Long story short: There are multiple runaway Discord servers (ay Pumpkin), and my best mate created one of them a while ago (and made me admin). He goes by "blue" (that's not his actual full username but I'm not gonna share that here) and he's an expert trainhopper, master vagabond, and a runaway LEGEND. He ran away when he was 11-12 and he's been helping other kids on the streets for a good five years now.
- He's hopped in nearly every state in the US as well as in Canada and Mexico
- He's also (like myself) a master thief
- He's been to federal prison a total of 4 months and county a total of 2 months
- He was in juvie for about a year total (over multiple times; man he's got some stories from there...)
- He's been on TV in Texas when he was caught in a trainyard
- I could go on forever...
Basically Blue is a legend in the runaway/hobo community. He's very well known and extremely respected. He's also done a LOT that KS would definitely not let me say here. Just use your imagination and we'll see if you're right. My first real encounter with him was when I found my way to his server and discussed hopping freight; I said I was ready to die trying even if I didn't make it, which nearly got me banned. He later explained that this was because he's seen a lot of his family (hobo family, not literal relatives) go under and that I couldn't talk like that. Now he's my best mate.
He's got experience in everything from partying all night with other hobos to panhandling. He's set up movie nights for everyone to watch films about hobos/dirty kids and has probably saved a lot of people's lives by keeping them from doing something dumb. He's also very strict about runaway safety via the Internet and hates discussing groups--he says the best way is solo. Yesterday he showed us that like a month ago he secretly blacklisted the word "group" to minimize the probability of something going down. He also banned Johnni (you might not be familiar but Johnni is like a 30-40 year old creep on Discord who worms his way into servers to convince young girls to travel to him in exchange for....yeah never mind) and found a photo of him and posted it: something nobody else in the servers had done. Well, maybe two months ago he was able to get CPS to put him in a new house.
I'm writing this post in his honor today because as I write he is currently packing his bag--again. When another trusted user asked why, I told her "hobo instinct." He pinned that phrase and said he would get it tattooed. As soon as I read his announcement on this a few days ago I messaged him asking about it. He said:
"Yea
for good this time I figure
I keep trying to make peace with the fact that I'm housed up
But it's just not who I am
or who I've become
I'd rather die on the rails than die housed up"
And that, my friends, is "hobo instinct," as I coined it.
Do you guys who who Stobe the Hobo was? Look him up if you don't know. He was a legend in the hobo world. Not a single vagabond doesn't who who Stobe was. Sadly, Stobe died on the rails but not before his place in hobo culture was formed. His death only strengthened his reputation: he lived as he died. Well, Blue is destined to become the next Stobe. He wanted to go the Army but now he's got too many felonies. My guess is he'll continue this the rest of his life. When prompted the question "If you could do anything without getting caught, what would you do?" he answered "I'd still hop trains." It's a passion of his, a life that he needs to live. He's posted so many photos and videos on social media platforms showing his life as a trainhopping vagabond. He's still packing, but he'll be gone soon and he left me and a couple others to care for the server (which, not to brag, but I bumped it enough to land it's place as #1 in its category on Disboard). I'd tell you guys more about the server itself but KS wouldn't allow it.
Anyway, I hope that Blue's legacy will live on. And if you hear about a black-haired, blue-eyed youth male caught in a trainyard, I ask that you give your salute to a man who lives his dreams.
Best of luck to you, mate. I've got two words for ya: Don't die.
Ask me anything guys, about the culture, lifestyle, or blue himself.
P.S. Fun fact: he's visited KS before although I don't know if he explored it. I sent him the link to my dagger's sheath because I was too lazy to copy the pictures again.
