Portland to Pocatella

We started off in Eugene on the day after St. Patty's Day. Our friend gave us a ride to Portland since she was going to visit her sister anyhow. When we got to Portland it was Saturday and the Saturday market was going on. We walked through it and gathered as much food from the over flowing trash cans as we could. We ran into some people that our friend knew and talked to them for a few minutes. Those of us about to hop out headed off toward Pioneer Square to make our drinking money. It was a rainy type day, on off on off all day. We decided to get beer and head to Clay St. bridge for the rest of the night. Me, Justus, and his girlfriend Hannah slept that night under the bridge dry and fine.

The next morning I was the first to wake and found myself drinking last night's wine that we didn't finish. At this time I walked over to Clay 2 (another bridge) to see who was there. My good friend Shane was there and I woke him up only to find Scotty laying off in the distance. We all went and got breakfast (morning wine) and retreated to Clay 1. Upon getting back Justus and Hannah woke because Hannah's dog was barking. We all shared the breakfast and then it was into the city. Me and Justus and Hannah (and the dog) went to find one of Justus' friends. We got in contact with her and later we met up. We then went into the mountains and got drunk. It took us about 3 hours to find everyone 'cause we were so drunk. I would have to say it was a nice adventure into the wild. Afterward they drove us back to Clay St. bridge where we went to sleep again.

The next morning we headed for Pioneer Square where we ran into a friend of Justus' and mine. We talked for a while and then it was time to leave for the train. We headed to Steele bridge and sat there waiting for our train to roll by. About 20 minutes worth of waiting payed off. A 4-unit UP headed east rolled right by us. We decided to take it as opposed to staying in Portland another night. This was Hannah's first ride. Before the train ever came I told her that I would get the dog on as long as she got on. Well here is where that came into play. The train had no reason to stop there so it's on the fly I guess. We saw 4 or 5 pigs in a row and I said those are what we're gonna ride. I told Hannah to get on first (remember this is on the fly and she has never hopped before) When I saw her get on I threw Levi (the dog) up and hopped the next ladder. Justus was the last to get on. He somehow missed the first 3 cars but got on the last of the pigs. So Hannah was on her first train. "This is a good one to ride for your first ride", I told her.

We didn't stop till we got about 30 minutes from Hinkle. At that time Justus came up and joined us. Justus was a little mad when he got up to us because I drank all his beer (I know I'm mean) We rode along the Columbia River forever - it is a nice ride for anyone who hasn't ridden this route. So there we were stopped outside of Hinkle. We decided that riding a pig was okay, but a unit was better. We ran up and asked the engineer if the last unit was ok. He said yes. So now Hannah doesn't only hop on the fly here first ride, but gets to ride a unit. How lucky is this? We ride into Hinkle and the engineer came back and said to get off and wait in the bushes. He said people are gonna come on and check the gauges and when we hear the train air up to get back on. Well we thought to ourselves and decided to take our chances with the pigs since it was getting late. We didn't want to roll into a yard on the unit asleep and be caught. So we just went back to the pigs and got out gear and went to sleep.

Sleeping on a pig is VERY cold no matter where you are. So that night we kinda froze alittle but it was okay I guess. We did a couple of stops, maybe crew changes in the night where I woke up. But all in all it went smooth. The next morning we awoke to the hot sun somewhere in Idaho. It was about 9 am I would guess, We decided to eat our breakfast, a giant can of sketty-o's. This didn't last long between me, Justus, Hannah, and her dog. So were going through Idaho, not alot of scenery here but dirt and some cattle ranches. We then get closer to Pocatella and civilization starts to appear. We are right outside the yard where UP happens to be doing track work at the time. We hide as best we can under a pig with 3 people and a dog. We pull into the yard still hidden. Our train starts to take off. "We're in the clear", I said, "but still stay down". A few miles later the train stops and a worker says "Hey you, I see you, you better get off that train". So we get off and ask how he knew we were on there. He said he saw the dog pop his head up and look at some workers.

Anyway we get pulled off the train and sent on our way toward town. We then decide it might be easy to hop outta SLC so we hitch down there. That is our adventure to Pocatella.