i suck at writing stories but thought id contribute.... I was 17 and had been squatting in Hollywood for about a year and had never considered hopping a train until a friend suggested we get the fuck out of Hollywood (anyone whos ever squatted Hollywood will understand why). He had been hoping for about 3 years and I was ready to go... So we walked all the way to the East LA yard and caught the first thing moving it was a 48 but the kind without the bucket to sit in.. bad idea but i didnt know better.... the train ended up braking up in Colton so we dumpster dived the "crack pie" factory as we were heading back towards the yard there was a train heading north on the mainline and the only available ride was an empty lumber car but we got on anyway despite it being the middle of winter and we had no blankets... once on I had fallen asleep only to awaken a couple hours later in the middle of the mountains freezing my ass off.... fortunatly we were only stopped to let a amtrak pass us..grrr. after a long cold night i awoke to beautiful morning.. sunrise to be exact and it had appeared that we were heading into vegas... we stopped in vegas for crew change and my friend had decided to go get some water... unfortunatly he took longer then the crew change and the train started to move as he came running back... but the train was moving way too fast for either of us to do anything.. so i threw his pack to him and said ill see you somewhere down the line... (i ended up running into him in Oakland about 3 years later) so here i am alone on this train heading to god knows where on my first time hoping trains... we eventually ended up in SLC.. where i had met someone else that was hopping and ended up going wioth him to SF.. that was just the begining of my life hopping trains... i ended up hopping for about 6 years and still do today when i can.. and have traveled cross country several times as well as numerous trips up and down the west coast... peace