It was Thursday night, and our hobos were trying out a new urban campground. It was above a nice shed in the backyard of Jake’s aunt and uncle. Jake liked to set up his hammock very taught, while Pug preferred the sagging hammock style, so they were able to criss-cross their hammocks in an X-formation for the perfect set up under that shed roof.


The shed came complete with a slide, providing the perfect quick escape into the house, where Aunt Jeni had prepared some delicious breakfast burritos for the boys. They graciously devoured the burritos and packed up. Jeni and Paul (Jake’s aunt and uncle) had invited them to go mountain biking in American Fork Canyon. It was absolutely beautiful.


They biked about 15 miles, and Paul, Jeni, John, and Jordan were nearly impossible to keep up with, but it was a blast. After several harsh climbs, one of our hobos, who clearly wasn’t accustomed to being served such lavish meals for breakfast, wasn’t able to keep his food in, and thus left a present for the wildlife on the side of the trail. The group rode a complete loop and at one point returned to the gift Pug had left for the wildlife. His inner hobo instincts kicked in as he considered recycling his breakfast in order to acquire a bit of additional energy. After a wrestle inside his mind, he opted to go against his primal hobo urges…for now at least. This ended up being a fantastic decision because after the ride, Uncle Paul bought Jimmy John’s sandwiches for the whole crew. Jake’s cousins also told the hobos about a deal where if you download the isis mobile wallet app on your smart phone, you can get a free jamba juice every time you go into the store. The hobos were very fond of the word free so they took advantage of it. Over the weekend, Jake consumed a total of 5 free Jamba Juices, and Pug snagged a couple as well.

The hobos had split once more. Pug had gone to Las Vegas with a couple of beautiful women, none other than the infamous Ashton and Christine. Pug taught the girls a few hobo tricks, such as sneaking into nice hotel swimming pools, befriending children who had access to unlimited free soda, chicken nuggets, etc. and many other commonplace hobo tactics. It made for a very adventure filled weekend.



Jake spent much of the weekend with family, playing racquetball with the lovely mother, then dirt biking with the splendid father. They had climbed to Francis Peak, which Jake guessed was about 15 miles up with an elevation gain somewhere around 4500 feet. He was shocked to see a few mountain bikers reaching the summit, and committed then and there that he would one day do that ride on his mountain bike.

His little sister, Annie, was also curious about the hobo life (Actually, she just wanted to go camping) so Jake set up a couple hammocks in the driveway between his car and the basketball hoop and got Annie addicted to the freeing ways of the hammocking hobo. Mom even tried out the hammock, but they couldn’t convince her to stay in it longer than a couple minutes. Someday, thought Jake. Someday.


After the fulfilling weekend, the terror came when Jake realized it was Sunday night, and Pug was still in Vegas. This meant that Jake would be flying solo as a hobo tonight. He went to the usual softball field, set up the hammock, and quickly jumped in. The wind flapped against the hammock in such a way that Jake was sure he could hear footsteps coming closer and closer to him. He popped his head out of the hammock like a meerkat, only to find that he was indeed alone. The sound continued, and Jake’s heart pounded as he envisioned a mountain lion sneaking up to him and bear hugging him with his massive paws, then sinking his teeth deep into Jake’s neck. Luckily for Jake, these wild imaginations did not come to fruition and he finally found sleep…only to be again rudely awakened at 6 AM by the obnoxious magpies screaming at the top of their little bitty lungs. He was frustrated until about a half hour later, when he had a rare encounter with a wild jack rabbit. He watched the rabbit for about a half hour, who seemed quite content eating weeds just a few feet from Jake. He realized he had survived the night, and was ready for a full day of studying, and to once again be reunited with his hobo buddy, Pug, who would return later that day. Jake had learned a valuable lesson that hoboing was much more enjoyable as a group activity, than it was if you were flying solo.

