American Nomads

0:00:02 > 0:00:05This film contains some strong language.

0:00:05 > 0:00:08'Wanderlust. Restlessness.

0:00:08 > 0:00:12'The urge to get out on the road and ride off into the sunset.

0:00:12 > 0:00:15'It's something deep and elemental in the American spirit.'

0:00:24 > 0:00:29Someone once asked Gertrude Stein to define America in a sentence.

0:00:29 > 0:00:32And, er...conceive a space filled with moving.

0:00:32 > 0:00:35That's very much how I think of America today.

0:00:38 > 0:00:43'This is a journey in search of American nomads. People who live a life of constant travel.

0:00:43 > 0:00:46'Who are they and why do they choose to live this way?

0:00:46 > 0:00:50'Why are there so many of them, especially in the American West?

0:00:50 > 0:00:53'I first got to know them as a fellow traveller.

0:00:53 > 0:00:56'I lived on the road for years

0:00:56 > 0:01:01'and wrote a book about the nomadic tribes and cultures I met along the way.

0:01:01 > 0:01:04'Now I have a rented house in Tucson, Arizona,

0:01:04 > 0:01:07'but I can't seem to spend more than three weeks there,

0:01:07 > 0:01:10'or anywhere else, without wanting leave.'

0:01:19 > 0:01:22Every time I come home...

0:01:22 > 0:01:25to, you know, the electricity bill and the gas bill

0:01:25 > 0:01:27and the internet bill and the phone bill

0:01:27 > 0:01:31and the cellphone bill and the water bill and the sewage bill

0:01:31 > 0:01:35and the credit card bill and the truck payment

0:01:35 > 0:01:38and the truck insurance and the renter's insurance,

0:01:38 > 0:01:41I kind of remember about, er...

0:01:41 > 0:01:43all those years I spent without an address.

0:01:43 > 0:01:47Without any bills, without any financial obligations,

0:01:47 > 0:01:50um...living in my truck,

0:01:50 > 0:01:52um...staying with friends,

0:01:52 > 0:01:56spending a lot of time just sleeping on the ground.

0:01:56 > 0:01:58That was my big ambition when I was a young man,

0:01:58 > 0:02:01to spend as many nights as possible sleeping in the dirt.

0:02:01 > 0:02:05'So let's get back out there.

0:02:05 > 0:02:08'These south-western states are the best place to find nomads

0:02:08 > 0:02:13'during the winter months, but there are no guarantees. You can't plan a journey like this.

0:02:13 > 0:02:17'We're looking for nomads, and by definition, they're all on the move.

0:02:17 > 0:02:22'So we're going to drift around on the highways and hope to cross paths with them.

0:02:22 > 0:02:25'I have faith in the serendipity of the road,

0:02:25 > 0:02:27'but bad things can definitely happen.

0:02:30 > 0:02:34'Some of these nomads live outside the law.

0:02:34 > 0:02:37'Some of them will be armed, some of them will be crazy.

0:02:37 > 0:02:39'Some of them, I hope, will be sweet, lovely and inspiring.

0:02:39 > 0:02:42'But it's not an easy life out there.

0:02:42 > 0:02:47'You have a lot of freedom on the road, but there's a much higher level of danger and hardship.'

0:03:09 > 0:03:12You get a little snapshot of roadside America here.

0:03:13 > 0:03:15TTT Truck Stop.

0:03:15 > 0:03:19And, um...a good place to find hitch-hikers.

0:03:19 > 0:03:22You get motorhomes stopping through here.

0:03:22 > 0:03:26Truckers stop to take a shower.

0:03:26 > 0:03:28Take a rest.

0:03:28 > 0:03:31And when the weather's a bit warmer, you find...

0:03:32 > 0:03:36..well, girls working these trucks, um....

0:03:36 > 0:03:38selling blowjobs and what have you.

0:03:45 > 0:03:51'I've spent a lot of time in truck stops like this. And most of the time, it's perfectly calm and safe.

0:03:51 > 0:03:54'But things can happen so suddenly and unexpectedly.

0:03:54 > 0:03:58'Moments ago, this hitch-hiker just had a brush with death.'

0:03:58 > 0:04:00- Give me a minute.- All right.

0:04:02 > 0:04:04First he pulled out a knife,

0:04:04 > 0:04:07started hitting me with it when it was collapsed.

0:04:07 > 0:04:09Then he pulled out a gun.

0:04:10 > 0:04:13At one point, I'm screaming, "Help! Help!" out the window.

0:04:14 > 0:04:16I thought I was going to be dead.

0:04:18 > 0:04:20I'll never make the same mistake.

0:04:21 > 0:04:23You carry a gun when you travel.

0:04:25 > 0:04:28What sort of gun would be ideal?

0:04:28 > 0:04:30- A big one.- A big gun?

0:04:30 > 0:04:32A big one so nobody fucks with you.

0:04:32 > 0:04:36You don't have to hit nothing with it. Just start running.

0:04:37 > 0:04:38Or pull out a bazooka.

0:04:40 > 0:04:42I don't...I'm a Buddhist.

0:04:42 > 0:04:44I've taken a vow of non-violence.

0:04:47 > 0:04:48And the guy was scary.

0:04:49 > 0:04:52- I'm bigger than him. - Why was he scary?

0:04:52 > 0:04:54Agitation, you know.

0:04:54 > 0:04:57I'm going to find my dad, tell him I love him.

0:04:59 > 0:05:01Tell him I'm stupid.

0:05:04 > 0:05:06Go to church. I'm going to go to church.

0:05:06 > 0:05:09First time in 20 years, probably.

0:05:15 > 0:05:16I have to thank God I'm alive.

0:05:20 > 0:05:23'So he was hitch-hiking and he got picked up by a crackhead woman

0:05:23 > 0:05:25'and her jealous crackhead boyfriend.

0:05:25 > 0:05:27'Out came the knife and the gun.

0:05:27 > 0:05:31'And our Buddhist friend is lucky to be alive.

0:05:31 > 0:05:33'Not really the American road at its best,

0:05:33 > 0:05:35'but certainly a raw slice of it.

0:05:35 > 0:05:39'Man, oh, man, even the Buddhists want guns out here.

0:05:39 > 0:05:41'They want bazookas.

0:06:01 > 0:06:03'Do I or don't I?

0:06:03 > 0:06:05'Is he armed and dangerous?

0:06:05 > 0:06:08'He looks old and tired, so probably not.

0:06:12 > 0:06:17'His name is Shelton Parker and he apologises for the way he smells.

0:06:17 > 0:06:18'He's 60 years old.

0:06:18 > 0:06:21'A gentleman of the road with some missing fingers

0:06:21 > 0:06:23'and some skeletons in his closet.'

0:06:23 > 0:06:24HE LAUGHS

0:06:25 > 0:06:28I don't put out my thumb, I just walk.

0:06:28 > 0:06:31Sometimes somebody will pull up and I'll say,

0:06:31 > 0:06:35"No, I'm just walking, thanks. I don't need a ride". It depends what they look like.

0:06:35 > 0:06:39I get stopped by police officers all the time to check to make sure I'm not wanted nowhere.

0:06:41 > 0:06:44I've been married five times and got two daughters

0:06:44 > 0:06:47and wasn't a good husband and a worse father, so...

0:06:51 > 0:06:53Tell me why you travel.

0:06:53 > 0:06:57Um...I'm just looking for a place I want to stay.

0:06:57 > 0:06:59And, er...I haven't found it yet.

0:07:01 > 0:07:04I guess I'm coming of age to where I-I-I-I should,

0:07:04 > 0:07:09- I should really start looking for something where I'm permanent, but... - Yeah.

0:07:09 > 0:07:14So, did your travelling have anything to do with your five marriages not working?

0:07:14 > 0:07:15Oh, I'm sure of that.

0:07:15 > 0:07:18What did your wives think of it?

0:07:18 > 0:07:21Well, all but one of them asked me to get married.

0:07:21 > 0:07:23Four out of the five.

0:07:23 > 0:07:24I told every one of them, I said,

0:07:24 > 0:07:27"If you like me now, you'll like me later.

0:07:27 > 0:07:31"But if you don't like me now, you're not going to like me later."

0:07:31 > 0:07:34Cos I'm not changing, I'm just the way I am.

0:07:34 > 0:07:37A couple of years down the line, "Oh, no, you can't do that".

0:07:37 > 0:07:40I said, "Whoa-whoa. Let's go back to day one".

0:07:41 > 0:07:46I guess stubbornness probably has a lot to do with it.

0:07:46 > 0:07:48I do a lot of travelling.

0:07:48 > 0:07:51I've been all over the United States.

0:07:51 > 0:07:52Over the years, you know.

0:07:52 > 0:07:54In between marriages.

0:07:54 > 0:07:57And, er...if I can't have a good day,

0:07:57 > 0:08:00and I haven't had a bad day out here on the road.

0:08:00 > 0:08:04No matter whether it's raining on me, I'm soaking wet or freezing

0:08:04 > 0:08:08or hot and sweating, I've never had a bad day out on the road.

0:08:08 > 0:08:09HE LAUGHS

0:08:12 > 0:08:15'I rode with Shelton for 400 miles.

0:08:15 > 0:08:16'He took a nap in the back

0:08:16 > 0:08:20'and woke up when we arrived in El Paso, Texas.'

0:08:20 > 0:08:22Go down...

0:08:24 > 0:08:26OK. See them towers...?

0:08:26 > 0:08:28Is that church steeples on the left over there?

0:08:28 > 0:08:32- No.- No. No.

0:08:32 > 0:08:34Yeah. That way, we won't be in front.

0:08:34 > 0:08:35Come on out.

0:08:38 > 0:08:41'He's here to collect a government cheque,

0:08:41 > 0:08:43'and then he's going 300 miles across Texas

0:08:43 > 0:08:46'because there might be temporary work there.

0:08:46 > 0:08:48'He's a drifter, essentially.

0:08:48 > 0:08:51'A loner with chronic wanderlust.

0:09:15 > 0:09:17'I'll give you my definition of a nomad

0:09:17 > 0:09:20'which I stole from a French philosopher.

0:09:20 > 0:09:24'A nomad is someone who doesn't feel stable when stationary.

0:09:24 > 0:09:28'A nomad feels stable when experiencing velocity.

0:09:29 > 0:09:31'Some of them go alone, like Shelton,

0:09:31 > 0:09:34'others move around in tribes.

0:09:39 > 0:09:41'And the biggest tribe of nomads in America today,

0:09:41 > 0:09:46'perhaps unexpectedly, are elderly and affluent.

0:09:46 > 0:09:48'They travel around in huge motorhomes,

0:09:48 > 0:09:52'also known as recreational vehicles or RVs.

0:09:57 > 0:10:00'Every winter, tens of thousands of RV-ers

0:10:00 > 0:10:03'converge on the small town of Quartzsite, Arizona.

0:10:03 > 0:10:06'There are RV parks in town with plug-in electricity,

0:10:06 > 0:10:08'water and cable television,

0:10:08 > 0:10:12'and a huge expanse of surrounding desert where the more intrepid

0:10:12 > 0:10:14'can camp for free.'

0:10:23 > 0:10:28OK, we're looking for the desert encampment of RV clubs.

0:10:29 > 0:10:34They tend to all camp together and live quite a regimented life

0:10:34 > 0:10:36while they're out here in the desert.

0:10:36 > 0:10:40In particular, we're looking for those club members

0:10:40 > 0:10:42that do this full-time.

