just wanted to share a little bit about some of my experiences, and thoughts looking back. I hit the road when I was 19 for about a year or so with some old friends from high school. It was four of us, we'd split off here and there, sometimes going solo but we mostly just stuck as a group, hopping a couple trains with some kids who showed us the ropes and whatnot but after a little over a year I decided the lifestyle wasn't for me. I settled back in my hometown, got a cooking job and a cheap house with my girlfriend. After almost 3 years things started to fall apart, a long-stand off and on addiction to opiates, mostly heroin, that started when I was a freshman in high school started to really take its toll, I lost my job, house and lots of friends and my girlfriend. Even had to give my dog to my dad because I just wasn't taking good care of her, and couch surfing was tough with friends with cats etc. anyways, right as things couldn't get any worse I almost lost my arm, lost about 37% of my bicep to a really bad mrsa infection from missing a shot of liquid methadone syrup.

Luckily my friend Farkus came thru town...I literally owe my life to him. He was one of the friends I had hit the road with earlier and told me to pack up my shit in my old pack and fucking go. I was on 100 mgs of methadone from the clinic at the time, we left, I got fucking sick. so sick. like dying sick. and it was cold in early September at night in Michigan. We got a ride from a friend, and then took a commuter train into Chicago. We stayed with a friend for about a week while I tried to feel better (it took months in all honesty) and then took a megabus to Minneapolis. This was when I really started traveling.

We stayed on the street in Minnie, sleeping behind buildings and in alleys, caught another commuter train and bus up to st cloud and then hitched again for the first time in years, I started to feel good again. I knew what I wanted to do and fuck if it didn't save my fucking life. As I said I had hopped a train maybe 30 miles from Bloomington Indiana to some quarry, and then another short ride from Ann Arbor, both being mainline crew changes on a siding with no yard, making it pretty much the easiest trains to hop. I hadn't REALLY done it yet, we hitched to fargo, someone gave me a baritone ukulele, farkus was a great guitarist and we busked for a few days, and I learned how to play along with a few songs. Ive gone through sooooo many instruments since then hahaha. it was one of the happiest times of my life. then It was time to hop, out of a big yard, on a hotshot IM on the high line, real shit, I was scared shitless tbh...

We got on the train middle of the night, maybe 1 hour into the actual dark of the night. we had ride a suicide 53 (mostly because we were stupid) for 8 hours or so till the first cc in minot before we changed to better ride, same type of 53 but with a floor (pro-tip, look for the blue ones...) and rode on thru to havre, where we had to bail rolling in about 7 or 8 mph to avoid the bull, he saw us and we ran, hopped a giant fence and ran through town but we didn't get caught, snuck back in near the other end of the yard and then hopping on a similar ride. we got off in whitefish and I was staring at the ride we were on as it rolled away with such a smile on my face that I walked facefirst into a big "No Tresspassing BNSF" sign haha. we hitched back east because someone offered it and ended up working on sugar beet harvest and meeting a bunch of other dirty kids, ended up down in Denver afterwords and Hopped a train with /u/huckstah! theres a bunch of pictures of me and him on year from the year or so we hung out off and on on the road, actually the sitting are huck, me in the middle, our other friend sara, in the actual picture were sitting on a unit (engine)

TL;DR At the end of the day you'll end up getting a ride. Some days it fucking rains Learn an instrument or trade, it helps so fucking much, that being said always carry a fat sharpie drink fucking water don't get super shitfaced and fucked up non stop all the time I didn't say don't get fucked up, I said all the time, you do you baby go to fucking new orleans, go to a rainbow gather so YOU can decide of it sucks or not love it all and never take it for granted, having a shit day? this too shall pass, making all the bank in the world and kicking ur feet up in a swanky motey? this too shall pass

love y'all -Pepper!