The Hobo Soul

we made it about three-quarters of a mile before the engine died, inconveniently in the middle of a busy intersection. and when i say "we" i mean me and my new home...

...well, it was my new home then. you see, this was a few years ago; like 3 or 4 or 7 years ago.

single at the time, and living with a couple other guys in a house in huntington beach, my roommates and i had no idea what to do at first, when we came home and saw the eviction notice. with the housing bubble about to reach the tipping point and burst, our landlord could no longer afford to carry two mortgages, and decided to sell his first house and move into the home we had been renting for only a few months.

after the fog of disappointment wore off, i looked to two of my dear friends for inspiration: vern & jeff. at about the same time my roommates and i began renting the house in huntington, jeff & vern had moved into a 1973 winnebago which they had purchased in rosarito mexico. they paid no rent. they lived their life on the road... literally. and despite the lack of modern conveniences like electricity and a shower, the whole idea was quite appealing.

so, without haste [i only had 30 days to come up with a solution] i began scouring craigslist, ebay, the auto trader... whatever i could... to find my next home, and preferably one with four [or more] wheels.

...which brings us back to the intersection. having just purchased a 1974 clark cortez, in which i planned to reside, rent free, i was immediately faced with the realities of living in an rv, when we broke down, road-side, not even a mile later.

i'll be honest; i didn't last long. and most of my hobo days were spent in the driveway of a friend's house. but, for a short time, i embraced the life of a hobo... and it was kinda cool.

that was 3 or 4 or 7 years ago, and jeff & vern are still going strong. vern has since married and started the long beach film company. and jeff is following his passion in film, and staying true to the freedom life as a hobo has to offer. fittingly, his company is coined the hobo soul productions and he has recently headed up a number of incredible projects. for fun, i thought i would share one of their more recent short films.

enjoy.