0:10:42 > 0:10:46People who've sold their houses, said goodbye to their children

0:10:46 > 0:10:51and grandchildren and are now living this nomadic retirement.

0:10:53 > 0:10:55It is an odd thing, if you think about it.

0:11:00 > 0:11:03I'm getting a bit of a glint on the roofs here.

0:11:03 > 0:11:05I think they should be down here to the left somewhere.

0:11:05 > 0:11:10There's a lot of desert here and they spread themselves far and wide.

0:11:14 > 0:11:18Scapee's RV Club Boondockers. That sounds like a good place to start.

0:11:19 > 0:11:24Boondocking is the RV-ing term for camping without being hooked up

0:11:24 > 0:11:28to electricity, water and sewage lines.

0:11:30 > 0:11:33The guys who are full-timers

0:11:33 > 0:11:36tend to do more boondocking than the part-timers.

0:11:43 > 0:11:48- Hi there.- Hi.- Are you all the boondockers?

0:11:48 > 0:11:51- Are you the boondockers? - Yeah, this is the fire circle.

0:11:51 > 0:11:54We're just over here visiting for the night.

0:11:54 > 0:11:56- OK, this is their fire circle.- Yeah.

0:11:58 > 0:12:01'It's cocktail hour and it has the feel

0:12:01 > 0:12:04'of a suburban garden party transplanted into the desert.

0:12:04 > 0:12:09'These people come squarely out of the mainstream of American society.

0:12:09 > 0:12:12'They worked hard, paid their taxes and raised their families.

0:12:12 > 0:12:15'Then they reached retirement and they did something radical

0:12:15 > 0:12:18'and unprecedented - they sold their houses,

0:12:18 > 0:12:23'sunk the money into the most luxurious RVs they could afford,

0:12:23 > 0:12:25'said goodbye to their families and hit the road.

0:12:27 > 0:12:30'Doug and Sharon Henry are intending to spend everything

0:12:30 > 0:12:32'they have on a wonderful, freewheeling retirement

0:12:32 > 0:12:35'and they joke about leaving zero to their children.

0:12:35 > 0:12:39'Their RV cost a quarter of a million dollars.'

0:12:40 > 0:12:43Wow. Recessed lighting.

0:12:43 > 0:12:48- What is this? - That's like a granite counter-top.

0:12:48 > 0:12:51It's a faux-granite counter-top.

0:12:51 > 0:12:54And it extends out so you can seat four people.

0:12:55 > 0:13:00- Got your comfortable chairs.- Very comfortable.- This makes into a bed.

0:13:02 > 0:13:05Four slides, two in the front and two in the bedroom.

0:13:05 > 0:13:07It slides out into about 400 square feet in here.

0:13:07 > 0:13:14- You've got the refrigerator with the freezer below with icemaker.- Oh, wow.

0:13:14 > 0:13:17All runs off of battery if you want it to.

0:13:17 > 0:13:21Got an 8000W generator in it to keep the batteries up,

0:13:21 > 0:13:23so it's just like home.

0:13:24 > 0:13:27- It certainly is.- Very nice.

0:13:27 > 0:13:30Four televisions in it - three inside and one outside.

0:13:30 > 0:13:31Got a nice queen-sized bed

0:13:31 > 0:13:34and I have an option for a king if you want to.

0:13:34 > 0:13:41- Big wardrobe, closet, washer-dryer. - Wow.- Closets.- The bed lifts up.

0:13:41 > 0:13:44For storage, a huge storage area down here.

0:13:44 > 0:13:48That was to be the wine cellar at the moment but...

0:13:48 > 0:13:52Got central air conditioning, two zones - one for the bedroom,

0:13:52 > 0:13:54one for the living area.

0:13:54 > 0:13:58It's got hydronic heating so it's continuous hot water.

0:14:01 > 0:14:02It's roughing it.

0:14:02 > 0:14:06- Roughing it out here in the desert. - Quartzsite style.

0:14:08 > 0:14:10'Nomads are always hard to count

0:14:10 > 0:14:13'but the best estimate is that 3 million Americans are now

0:14:13 > 0:14:16'roaming around permanently in RVs

0:14:16 > 0:14:19'and that 90% of them are over the age of 55.

0:14:21 > 0:14:25'These RVs are parked in a big circle around the campfire in the same way

0:14:25 > 0:14:29'that the pioneers crossing the plains would circle their wagons at night.'

0:14:29 > 0:14:33We just wanted to go adventuring. We can't explain it.

0:14:33 > 0:14:37- What happened to the house you lived in?- We sold it.

0:14:40 > 0:14:44We wanted to start RV-ing and we kept our house for about a year

0:14:44 > 0:14:47and a half just to make sure we liked the lifestyle.

0:14:47 > 0:14:48After about a year and a half,

0:14:48 > 0:14:52we decided we would like to continue doing this.

0:14:54 > 0:14:57It was convenient to sell the house at that time.

0:14:59 > 0:15:03So that freed us of that connection. It's been really good for us.

0:15:03 > 0:15:06It's made us a lot closer.

0:15:06 > 0:15:11We spend 24 hours a day together and we still like each other.

0:15:12 > 0:15:15'The RV-ers are also known as snowbirds.

0:15:15 > 0:15:19'They're white-haired and they migrate south in winter

0:15:19 > 0:15:22'to these warm, dry deserts and they make their way slowly north again

0:15:22 > 0:15:24'when the deserts get too hot.

0:15:24 > 0:15:28'They drop in on their grandchildren once or twice a year.

0:15:28 > 0:15:30'They've really untethered themselves

0:15:30 > 0:15:34'from family, responsibility, any obligations at all.'

0:15:48 > 0:15:52I feel a bit envious of these snowbirds.

0:15:53 > 0:15:57It seems so damn pleasant, sitting on your lawn chair.

0:15:59 > 0:16:03In that winter sun, nothing much to do all day.

0:16:03 > 0:16:06See your friends, look forward to cocktail hour.

0:16:06 > 0:16:09They seem extraordinarily content.

0:16:14 > 0:16:18'I've heard that a travelling preacher has just arrived.

0:16:18 > 0:16:22'I've never met one before, but I've read about them in novels and history books

0:16:22 > 0:16:25'and they always sounded like strange and intriguing characters.

0:16:25 > 0:16:28'He's pitched his tent on the edge of town and agreed to meet me

0:16:28 > 0:16:32'in his motorhome. His name is Joe Ferguson.'

0:16:32 > 0:16:35- Hello, inside.- Come in.- All right.

0:16:38 > 0:16:40- Come right on in.- All right.

0:16:40 > 0:16:46I'm 71 years old. I got saved at 37.

0:16:46 > 0:16:51God taught me for eight years before I done anything.

0:16:51 > 0:16:57Praise the Lord. And at 44 years old, I started in the tent ministry.

0:16:57 > 0:16:59Praise the Lord.

0:16:59 > 0:17:06My wife went home to be with the Lord in January of 2010.

0:17:06 > 0:17:08The 13th of January.

0:17:08 > 0:17:13So I've been alone just over a year, but I've never backed off.

0:17:13 > 0:17:15I just keep on trucking.

0:17:16 > 0:17:21This right here is a mansion, compared to what we started out in.

0:17:21 > 0:17:27When my wife and I went on the road, we had a 21-foot trailer.

0:17:27 > 0:17:30We lived in that trailer...

0:17:34 > 0:17:38..with a wife and a young boy,

0:17:38 > 0:17:41home-schooling him

0:17:41 > 0:17:44and we lived in that for seven and a half years.

0:17:44 > 0:17:46What you see is what I am.

0:17:46 > 0:17:50The most gorgeous white and purple tent,

0:17:50 > 0:17:53and it's beautiful, it's gorgeous.

0:17:53 > 0:17:57But everything you see has been given to us.

0:17:59 > 0:18:01It's by the hand of God.

0:18:08 > 0:18:13We do probably 250-300 meetings a year for the past 20 years

0:18:13 > 0:18:17and I am still as on fire, even maybe more so,

0:18:17 > 0:18:19than I was in the beginning.

0:18:19 > 0:18:21Because the Lord said,

0:18:21 > 0:18:25the latter house will be greater than the former.

0:18:25 > 0:18:29You know what's good? For brethren to dwell together.

0:18:29 > 0:18:34And I am so glad that the Lord drew you here tonight.

0:18:34 > 0:18:39Reach over and tell somebody, you're not here by chance.

0:18:39 > 0:18:40You're here by opportunity.

0:18:40 > 0:18:43Praise the Lord. Glory be to Him.

0:18:43 > 0:18:47'The travelling tent ministry is an American institution that

0:18:47 > 0:18:50'arose in the 19th century in response to a transient population

0:18:50 > 0:18:52'on the frontiers.

0:18:52 > 0:18:55'It made no sense for a preacher to build himself a church

0:18:55 > 0:18:58'when the souls he wanted to save were on the move.

0:18:58 > 0:19:01'When the next boomtown might spring up anywhere

0:19:01 > 0:19:03'and go bust just as quickly.

0:19:03 > 0:19:06'So preachers started travelling with tents.

0:19:06 > 0:19:08'Some of them were hucksters, dispensing snake oils

0:19:08 > 0:19:10'and using shills in the audience

0:19:10 > 0:19:13'to demonstrate their miraculous healing powers.

0:19:13 > 0:19:17'Others were staunchly devout men of God, like Joe Ferguson here.'

0:19:17 > 0:19:19I always say it like this.

0:19:19 > 0:19:25If you don't have Jesus in your life, try Him.

0:19:27 > 0:19:31We're going to open up. You come up here and line up across here.

0:19:31 > 0:19:32Those of you that have a need.

0:19:32 > 0:19:37Those of you that need healing, restoration.

0:19:37 > 0:19:41If you need a jumpstart in your life, come up.

0:19:41 > 0:19:43Come up and receive prayer.

0:19:43 > 0:19:47You'll be amazed at the change that the laying-on of hands

0:19:47 > 0:19:49will do in your life.

0:19:49 > 0:19:52Thank you, Jesus. Take a deep breath.

0:19:57 > 0:20:01Jesus, I thank you. Glory be to God. Say, me too!

0:20:01 > 0:20:06'I look at Preacher Joe and see some sort of deep American wellspring.

0:20:06 > 0:20:09'He's part Scotch-Irish and part Osage Indian.

0:20:09 > 0:20:12'A throwback to those frontier preachers,

0:20:12 > 0:20:14'but in a motorhome rather than a covered wagon.

0:20:14 > 0:20:16'He'll be here for a few weeks

0:20:16 > 0:20:20'and then he'll pack up the tent and move on.

0:20:20 > 0:20:23'He goes to Indian reservations to preach to the alcoholics.

0:20:23 > 0:20:26'He used to be a bad alcoholic himself.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30'He was an underground hard rock miner, a boozer and a brawler,

0:20:30 > 0:20:35'and you can see that same tough, belligerent quality about him now.

0:20:35 > 0:20:40'He stands there in his snakeskin boots as if daring Satan to try him.'

0:20:40 > 0:20:43Say yes, Lord. I have come to receive.

0:20:43 > 0:20:46In the name of Jesus. Take a deep breath.

0:20:55 > 0:20:58'Later that night, an RV caught fire.

0:20:58 > 0:21:00'I don't know how it started - a mixture of cruel fate

0:21:00 > 0:21:04'and complicated electrical systems.

0:21:04 > 0:21:08'No-one was hurt or killed, but it was the end of the road for this snowbird.'

0:21:31 > 0:21:38And here is the charred remains of a book about the joys of RV-ing.

