<h2>The hobo way of life, <BR>a fading lifestyle </h2>

While I've been on vacation, I've been reading "Tales of an American Hobo," a book by "Reefer" Charlie Fox, an Indiana man who spent 15 years or so of his young life living the life of -- as the book title suggests -- a hobo.

"Reefer" was Charlie's hobo nickname -- all hobos adopted a nickname -- and "reefer" was short for refrigerator, a reference to the many refrigerator cars hobos come across while riding trains.

From 1928 to 1939, he rode the rails of the country and Canada, and from 1939 to 1965 he hitched rides in automobiles and traveled by foot. From Indiana to British Columbia, from Arkansas to Texas, from Utah to Mexico, he was part of the grand hobo tradition that has all but passed away from American life.

After his years as a hobo, Reefer Charlie settled in Charlottesville, Ind., a far-eastern Hancock County (Ind.) town, and that's where he was living when he died in 1994.

I'm liking the book very much (the accompanying photo is a scan from the only image provided with the book -- the cover photo of Charlie). One of the nice things about the book is that it's a collection of very short anecdotes -- the types of characters he came across on his travels, the common folk who were nice to him, the surly sorts who were not so kind, the friends he made in the hobo "jungles" (overnight camps) and the companions on his journeys and his close brushes with serious injury and even death. Charlie writes with a folksy style and, along the way, explains the hobo way of life.

It makes for a very endearing read.