2015 National Hobo Convention Britt Iowa

Although I want to be on the road all the time, the best I can manage for now is going to the Hobo Convention.   I have been there five times and every year is different.  So here is the story for the 2015 Hobo Convention.

From Lancaster PA it is roughly 18 hours of straight driving to Britt.  We, meaning Hobo Mike and myself, started out Sunday morning.  Most of the ride is on I-80.  My plan was to make Toledo Ohio the first stop.  The weather was nice, usual road construction and all those trucks.  Funny thing I noticed that all the classic rock radio station near Cleveland play hard rock, a little too hard on my nerves while driving 70+ mph bumper to bumper.

I had online reservations at the Quality Inn in Perrysburg OH.. what a dump.  The first room smelled like urine..and the rugs were so stained, I didn't want to walk barefoot on them.  We got another room.    The next morning back on I-80, drove to Cedar Falls Iowa.  This Quality Inn was clean and very nice.  

Finally driving in northern Iowa, sunny day, corn and more corn and beautiful wildflowers on the side of the roads.  Saw lots of hawks souring in the breeze.  It was nice.  Britt is 18 miles west of Clear Lake, where Buddy Holley died.  It is a small town.  The first thing you see are the large cement silos of the co-op, cross train tracks, turn left off main street and see the red box car.  This is where the Hobo jungle is.  In the center is a somewhat sacred fire.   I set up my tent on the field next to the jungle, which at times is loud at night.

It was great to see old friends, some brought hobo walking sticks they made or jelly and cookie to sell.   I helped set up the kitchen that evening.    Hobo Mike was off "campaigning".
At night people play guitars and harmonicas, singing train songs mostly.

Thursday morning I signed up to cook breakfast.  There was supposed to be 5 of us, one was still passed out with beer, two came and disappeared, one cracked the eggs and disappeared,
and one sat and campaigned, guess who that was?   I cooked 30 pounds of bacon and fed 40 people.
 Thursday we met SOCKMAN. (Tom McNamara).  This man goes around the country giving out socks to homeless.  People send him socks and money to do this.  He wears a bright yellow shirt.  I was very impressed that he would do this.  He sold his house, traveled 17 states and has given out over 6000 pairs of socks. He has a website and has been in the news.
   Thursday night , the younger tramps got very drunk and woke the whole jungle up with yelling.

Friday morning is a memorial at the Hobo cemetery .  There are about 30 hobos there, and a sign with hobos who passed and are planted other places.  It is a moving ceremony as all the hobos walk pass each grave, tapping it with the bindle stick (walking stick).   After the ceremony, the hobo met to discuss some issues, like what to do with screaming drunk people, and the fact there was no one who signed up to run fro Queen.

Yep, I thought maybe I should so I put my name up...Later we saw the Bo Lump, our 90 year old former Queen was also running...well at that point we knew she would win, so I didn't campaign.  I did make a couple of signs.  My hobo name is Blue Star Cate.

Friday night was the fire lighting, the current King and Queen spoke and then there was music.

Saturday is the big day.  All the Hobos got on the float for the parade.  I had my sign and our friend Jason from MN held up Hobo Mikes.  I bought some candy as others were throwing it out to the kids.  There are old cars, HS band, farm machines, horses, funny bands all in the parade. It is the best parade I've seen.   After the parade, everyone lines up at the town square gazebo for Mulligan Stew.  The town makes enough for 5000 people.  They start cooking at 3 am.  This is a very small town and many are involved in making the Britt Hobo Days special.

After everyone eats, it is time for the King and Queen elections, Each candidate has 2 minutes to give their pitch.  Queens go first, Cate is called first..yea.. my speech was ok.  been awhile since I've been up in front of people.   The others for Queen were, Mad Mary, Sassy,and Bo Lump.  The audience claps for each person and the judges say who won..this really gives the judges all the power to pick who they want.
Then the people for King said their  thing. Texas Hobo Mike did really well , I helped him with the speech where he gave a shout out to Sockman.  Czech Hobo told his story of riding trains to get out of communism.  I knew the judges wanted him in, so he won.  Depending on who you talk to, Hobo Mike WAS second.  The process is political.   

What we need next year is to get about 75 people and salt the crowd for Hobo Mike. He deserves to be King.  
Saturday evening I sat with 3 retired nuns, one who was a rock hound and we talked about places to go, places we collected.  It was fun.
The evening was more music   and then the first rain all week began to fall.  I was cozy in my tent, listening to the rain sound on the tent.  