0:21:40 > 0:21:46It's about grilling up. Grilling up a meal outside your RV in Alaska.

0:21:46 > 0:21:51Your propane heat, your microwave oven, your refrigerator-freezer.

0:21:51 > 0:21:55Very sad. It's funny what the fire has spared.

0:21:55 > 0:22:02Everything is almost unrecognisable but it's spared

0:22:02 > 0:22:07this story about living a free and easy carefree life, in this book.

0:22:33 > 0:22:37'Desert nomads used to keep moving to find water and grazing.

0:22:37 > 0:22:40'Now people wander these deserts to find happiness or escape,

0:22:40 > 0:22:43'or to look for themselves.

0:22:43 > 0:22:47'And for the sheer pleasure of moving through these landscapes.

0:23:05 > 0:23:08'There's another big tribe in America that travels

0:23:08 > 0:23:10'basically as an act of rebellion.

0:23:10 > 0:23:12'Half-punk, half-tramp -

0:23:12 > 0:23:14'they call themselves travelling kids.

0:23:14 > 0:23:19'Others call them gutter punks or oogles,

0:23:19 > 0:23:22'and an oogle's dog is called a doogle.

0:23:25 > 0:23:27'Meet Elizabeth, Kevin and Bill,

0:23:27 > 0:23:31'emerging from the shade of a railroad bridge in Arizona.

0:23:31 > 0:23:36'It's late morning and they're already well into their stash of beer and vodka.

0:23:36 > 0:23:40'The dog's name is Dude. Sure, why not?

0:23:40 > 0:23:44'Two in the back, one in the passenger seat. This could be interesting.

0:23:45 > 0:23:49'They want a ride to Yuma, Arizona, down on the Mexican border,

0:23:49 > 0:23:52'where they intend to hop a freight train going east.

0:23:52 > 0:23:57'Why east? No particular reason. The destination doesn't matter.

0:23:57 > 0:23:59'The important thing is to keep moving,

0:23:59 > 0:24:02'away from responsibilities, low-wage jobs

0:24:02 > 0:24:05'and family life so bad, in the case of Bill and Elizabeth,

0:24:05 > 0:24:08'that the whole idea of home is a sick joke to them.'

0:24:10 > 0:24:15- How was it you started travelling in the first place?- When I was young...

0:24:18 > 0:24:22I'm going to say it because that's really what happened.

0:24:22 > 0:24:26My BLEEP molested me when I was a kid.

0:24:26 > 0:24:32So I pretty much grew up and I was like, woah, that's wrong.

0:24:32 > 0:24:34This shouldn't be happening.

0:24:34 > 0:24:37Then I told my mom and my mom told my dad

0:24:37 > 0:24:39and my dad kicked my BLEEP out.

0:24:39 > 0:24:45And so for some reason, my dad always holds a grudge over him

0:24:45 > 0:24:49kicking BLEEP out but it's not my fault.

0:24:49 > 0:24:53My dad's weird so he thinks it is my fault.

0:24:55 > 0:25:01I left when I was 16 and the first thing I got on was a freight train.

0:25:06 > 0:25:14- Anybody for coffee? Anybody for beer?- Beer!- Cerveza!- All right.

0:25:17 > 0:25:21'Bill is a self-harmer and a runaway and his mother, he says,

0:25:21 > 0:25:24'tried to get him locked up in a mental institution.

0:25:24 > 0:25:27'Elizabeth and Kevin are a couple.'

0:25:27 > 0:25:29I've been on the road for two and a half years,

0:25:29 > 0:25:32she's been on the road for five.

0:25:32 > 0:25:38- Five years.- I'm 30, I'm old. - I'm only 22.

0:25:38 > 0:25:43- When was the last time you saw your mom?- Last year?- Last year.

0:25:46 > 0:25:49My dad's really against my lifestyle,

0:25:49 > 0:25:51but my mom, she's used to it already.

0:25:53 > 0:25:56Like, every time I see her,I tell her about my travels and stuff.

0:25:56 > 0:26:03My mom is a fat piece of shit. I hate her. Actually, I really do.

0:26:03 > 0:26:10She sucks. Like, her house, it's just garbage everywhere.

0:26:11 > 0:26:15It goes up the walls. It's so horrible.

0:26:15 > 0:26:19I'll go there and I'll be like, woah, Mom! What the hell?

0:26:20 > 0:26:21It's horrible.

0:26:21 > 0:26:24You get grossed out by the hygiene that your mom displays.

0:26:24 > 0:26:28Yes. She's disgusting.

0:26:28 > 0:26:33I would run away when I was 13 and take off,

0:26:33 > 0:26:38and they would come get me in Kentucky and shit and bring me back.

0:26:38 > 0:26:42And then I would run away again, they'd come get me.

0:26:42 > 0:26:46I ran away a bunch. My parents, I hate my parents.

0:26:46 > 0:26:51They screwed me over, man. I like my life more now.

0:26:51 > 0:26:53Like, these people are my family.

0:26:55 > 0:26:58I meet these people on the road, I'm like, they're my family.

0:26:58 > 0:27:02- You hate your life, so you go places.- Yeah.

0:27:04 > 0:27:06- Does it work?- It does.

0:27:08 > 0:27:12'They sleep rough and scrounge for their food in dumpsters.

0:27:12 > 0:27:15'They work odd jobs and beg for money

0:27:15 > 0:27:19'and spend most of it on alcohol, tobacco and dog food.

0:27:19 > 0:27:23'You can see similar types in any city in Britain.

0:27:23 > 0:27:26'The big difference here is that they're fully nomadic.

0:27:26 > 0:27:28'They travel hundreds of miles a week by hitch-hiking

0:27:28 > 0:27:30'and illegally hopping the freight trains.

0:27:30 > 0:27:34'It's not a life that most of us would envy or recommend

0:27:34 > 0:27:36'but it's one they've chosen.

0:27:36 > 0:27:39'A kind of reckless, debauched adventure, leading who knows where.'

0:28:02 > 0:28:09- Come here, Bill.- Come here, Bill. Get over here, buddy.- Billy!

0:28:09 > 0:28:11Come on, come on.

0:28:11 > 0:28:15'I dropped them off by the train tracks in Yuma, Arizona.

0:28:15 > 0:28:19'I wished them well and they told me about a big gathering

0:28:19 > 0:28:22'of travelling anarchists, hippies and misfits

0:28:22 > 0:28:24'a few hours away in the California desert.

0:28:24 > 0:28:27'It's some kind of abandoned Marine base, they said,

0:28:27 > 0:28:30'and its name is Slab City.

0:28:53 > 0:28:57'This is the Mojave desert, one of the hottest and driest in the world.

0:28:57 > 0:29:02'Hell on Earth in summer, but pleasant and warm now in winter.

0:29:02 > 0:29:05'When this was a Marine base, there were buildings here.

0:29:05 > 0:29:09'Now the buildings have been torn down but the concrete slabs remain.

0:29:09 > 0:29:14'Hence Slab City. It's pretty ratty and squalid.

0:29:14 > 0:29:17'A straggle of trailers and caravans and RVs.'

0:29:24 > 0:29:29Looks like some RV encampment on an alien crash site.

0:29:39 > 0:29:42If it was in a city, it would be a block of squats,

0:29:42 > 0:29:48but instead it's sprawled out over the desert in trailers.

0:29:48 > 0:29:51And wrecked school buses.

0:29:53 > 0:29:59'The two great advantages of this place are that it's free to live here, and it's virtually lawless.

0:29:59 > 0:30:02'There are plenty of guns and drugs around.

0:30:02 > 0:30:05'But the police stay away most of the time,

0:30:05 > 0:30:09'and the ownership of this ground is tied up in some seemingly endless legal dispute.

0:30:09 > 0:30:12'In the meantime, what you have here is a TAZ,

0:30:12 > 0:30:14'a Temporary Autonomous Zone,

0:30:14 > 0:30:18'that exists outside the rules of society and the law.

0:30:20 > 0:30:23'It's right next to a military gunnery range,

0:30:23 > 0:30:26'a patch of ground that no-one else wants.

0:30:26 > 0:30:29'It's lit up by tracer fire and missiles at night,

0:30:29 > 0:30:33'and subject to regular explosions during the day.'

0:30:36 > 0:30:43Hi, there. I'm just looking for a place to camp. Any rules here?

0:30:45 > 0:30:48Well, no, huh?

0:30:48 > 0:30:51Just don't aggravate your neighbours,

0:30:51 > 0:30:56raise hell after nine or ten o'clock at night,

0:30:56 > 0:30:58we can't encourage that.

0:31:00 > 0:31:03There's not really any rules as such.

0:31:03 > 0:31:04If a place is occupied,

0:31:04 > 0:31:07don't try to push 'em out. You might get hurt.

0:31:07 > 0:31:08Yeah, yeah.

0:31:33 > 0:31:35- How you doing?- Hi, there.

0:31:35 > 0:31:39Just thought I'd bring you up some flyers from our talent show here.

0:31:39 > 0:31:41Talent show, Saturday night, Slab City.

0:31:41 > 0:31:45Yeah, we got the talent show there. All right?

0:31:45 > 0:31:48That's freakin' chillin', man.

0:31:49 > 0:31:50Sweet!

0:31:51 > 0:31:55'Slab city is a mish-mash, a messy experiment in American anarchy

0:31:55 > 0:31:59'that forms every winter and dissolves every summer

0:31:59 > 0:32:02'when this desert turns into a furnace and everyone heads north.

0:32:02 > 0:32:05'It's not a place I want to spend the winter,

0:32:05 > 0:32:09'but I find it strangely reassuring that such a place is able to exist.'

0:32:13 > 0:32:16Sun's rising, came to me and said head off.

0:32:16 > 0:32:20You don't want a bunch of dead people following you around.

0:32:20 > 0:32:24You see, I'm gone. Cool, that means they're not in my head.

0:32:24 > 0:32:26BAGPIPES SKIRL

0:32:54 > 0:32:58'After six hours at the talent show, I head back to my campsite

0:32:58 > 0:33:02'and fall into a conversation with the guy camped next to me.

0:33:02 > 0:33:04'His name is Ted Koons.

0:33:04 > 0:33:07'He is a full-time nomad who dropped out of the mainstream

0:33:07 > 0:33:11'and now roams America and Latin America in his jeep.

0:33:11 > 0:33:14'Like me, it was mainly curiosity that brought him to Slab City.'

0:33:14 > 0:33:18Well, like a lot of American kids, when I was in my late teens

0:33:18 > 0:33:20and early 20s, I had a lot of ambition disease.

0:33:20 > 0:33:23So I went to work in that corporate game

0:33:23 > 0:33:25and went to New York City and went to work on Wall Street.

0:33:25 > 0:33:29The truth is, I don't tell people "Wall Street" any more,

0:33:29 > 0:33:31I use the term institutional finance.

0:33:31 > 0:33:34Because that doesn't sound nearly as disgusting as Wall Street.

0:33:34 > 0:33:38Ain't that true? So I kind of hide behind that,

0:33:38 > 0:33:40but I spent about 12 years in that business.

0:33:40 > 0:33:44And like many of my colleagues, I knew the end would come someday,

0:33:44 > 0:33:46so I was banking away the cash,

0:33:46 > 0:33:51like a caveman hiding as much meat as possible before the winter sets in.

0:33:51 > 0:33:54I knew the winter would set in sooner or later,

0:33:54 > 0:33:58so, when my friends were buying Porsches, I was taking the subway.

0:33:58 > 0:34:02And managed to save up enough money to buy nice things,

0:34:02 > 0:34:06and be free, and not be depending on anyone or anything.

