American Nomads Page #3

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Thank you, Jesus.

Take a deep breath.

Jesus, I thank you.

Glory be to God. Say, me too!

'I look at Preacher Joe and see some

sort of deep American wellspring.

'He's part Scotch-Irish

and part Osage Indian.

'A throwback to those

frontier preachers,

'but in a motorhome

rather than a covered wagon.

'He'll be here for a few weeks

'and then he'll pack up the tent

and move on.

'He goes to Indian reservations

to preach to the alcoholics.

'He used to be

a bad alcoholic himself.

'He was an underground hard rock

miner, a boozer and a brawler,

'and you can see that same tough,

belligerent quality about him now.

'He stands there in his snakeskin

boots as if daring Satan to try him. '

Say yes, Lord. I have come

to receive.

In the name of Jesus.

Take a deep breath.

'Later that night,

an RV caught fire.

'I don't know how it started -

a mixture of cruel fate

'and complicated electrical systems.

'No-one was hurt or killed, but it was

the end of the road for this snowbird. '

And here is the charred remains

of a book about the joys of RV-ing.

It's about grilling up. Grilling up

a meal outside your RV in Alaska.

Your propane heat, your microwave

oven, your refrigerator-freezer.

Very sad. It's funny

what the fire has spared.

Everything is almost unrecognisable

but it's spared

this story about living a free and

easy carefree life, in this book.

'Desert nomads used to keep moving

to find water and grazing.

'Now people wander these deserts

to find happiness or escape,

'or to look for themselves.

'And for the sheer pleasure of

moving through these landscapes.

'There's another big tribe

in America that travels

'basically as an act of rebellion.

'Half-punk, half-tramp -

'they call themselves

travelling kids.

'Others call them gutter punks

or oogles,

'and an oogle's dog

is called a doogle.

'Meet Elizabeth, Kevin and Bill,

'emerging from the shade of

a railroad bridge in Arizona.

'It's late morning and they're already

well into their stash of beer and vodka.

'The dog's name is Dude.

Sure, why not?

'Two in the back, one in the passenger

seat. This could be interesting.

'They want a ride to Yuma, Arizona,

down on the Mexican border,

'where they intend to hop

a freight train going east.

'Why east? No particular reason.

The destination doesn't matter.

'The important thing

is to keep moving,

'away from responsibilities,

low-wage jobs

'and family life so bad, in the case

of Bill and Elizabeth,

'that the whole idea of home

is a sick joke to them. '

How was it you started travelling in

the first place? When I was young...

I'm going to say it because

that's really what happened.

My BLEEP molested me

when I was a kid.

So I pretty much grew up

and I was like, woah, that's wrong.

This shouldn't be happening.

Then I told my mom

and my mom told my dad

and my dad kicked my BLEEP out.

And so for some reason, my dad

always holds a grudge over him

kicking BLEEP out

but it's not my fault.

My dad's weird

so he thinks it is my fault.

I left when I was 16 and the first

thing I got on was a freight train.

Anybody for coffee? Anybody for

beer? Beer! Cerveza! All right.

'Bill is a self-harmer and a runaway

and his mother, he says,

'tried to get him locked up

in a mental institution.

'Elizabeth and Kevin are a couple. '

I've been on the road

for two and a half years,

she's been on the road for five.

Five years. I'm 30, I'm old.

I'm only 22.

When was the last time you

saw your mom? Last year? Last year.

My dad's really against my lifestyle,

but my mom, she's used to it already.

Like, every time I see her, I tell her

about my travels and stuff.

My mom is a fat piece of sh*t.

I hate her. Actually, I really do.

She sucks. Like, her house,

it's just garbage everywhere.

It goes up the walls.

It's so horrible.

I'll go there and I'll be like,

woah, Mom! What the hell?

It's horrible.

You get grossed out by the hygiene

that your mom displays.

Yes. She's disgusting.

I would run away when I was 13

and take off,

and they would come get me in

Kentucky and sh*t and bring me back.

And then I would run away again,

they'd come get me.

I ran away a bunch.

My parents, I hate my parents.

They screwed me over, man.

I like my life more now.

Like, these people are my family.

I meet these people on the road,

I'm like, they're my family.

You hate your life,

so you go places. Yeah.

Does it work? It does.

'They sleep rough and scrounge

for their food in dumpsters.

'They work odd jobs

and beg for money

'and spend most of it on alcohol,

tobacco and dog food.

'You can see similar types

in any city in Britain.

'The big difference here is

that they're fully nomadic.

'They travel hundreds of miles

a week by hitch-hiking

'and illegally hopping

the freight trains.

'It's not a life that most of us

would envy or recommend

'but it's one they've chosen.

'A kind of reckless, debauched

adventure, leading who knows where. '

Come here, Bill. Come here, Bill.

Get over here, buddy. Billy!

Come on, come on.

'I dropped them off by

the train tracks in Yuma, Arizona.

'I wished them well and they told me

about a big gathering

'of travelling anarchists,

hippies and misfits

'a few hours away

in the California desert.

'It's some kind of abandoned

Marine base, they said,

'and its name is Slab City.

'This is the Mojave desert, one of

the hottest and driest in the world.

'Hell on Earth in summer,

but pleasant and warm now in winter.

'When this was a Marine base,

there were buildings here.

'Now the buildings have been torn

down but the concrete slabs remain.

'Hence Slab City.

It's pretty ratty and squalid.

'A straggle of trailers

and caravans and RVs. '

Looks like some RV encampment

on an alien crash site.

If it was in a city,

it would be a block of squats,

but instead it's sprawled out

over the desert in trailers.

And wrecked school buses.

'The two great advantages of this place are that

it's free to live here, and it's virtually lawless.

'There are plenty of

guns and drugs around.

'But the police stay away

most of the time,

'and the ownership of this ground is tied

up in some seemingly endless legal dispute.

'In the meantime,

what you have here is a TAZ,

'a Temporary Autonomous Zone,

'that exists outside the rules

of society and the law.

'It's right next to

a military gunnery range,

'a patch of ground

that no-one else wants.

'It's lit up by tracer fire

and missiles at night,

'and subject to regular

explosions during the day. '

Hi, there. I'm just looking

for a place to camp. Any rules here?

Well, no, huh?

Just don't aggravate your neighbours,

raise hell after nine

or ten o'clock at night,

we can't encourage that.

There's not really any rules as such.

If a place is occupied,

don't try to push 'em out.

You might get hurt.

Yeah, yeah.

How you doing? Hi, there.

Just thought I'd bring you up some

flyers from our talent show here.

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