Train Hopping with Stxs, Episode 5: San Diego to Portland; Riding the Rails in the Land of Ganja!

Continued from Chapter 4

So I arrived in downtown San Diego by bus (BORING) and had no idea how to get to the beach, which was my goal. I wandered around downtown San Diego for a while, and ended up finding the bus that I needed to take to get to the beach. Finally I arrived and had a great time having umbrellas on the beach.

This was my first campsite when I arrived: San Diego, California's Sun City, one of the most amazing spots in the country for sleeping on the beach.

Eating sushi everyday for the last month, my winter was coming to a close. It was amazing spot and all, but I was trying to get moving as it was getting warm enough to hop trains north, and I was getting irritated with the city and all of the fuckery that was going down there. So once again I packed up my bag, double checked it, and prepared to leave town.

Then, out of the blue, a nice lady offered to put me up for a few days, let me wash my clothes, and relax at her place. When it was time to go, I decided to hitch-hike up the 101 to the nearest train yard. On the way I decided to check out Swami's Beach, as there's a really good beer named after it, from Pizza Port, named Swami's and I decided that I had to have a Swami's on Swami Beach. It was one of the most beautiful locations in California; if you haven't gotten to check it out, I highly recommend it. After two days there I decided it was time to get on a train and head north, as it was getting too hot in Southern California. I finally arrived at the local train yard, and waited on my northbound departure to arrive. when it finally arrived, I boarded and it took off and started cruising through the flatlands of California.

That train wasn't exactly going in the right direction, so I got a different train after resupplying. I went to check out the local Town, and then hiked back into the train yard and found a train that was going in the right direction. I found an open box car on this train, just in time as it was airing up (for those of you that do not know about trains they ride on a pocket of air the keeps their brakes from engaging).

So at this point we are getting to the mountains in Northern California, and I had to stop and get new supplies (I only carry a 25 pound bag when I do this. For safety and personal reasons, I will not carry more than 25 pounds inside my backpack. It hampers movement and mobility). Once I restocked on supplies from the local town, I prepared to go to the mountains, one of the most beautiful and amazing experiences you can have when you're train hopping. It is pristine wilderness, untouched by humans for years. Cliff faces, beautiful forests, tunnels, rivers and streams, not to mention amazing cannabis.

The scenery is like something out of a movie, the kind of thing that you would only see in Hollywood... but I was living it.

Disclaimer: this is not a car that I would ever recommend anyone ride as it is incredibly dangerous and stupid

But as this was the only rideable car, and the next train was going to be a few days, I took the risk of riding an empty Lumber car. I do not recommend ever riding one, but the next town was going to be over a hundred and fifty miles and I figured I would be pretty safe.

So after chilling in NorCal for a few weeks, I decided it was time to get up to Portland, so I decided to board another train northbound, across the border of California into Oregon. I was currently in Kalamath Falls, and knew that there were multiple trains a day to Portland, so I caught the next available train north and took off. I wasn't exactly sure of where it was going to go, due to the fact that it could have taken a split to Bend, but either or sounded good at the time.

Upon my arrival in Portland, it started raining and snowing. I thought that it was proper springtime, Portland has some funky weather I found out. I decided to take a nap in the train yard, in an open box car. I wedged a railroad spike into the door frame, which prevents the door from closing or being closed on you. I was pretty sure that the string of cars that I was going to take a nap on was there for storage... Boy was I wrong! I got woken up to the workers hammering the railroad spike out of the door frame. I was busted, but these people were pretty okay with me as long as I got out of the train yard. Geez was that scary though and quite the rude awakening!

So I got out of that train yard immediately, before the railroad police could get me...

Then started my journey into downtown Portland. Portland is very strange city, but I like it a lot so I stayed there for a while...

Thanks for Reading!
STXS Hobo Stxs

Follow me to catch the next episode: Portland to Chicago

And check out previous episodes here: 1, 2, 3, 4