0:34:06 > 0:34:08So from Wall Street to the slabs.

0:34:08 > 0:34:11The slabs. Yeah, that's quite a path.

0:34:11 > 0:34:12Rather zig-zaggy.

0:34:12 > 0:34:14You know, you leave Wall Street

0:34:14 > 0:34:16and it's kind of like leaving a beautiful woman.

0:34:16 > 0:34:19You kind of think you'd like to get back into that, if you can,

0:34:19 > 0:34:22because that's some pretty good stuff, right?

0:34:22 > 0:34:26HE LAUGHS

0:34:26 > 0:34:28But the fact is, I never belonged there

0:34:28 > 0:34:31in the first place, and I was always a pretender.

0:34:31 > 0:34:34Secretly, I'm an Idaho redneck.

0:34:34 > 0:34:37But I actually got through that game and since then,

0:34:37 > 0:34:42the last three years, I've wandered around, I haven't spent much time anywhere.

0:34:42 > 0:34:45I've done all kinds of silly jobs, purely for fun, mostly.

0:34:45 > 0:34:49The income is nice, not to spend the money I saved.

0:34:49 > 0:34:54But during that time, I've lived in five or six states and visited 10 or 15 countries.

0:34:54 > 0:34:57So, you just rolled into Slab City today? First impressions?

0:34:57 > 0:34:59I'm impressed.

0:34:59 > 0:35:01A lot of guys living in trailers, it's kind of a weird idea,

0:35:01 > 0:35:04and there's certainly a lot of ugly people!

0:35:07 > 0:35:09# Wild thing

0:35:12 > 0:35:14# You make my heart sing... #

0:35:14 > 0:35:17When you see these people living in dilapidated trailers,

0:35:17 > 0:35:22some people might see that as a sign of some sort of sad experience,

0:35:22 > 0:35:26but I see it as a sign of an open expression of freedom.

0:35:26 > 0:35:29When you live in a trailer, you're not paying property taxes,

0:35:29 > 0:35:31and you can move on any time you want.

0:35:31 > 0:35:36That is the idea of freedom that so many people don't truly grasp.

0:35:36 > 0:35:39It's this freedom of the Wild West.

0:35:39 > 0:35:42RAUCOUS CHEERING

0:35:44 > 0:35:47'The freedom of the Wild West.

0:35:47 > 0:35:50'All those nomadic horsemen used to roam around here.

0:35:50 > 0:35:52'Cowboys and Indians.

0:35:52 > 0:35:54'Fur-trappers and frontiersmen.

0:35:54 > 0:35:59'Those pioneering families who kept packing up everything into a wagon and moving on.

0:35:59 > 0:36:03'It wasn't that long ago, and it left behind a powerful legacy.'

0:36:04 > 0:36:07You don't meet many families out on the road,

0:36:07 > 0:36:11but I ran into this couple, Derek and Amy.

0:36:11 > 0:36:16They're out on the road with their kids, living in a school bus.

0:36:16 > 0:36:18I'm eager to hear what it's like.

0:36:24 > 0:36:27So, this is your home on wheels?

0:36:27 > 0:36:29Our home on wheels.

0:36:29 > 0:36:32It's a decommissioned school bus.

0:36:32 > 0:36:34And how long have you had it?

0:36:34 > 0:36:39We've only had it for four months now. We had a motorhome before.

0:36:39 > 0:36:43- We're in the middle of converting. - This is a work in progress?- Yes.

0:36:43 > 0:36:45Very much a work in progress.

0:36:45 > 0:36:49We basically got a motorhome instead of having a big wedding. So...

0:36:49 > 0:36:54But yeah, we just travelled for a long time,

0:36:54 > 0:36:58he was young enough where he didn't have to start school for a few years,

0:36:58 > 0:37:00and just recently traded in for the bus.

0:37:00 > 0:37:02And how will the education work?

0:37:02 > 0:37:05He's getting so much of an education, being out here,

0:37:05 > 0:37:08and he's learning the basics, so far.

0:37:08 > 0:37:14Learning so much about the outside and outdoors and plants

0:37:14 > 0:37:20and animals, the same kind of stuff you would be doing reading a book, except it's first hand.

0:37:20 > 0:37:22Do you find that a lot of people have wrong ideas

0:37:22 > 0:37:26and misconceptions about being a family on the road?

0:37:26 > 0:37:27Yes, definitely.

0:37:27 > 0:37:31Depending on where you go, they vary, from good ones,

0:37:31 > 0:37:34where people are, "Wow, that's awesome,

0:37:34 > 0:37:37"we're so intrigued that you guys are doing this,

0:37:37 > 0:37:41"it's such an inspiring thing."

0:37:41 > 0:37:45And then, you go other places, and people are more closed-minded

0:37:45 > 0:37:48and they think it's weird, that there is no way to give

0:37:48 > 0:37:52a child a well-balanced education when you're doing this.

0:37:52 > 0:37:54There's no way.

0:37:54 > 0:37:56And not even just that, but how could you do it?

0:37:56 > 0:37:59How could you possibly be happy? Living on a bus.

0:37:59 > 0:38:02That's the main one, usually.

0:38:02 > 0:38:05Wondering, you know, thinking he's missing out,

0:38:05 > 0:38:09because he doesn't get movies and doing all the stuff that we did

0:38:09 > 0:38:11when we were living in a house.

0:38:11 > 0:38:15Do you ever think back to covered wagons, and...?

0:38:15 > 0:38:20- Yes!- The whole drive out here, it just seems so... Whoever told you

0:38:20 > 0:38:26that you had to stay in the same place your whole life?

0:38:26 > 0:38:30Why were we taught, since we were young, that we go to school,

0:38:30 > 0:38:34we settle down, we get a job, we have a family, and we stay put?

0:38:34 > 0:38:37What might you want to do when you grow up?

0:38:37 > 0:38:40I want to...

0:38:40 > 0:38:41Be a truck driver?

0:38:43 > 0:38:46Want to be a policeman.

0:38:46 > 0:38:49'Derek and Amy seem so happy and fulfilled

0:38:49 > 0:38:54'as a family on the road. You don't see that much.

0:38:54 > 0:38:58'I remember a truck driver who drove around with his wife and kid in a truck.

0:38:58 > 0:39:00'He wasn't a dropout or a dream chaser.

0:39:00 > 0:39:02'He had to keep moving to make a living.

0:39:05 > 0:39:09'That's a whole other category of nomads. The working nomads.

0:39:09 > 0:39:13'Fruit pickers and itinerant carpenters.

0:39:13 > 0:39:15'Circus and fairground people.

0:39:20 > 0:39:22'The ones I know best are rodeo cowboys,

0:39:22 > 0:39:24'and they travel harder than anybody.

0:39:40 > 0:39:43'Rodeo is a kind of travelling carnival.

0:39:43 > 0:39:49'And right now, they're setting up an event in the small gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada,

0:39:49 > 0:39:51'a day's drive north of Slab City.

0:39:51 > 0:39:55'The cowboys are in a tent behind the arena.

0:39:55 > 0:39:57'They're taping themselves up,

0:39:57 > 0:40:00'so their arm muscles don't get ripped in two when they ride.

0:40:00 > 0:40:04'It's a life of constant travel and serious amounts of physical pain.

0:40:04 > 0:40:11'Getting on the back of an angry horse or an enraged bull is a terrible thing to do to your body.

0:40:13 > 0:40:17'Serious injuries are commonplace, and cowboys do get killed

0:40:17 > 0:40:22'occasionally, right there in the arena, like gladiators.

0:40:22 > 0:40:25'Tommy McFarlane rides the bucking broncos.

0:40:25 > 0:40:28'He's one of the toughest and one of the best.

0:40:28 > 0:40:31'He drove 820 miles straight through to get here,

0:40:31 > 0:40:33'and he doesn't consider this hard driving.'

0:40:33 > 0:40:35When did you get into here?

0:40:35 > 0:40:38About half an hour ago, 45 minutes ago.

0:40:38 > 0:40:41That's about, what? 11 hours on the road, to get here?

0:40:41 > 0:40:45We didn't drive very fast. About 12 hours, I guess.

0:40:45 > 0:40:49How did you get into rodeo? Is it a ranch family?

0:40:49 > 0:40:52Yeah, I was just raised on a ranch, I guess,

0:40:52 > 0:40:56I mean, that don't necessarily make a rodeo guy,

0:40:56 > 0:41:00but I was raised on a ranch, so I was always riding horses and cowboying

0:41:00 > 0:41:04and stuff, so when we got a little older, we started junior rodeo.

0:41:04 > 0:41:05Mom and Dad took us to junior rodeo

0:41:05 > 0:41:08and we just kind of got into it that way.

0:41:08 > 0:41:09It's a fun way to live.

0:41:09 > 0:41:12What are some of the injuries you've had?

0:41:12 > 0:41:16Shit! See, '08, I dislocated my elbow,

0:41:16 > 0:41:19right out the back of my arm, at Calgary.

0:41:19 > 0:41:26I come back from that, rode for another while, went to Pecos.

0:41:26 > 0:41:30I was getting ready, and the horse flipped over on me.

0:41:30 > 0:41:34That raised two bones up into my hand and then they went back down.

0:41:34 > 0:41:37Long story short, flipped over again, this guy came up,

0:41:37 > 0:41:42sitting on his butt, and just went on it and broke it in 28 places.

0:41:43 > 0:41:44They fixed that all that up,

0:41:44 > 0:41:47that was quite a while before I was able to come back,

0:41:47 > 0:41:54I come back from that, went to Houston, I broke my finger and all my bones across my foot.

0:41:54 > 0:41:58And I come back from that, things were going pretty good,

0:41:58 > 0:42:01and I tore my bicep off my arm and rolled it up.

0:42:01 > 0:42:04They sewed that back down, and I've been rodeoing ever since.

0:42:04 > 0:42:05It's all in the game.

0:42:07 > 0:42:09That's two wild cowboys there.

0:42:09 > 0:42:11THEY WHOOP AND HOLLER

0:42:11 > 0:42:15'They're coming in from other rodeos in Texas and Oklahoma

0:42:15 > 0:42:17'and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

0:42:17 > 0:42:22'Tobacco-chewing Wade Sundell is a young, hard-drinking,

0:42:22 > 0:42:26'up-and-coming star in the small, closed world of saddle bronc riding.'

0:42:26 > 0:42:29So, how did it go in Atlantic City?

0:42:29 > 0:42:32A case of beer and six bottles of wine!

0:42:34 > 0:42:37I feel good today, though. Now I've taken the day off.

0:42:37 > 0:42:39You had a day off drinkin'!

0:42:39 > 0:42:42I drank wine, freakin' kicked me in the butt, now!

0:42:45 > 0:42:48INAUDIBLE HUBBUB

0:42:53 > 0:42:57'There's a definite tribal identity to these cowboys.

0:42:57 > 0:43:01'Look at their body language, the way they talk and greet each other.

0:43:01 > 0:43:06'They travel all the time, but they never leave the world of rodeo and cattle ranching.

0:43:06 > 0:43:09'Everyone in this world wears the same uniform,

0:43:09 > 0:43:11'and the media can't get into a rodeo,

0:43:11 > 0:43:14'without putting on cowboy hats and boots.

0:43:14 > 0:43:17'Rodeo is a multi-million dollar televised sport in America now,

0:43:17 > 0:43:22'rising in popularity, and the television rights are strictly controlled.

