“Hobo Day” ended with a hobo meal and train ride a few miles down the road from Boston. (KY, that is) ....
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The sun was hot, the crowd was big and people were serving hobo stew, a plain turkey sandwich wrapped in a napkin under a shelter with a big hole torn in the tent (ventilation?). We stood in long, slow lines and I began to be transported back to a time when my father was a child and got suspended from Catholic school in Louisville for commenting that people waiting in line for Communion looked like people in the “dole line.”....
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When I finally reached the front of the line and fetched my dinner, I took it to a concrete place and sat eating it with Les Gustavson-Zook. After eating, I took a nap, and when I awoke the black iron bars surrounding us made me think for a moment that I was in jail!....
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We climbed aboard the train with our instruments (the instructors’ job was to lead singing in each car throughout the train ride.) Because the food had run out, and the thick blanket of heat and humidity was hugging everyone so close, people were restless and frustrated. ....
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I was fortunate to land in an air-conditioned car, so the heat was relieved. I had also chosen to bring my banjammer with me (a banjo-mountain dulcimer hybrid.) That turned out to be a serendipitous choice! As we got underway and began playing, our car had too many musicians in it and had 4 separate jam sessions going on. Rick Thum had been assigned the task of making certain every car had music so he began parceling us out. I stayed in my car and Robert Force began leading singing. I played along and sang until the banjo player sitting across from me commented about the softer, gentler voice of my instrument. I took the mute out from behind the head and it came alive. Then I stood and set the instrument on some seat backs and began to play and sing in earnest; our car was full of enthusiastic singers and players and music filled the air and our ears for the remainder of the ride!....
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The next day, Robert observed: “Playing on a moving train: I’ll bet that’s the banjo/banjammer’s dream! At what other time do people tell you: PLAY THAT THING LOUDER?!”....
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To recuperate from the day, I headed down to the pool for a swim. It was dark, but I could tell how tired I was when Bob Flory noted that my swimsuit was inside out! ....
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Reinvigorated from the cool dip and swimming some laps, I quickly changed and grabbed my guitar to sit in with the old-timey jam that was going on at the poolside. By the time I got there, the session had already moved through D tunes and G tunes and were flailing away on some marvelous A tunes that I’d never heard. We finished up with Rick Thum kneeling and hammering away on his dulcimer in the middle of the group (where the sound is the best). As my daughter would say, “Yep, good times.”....
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