Burlington, Vermont is made for good times. There is a music scene, delicious food, a lakefront, Church Street, and much more in between. Relative to the rest of Vermont, the diversity here is abundant. Burlington is like a central hub for the state, so if you come here you’re bound to encounter some degree of adventure and excitement.
A couple months ago while Emerson and I were roaming Church Street, we went into Earthbound Trading Co. to browse. I had my Canon Rebel T4i strapped around my neck, and one of the employees asked what kind of camera I had. Being a photographer, he was interested in meeting others who also had an interest in the hobby. We ended up exchanging Instagram usernames so we could check out each other’s work. I left the store with a deck of impulsively purchased silver playing cards.
Mitch and I by followed each other on Instagram. I sent him a message complimenting his clever username, @lostineggsaisle. It’s one thing just gaining a new follower on this social app, but meeting a person in real life and being able to follow their work has much more meaning to it. For this reason I am glad to have had this encounter.
A few weeks later…
Soon after posting a some photos of the photoshoot with Savannah, I received a message from Mitch saying he’d recently bought his dream camera; a Rolleiflex 2.8E. He was eager to use it and wanted to meet up around Burlington to go shoot. I was down, so he asked if I’d be interested in doing portraits. I had never been the “planned” subject of any photos, but I was willing to give it a try.
Emerson and I had gone to the HigherGround Box Office previously and purchased tickets to a 99.9 the Buzz low-dough show, Welshly Arms, with the band Copilot as an opener. that was happening on a Monday night, so I suggested to Mitch that we meet that afternoon since I planned to be in Burlington that day anyway. So that became the plan, and since Zeth was in town, I invited him to come along on the adventure and to the show as well. Since this was a pretty last minute invite, he had to order his ticket right away. Since Emerson and I already had our tickets, I asked him if he would order two tickets, just in case Mitch wanted to join us for the show. And so he did.
Monday came around and we were to meet at Muddy Waters Café at 3pm. Mitch mentioned through text message that the place was packed, so he’d be waiting outside. We were running a few minutes late; no big deal. To save on time, I called him and told him I’d be driving in front of the café instead of parking in the garage. I saw him on his cell phone, we pulled up in front of the café and to him, having him hop in the car so we could be on our way.
I introduced him to Zeth and we proceeded to cross over Church Street and head toward the waterfront. We made small talk as Mitch gave directions to our planned destination, with said location being an abandoned highway. The on-the-fly directions unexpectedly took us to the rail yard near the Burlington waterfront. Unsurprisingly, I had never actually been to this area before and it happened to stir up some inspiration in my photographic eye. I slowly looped around out of the rail yard so we could continue to the overgrown and forgotten highway. …Though I kept the rail yard in mind.
We made it onto the street that would lead to the abandoned highway, passing through a modest looking residential area with some curbside parking. A bit further down the road, parked behind another Subaru, and the four of us continued on foot. Suddenly, at lower ground level to our right was the dilapidated road with chain link fence on its left side and a high sturdy wooden fence on its right side, blocking the view of the homes behind it.
So began our walk down the old road.
As we were walking along, I thought I wish I’d brought my frisbee. Zeth happened upon a small tire straight from the start, so we began rolling it and kicking it along like the young millennial we are. Over the median and through the air it went, giving us a little extra entertainment along the way. Not quite as good as a frisbee, but it was something.
Photo by Emerson
Photo by Emerson
We had come to a section of road where a makeshift skatepark had been constructed. Two friends were skating together, as well as a lone skater ollieing over a cone. His skateboard rolled toward us when he didn’t land right, so I rolled it back to him respectfully. We kept walking past the skatepark as not to disturb them. Before not too long, we had reached the end of the road, where it met an actual street. This is where I got to see how Mitch’s camera functioned, and it was fascinating to say the least. Being from 1959, this camera was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Mitch kindly offered to let me try it out. I accepted the offer and he handed it over. Unsure of how to properly handle it, it I was as careful as can be while I held this mint condition relic. To say the least, I was intrigued while looking down through the viewfinder. It was a whole new photographic experience. I was able to take one exposure of Mitch after a long minute of figuring out left and right and dialing in the knobs.
Photo by Emerson
We turned around and headed back the way we came, somehow with the tire still rolling around. The one skater had driven away in his white Subaru Outback as we soon arrived back to the tagged up guardrail that he was skating near. It seemed like a good spot to take photos, so I became the subject as Emerson and Mitch took a several photos each.
Photo by Emerson
I happened upon an old dolly with two missing tires. I had Zeth roll the one tire to me and I secured it to the axle. To our dismay, we could not locate the other tire. Imagine the added entertainment we would have had with a functioning dolly! Emerson was still having fun with my camera and I didn’t mind running around getting my picture taken, considering I’m the one taking pictures 99% of the time. I let her hold onto it for a bit, until I got inspired by a certain section of road. I ran up so she could photograph me on it…
…then I proceeded to take my camera back so I could photograph it!
Can you see what about this road struck my inspiration?
So we continued along, and Zeth moseyed up the rock ledge where the sturdy wooden fence stood, privatizing the residences behind it. Mitch took the opportunity to get a candid of Emerson and I on the ledge, and I took the opportunity to snag a portrait of Emerson leaning on the fence.
I wanted to get a good photo of Mitch using his Rolleiflex, so I asked him to act as if he were taking a photo!