0:43:22 > 0:43:25'For this event, they keep our cameras behind the scenes,

0:43:25 > 0:43:28'but we'll catch Tommy and Wade in action at the next rodeo

0:43:28 > 0:43:32'down the road in Logandale, Nevada.'

0:43:45 > 0:43:49'I once spent six weeks driving around America

0:43:49 > 0:43:51'with three rodeo cowboys.

0:43:51 > 0:43:53'They were young and wild, drinking like crazy,

0:43:53 > 0:43:56'taking a lot of drugs, hardly ever sleeping.

0:43:56 > 0:44:00'It nearly killed me, and I wasn't riding bulls or bucking horses.

0:44:00 > 0:44:02'One of those cowboys is dead now.

0:44:02 > 0:44:05'He got gored in the chest by a bull in the arena.

0:44:05 > 0:44:08'Another one is in prison for assault.

0:44:08 > 0:44:11'No-one seems to know what happened to the third guy,

0:44:11 > 0:44:14'but I seriously doubt there was a happy ending.

0:44:24 > 0:44:26'All right, action time.

0:44:26 > 0:44:31'This is the Clark County Summer Fair and Rodeo in Logandale, Nevada.

0:44:31 > 0:44:34'There's wine-drinkin' Wade Sundell, with a feather in his hat.

0:44:36 > 0:44:38'And there's Tommy McFarlane.

0:44:42 > 0:44:47'They've all just arrived half an hour before their events start.

0:44:59 > 0:45:05# ..Does that banner yet wave?

0:45:06 > 0:45:11# O'er the land of the free

0:45:13 > 0:45:20# And the home of the brave? #

0:45:20 > 0:45:23- All right! - RAUCOUS APPLAUSE

0:45:25 > 0:45:29Put your hands on the beat, come on, put your hands up.

0:45:31 > 0:45:35'These are unbroken horses, bred to buck.

0:45:35 > 0:45:38'Riding them is a kind of dance that gets scored out of 100.

0:45:38 > 0:45:41'The horse gets marked out of 50 for the way it bucks.

0:45:41 > 0:45:44'It's supposed to try everything it knows

0:45:44 > 0:45:46'to get that cowboy off its back.

0:45:46 > 0:45:49'The cowboy tries to stay on the horse for eight seconds

0:45:49 > 0:45:52'while spurring it and holding one arm aloft.

0:45:52 > 0:45:54'Tom's got no saddle or stirrups,

0:45:54 > 0:45:58'just a handle tied onto the horse's back with a strap.'

0:45:58 > 0:46:02Let's hear it for Wade, great guy, great football player.

0:46:02 > 0:46:06Right now, we got Tommy MacFarlane.

0:46:11 > 0:46:13He's goin' hell for leather!

0:46:13 > 0:46:16CROWD CHEER AND WHOOP

0:46:16 > 0:46:21Gee! Never had a spread so buckin' enormous. What an amazing cowboy!

0:46:23 > 0:46:29After breaking his arm in 26 places, he put out his knee in Houston a year ago,

0:46:29 > 0:46:31but when that guy stays healthy,

0:46:31 > 0:46:33he's well for riding a buckin' horse.

0:46:33 > 0:46:37Riding a very high...

0:46:37 > 0:46:43COMMENTARY BECOMES INDISTINCT, DROWNED OUT BY CHEERING

0:46:43 > 0:46:47..Puttin' in a score of 80 points!

0:46:48 > 0:46:52'A good ride from Tommy. 80 points might win him some money.

0:46:53 > 0:46:57'Next up is Will Lowe, Tommy's travelling partner,

0:46:57 > 0:46:59'and a three-time world champion.'

0:46:59 > 0:47:02Horse is called Ladies' Man.

0:47:02 > 0:47:06'They travel around in a white Chevy van with two other cowboys,

0:47:06 > 0:47:08'and they call themselves The Wolf Pack.'

0:47:08 > 0:47:12Get your hands going to the beat of the music.

0:47:13 > 0:47:14Go on, Willy!

0:47:27 > 0:47:34Folks, there he is. Three-time world champion, three-time Calgary champ.

0:47:34 > 0:47:36'It's America's original extreme sport,

0:47:36 > 0:47:38'invented by working cowboys in the 1880s

0:47:38 > 0:47:43'to make a contest out of their skill at breaking wild horses.'

0:47:43 > 0:47:45His name is Will Lowe!

0:47:45 > 0:47:47CHEERING

0:47:47 > 0:47:49How many days a year are you on the road?

0:47:49 > 0:47:50Over 200.

0:47:50 > 0:47:55It varies, there was a couple years where I was hurt and stuff for a couple months,

0:47:55 > 0:48:01so quite a few less rodeos, but I would say on average, probably 220 to 240 days a year.

0:48:02 > 0:48:04My office is where I make it!

0:48:06 > 0:48:08What did you think would happen to you

0:48:08 > 0:48:10if you tried to work a 9 to 5 type job?

0:48:10 > 0:48:14I wouldn't enjoy it very much. I could do it, but I wouldn't like it.

0:48:14 > 0:48:16But you wouldn't blow a gasket?

0:48:16 > 0:48:20No, I wouldn't blow a gasket, But I wouldn't enjoy it very much.

0:48:20 > 0:48:22It'd actually be work!

0:48:26 > 0:48:27This is fun.

0:48:31 > 0:48:33Check out the horse!

0:48:36 > 0:48:39How many of y'all like that bucking horse?

0:48:39 > 0:48:41CHEERING

0:48:41 > 0:48:44This guy won the World Championship.

0:48:45 > 0:48:48'Next out of the bucking shoots comes wine-drinking Wade.'

0:48:48 > 0:48:51Wade Sundell...

0:48:51 > 0:48:55COMMENTARY INDISTINCT, DROWNED OUT BY MUSIC

0:49:11 > 0:49:15That guy can play into the back of the saddle. Come on, everybody!

0:49:15 > 0:49:16Wade Sundell!

0:49:21 > 0:49:25Second in the national finals, second twice in Houston.

0:49:25 > 0:49:29I tell you, you can bet on this kid.

0:49:29 > 0:49:33Score comes up out of 90 for Wade Sundell.

0:49:33 > 0:49:35CHEERING

0:49:35 > 0:49:3887 points.

0:49:38 > 0:49:42Everybody told me that horse is a pretty nice horse, and everything.

0:49:42 > 0:49:45But she was strong and I just kept on gassing on,

0:49:45 > 0:49:48trying to get to the front and hopefully it all worked out.

0:49:48 > 0:49:50I probably did!

0:49:50 > 0:49:51How many points?

0:49:51 > 0:49:5387.

0:49:53 > 0:49:55What sort of money are you looking at?

0:49:55 > 0:49:58Well, shoot, I don't know.

0:49:58 > 0:50:02I suppose if I win it this rodeo'd pay about 4,000 or so.

0:50:03 > 0:50:06And then I'm winning Pocatello, and they'll probably pay that too.

0:50:06 > 0:50:08You're on a streak.

0:50:08 > 0:50:12I had a good weekend. Hopefully they'll both hold out for me.

0:50:12 > 0:50:16Then I'm just going to drink beer in Arizona and chase wild cows. For a week.

0:50:16 > 0:50:20If I can afford the cash, I'm ready to do so!

0:50:23 > 0:50:26- Where y'all from?- England.

0:50:26 > 0:50:30- That's just like America but different, ain't it?- Exactly.

0:50:35 > 0:50:41They're having a ball. 27 years old, riding from rodeo to rodeo.

0:50:41 > 0:50:44Drive for nine hours at 70 mph,

0:50:44 > 0:50:47buck for eight seconds at a million mph,

0:50:47 > 0:50:49win some money, get on down the road.

0:50:51 > 0:50:52They're just loving it.

0:50:52 > 0:50:55They love the life, it's written all over their faces, isn't it?

0:51:09 > 0:51:14'The first Europeans in the American West were the Spanish conquistadors and settlers.

0:51:14 > 0:51:17'They came up from Mexico on horses

0:51:17 > 0:51:21'and these were the first horses that American Indians had ever seen.

0:51:21 > 0:51:23'In time, horses got away from the Spaniards,

0:51:23 > 0:51:26'and established wild herds.

0:51:26 > 0:51:30'In the early 1700s, Indians learned to catch horses and ride them.

0:51:30 > 0:51:33'And a golden age of nomadism began.

0:51:35 > 0:51:38'Here in Nevada, there are still herds of wild horses.

0:51:38 > 0:51:40'Their ancestors got away

0:51:40 > 0:51:44'from Indian tribes, cowboys, cattle ranches and the US Cavalry.

0:51:46 > 0:51:49'They're a living symbol of the Wild West and some of them

0:51:49 > 0:51:53'are directly descended from the horses that the Spanish brought.

0:51:56 > 0:52:00'Normally you see wild horses at a distance, if at all.

0:52:00 > 0:52:04'But here in the Joshua Tree Forest outside Cold Creek, Nevada, I get lucky.

0:52:32 > 0:52:35'Horses revolutionised life for the Indian tribes in the West,

0:52:35 > 0:52:39'changing their whole conception of speed and distance.

0:52:39 > 0:52:41'Lacking a word for these new animals,

0:52:41 > 0:52:43'the Sioux called them holy dogs.

0:52:44 > 0:52:48'Mounted on horseback, they could travel 100 miles per day,

0:52:48 > 0:52:51'and gallop alongside a running buffalo

0:52:51 > 0:52:54'instead of watching it recede into the distance.

0:52:54 > 0:52:59'Before the horse arrived, most of the Western tribes had practised farming and lived in huts.

0:52:59 > 0:53:02'Now they began a nomadic life on horseback

0:53:02 > 0:53:07'following the buffalo herds around and living in tepees.

0:53:07 > 0:53:11'"For bringing us the horse," said John Fire Lame Deer of the Sioux tribe,

0:53:11 > 0:53:15'"we could almost forgive the white man for bringing us whisky."'

0:53:51 > 0:53:52It's going to be cold tonight.

0:53:56 > 0:53:58It looks like Afghanistan, or...

0:54:01 > 0:54:04There's more mountains in Nevada than any other state.

0:54:04 > 0:54:07More wild horses and my contention is more lunatics as well,

0:54:07 > 0:54:11but we're well away from them, we keep them down in Vegas.

0:54:11 > 0:54:15The rest of Nevada is just a big, wild, wide-open place.

0:54:17 > 0:54:24This elevation can hit 85 or 90 degrees during the day,

0:54:24 > 0:54:27and then at night, it'll get below freezing.

0:54:41 > 0:54:44'When I first came to the American West,

0:54:44 > 0:54:47'I saw this beautiful thing outside my car window.

0:54:47 > 0:54:52'I called it scenery and sometimes I stopped to take a photograph of it.

0:54:52 > 0:54:54'Then I started walking out into it,

0:54:54 > 0:54:57'scared at first to be in such a big, wild place.'

0:54:58 > 0:55:00That's good enough.

0:55:00 > 0:55:03'Slowly I became more comfortable

0:55:03 > 0:55:07'and started going out there for days and sometimes weeks at a time.

0:55:07 > 0:55:10'I slept under the stars and bathed in the rivers,

0:55:10 > 0:55:14'and paid very close attention to the animals and birds and plants.

0:55:14 > 0:55:17'This wasn't scenery anymore, but a living, breathing place,

0:55:17 > 0:55:19'full of mystery and wonder.

0:55:21 > 0:55:23'I still can't get it out of my system.

0:55:53 > 0:55:56'So I was having a quiet moment, savouring a beer at sunset

0:55:56 > 0:56:00'in that perfect silence you sometimes get in the desert.

