The Modern Migrant: Living as a Hobo in Today's World

by Elizabel Sartin Riggs

Written for Dr. Patricia Hamilton's ENG 318 course in October 2015

"Between hitchhiking, weather, and the sometimes unknown of where I'll be sleeping… it's been important to just be patient… This, of course, becomes easier over time." — Kenny Flannery, interview (Flannery, "Potential")

Throughout the history of America, the term "hobo" has represented many things—harvest time, an extra pair of hands, and an opportunity lying at the end of the train tracks. Literature paints an idealized portrait of a man with a toothy grin, walking down the road, all his belongings strung up in a handkerchief at the end of a pole. But in today's ever-changing world, is it possible to make ends meet and enjoy a safe, sustainable lifestyle as a hobo? The open road is risky business.

While the word "homeless" still strikes an unpleasant chord in the minds of the stability-seeking public, perhaps life might be easier without an attachment to a particular geographical location. For some, the uncluttered highway is seen as a welcoming place that facilitates experiencing the world in new, thrilling ways. Wanderlust keeps them on the move. These modern-day hobos are proving to the world— using verbiage such as "sustainability," "security," and "hard work"—that it is possible to live a comfortable roaming life for years. This embraced homelessness is being redefined as not only a doable endeavor, but also a profitable one. Thanks to an excellent work ethic, today's hobos are pointing back to their early American roots while embracing the future as well.

Although hobos have been a part of America since the beginning, they started to truly draw the attention of society as research about their lifestyle began to surface in the 1900's. Written in 1923, Nels Anderson's in-depth study of hobo culture, "The Hobo: the Sociology of the Homeless Man," focused on both the good and bad effects that homelessness was having nationwide. Anderson homed in on Chicago in particular for his case study. In an attempt to differentiate between the various types of homeless people, Anderson quotes fellow researcher and former hobo, Dr. Ben L. Reitman: "There are three types of genus vagrant: the hobo, the tramp, and the bum. The hobo works and wanders, the tramp dreams and wanders and the bum drinks and wanders" (87). Anderson expands this definition with insight from St. John Tucker, the then-president of Chicago's "Hobo College," who adds that "[a] hobo is a migratory worker. A tramp is a migratory non-worker. A bum is a stationary non-worker. Upon the labor of the migratory worker all the basic industries depend. He goes forth… to hew the forests, build and repair the railroads, tunnel mountains and build ravines. He is labor that harvests the wheat in the fall and cuts the ice in the winter. All of these men are hobos" (Anderson 87).

As Tucker points out, migratory labor was the hidden lifeblood in the American economy at the time. Without migrant workers, society would have been wanting for laborers in multiple industries. In his book, "Tales of an American Hobo," Charles Elmer Fox, a hobo turned writer in the 20th century, notes that there were an estimated 100,000 hobos wandering the United States in the 1920's (4). With such large groups of people moving around the country, the hobo movement was rather difficult to miss.

While Reitman and Tucker's specific definitions of a hobo were penned decades ago, they still ring true today in the hobo community, with modern hobo bloggers accurately referring to themselves as hobos because of their work on the road. And their work has only grown in scope as technology has made the world more accessible.

Nora Dunn, a professional writer and current hobo, runs a blog entitled "The Professional Hobo." Having sold her financial practice in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, Dunn took to traveling after selling the majority of her belongings (Dunn, "About" par. 1). "Since early 2007, I've been on the road, traveling slowly through over 30 countries and five continents. I have lived a variety of lifestyles by working in trade for my accommodation. My location independent writing career takes care of the rest of the expenses. As such, I can travel in a financially sustainable manner like this for as long as I wish. And I plan to" ("About" par. 2-3). As a former Certified Financial Planner (Dunn, "Financial" par. 1), Dunn assures her readers that it is possible to travel in a financially stable way even if the next meal, bed, or job is not yet in sight. Her blog is filled with practical information on everything from how to get the cheapest airfare to couch surfing ("Financial" par. 15-16).

As The Professional Hobo, Dunn realized the importance of work while traveling early on in her journey. Dunn wrote an article entitled "Dear Nora: 11 Ways to Earn Money While You Travel" for the Canadian finance site, CreditWalk. In it she suggests 11 different jobs that itinerants can hold while on the road. Several jobs are writing based, including blogging, travel writing, and freelancing (Dunn, "Dear Nora" par. 9-12). But she also includes practical things that can be done on location such as teaching English, working on boats, and running an online business ("Dear Nora" par. 14, 17, 22). "If you are planning a longer or more open-ended trip," Dunn suggests, "working along the way becomes more viable (and necessary), and also a culturally immersive and rewarding experience… Consider how long it will take you to find a job once you arrive if you're travelling... Don't count on jobs you don't yet have; have some money saved to float you in the meantime" ("Dear Nora" par. 25).

