It was in the wee hours of Thursday morning. I was in El Paso Texas but didn't know it quite yet.
I accidentally hopped a train.
Wednesday night my housemates were all on a boarder delegation. I didn't feel like sitting around and had been wanting to explore the train yard near my house for quite some time anyway. I was coming home from exploring some of the downtown train yard with Emma, and I happened to see a train going by right near my house. I went to check it out just to see what there was to see. The first thing I saw was that there was no fence at this particular section. Locking up my bike to a sign I meandered over to the train just to innocently watch. It began to slow down and soon stopped. It was a train carrying shipping containers.
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| *stock image* |
I had never really see these train cars up close and personal so I decided to check them out. I climbed up onto the little platform and it was an excellent spot to sit!
The train then began to move. But I wasn't concerned. I was still a ways away from where the main train yard is so I just didn't really think about it and figured it would simply pull further into the yard and unload or, reload or just do whatever.
But....
As it began to move it continued to pick up speed. And went on accelerating at a rather surprising rate. Before
I knew it, I was on the East side of town near the Mennos. I thought about how much fun it would be to walk to their house and announce that I had arrived by freight. But sadly I had little time to think about such pleasantries. I was zipping along the tracks due South East at 40 mph or so.
Suddenly it struck me: this train has no intention of stopping any time soon. I was heading out into the desert. It was going to get cold. And I was woefully unprepared. I had on long pants, a tshirt, a flannel longsleeve and a thread bare Penn State hoodie from Dad's college years. I also had gloves and a wonderfully knitted hat made by Grace. I also had my wallet and bike light. My cellphone had died that evening so I didn't bother to bring it along. Luckily no one was going to miss me until at least 12:00 Thursday morning when I didn't show up for work so I was not in any pressing need to get a hold of anyone.
The stars were beautiful at least! The shooting stars were out in full force. It was a chilly night but certainly not as bad as it could've been. Fairly early in the night I passed a thermometer sign reading 48 degrees, it only got worse.
Luckily for me the platform I was on was remarkably steady. Even to the point of being able to lay down sleep. Or at least until the cold or a slight change in the rhythm of the train woke me up again.
As I traveled I passed several town names that I recognized: Benson, then Wilcox. Then some names I didn't. Lordsburg, then Deming. I could tell I was getting pretty far.
I could also tell it was getting pretty late. Earlier in the night I was able to lay out and be cold, but not uncontrollably so. I was still able to sleep horizontally. By the time I was rolling past the water tower with a big D for Deming I could not do anything but sit with my knees up to my chest shiver.
Eventually we came to a town. Judging by the city lights and industry I was busy hoping that it was a hub for trains. (Similar to the hopes I had for every other single town we passed by.) I decided to stand up. I wanted a better look around, and needed to stretch my legs. Especially if it was going to be stopping and I was going to be running!
Suddenly, my world was lit up. I saw the side of the truck: BORDER PATROL.
The train kept rolling but was obviously slowing, and slowing quite quickly. I climbed down the little ladder and was soon able to run along side the train as I let it continue. The train had come to a stop and I right along side a fairly large bank.
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| 31° 47.641', -106° 32.574' |
I climbed the bank. Walked through the desert for a small bit and soon caught up with the dirt road. The town was back and to my left. Thats where I wanted to be. City lights lay ahead of me. I started jogging, glancing back, BORDER PATROL was at the top of the hill at the end of the road. I kept jogging.
Inexplicably and despite my imagination's best attempts to picture it, there was no truck with bright lights zooming up behind me. There was no gruff officer shouting or dogs barking. Before I knew it I had walked onto McNutt road. A little neighborhood lay before me. Every once in awhile a car drove by and would put out my thumb. Still wearing my hoodie and gloves I felt very sketchy and half hoped for their, own sake, that no one would stop. At one point two Hispanic guys pulled over and turned around. Assuming it was for me I walked over keeping in their headlights until they rolled down a window. I asked the time, 6:00 am. and how to get to downtown or the bus station, it was to the west.
I was hoping for a ride but no luck. I started walking West and when I saw someone leaving their house I asked them as well. It was a middle aged woman leaving for work. Very friendly and explained that I could take the city bus, it had recently passed but will come by in another 30 min, directly to the greyhound station and that it was in fact to the East. Thanking her I went to wait for the bus and shiver.
As I sat I continued to hold out my thumb to passers by, just in case someone was willing to risk life and limb to get me out of the cold and on my way. Then suddenly a car pulled over and turned around, facing the opposite direction. Confused I crossed the street and recognized the person as the woman who I had talked with not 15 minutes ago. She was holding a $5 bill out the window and told me that I should take it for bus money. I was taken aback. I was profoundly grateful for her kindness but also sure that I did not need it. I had $2 in my wallet and a debit card with enough to get me home. (If not to Brazil...) I insisted I would be fine. Thanked her profusely and ultimately told her that there are others who need it more than me, she agreed to give it to someone else instead.
I went back to sitting, shivering and occasional jumping jacks.
Finally the bus arrived. An utterly uneventful bus ride with a friendly driver took me to the central station with greyhound right up the street. But first I was hungry. Chatting with the taco shop cashier I mentioned that I'm trying to get to Tucson.
"Oh, thats right around the corner, you should just hitch hike there!"
I totally agreed with him. But I also know from experience that thats a potentially long process. I needed to get home. If not right away, at least in a more predictable manner than I left.
It was about 7:00, 7:30 in the morning. I got my three breakfast burritos (they were pretty small) and a water and took off for Greyhound. A bus had just left. $#&@! The ticket I got left at 10:40. I took a nap. The metal chairs were even worse than airport chairs. It was time to go find some internet so I could text my coworkers to let them know I was a whole state away and I'd be a bit late.
Eventually 10:40 rolled around and we rolled out. Driving past the water tower with a big D for Deming I couldn't help but smile with an odd sense of pride and accomplishment. Despite spending a bitterly cold night on a train I was well on my way home already.
Sometime between one of those recognizable towns and another one I was awoken from my light nap by the slowing of the bus. Stopping, the driver got up and announced that we were at an immigration checkpoint. Two border patrol agents got on and asked the people in front of me if they were citizens. They were. They asked me I was. I nodded and probably grunted a bit as I said yes. I was still waking up. They asked the two young people behind me. They weren't. Despite not speaking Spanish I was able to pick up that although they weren't citizens it seemed like they had Green Cards. But I soon realized that there was a problem. They weren't carrying proof. The agents escorted the presumably brother and sister pair off the bus. They collected their bags. And we drove off.
Its a conflicting thing. They were traveling without documentation. Thats an unwise thing to do as a citizen.
Traveling internationally people are encouraged to make copies of passports and visas. Yet for whatever reason these two didn't have what they needed. Despite my logical recognition of the situation and my understanding of the importance of ID, I still couldn't help but be taken aback by the whole situation. Not 6 hours ago I very easily could've found myself under arrest by the border patrol and suddenly, here I was watching a similar fate befall two young people for something seemingly much more petty than hopping a train.
I made it home at 4:10. The rest of the trip was uneventful, apart from lunch at McDonalds. As soon as we rolled in I jumped off the bus and took off for home. Between jogging and walking I made it home in no time. There was only one missed call. A voice-mail from Performance asking me to come in and sign something.
Apart from that I managed to go to Texas and back and no one even knew I was gone.
It was quite the adventure.