0:56:00 > 0:56:03'Then I heard an engine coming towards me across country.

0:56:03 > 0:56:05'It was a guy on some kind of dirt bike,

0:56:05 > 0:56:09'a moment of totally random American weirdness.

0:56:09 > 0:56:13'He said his name was Ray and he told a long, garbled story.

0:56:13 > 0:56:16'It seems his family are polygamist Mormons from Mexico

0:56:16 > 0:56:19'and they dumped him out here in the desert.'

0:56:20 > 0:56:22So how long have you been here?

0:56:24 > 0:56:27- Here?- Yeah.- Two days. No, three days.

0:56:27 > 0:56:31My dad came from the US.

0:56:31 > 0:56:36He went down there on a search for the religion, to find God.

0:56:36 > 0:56:40He did that for a while, and he moved around the United States

0:56:40 > 0:56:43and preached about the downfall of the United States for a long time.

0:56:45 > 0:56:48'He seems lonely, confused, jumpy.

0:56:48 > 0:56:52'And his stories get more and more agitated and incomprehensible.'

0:56:52 > 0:56:55That's what I figured until somebody walked up a little while ago,

0:56:55 > 0:57:02wondering where the fuck his bike was, with a big metal pipe on him.

0:57:02 > 0:57:05"Where's my bike?" Dude, I have no fucking idea!

0:57:05 > 0:57:07I helped the fucking guy out.

0:57:07 > 0:57:09At a gas station, I helped him pick up his bike

0:57:09 > 0:57:13and put it on his truck and I have no idea.

0:57:13 > 0:57:17He got off the truck with a big old pipe like that.

0:57:17 > 0:57:19"Where's my bike?"

0:57:20 > 0:57:22I don't know!

0:57:22 > 0:57:25"I might have to get violent with you!"

0:57:25 > 0:57:27I didn't tell him nothing.

0:57:27 > 0:57:28But he looked at me...

0:57:28 > 0:57:30I guess you're not the person.

0:57:31 > 0:57:33I guess there's trouble everywhere.

0:57:41 > 0:57:45So, I feel really bad for Ray last night.

0:57:45 > 0:57:49I was kind of trying to get away from him because he was crazy.

0:57:49 > 0:57:52And I didn't know whether he was going to flip over into violence.

0:57:52 > 0:57:56He seemed poised on the edge there.

0:57:56 > 0:58:00But the poor guy just doesn't stand a chance. He's crazy, he's lonely.

0:58:00 > 0:58:04He doesn't have any money. I just feel really bad for him.

0:58:04 > 0:58:08He doesn't have anything. Didn't look like he's eaten much.

0:58:10 > 0:58:12That's just about as hard as it gets.

0:58:26 > 0:58:29'Someone asked Johnny Depp to sum up America.

0:58:29 > 0:58:33'He said, "All appetite, no taste."

0:58:33 > 0:58:35'Las Vegas is only 30 miles away

0:58:35 > 0:58:39'from the wild horses. And a more extreme contrast is hard to imagine.

0:58:39 > 0:58:43'The first casinos were built here by a gangster with big dreams

0:58:43 > 0:58:47'in the 1940s. And he borrowed so much money to build them

0:58:47 > 0:58:49'that the Mob put a bullet in his eye.

0:58:49 > 0:58:54'The mafia ran Vegas for decades, but now it's all corporate.

0:58:54 > 0:58:56'Two million people live here permanently

0:58:56 > 0:58:59'and this city in the desert

0:58:59 > 0:59:02'is expected to run out of water in less than 30 years.

0:59:03 > 0:59:05'For me, Las Vegas is a place to get through.

0:59:07 > 0:59:09'I'm heading east into the highlands of Utah,

0:59:09 > 0:59:12'up above the snow line, hoping to find some buffalo.'

0:59:27 > 0:59:29Oh!

0:59:31 > 0:59:34Almost hit a golden eagle.

0:59:34 > 0:59:37Just literally flew inches over the windshield.

0:59:37 > 0:59:40I'm extremely glad I did not hit that golden eagle.

0:59:42 > 0:59:45Somewhere up this road, there's supposed to be a herd of buffalo.

0:59:49 > 0:59:53'The American buffalo, also known as the American bison,

0:59:53 > 0:59:56'is the largest mammal on this continent.

0:59:56 > 0:59:57'It's a symbol of the American West,

0:59:57 > 1:00:00'and of American roaming.

1:00:00 > 1:00:03'The herds were always moving, migrating with the seasons,

1:00:03 > 1:00:07'and this why the tribes that hunted them became nomadic.

1:00:07 > 1:00:10'Bison are now restricted to a few national parks

1:00:10 > 1:00:14'and a growing number of private ranches like this one.'

1:00:16 > 1:00:2060 million is the accepted number for how many bison

1:00:20 > 1:00:23used to roam the West.

1:00:23 > 1:00:28And they were wiped out in less than 20 years by hide hunters,

1:00:28 > 1:00:31thereby depriving the Plains Indians of their livelihood.

1:00:31 > 1:00:36And then those 60 million bison, which were reduced to, I think,

1:00:36 > 1:00:42less than 2,000 animals, were replaced by 50 million cattle.

1:00:42 > 1:00:46And some people in the West now think that the whole thing

1:00:46 > 1:00:49was basically a mistake, that cattle are not nearly as well suited

1:00:49 > 1:00:53to this environment as the bison.

1:00:53 > 1:00:57These guys can give birth without the assistance of vets,

1:00:57 > 1:01:00they have good immunity to the various diseases

1:01:00 > 1:01:04that are endemic here, they can make it through the winter

1:01:04 > 1:01:09without supplemental feed, they can survive the 40-below storms.

1:01:09 > 1:01:14You see, they have these big head and shoulders,

1:01:14 > 1:01:19and when the blizzards come, they face them straight on like this,

1:01:19 > 1:01:24whereas cows kind of turn tail and it gets too cold, the cattle die.

1:01:24 > 1:01:27They are perfectly adapted to this environment.

1:01:27 > 1:01:29They've evolved out here.

1:01:29 > 1:01:31Now we're starting to see them come back,

1:01:31 > 1:01:34mainly because the meat is so good.

1:01:34 > 1:01:38It's low-fat, high protein, tasty, red meat.

1:01:51 > 1:01:53In the three weeks since I last saw him,

1:01:53 > 1:01:57Ted the Wall Street refugee has driven down to Mexico and back.

1:01:59 > 1:02:03He's been to New York and all over Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.

1:02:03 > 1:02:07He's had transitory relationships with a number of different women.

1:02:07 > 1:02:10Now he's come to meet me at a remote campground

1:02:10 > 1:02:13in the high desert of Western Colorado,

1:02:13 > 1:02:15and he's brought some buffalo steaks.

1:02:19 > 1:02:21Oh, man.

1:02:21 > 1:02:24This is good living, huh?

1:02:24 > 1:02:27Oh, man. These are really good.

1:02:27 > 1:02:31What do your family think of your wandering ways,

1:02:31 > 1:02:33your appearance and what have you?

1:02:33 > 1:02:36- Have you got brothers and sisters? - I don't.

1:02:36 > 1:02:39I had a brother but he died about 11 years ago and my parents,

1:02:39 > 1:02:44that onus falls on me, you know, the legacy,

1:02:44 > 1:02:47the next generation. And if I had one wish,

1:02:47 > 1:02:50I wish I could make my parents happy,

1:02:50 > 1:02:54you know, the only thing I know how to tell them is I'm pretty happy,

1:02:54 > 1:02:57and that's the only answer, at the end of the day.

1:02:57 > 1:03:01But if I could flip a switch and somehow have the life I have now

1:03:01 > 1:03:03and the picket fence and the children,

1:03:03 > 1:03:07raising up the next generation, I would do it, I really would.

1:03:07 > 1:03:11Just only for my parents, for their...

1:03:11 > 1:03:15You being happy is not going to cut it compared to grandkids?

1:03:15 > 1:03:18For my mother, I just haven't delivered.

1:03:18 > 1:03:20I'm telling her it's not her fault.

1:03:20 > 1:03:25- She did a great job. She did a great job.- How old are you?- I'm 37.

1:03:25 > 1:03:30I'm 37, just turned a couple of months ago. Plenty of time, really.

1:03:30 > 1:03:35I got it figured I got 20 years, at my pace. That could still happen.

1:03:35 > 1:03:39But yeah, as a nomad, if I had one wish,

1:03:39 > 1:03:42I wish I could make my parents as pleased as they deserve to be.

1:03:49 > 1:03:51THUNDERCLAP

1:03:51 > 1:03:54Man, we've got weather coming in.

1:03:54 > 1:03:57Woah!

1:03:57 > 1:04:02- (SOUTHERN U.S. ACCENT) - When the wind blows, the desert just stands up on its hind legs.

1:04:02 > 1:04:04- Goddamn!- Goddamn!

1:04:14 > 1:04:19So Ted came over a bit maudlin in his cups last night.

1:04:19 > 1:04:22I know how he feels, but pull yourself together, man!

1:04:22 > 1:04:25This wandering life is supposed to be the pursuit of happiness,

1:04:25 > 1:04:28not a lifelong commitment to the road.

1:04:28 > 1:04:30When you meet the right woman and want to settle down

1:04:30 > 1:04:34and start cranking out kids, just buck up and do it.

1:04:34 > 1:04:38That's my plan, anyway. All in good time.

1:04:38 > 1:04:43You don't always have to be that John Wayne figure, riding away from the picket fence into the sunset.

1:04:45 > 1:04:49People have the idea that the West was won by heroic cowboys

1:04:49 > 1:04:51and that kind of thing.

1:04:51 > 1:04:55They get this idea from movies and mythology,

1:04:55 > 1:04:58but the key factor in the taming of the West were, number one, disease.

1:04:58 > 1:05:02Microbes, smallpox, that's what really wiped out the nomadic tribes

1:05:02 > 1:05:07on the plains, was these diseases they had no resistance to.

1:05:07 > 1:05:09And another really important factor

1:05:09 > 1:05:12was the invention of barbed wire fences.

1:05:14 > 1:05:17Fences restricted the free movement of animals and people

1:05:17 > 1:05:21and enforced the new idea of private property.

1:05:21 > 1:05:24The nomadic Indian tribes hated fences.

1:05:24 > 1:05:27So did the nomadic trail cowboys who had grazed their herds

1:05:27 > 1:05:30up and down the plains. Now the damn things are everywhere.

1:05:30 > 1:05:34- (SOUTHERN U.S. ACCENT)- Don't get me started on Goddamn fences!

1:05:34 > 1:05:36This whole country has been divided up,

1:05:36 > 1:05:41it's had its spirit torn up, brutalised by fences.

1:05:41 > 1:05:43You've got your five-strand barbed wire fence,

1:05:43 > 1:05:47seven-strand barbed wire fence, you got your round topped fences,

1:05:47 > 1:05:53picket fences, Goddamn round top split rail fences,

1:05:53 > 1:05:58I'm talking about galvanised tube or steel fences.

1:05:58 > 1:06:00Don't get me started on the fence.

1:06:07 > 1:06:11So the era of horseback nomads came to an end.

1:06:11 > 1:06:14The tribes were corralled on reservations,

1:06:14 > 1:06:18railroads came, bringing the iron horse, and in time,

1:06:18 > 1:06:23the railroads produced a new and distinct American form of nomadism.

1:06:23 > 1:06:25Transient labourers started riding the freight trains

1:06:25 > 1:06:29as a way to get from one harvest to the next.