For Dunn, there is not much in her mind that separates her from the hobos of the past. In an email interview I conducted with Nora Dunn, she noted that "[t]he traditional 'hobos'... were migrant workers who usually traveled by train from destination to destination in search of work. When work dried up in one place, they hopped on a train to the next place, worked for a while, and repeated this pattern as needed. There are a variety of ways this ties into my own 'hobo' lifestyle… I don't have a home, and everything I own fits into my bag with which I travel… I love train travel - almost to a fault… [and] although my main form of income now comes from my location independent career as a writer, for many years one of my specialties was volunteering in trade for free accommodation, which is similar to the migrant work lifestyle of the original hobos" ("Quick Quote").

With their practices of constant travel and hard work being much the same as that of their historic equivalents, what appears to separate today's hobos from their 1900's counterparts is the reason why they travel. For hobos in the 1900's, finding work was the motivation for leaving their homes. But for their modern-day equivalents, the work is just the means to an end. While migrant work gives hobos like Dunn the ability to stay on the road, it is meant to facilitate more travel and more adventure. One such working traveler who is making waves in the media is hobo blogger Kenny Flannery. Much like Dunn, Flannery maintains a blog about his experiences called "Hobo Lifestyle."

In the article "Flannery's Bar Crawl… around the World" featured in Ireland's Independent.ie, Graham Clifford interviewed Flannery as he traipsed through the Irish countryside. Flannery began his hobo lifestyle in 2007. Striking out after college at the age of 22 (Clifford, par. 7), Flannery—who refers to himself as a "freestyle traveler" (par. 19)—had no firm plans to follow. He saved up $2,000 and struck out from Wyoming, working odd jobs on boats and farms along the West Coast, until his travels finally led him to Ireland (Clifford, par. 7, 9). But for Flannery, his trip to the Emerald Isle was not predominantly about finding work. Using the hashtag "#FindingFlannerys" on Twitter (Flannery), he documented his travels to every public house named "Flannery" throughout the country. Along the way he received free lodging, complimentary pints of beer, and job opportunities thanks to plenty of publicity from local radio stations featuring his hitchhiking family quest (Clifford, par. 16-17). And when he arrived at Flannery's—a pub in Limerick where his family was thought to have hailed from—it was much like a "homecoming" for him (par. 18).

Throughout his travels, Flannery has relied heavily on hitchhiking as his main mode of transportation. Because of this, Flannery has come in contact with all sorts of people. But not all who have helped him are as friendly as they seem. "I was hitch-hiking in New Mexico a few years back," Flannery recounts. "And in the course of our conversation, the driver turns to me and tells me that he murdered someone and had never been caught for it. He said a man had raped his sister but didn't think anyone knew he did it. So the driver tells me he took the alleged attacker out on a little row boat on a lake one day, knowing he couldn't swim, and intentionally sank the boat. That was one weird journey" (Clifford, par. 11). Flannery chocks up his driver's openness to the fact that people feel safe confiding in him as they aren't likely to ever see him again. "[A]lso, if you're in the confines of a car, all you can do is chat," he adds (par. 12).

With such colorful characters at every turn, Flannery has plenty of fodder for his blog. But it amounts to more than that for him. "I love this lifestyle," Flannery explains to his readers. "The travel, the hitchhiking, the empty calendar that can be filled with endless anythings— it's all good. It's not about any one of those aspects entirely, it's about going with what's going, just loving it all" (Flannery, "FAQs," par. 20). When asked if he would ever put down roots in one particular place, Flannery didn't seem to think so. "I really don't know if I could go back [to that lifestyle]... I've been doing this for eight years, but I feel I've only seen a little of what's out there" (Clifford, par. 20).

The modern freestyle traveler is thriving in a world that is growing ever smaller. With the ability to get their story to the public through social media, hobos like Dunn and Flannery are receiving support from the global community. While the work may be hard and the conditions are not always favorable, these modern itinerants are finding creative ways to survive in both the city and the country, in America and beyond. "It's a great life," Flannery writes. "[Y]es, there can be difficult, tiring days, but they are outweighed with great ones where I get to meet fascinating people, some happy, some lost, but all fascinating" (Clifford, par. 21). And for these hobos, that is more than enough motivation to keep them on the road—free to live, work, and seek out new opportunities in an ever-shrinking world, just as so many migrant workers did before them.

Works Cited