We reached the end of the ledge, the start of the forgotten highway, and walked roadside back to my car as commuters whizzed on by. We were starting to get hungry, so we had to come up with a game plan. After some thought, we decided we would stop at the convenience store to use the restrooms and get snacks to hold us over. I asked Mitch if he’d like to go see Welshly Arms with us and told him we had an extra ticket. He accepted the offer! We would then go check out the rail yard, get ramen at Gaku, then the four of us we go see Welshly Arms. So that’s what we did.
We found free public parking just near the tracks and walked along the tracks gazing at the motionless locomotives, taking photos, and goofing around where we likely shouldn’t have been.
By this point, Zeth had spotted a bridge in the distance that we set as a destination. We heard several distant police sirens, becoming louder and louder. This put us (at least me) slightly on edge, as we were unsure if we were actually allowed to be wandering in this area. The only “No Trespassing” sign we saw was on one building (pictured above).
As we passed over the last of the rails, the sirens dissipated into silence. There was a fence between us and the bridge, so we would have to go underneath and around. As we approached the downhill to underside of the bridge we saw two men; one sitting on the concrete foundation of the bridge, and the other further down with his back facing us. The sitting man yelled inaudibly. We were unsure of what do do. He repeated himself more clearly by warning us, “he’s taking a whiz!”
As he finished up and turned around, we headed down, all greeting each other. We soon learned they were rail-riders, traveling the country far and wide by train. They had seen it all from Vermont to Washington state as well as states further south. Irish and Ogre were their rail names, both of which seemed to fit from what we could observe.
Irish has long red hair, overalls and an engineer’s cap. Ogre is larger with a burly beard, glasses, nose piercings and large gauged ears, with the bent up brim of his hat spelling “WASTED” in yellow and having a total of 13 clips along the edge, which assuming represents 13 years of being a rail-rider, though Irish said they held this lifestyle for 15 years. He must have gotten a two year head start.
Few others get to see the country as travelers like these do. They see all the grit and the forgotten. One can only imagine experiencing the thrill of riding along the land with no control in where you end up. They lived day to day not know what might come next. Irish had a nasty gouge on his hand, describing to us that it happened after an addict in desperation attempted to steal his backpack. Irish had to fend him off and got bitten as a result. Sure this can happen on the heavily traveled streets of America; it can happen anywhere. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong; Murphy’s Law of course.
This isn’t the ideal lifestyle for anyone. Sure it might be enchanting in a way to ride a train along a mountainside while the warm sun rises, with the next destination being unknown. Life can be full of great moments like this but slight risks have to be taken. This is as simple as saying hello someone you don’t know and striking up a conversation; good can come out of it. If it doesn’t, you move on with your life. There is no sense in being hung up on what ifs, if you have the will and ability to make something happen… which you do.
Any life choice will have its risks and uncertain outcomes; excuses not to do it, but a lifetime can’t be fulfilled if these are festered upon. If you believe it is a good thing, focus on the good that will come of it.
The important point is that these men braved the world on their own, learning as they went. They gained immense experience by doing what they felt was necessary at the time. Over these fifteen years, they became experts at riding the rails of America. They met other riders in the process, read up on their notes, learned from their mistakes, and kept on riding.
Irish and Ogre were kind enough to let us take photos. Even though I was pretty focused on the area surrounding us, the light was perfect at this moment in time where it was shining just right. As Ogre slowly took a drag of his cigarette, I casually raised the viewfinder to my eye, let auto-focus do its thing, and pressed the shutter. I was very happy with the result, and after sending it to Ogre a few days later, so was he! I did some selective coloring in Photoshop to add to the drama and feeling of the image.
Irish and Ogre had told us they are done with they rail-riding lifestyle. It has come time for them to assimilate back into society and lead lives apart from the rail. Sure they can reminisce and hold onto their experiences and wisdom, but they have new destinations to reach. They can take this opportunity to become experts at a new craft, be passionate and use what they have learned to contribute to society in ways they’ve never thought before. They can spend the next 15 years becoming experts once again.
As for me, the five year anniversary of owning my Canon Rebel is coming up next week (I checked my order history on Amazon). This will be a milestone for me in this hobby turned passion. Sure I haven’t taken photos every single day. I’ve probably gone a week or so at a time without even picking up my camera. Aside from that, I can still consider this to be 5 years into my craft that I can look back on and see how far I come. Life is a never-ending journey… until it ends.
When you are passionate about something enough where you can grow and learn, it makes the journey that much more meaningful. You live one life on this planet rotating day by day and circling the sun year by year. Why not make the most of it by becoming the best version of yourself? Sure you can have fun and relax, but those should be rewards; not distraction from progress.
In this journey I look forward to continue meeting more like-minded individuals, writing about my impactful experiences, learning from them, and most of all to keep on progressing with my passion. That’s all I know to do; make each day count.
Bring out the Bright
For over a half hour we each talked in this gritty area under the bridge as the sun was lowering in the sky, shining off the iced over water. They told us stories, about their adventures, the prospective plans for the future, joking back and forth and exchanging grins. It was an authentic moment between strangers who both just happened to be under the same bridge at the same time. The thing is, we’re all alike in one way or another, it’s just a matter of finding the similarities.
The sun was beginning to fade out behind the Adirondacks across the lake. We still had to get dinner at Gaku and make it to Higher Ground within 90 minutes. We said our goodbyes and parted ways. When it was all said and done, I’m glad we made it to the bridge and met these soulfully experienced rail riders.
P.S. The Ramen was wonderful and Welshly Arms rocked it!
art.of.a.rock 