1:06:29 > 1:06:31They were called hobos,

1:06:31 > 1:06:35and their hungry heyday was the Great Depression of the 1930s.

1:06:35 > 1:06:38After the Great Depression, America forgot about the hobos

1:06:38 > 1:06:43and tramps on its freight trains but they never went away.

1:06:43 > 1:06:47At best guess, 20,000 people are still riding around

1:06:47 > 1:06:50on America's freight trains. I used to do it myself.

1:06:50 > 1:06:57Most train hoppers today are under the age of 30.

1:06:57 > 1:07:00I've found one hitchhiking by the side of the road

1:07:00 > 1:07:03in Western Colorado, a young kid out on his own.

1:07:05 > 1:07:08- Well, howdy, there. I'm Comfrey. - Comfrey?

1:07:08 > 1:07:13- I've never met a Comfrey before. - Yeah, neither have I.

1:07:13 > 1:07:16It's a bit of a unique name. I'm glad to call it my birth name.

1:07:20 > 1:07:22So how come you're out on the road?

1:07:22 > 1:07:24I travel off and on.

1:07:26 > 1:07:29For years, I've been doing travelling off and on.

1:07:29 > 1:07:31Really hard the last three years but before that,

1:07:31 > 1:07:37I've been homeless off and on since I was about 13. I'm currently 18 now.

1:07:37 > 1:07:43But I just like... I don't know, it's absolute freedom in a lot of ways.

1:07:43 > 1:07:45Within limitations of the law.

1:07:45 > 1:07:51The only problems I ever have is someone trying to take my stuff

1:07:51 > 1:07:54or take advantage of me or the cops harassing me.

1:07:54 > 1:07:56Other than that, it's complete freedom.

1:07:56 > 1:08:02- Freedom from what? - Um, life in a box.- Life in a box?

1:08:02 > 1:08:05Sitting in an office, 9-to-5, in front of a computer,

1:08:05 > 1:08:12letting my brain rot and listening to the humming. Zzz-zz-zz-zz.

1:08:17 > 1:08:21In some ways, I'm addicted to travelling and being on the road.

1:08:21 > 1:08:24I'm always looking for that next great adventure to replace

1:08:24 > 1:08:26that last one that just passed by.

1:08:26 > 1:08:30At the next lake, you're going to want to take a right.

1:08:42 > 1:08:48Do you feel connected to any kind of historical tradition

1:08:48 > 1:08:51of transient America?

1:08:51 > 1:08:54I mean, a little bit,

1:08:54 > 1:08:59due to the current days and ages of where we are.

1:08:59 > 1:09:03We are in the second Great Depression that this country's faced,

1:09:03 > 1:09:09and in the first Great Depression, that was the golden era of hobos,

1:09:09 > 1:09:12I guess you'd call it. This is a squat that people actually use.

1:09:12 > 1:09:16They cut a hole in the fence and they go way back there in that patio area

1:09:16 > 1:09:19for the train, to go west.

1:09:19 > 1:09:22So they sit out here and just wait for it,

1:09:22 > 1:09:25kind of hiding in the back, just wait for a train.

1:09:27 > 1:09:31We are in the gritty Western town of Grand Junction, Colorado,

1:09:31 > 1:09:33right by the side of the train tracks.

1:09:36 > 1:09:39So usually if people are going to be hopping this area,

1:09:39 > 1:09:43they'll be coming in late, after dark,

1:09:48 > 1:09:51probably coming to spend a couple hours just sitting and waiting.

1:09:51 > 1:09:56- There's still actually some hopper tags up here.- Let's have a look.

1:09:59 > 1:10:05- Good old Luc Puc. - What's going on with this tag?

1:10:05 > 1:10:09This is some travelling kid's tag. You've got your train tracks

1:10:09 > 1:10:14and then you have some kind of severed leg.

1:10:14 > 1:10:16Hopefully they didn't lose their leg getting on.

1:10:16 > 1:10:20How do you stop your leg getting severed like that?

1:10:20 > 1:10:24The trick I use getting on a train, I count the lug nuts on the wheel.

1:10:24 > 1:10:28If I can count every nut and actually see every nut on the train

1:10:28 > 1:10:32then I personally feel it's not moving that fast,

1:10:32 > 1:10:36it's moving at a speed that I feel comfortable getting on at.

1:10:36 > 1:10:39Anything after that is where you're going to lose a leg or an arm.

1:10:39 > 1:10:43And how is it that it happens exactly, the severing?

1:10:43 > 1:10:45You get caught under the wheels, man.

1:10:45 > 1:10:47You're trying to hop up, climb up or whatever,

1:10:47 > 1:10:52you just kind of get sucked in because of this momentum, and the wind builds down and out,

1:10:52 > 1:10:56so you're getting pulled down and under so you get sucked in.

1:10:56 > 1:10:58And they'll just cut it off and cauterise it right there,

1:10:58 > 1:11:02grinding metal on metal. That trick with the lug nuts is a hobo trick

1:11:02 > 1:11:04that was passed on to me by oral tradition

1:11:04 > 1:11:10- when I first started riding.- Any other tips for riding the trains?

1:11:10 > 1:11:14Keep a knife and something blunt.

1:11:14 > 1:11:18I mean, the knife's more an intimidation thing.

1:11:18 > 1:11:21If I start to get a sketchy vibe from somebody if I'm hitchhiking

1:11:21 > 1:11:25or something, I'll just start cleaning my fingernails and so forth.

1:11:25 > 1:11:31Smiley's an improvised weapon that's blunt and kinda scary.

1:11:32 > 1:11:35But you have a full wrap on it.

1:11:38 > 1:11:42I don't know, it's definitely kept me out of some situations.

1:11:42 > 1:11:45I'd rather scare somebody than hurt them, more than anything.

1:11:45 > 1:11:48If I can scare someone out of a sketchy situation,

1:11:48 > 1:11:51then that's better than actually having to come to blows.

1:11:51 > 1:11:53You don't rape, you don't steal,

1:11:53 > 1:11:56otherwise you will end up floating down the river

1:11:56 > 1:11:58or duct taped to a train.

1:11:58 > 1:12:01You're not welcome in this if you break these small ethic...

1:12:01 > 1:12:05It's morals, I mean, that's all travelling rules are,

1:12:05 > 1:12:08- is a best set of morals. I mean, we all have them.- Yeah.

1:12:10 > 1:12:14It'll be a sad day when you don't see anyone trying to make it

1:12:14 > 1:12:19from place to place with their thumb or hopping a train.

1:12:19 > 1:12:23That was something I remember as a kid, just sitting by the riverbank

1:12:23 > 1:12:27and watching the train roll by, and seeing a couple of kids

1:12:27 > 1:12:30or old guys just sitting on the back of the train

1:12:30 > 1:12:34or in a boxcar or whatever, and just wave on.

1:12:34 > 1:12:37That'll be a sad day when I'm 60, 70,

1:12:37 > 1:12:42if I make it through my tramping days, and don't see that any more.

1:12:59 > 1:13:03I rode freight trains because I wanted to see what it was like.

1:13:03 > 1:13:07I wanted to enter that other world. It really is a tough way to travel.

1:13:07 > 1:13:12I nearly froze to death in Montana in a boxcar once.

1:13:12 > 1:13:15I was riding with a bunch of Vietnam vet hobos

1:13:15 > 1:13:18and they all had dogs stuffed down in their sleeping bags

1:13:18 > 1:13:22to keep them warm. I didn't. That was the last time

1:13:22 > 1:13:25I got on a freight train and I can't say that I miss it.

1:13:46 > 1:13:49Let's order some breakfast. I'm hungry.

1:13:49 > 1:13:54I'd like two eggs over easy with hash browns,

1:13:54 > 1:13:58uh, toast and a side of green chilli.

1:13:58 > 1:14:01- OK. How would you like your eggs? - Over easy.

1:14:01 > 1:14:04And I'll have the sausage, please.

1:14:04 > 1:14:09So your dad abandoned you at a greyhound when you were 12?

1:14:09 > 1:14:13- What's the deal with your dad? - I don't know, too busy getting high.

1:14:13 > 1:14:16He's an old hippie stoner who's been dealing drugs

1:14:16 > 1:14:20as long as I can remember. It's kind of why my mom left him.

1:14:20 > 1:14:24He's an old travelling deadhead. I guess it's kind of in my genetics,

1:14:24 > 1:14:27like my mom was an old punk rocker that ran away from home

1:14:27 > 1:14:33when she was about 17, 18. I mean, she's always been there

1:14:33 > 1:14:35but working 60 hours a week trying to support me,

1:14:35 > 1:14:38so it was always really difficult.

1:14:38 > 1:14:40So you were left alone a lot.

1:14:40 > 1:14:44Yeah, pretty much between the age of seven and five,

1:14:44 > 1:14:47I had to learn how to take care of myself, learn to start cooking,

1:14:47 > 1:14:50wake up every morning, go to school,

1:14:50 > 1:14:52come home, there's nobody home,

1:14:52 > 1:14:57make myself dinner, do my homework, go to bed, till I got kicked out.

1:14:58 > 1:15:02Right, that should feed you up - you been getting square meals?

1:15:03 > 1:15:07Cans of ravioli, apple sauce, whatever I can dumpster...

1:15:08 > 1:15:11Whatever soup kitchen feeds up for the day.

1:15:11 > 1:15:15- You could stand to put on a little weight there.- Yeah.

1:15:15 > 1:15:18I'm definitely nothing but skin and bones.

1:15:18 > 1:15:22That's why I have to wear suspenders and a belt. Skinny white boy disease.

1:15:23 > 1:15:25Thank you.

1:15:25 > 1:15:29You seem pretty tough emotionally.

1:15:29 > 1:15:32Is that a facade?

1:15:32 > 1:15:34Or is that real?

1:15:34 > 1:15:36A little bit of both.

1:15:36 > 1:15:38Um...

1:15:38 > 1:15:43I'd like to think I have a very strong personality in a lot of ways.

1:15:43 > 1:15:46I've seen people break at a lot of less stress,

1:15:46 > 1:15:50but a lot of times, I just got to keep going until I can lay down and sleep,

1:15:50 > 1:15:54and then I might cry myself to sleep or whatever else happens,

1:15:54 > 1:15:58but, I mean, my dreams get crushed on a regular basis.

1:15:58 > 1:16:03A month or two ago, I thought I was moving to Durango to go live with my girlfriend,

1:16:03 > 1:16:08and about two weeks ago, I found out this isn't going to happen,

1:16:08 > 1:16:15so that was my plan for the last... six months, eventually, was to go.

1:16:15 > 1:16:18- So now...- Were you in love with her?

1:16:18 > 1:16:23I'd like to think so, but I'm 18, I don't know what love is.

1:16:25 > 1:16:31This is the first time I've felt this way about anyone, so I'd like to think it's love.

1:16:31 > 1:16:37I mean... The train leaves out of here every night, there's at least one train.

1:16:37 > 1:16:42At this point, it doesn't matter where I go, East or West.

1:16:42 > 1:16:46Once again, my life's completely open to me.

1:17:13 > 1:17:16I just met Comfrey the day before yesterday,

1:17:16 > 1:17:20but I find myself worrying about him in kind of a fatherly way.

1:17:20 > 1:17:25I know what it's like out on the rails, it's dangerous and illegal and rough as hell.

1:17:25 > 1:17:30There are knife fights, different gangs of tramps and hobos who fight each other.