Sunday morning, before more rain came, I took down the tent and we moved out.  The ride home we listened to CDs instead of radio.   The Dead got us to Gary Indiana for the night.  There were many motorcycles going east from Sturgis.   The second day it was blues, with Buddy Guy , Etta James etc..got to Hermitage PA, right on border OH. 
Then home.. good trip 
 All photos courtesy of Hobo St Louis Frank . His website http://www.ratpackstlouis.com  ..Hobo tab  has lots more pix.  

I miss the road.  I miss meeting wonderful people.
Still have the dog and grumpy Hobo
but no RV
Land bound in Lancaster PA

Christmas 2010

I wasn't sure about how Christmas would end up, since everything and everyone is in some transition. Bt it turned out great.

We went down to DC to have Christmas with Sean. He was worried because his place is so small, but with Mike, Liam, me and Dakota, it was just cozy. It was nice weather driving down. And I got a parking spot right outside Sean's door. This is amazing for DC, so I felt things were going to bode well. We got a cozy and had a few drinks and got some pizza for dinner. We watched a couple of movies and we all went to sleep. Mike got the bed, because if I slept on it so would Dakota. So I made a cushy bed on the floor, Sean got the futon and Liam made a bed next to the computers.

Christmas morning there was snow flurries when I took the dog for a walk.

There had been some fund raiser with Christmas trees on the block where Sean lives, and there were three left sitting along the sidewalk, two small and one big one. I had been looking at this small one, thinking we should have a tree. Sean said he didn't think we should take it. But here it was Christmas morning and this little tree, who had been cut down was left abandoned. It looked so sad. So I picked it up and took it home.

Sean had gone to his bed to continue sleeping, so I set up the little tree. Sean had bead necklaces, Mike calls them Jerry beads ( people who watch Jerry Springer will know) sitting on the bookshelf so I draped them around the tree. Then I started cutting out little snowflakes out of paper and red wrapping paper. The end result was this cut little tree. We put the gifts under it. I was so pleased. The tree was happy too. And Sean was happy to see the little Christmas tree all decorated up.

We opened our gifts. I'm set for chocolate for a while. For dinner I was going to make my famous Lasagna. OH no, we forgot the mozzarella cheese.. oh no it is a major ingredient

Sean comes to the rescue, first he walked to the corner, missed the store closed a hour ago.I call and say hey what about pizza places...no they are closed too.He finally found a Giant store and got the precious cheese...

The lasagna was great with garlic bread and wine...We watched ELF afterwards.

It was a great Christmas Sunday we came back to my current home where Ken and Dewey, Robin, Kelly and Josh were festive. We had the rest of the lasagna and chocolate..yea...

And we include all our friends and family who are here and there, we love you and cherish you and wish you a wonderful New Year...

How I spent my summer part 2

Half of the summer was spent in Avalon. I only went to the beach two times but the salt air was healing. I have a great sunset pix. I really do love the shore...and I really hate what the Jersey Shore reality shows have done for the women. We either are bitches and air head dim wits...most Jersey girls are smart...

The other half was spent in Amish Land. I am in the deep hills of Amish farmlands. Four miles south of Strasburg, PA. The buggies go by. I feel for the horses going up the big hills pulling the wagons. Then there is that "fresh country air". If you haven't been in these parts, the Amish fertilize their fields with fresh manure....ummm, ummmm good!!!!

There is a pix of Agatha in the trees where I camp. One day a hot air balloon floated by. It was so low that it scraped the top of the trees. You can see the people. We all worried that it was going to crash, but found out it was landing near by. This is near where the movie "Witness" was filmed and where those young children where killed at the Nichel mine Amish school.

The campground is quiet during the week and fills up during the weekend. Many NJ people are here with permanent trailers. Just can't get away from them....

There was a big fire a few weeks ago down the valley. A barn burnt down. I expect an Amish barn raising party soon. I will probably miss it. Right now the farmers are harvesting the corn. Wagons and horses and some machine that cuts the stalk. They have been working hard. The pumpkins are out already too. I really like it here. On Saturday they have blue grass music under the tree...it is fun.

