Wednesday, July 14, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
A younger John Reiminger looks over the top of a freight train traveling through western Kansas on the first day of spring break, 1984. Contributed photo.
A train-hopper's traveling tale
Continued from page 1B
"The train came over the trestle moving slowly." Reimringer said. "We ran alongside it and jumped on the back of a grain car they have ladders, and you can grab the ladder with one hand and then with the other hand, and then you jump."
"When I jumped, I did miss with one foot, and I had the sense of swinging, and then I caught the ladder with my shin, which hurt a lot, and then I climbed on up," he said.
His first jump was nearly a fall.
Of course they preferred to hop on trains that were standing still.
"But we didn't that first night — that's called catching it on the fly," Reimringer said. "The seven-day odyssey seemed like longer."
He talked for nearly an hour, telling of adventures that included run-ins with the law, as well as run-ins with the dubious sorts — the hardened railroad bums — the ones around whom Reimringer said he thought
twice about falling asleep.
Their journey took them as far as Juarez,
Mexico: their experiences took them farther.
They came to know life without guaranteed shelter. They felt the pang of hunger and faced the social isolation that those who live in the grimy world of "On The Road" feel when greeted by cold stares at a small cafe.
He said that a comforting thought throughout the trip had been the knowledge that, no matter how dirty, tired, cold or hungry they were, as college students, they always had a way out.
A stunning revelation to Reimringer had been that he didn't really agree with this quote by Kerouac after all: "There's nothing so noble as to put up with a few inconveniences like snakes and dirt for the sake of absolute freedom."
"We were constantly in danger from both sides of the law," he said.
"Having done it, I don't think we were free at all."
- Edited by Kimberly Erb
Danger of road lends adventure
Last summer I drove by myself to the West Coast for an internship. It was the first time I'd been past the Rockies. I remember driving across the California desert with not a hint of civilization in sight save the slash of asphalt running from one horizon to the next. I pulled my car to the side of the road and got out.
Continued from page 1B
Heat rolled off the scrubby earth in waves and, for the moment, I was the only human being for as far as my eye could see. Alone, in the desert.
Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I thought morbidly that if I was to set off walking into the desert, with no water, I would probably be done for by the day's end. I could be gone for days before anyone would worry (my mom learned long ago not to panic if I didn't call)
The danger factor is an element in road tripping. Staying home is safe, leaving is not. But without the risk it wouldn't be such a high.
I hopped back in the car and was moving once again. I was free. I would eat when I was hungry, sleep when I was tired and arrive when I was ready.
Anything was possible. In my mind, I conjured every imaginable future, lived it and made it vanish. I was utterly alone and utterly free. I was Jesse James; I was Jack Kerouac; I was a nomad with all my meager belongings in tow.
In the opening scene of My Own Private Idaho, Mike (River Phoenix) is standing in the middle of an abandoned stretch of highway.
"There's not another road anywhere that looks like this road," he says. "It's one of a kind. Like someone's face."
He holds his hand up to his face and takes in the unending expanse of blacktop through his splayed fingers. The simple gesture conveys a profound truth: The road is what you make of it.
It's for those who aren't afraid to make their own reality.
For those who aren't afraid to wander
Summer visitors see changes at Rockefeller Center
Burford is a Lawrence graduate student in journalism.
skating rink is being ripped apart.
NEW YORK — Attention New York City summer visitors: Don't be surprised when Rockefeller Center looks nothing like the way it's described in your guidebooks.
The Associated Press
While the Art Deco landmark is touted as a must-see site in the Big Apple, there isn't much to gaze at this summer. Much of the center is being renovated, and almost every store and many restaurants are closed. Whole sections of the streets and sidewalks are cordoned off.
No tours of Radio City Music Hall.
No drinks at the Rainbow Room.
Even the area around the famous
"It's unbelievable that there is scaffolding everywhere, and you can't walk on half the sidewalks," says Helen Schmidt, who was visiting from Germany. "I barely can find something to take a picture of."
"It's a stop worth missing when coming to New York this year."
The development of Rockefeller Center began in the early 1930s, and today the area is home to a 19 building complex covering 22 acres of prime real estate in the heart of midtown Manhattan. It extends between 5th and 7th avenues and 48th and 52nd streets.
The area's centerpiece — and most frequently visited area — is Rockefeller Plaza. Where the where the huge Christmas tree stands each holiday season, looming above the staking rink and the Channel Gardens, a walkway filled with beautiful flowers and lush greenery.
The tallest building in the plaza, at 70 stories, is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which is home to the Rainbow Room restaurant and bar on its top floor, as well as the television network NBC and many other corporate offices.
All the office buildings surrounding the plaza are built of limestone,
giving them an unusual color. Below the plaza is the underground concourse — once lined with restaurants and shops — that links all of the buildings in the complex.
But this summer, much of the architectural beauty of the plaza is under wraps. The area is undergoing a major face-lift as Rockefeller Center's landlord — Tishman-Speyer Properties — makes the legendary complex into an upscale shopping mecca.
Radio City will reopen in October, while the Rainbow Room is expected to begin serving meals again in a few months.
By Jennifer Roush Kansan columnist
Ah, those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. There's nothing to do except sit around and complain about how it's not the heat, it's the humidity. (I know how you feel. If I weren't taking six hours of classes and writing this fine column every week, I'd be bored stupid by now.)
Anyway, this week's trip through the Web is devoted to real vacations that require packing your stuff into a car, grabbing your best buddies and making some memories before you have to become productive members of society.
If life was a movie, this is the point where your friends would all sit up at once and yell, "Road trip!" (Hey, it could happen. I saw John Belushi do it in Animal House.)
It's got links to maps, travel information and points of interest in whichever city you plan to visit.
In other words. road trip!
www.tripquest.com
This site will help you figure out exactly how to get where you're going, once you figure out where that is.
www.aaa.com
The American Automobile Association can be a real life saver on the road in the event of a breakdown.
My mom is a member, and I've been with her a couple of times when they came out in the middle of the night and pouring rain to save our bacon.
It's worth the money you'll spend to join AAA.
Although I'm not generally in the business of giving shameless plugs to businesses in this column, I have to say that this organization is the real deal.
www.speedtrap.com
I wrote a story about this site for the Kansan last semester,
and the site still is going strong.
attr the site is going strong.
Basically, it's maintained by a couple of guys who really hate speeding tickets.
You can search the site by state and even find out where not to speed in foreign countries.
All the traps listed on the site were submitted by people who have seen them, so be warned that the information may be out of date by the time you travel.
```http://route66.netvision.be
Route 66 has been replaced by
interstate highways, but
stretches of it can still be
For movie buffs, it's worth noting that part of the footage from Natural Born Killers was shot along Old Route 62 in the middle of Gallup, N.M.
Jennifer Roush
joush@kansan.com
The Graves
of Wrath also contains some documentary footage of people taking Route 66 to California to escape the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
www.roadsideamerica.com From the sublime to the ridiculous, this site celebrates the campiness of America's roadside attractions.
You know, the world's largest ball of twine (Cawker City) or the world's largest hand-dug well (Greensburg). That sort of thing.
If it's tacky and reachable by car, this site has pictures of it and directions on how to get there.
Roush is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
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