"Hobos call a boxcar a wide-screen TV," says Snyder, dressed in a dusty pair of black overalls and layers of sweatshirts and jackets. "I just like traveling. That's why I do it."
Older, more experienced hobos hold conventions. Younger ones such as Snyder meet in places such as New Orleans for extended Halloween parties. But no one has a solid grasp on how many people hop trains these days. "Nobody's done any field work. Everybody is just guessing," says Daniel Leen, the Seattle-based author of an underground book called The Freighthopper's Manual for North America: Hoboing in the 21st Century.
(Another book to look out for when visiting PolyEster.) (link via bOING bOING)