The best part was Sean and Courtney came up to camp for Labor day weekend. The pitched a tent behind the RV. On Saturday we walked around Lancaster and went to the Farmers Market, art galleries, antique stores and a coffee shop. Liam, Sean's Dad, came too. The Saturday night we went for a ride on the Strasburg Railroad. It is a steam locomotive. We took the evening Wine and Cheese tour. It was great fun. We really liked the wine glasses..Sean can tell you that story...

Now in White Oak campground...the acorns are falling like bombs but the evenings are so nice.

How I spent my summer part one

It was a weird summer. It all started in Texas, when my Dad called saying he was not well and could use some help, so I drove the RV to Avalon NJ. After a month he was better and said he didn’t need me there. So I drove the RV to Lancaster County and stayed at the White Oak campground in Strasburg. Of course we all knew Dad needed help and was being stubborn. Things changed when he fell and was on the floor for a day not able to get up… So in August I again went down to Avalon. Within 10 days he was complaining about me being there again and kicked me out..actually he told Craig ,my brother, to kick me out..so again I packed up and left….not doing that again.

I did enjoy being down at the beach for most of the summer. I walked the roads I had walked as a teenager. The streets are the same; the houses are now mansions. The music cooperated and I listened to songs of the 70’s . It felt like ol' times.. I did get to see an old friend Bel Whilden. We worked together on many newspapers. We also drank a few. It was good to see him again.

Tim and Jean were down in Stone Harbor and I saw them and the kids and Jean’s Dad. It was nice to sit on the porch and watch the sun go down.

The best part was seeing Sean and Courtney and the Frisbee team in Wildwood. Every year many teams from the east coast come to Wildwood for the Ultimate Frisbee tournament. It was soo hot 100 degrees on the beach, Their feet were burning on the white sand. I got a pretty good sun burn too-yea I put stuff on but went for a swim and forgot to re-apply...

More summer fun to come

Leroy the Amish man Part Two

Part 2

With the temperatures being in the upper 90’s, sitting at the bar at Applebee’s was a cool break. I didn’t have the AC in my car and the heat was getting to me. I wondered how the Amish survived the heat. Leroy said, “Ah we’re joust oused to it.” (Add the accent). He told me about one of his friends, (or maybe it was him) had gotten very drunk up at the YP, (that’s Your Place for non PA residents.) The Amish man got into his buggy and was driving back to Strasburg on Route 30. He forgot to put on his safety flashers and was stopped by the police. The police asked him to get out of the buggie. The man stumbled and was found to be drunk. He was driving a buggy drunk. He was taken to jail on a DUI. His poor wife had to come in the middle of the night to get the buggie. Imagine that call…The man had to call his “English” neighbor to go down and wake up his wife so she could go get the buggie. The man had to spend time in jail. The funny thing is they let him out every morning and evening to go milk the cows. So that’s how the Amish get DUI’s.

Meanwhile ol’ Leroy is pretty happy and keeps asking if we are going to “my place or yours.” He was clearly hoping for alittle action. I wasn’t interested in putting an Amish notch on my bedpost. I kept saying I had to get back to the RV because I was worried about the dog. I guess there are women who would like to try an Amish man. You could see that in his younger days Leroy might have been handsome, and he probably had his share. He just seemed like a 50 year old man trying to be 18.

So after relieving the horse again, our next stop was Brewer’s Outlet, where again they all knew him. Leroy bought a case of Genesee Cream Ale. We dropped off half of the case at a friend’s house. He asked me to come in. “No thanks.” Then we drove down the road to another neighbor’s house where he took all but three beers. Interesting hiding beers all over. Then finall,y we drove down the lane to his families farm house. I parked in front of his workshop. I could see a buggy parked in the barn and a few eyes peering out the windows.

A small Jack Russell mixed female dog with large sore tits greeted me. Her name was Sadie. She was a sweet dog. She walked over to the porch and out popped six puppies. Leroy said she got out one night. One of the puppies looked like Dakota, black with white tips, several were brown, and one looked like a mini Doberman. Sadie got around that night! We talked about dogs; our dogs now and the ones in heaven. We agreed that most animals are smarter than humans. Leroy offered me a puppy. If I had a place, I would have taken the baby Dakota dog.

Finally Leroy showed me his shed where he does his crafts. There is some paintings and some blue jay parts. He showed me what he was doing. I thought it was a cool idea and said I could paint them. I told him to give me the parts and I would paint them. But now I needed to go. He gave me a quick hug and I drove back down the lane, which looked like a tunnel of corn.

Ok SO YOU THINK THE STORY IS OVER??? Well it’s not.

Several hours later, Leroy calls to ask if he left his cell phone in my car, which he did. I said I would drop it off tomorrow morning at Katie’s Kitchen.. I wondered if he did that on purpose??

So it is twilight now and Dakota and I were taking our walk around the campground. Dakota drags me over to this pop-up camper. There is a Canadian man and woman there. She loves animals and attracted Dakota by her smiles…and the smell of food. Her name is Natalie and I can’t remember his name, but he is a Bus driver. We started talking. The bus driver offered me a real treat, a real Canadian Beer..yea…Dakota got some food. Dakota got to play Frisbee with the bus driver.

I talked some about my adventures on the road.

Natalie said they went out to dinner at a diner and there was an Amish guy sitting near her. He had his pants pinned together with a safety pin and he had a black painted straw hat. She said the waitress called him Leroy. And I said have I got a story for you…..

Postnote: Leroy called back once to see if I could drive him. I was busy that day. I never did do any work on his birds.

Leroy, A Day with the Amish man. Part one

When I did my laundry in Strasburg, I left a note on the bulletin board:

I NEED A JOB Office, HR, Customer Service Would like $14/hr Will consider other Offers

Last night after a frustrating day of failing the Excel test at the staffing agency, I got a call. It was Leroy, an Amish man. I am not using Leroy’s last name since he is pretty well known here. Leroy was looking for someone to paint his craft items.

OK, I’m game…so we met at 9AM at Katie’s Kitchen, authentic Amish cooking. I arrived first and got a cup of coffee. Not long after Leroy arrived sporting his black straw hat. He is a thin man between 55-65 years old. He wears traditional clothing held together with safety pins. I introduced myself and we had coffee.

We talked about the weather, dogs and people. He asked if I could drive him a few places. OK, I said curious to what this day would offer. He was a bit flirtatious—how fun. We went to his house driveway to pick up a saw and drove to the Black and Decker store in Rockvale plaza. They could not sharpen the saw. Leroy said that stores here rent for $6000 a month and many were now closed or closing. Leroy said he wanted to try a hardware store in Bird in Hand, but first we had to stop at the Turkey Hill because he needed to “water the horses” and there was a real doll there. We drove to the hardware store where I was the one everyone was staring at.

Evidently they could not sharpen the saw either. Now he wanted to go to Intercourse to the bank because there was a clerk there who was a real doll. Are you seeing a pattern yet?? After the bank we went back to Bird in Hand to a machine shop. Leroy took off his watch, “We aren’t suppose to have these.” The machine shop took the saw. Leroy came out of the shop and lit another cigarillo and starting singing “Bad, bad Leroy Brown.” He said that’s what everyone calls him “Bad Leroy”. I was coming to that conclusion myself.

After the machine shop, Leroy directed me to a short cut (not) through the country. He pointed out his sister’s house. He has five brothers and at least two sisters that I know. He said “people always complain about how big Amish families are, but everyone is needed to keep the farm going. He said people are jealous about the million dollar farms but they don’t realize it is hard work and 14 hours a day. “ He said yesterday he mowed grass and it was hot.

Anyway we ended back on route 30 where we had to stop at a gas station so he could buy some more cigarillos. Every time we stopped he would light one up. Oh yes, then he says he forgot to buy minutes for his cell phone (shhh don’t tell anyone). Back to the Turkey Hill where he watered some more horses, bought minutes and found the “doll “and gave her a big kiss. I waited in the hot car not knowing what was taking so long. He came out and said, “Did you see me kiss that blonde? She is a real looker.”

OK so here we have a real character. The next stop was Applebee’s on route 30. Everywhere we went everyone seems to know Leroy and this was no exception. The bartender said “Hi Leroy. Do you want your regular Budweiser?” He ordered and offered to buy me a beer. Originally I was going to have water, but it was offered and I don’t turn down a free beer especially when it was so hot. I had a large draft and on an empty stomach gave me a bit of a buzz. Leroy drank three bottles of beer using a straw.

At this point Leroy is definitely chatting me up. Innuendos and flirts were passed around. It was fun but I was not sure where this was going to end.

To find out the rest of the story see Part 2 coming soon.