It’s been a long haul for me and my loyal partner “Rocky”. I thought riding the rails would be a cinch. But it turned out to be a harrowing journey for me and Rocky. First of all I figured I’d at least have a bale of hay to rest on in the box car that I hopped aboard yesterday. When I got in the box car it was completely empty, with just a hard wooden floor for me & my doggy to stretch out on. That was just fine by me until our train stopped in Booneville. Big, burley railroad workers started loading huge crates of fresh chicken eggs into the railcar I was hiding out in. By the time they were done me and Rocky were covered in bright yellow egg yolk. What a mess! But at least figured out where our final destination would be. The wooden crates that carried the chicken eggs were stamped “Pacifica City”. I knew then that we were headed to the ocean…and that’s where this rail journey ended. We were tired and hungry. My loyal dog Rocky guided me from the ocean side rail yard to a nearby “Hobo” camp. Hobo’s, Vagabonds, and little runaway’s like me all need a nice camp site once the sun sets. I spotted an empty tent near an old tree that made for a perfect shelter for us two tired souls. I took a dip in a nearby stream to get all of that crusty egg yolk off of me and then started to make plans for the next leg of our journey. Good thing I found an old map. Now the World could be ours…and I had a perfect “dog eared” map that’ll get us to where we want to go! Honestly, I do miss my Mommy & Daddy! I wish they could see me now! Maybe they’d even be proud of me if they weren’t so mad at me for runnin’ away! But boys will be boys and me & Rocky are itching for an adventure! Before turning in for the night we had to satisfy our grumbling tummies. Rocky fetched us some scrap wood and I made a fire. But we didn’t even have any meat to grill. All I had was a bag of marshmallows. After eating two dozen of those delightful, puffy balls of sugar we were content for the night. Me and Rocky curled up together in our stinky tent and fell fast asleep. Tomorrow would be a big day. My plan is to find the biggest ship in the port and stow away.   To be continued…..