1:17:30 > 1:17:32People get thrown off moving trains,

1:17:32 > 1:17:35people get duct-taped to moving trains,

1:17:35 > 1:17:39so the tape gradually works loose as the train picks up speed.

1:17:39 > 1:17:42I told Comfrey to be careful, and he said, "Yeah, right."

1:17:42 > 1:17:46I tried to give him money, and he said, "No, thanks."

1:17:49 > 1:17:51He went east.

1:17:54 > 1:17:57I went west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.

1:17:58 > 1:18:04They go 400 miles north to south, and they're about 75 miles wide.

1:18:04 > 1:18:07They've got glaciers and bears,

1:18:07 > 1:18:10and the peaks are well above 4,000 metres.

1:18:10 > 1:18:14I love mountains, but I always feel slightly uneasy here,

1:18:14 > 1:18:17mainly because I have a fear of heights.

1:18:20 > 1:18:22I'm here to meet a legend.

1:18:22 > 1:18:28Richard Bear, nicknamed Yogi, has been wandering these mountains for 25 years.

1:18:28 > 1:18:30He's climbed nearly all the peaks.

1:18:30 > 1:18:35He lives by himself in a tent and he never camps in the same place for long.

1:18:37 > 1:18:42To get a message to Yogi, someone had go 20 miles up into the mountains on snowshoes,

1:18:42 > 1:18:46and then come 20 miles back down with the answer.

1:18:46 > 1:18:49The answer was yes. Yogi has agreed to meet me.

1:18:54 > 1:18:57I was expecting some kind of shaggy, grizzly wild man,

1:18:57 > 1:19:00but Yogi is smooth, clean, polished.

1:19:00 > 1:19:03Clearly no stranger to shampoo, razors or toothpaste.

1:19:06 > 1:19:12All the climbers and park rangers who spend time in these mountains have stories about him.

1:19:13 > 1:19:18He's the king of the backcountry, a true modern-day mountain man

1:19:18 > 1:19:21and the first thing he says is, "Let's go. Follow me."

1:19:23 > 1:19:27The story goes that he first came here to commit suicide.

1:19:27 > 1:19:32He spent the night intending to jump off a mile-high cliff in the morning,

1:19:32 > 1:19:36but woke up awestruck by the beauty and grandeur of the mountains.

1:19:40 > 1:19:44You were seriously thinking about walking off a cliff?

1:19:44 > 1:19:51Ah, well. Yeah, that was in my head. That's for sure.

1:19:51 > 1:19:53I can eliminate my 400 in debt!

1:19:53 > 1:19:55HE LAUGHS

1:19:55 > 1:19:58And my lack of being married and having all those kids,

1:19:58 > 1:20:02by just stepping off El Capitan, you know...

1:20:02 > 1:20:04I got dropped off here.

1:20:04 > 1:20:07The car drove away, I had something like 20 in my wallet,

1:20:07 > 1:20:12and my tent, and in about half a day's time,

1:20:12 > 1:20:16I hadn't felt so content in years,

1:20:16 > 1:20:20maybe ever in my adult life at that point. I just loved it.

1:20:20 > 1:20:26'He's never looked back. He's lived out of a backpack ever since.

1:20:26 > 1:20:27'What does he do for money?

1:20:27 > 1:20:32'He works seasonal jobs in and around the mountains.'

1:20:32 > 1:20:35But a job is something to quit in order to...

1:20:35 > 1:20:40Yeah, it's an end to a means for sure. It makes me enough money so I can take off for a few months.

1:20:40 > 1:20:45But I have never had any monetary goals,

1:20:45 > 1:20:50I don't want to save enough money to buy a brand-new car, that kind of thing.

1:20:50 > 1:20:53As soon as I've got 1,000, I don't have to work for three months.

1:20:53 > 1:20:55What does he do for love?

1:20:55 > 1:21:00He has short-term relationships with the young women who come here to work in the summers.

1:21:02 > 1:21:06- These seasonal relationships... - There have been quite a few.

1:21:06 > 1:21:10There have been some I would've loved to have continued for ever,

1:21:10 > 1:21:14- but I'm not willing to give this up and move to LA.- Yeah.

1:21:14 > 1:21:18At least in my life, it turns out that love doesn't conquer all,

1:21:18 > 1:21:19not even close.

1:21:19 > 1:21:24But these relationships start really quickly, because you don't have much time.

1:21:24 > 1:21:28All those feelings, all the stuff, it happens fast, and then...

1:21:28 > 1:21:30it's gone.

1:21:30 > 1:21:34And then comes heartbreak, maybe. You must have had a few of them?

1:21:34 > 1:21:37Quite a few of them.

1:21:37 > 1:21:40So how do you deal with heartbreak?

1:21:40 > 1:21:42I guess, just kind of embrace it.

1:21:42 > 1:21:47I know when I get into something like that, it's going to be gone soon, and that helps a lot too.

1:21:47 > 1:21:52And anyone that I may be with is fully aware

1:21:52 > 1:21:57that I'm going to be here in my tent, regardless of what may develop.

1:21:57 > 1:22:01If they wanted to stay, that'd be just fine sometimes.

1:22:01 > 1:22:04Other times I'm glad the three months is over, to be honest with you!

1:22:06 > 1:22:10Yogi wants to take me through this forest of giant Sequoia trees,

1:22:10 > 1:22:12and up to the nearest peak.

1:22:15 > 1:22:17So you've got lost up here before?

1:22:17 > 1:22:19Um...

1:22:19 > 1:22:25I like to say that I'm not lost, I just don't always know where the trail is.

1:22:25 > 1:22:29I know which canyon I'm in, and it does get tricky sometimes.

1:22:32 > 1:22:34'Out of nowhere, a heavy mist comes in.

1:22:34 > 1:22:39'If I was on my own, I'd be turning around now, going back down towards safety,

1:22:39 > 1:22:42'but Yogi seems completely unconcerned.

1:22:46 > 1:22:49'Then the mist clears as suddenly as it came in,

1:22:49 > 1:22:53'and we're standing on a very high, exposed fin of rock,

1:22:53 > 1:22:58'looking down at the clouds and the valley floor, a vertical mile beneath us.

1:22:58 > 1:23:01'If I fall off here, Yogi tells me,

1:23:01 > 1:23:05'it will take a full minute to reach the ground.

1:23:05 > 1:23:07'This is the very last thing I want to hear.'

1:23:09 > 1:23:13I can't make it. I get vertigo in places like this.

1:23:13 > 1:23:16This is as far as I'm going to...

1:23:16 > 1:23:21I start to wobble, and...kind of clench up.

1:23:21 > 1:23:23So this is as far as I'm going to go.

1:23:23 > 1:23:27This is still the front country for me. Kind of the front yard.

1:23:29 > 1:23:32I'm heading out to the back yard, out that way.

1:23:33 > 1:23:36I would love to join you, I just don't have it in me.

1:23:36 > 1:23:38YOGI CHUCKLES

1:23:38 > 1:23:42That's home for me. I actually count on most people feeling the same way you do.

1:23:42 > 1:23:45- Keeps it good for me. - Keep the riffraff out!

1:23:45 > 1:23:48I wouldn't call it riffraff, but...

1:23:48 > 1:23:50That's where I'm going.

1:23:53 > 1:23:57How long would you go up there for? How long are you going up there for?

1:23:57 > 1:23:59Two weeks, usually.

1:23:59 > 1:24:03First day is here, third day I go over the great Western divide,

1:24:03 > 1:24:06that wall out there, then the bigger peaks are out beyond that.

1:24:06 > 1:24:09So that's kind of your front entrance?

1:24:09 > 1:24:14Mm-hm. I've climbed all the higher of the named peaks,

1:24:14 > 1:24:17in this Great Western Divide, up north, a long way,

1:24:17 > 1:24:21and I've been working my way out toward the far eastern side of the park.

1:24:21 > 1:24:25So I've got about five days out, five days back,

1:24:25 > 1:24:28and two days to bag a peak or two out there along the way.

1:24:30 > 1:24:35Well, I wish you a fine adventure, but you're on your own, partner.

1:24:35 > 1:24:37I count on that. I count on that.

1:24:37 > 1:24:39Thank you, Richard.

1:24:42 > 1:24:45- All right. Adios.- Bye!

1:24:48 > 1:24:50And he's gone.

1:24:50 > 1:24:55Back into the frozen wilderness, and absolutely delighted about it.

1:24:55 > 1:24:57He's passionately in love with these mountains.

1:24:57 > 1:25:01A man at peace with himself, a happy nomad.

1:25:02 > 1:25:04And that's all, folks.

1:25:04 > 1:25:08We've rambled around the American Southwest for 6,000 miles,

1:25:08 > 1:25:12and if you trace the journey on a map, it looks like a daddy longlegs,

1:25:12 > 1:25:14smashed up against a wall.

1:25:14 > 1:25:17Conclusions? Don't jump to one.

1:25:17 > 1:25:21People with bad upbringings sometimes become wanderers,

1:25:21 > 1:25:23and so do people from good upbringings.

1:25:23 > 1:25:27Loners wander, and so do couples.

1:25:27 > 1:25:30Weak people take to the road, and so do the strong.

1:25:30 > 1:25:35People wander to find beauty, or because God told them to travel with a tent,

1:25:35 > 1:25:39or because tomorrow's rodeo is in a different town.

1:25:39 > 1:25:43But ultimately, people wander in America because they can.

1:25:43 > 1:25:45The space and possibility exists.

1:25:57 > 1:26:02That nice young couple Derek and Amy split up soon after we left them.

1:26:02 > 1:26:07He went to Tennessee. She kept the child, the dog and the school bus,

1:26:07 > 1:26:10and found herself a new boyfriend at the slabs.

1:26:14 > 1:26:18Preacher Joe went on from Quartzsite, Arizona to Lake Isabella, California,

1:26:18 > 1:26:21where he caught himself a 10-pound trout.

1:26:21 > 1:26:26Right there. That's a number one bait!

1:26:27 > 1:26:29Praise the Lord!

1:26:29 > 1:26:32Now he's moving north into Canada,

1:26:32 > 1:26:35a fisher of men and a fisher of fish.

1:26:47 > 1:26:49Hi. Baby.

1:26:49 > 1:26:51Hello?

1:26:51 > 1:26:54Oh hey, what's going on?

1:26:54 > 1:27:00Will and Tom the rodeo cowboys are still driving 2-3,000 miles a week in Will's van.

1:27:00 > 1:27:03So far this year they've won 42,000 between them.

1:27:08 > 1:27:09Hey, darlin'.

1:27:10 > 1:27:13Oh, we're pulling into a gas station.

1:27:15 > 1:27:17Ted is travelling harder than ever.

1:27:17 > 1:27:21The longest road in North America is the one to Panama,

1:27:21 > 1:27:24and he's given himself two months to drive down there and back.

1:27:33 > 1:27:37Yogi is back up in the high Sierras, communing with the wilderness,

1:27:37 > 1:27:40reading a book about Siberian tigers,

1:27:40 > 1:27:43and listening to baseball every night on a pocket radio.

1:27:53 > 1:27:57Last I heard from Comfrey, he was out on the rails.

1:27:57 > 1:27:59I check his Facebook page from time to time,

1:27:59 > 1:28:03and it's been more than a month since he updated it.

1:28:05 > 1:28:07And me?

1:28:07 > 1:28:09MACHINE BEEPS

1:28:09 > 1:28:11'Hi, this is Richard, I'm not around right now.

1:28:17 > 1:28:21'Leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can.'

1:28:37 > 1:28:40Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

1:28:40 > 1:28:42E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk