0:00

Nielle.

0:00

Look, just did I give you a ring

0:03

from Australia where I've

0:05

been listening to that fantastic

0:07

story of yours and your beautiful

0:09

writing. I've enjoyed it enormously

0:12

and it reminds me so much

0:14

of the time when I was on the road

0:16

lost in America. I did ride a number

0:18

of trains and set in a number of box

0:20

cars along the way anyway, I

0:23

thought I'd just play you one of the songs

0:25

that I used to play a lot when I was around.

0:30

Right here it cars.

0:38

Thank you Australian fan for that great

0:40

Harmonica solough that brings us

0:42

back to the City of the Rails, which

0:45

just passed a million downloads, one

0:47

million amazing. In

0:50

honor of this, we decided to celebrate you,

0:52

guys, the audience, hundreds

0:54

of thousands of you were drawn to this unusual

0:56

story set in a world most of you had

0:59

seen but ever thought about. You

1:01

left us some incredible voicemails. I'm

1:04

Dannelle Morton and this is our bonus episode

1:06

to thank the fans of the City of the Rails.

1:11

Hi, this is Dino. Hey, I just finished

1:14

with what I know is is the final episode

1:16

of City of the rails and holy

1:19

crap, I used to live

1:21

in Colton, you know. I have been over

1:23

that Rancho off ramp and always

1:25

looked down and saw encampments of tents

1:28

and people hanging out down there, and I'm like, oh, you know, jeez,

1:30

poor homeless people. And then you know, it

1:33

all clicked. And same with

1:35

the Pepper streets. You just enlightened

1:37

me to the Colton

1:40

scene, which I knew

1:43

nothing, absolutely nothing about.

1:45

Man, I just could not stop

1:48

listening to your podcast

1:50

two thirty in the morning. I'm up, I

1:53

gotta listen more. I gotta here, I gotta get addicted,

1:55

absolutely got addicted.

1:59

Hi.

2:00

I just wanted to say I've been really enjoying

2:02

the podcast forty

2:04

year old Marine mechanic renching on boats

2:07

over in Rhode Island in the middle of

2:09

the winter.

2:10

Really and enjoy your work.

2:12

It's visceral.

2:13

It really is well done.

2:16

First and foremost, I just want to say that I'm

2:19

a prolific reader.

2:21

I love watching movies and very very

2:23

rarely do I go back.

2:24

And experience something more than once to I

2:26

just started my third time listening

2:29

to this program.

2:31

Of these episodes, this podcast today

2:34

and I'll find it phenomenal.

2:40

Hey, I'm calling from s Water, Minnesota,

2:43

and I just want to praise

2:46

you and your whole crew.

2:48

I'm an uber driver among other

2:50

things.

2:51

It's like my third job. But you know, I listen

2:53

to you while I'm driving, and I have passengers

2:55

get super into your podcast.

2:58

They don't always get into my podcast, but yours.

3:00

They love.

3:01

It's interesting, and I think it's brilliant to

3:03

bring on subjects

3:05

that we don't know.

3:07

About, those average, you know,

3:09

American here right in front of our face.

3:11

You guys to bring it in this world.

3:14

Not all of you loved it unconditionally, though.

3:16

We got criticized for not identifying queer

3:18

writers.

3:20

Who do you want to talk to about queer

3:22

relationships on the rails,

3:24

Because I know you said that like

3:27

most people will hook up with like

3:29

most women will hook up with a man

3:31

for like safety and companionship

3:34

on the royals, But what about

3:36

queer people, because I'm sure, I'm sure

3:38

clear relationships are also existing there.

3:41

Others asked if this world was different for writers

3:43

of color.

3:45

I think it's really interesting about the subcultures

3:47

and kind of like the freedom connected with just this

3:49

hobo like lifestyle. Something

3:52

I am kind of curious about I'm a black man,

3:54

and I'm wondering, like what the kind of racial makeup

3:57

of the like kind of hobo camps

3:59

and the what kind of hobo community

4:01

is because a friend and I were talking

4:03

about it, and it kind of seems that like being an

4:06

invisible kind of vagrant seems like that would be

4:08

kind of like privilege, like a privileged

4:10

like white thing.

4:13

And one daughter of a rail cup felt we glorified

4:15

something that is incredibly dangerous.

4:17

People jumping the rails is a big problem,

4:20

and you want to glorify.

4:25

That life.

4:25

Yes, you do show there are some

4:28

downsides to it, but

4:31

you make it seem very attractive.

4:33

I just think that

4:35

you haven't done justice to the other side.

4:38

Of just one listener didn't

4:40

want me, someone from outside this secret

4:42

world to tell this story at all.

4:45

I don't think you're a good journalist.

4:46

I think you're an outsider and you

4:49

can go fuck yourself.

4:53

There were also messages from writers and

4:55

near writers for whom the podcast

4:57

made them want to take to the rails.

5:00

I just want to say that I really really do enjoy

5:02

your podcast and I connect with it. I

5:04

wanting to explore and see

5:07

what that is inside of you that wants to just leave

5:09

and go. And I mean life trying

5:13

to make it in

5:15

regular society can be just as

5:17

grueling and hard and difficult, not knowing what

5:19

you want to do. And I've been going

5:21

from job to job to job to job, trying to figure

5:24

out what is it that I love? What is it that I love that's

5:26

worth doing. It's not easy to determine,

5:28

Like you know, living, you know, everything's expensive,

5:30

like every once in a while, and I just want to get

5:32

out of dead. I want to get the fuck out of here.

5:35

I hear you on that point, and so do

5:37

many others repeating Mama's questions

5:40

why do you do what you do?

5:42

Such an awesome show came

5:44

at a very important

5:47

time in my life. I

5:50

used to ride trains, and

5:53

I just recently a year ago,

5:55

bought a house, and I have

5:57

a job, a corporate job,

5:59

and I guess I had

6:02

a birthday recently and had kind

6:04

of like an existential

6:06

crisis sitting in one of my work meetings,

6:08

and I was just thinking to myself, like what the

6:10

fuck am I doing? I know I could just jump

6:13

on a train and get the fuck out

6:15

of here.

6:17

And for one writer, the show made him

6:19

think about how he could get off the rails.

6:22

Keep up the good work. It's given me

6:24

some inspiration. It really has

6:26

props to you. It's just given me

6:29

an inspiration to keep moving. I

6:31

would love to go off the rails, but you

6:33

know, a's fifty two. That's not a reality.

6:36

But there are other ways to go about

6:38

it, especially how you talked

6:40

about at the end of the show moving into

6:42

the San Francisco apartment.

6:45

Anyway, I thought it would give you a

6:48

glimmer of hope that it has helped

6:50

somebody. It has helped me.

6:52

The most moving messages for me were the ones

6:54

from parents. City of the Rails

6:56

is a story about life on the tracks, but

6:59

it's clearly a mom point of view on what

7:01

happens at home when your child leaves

7:03

for many parents to show help them understand

7:05

why their child took this risk.

7:07

Hey, Danielle came across

7:09

your City of the Rails and just

7:12

I have a kid. He's thirty eight right

7:14

now, and years and years on the rails.

7:16

He's home right now, restarting

7:19

his life again. But it's

7:21

just so amazing how

7:24

how there were so many questions I didn't even

7:27

know to ask that you've answered

7:29

and It's really opened up a dialogue between

7:31

he and I. Of course a lot of stuff

7:34

off limits, but it really has been

7:37

just remarkable listening to that life.

7:39

And anyway, thank you for

7:42

the awesome podcast.

7:45

Or helped a writer explain this life to his mom.

7:48

He just couldn't understand, well,

7:51

hello there, miss Martin.

7:53

You know, I relate to your your daughter,

7:55

and we're wanting to you

7:58

know, be out there and saying

8:00

and how like how you know

8:02

my mom at first was like what the fuck?

8:05

But now she's like, support it, And

8:07

this is such a great thing

8:09

to pass to her this podcast, because

8:11

there's been a lot of things that wanted to you

8:13

know, express and share with her that maybe

8:16

she just hasn't asked me about or I

8:19

haven't sat down. I'm

8:21

not really a big storyteller.

8:22

It's been really cool to share.

8:24

This with her.

8:25

For some other moms, after listening to the show, they

8:28

understood their teenage daughters better.

8:31

This podcast is one of the most beautiful

8:33

podcasts I have ever heard. I

8:36

don't think there's been an episode I've listened to

8:38

so far that hasn't brought

8:40

out so much emotion in me as

8:43

a mom and as a friend to those

8:46

who have spent many, many, many

8:48

a year's writing. There's not a

8:50

moment that I don't see a

8:53

train somewhere and take pictures

8:55

of graffiti and wonder who's

8:57

on that train. Your story

9:00

is beautiful, and thank you for sharing.

9:02

And as a mom, I

9:04

have a fifteen year old daughter that I

9:07

can so relate to right now with

9:09

hearing you talk about Rupy and know

9:12

that my daughter is bound

9:15

for adventure and bound for a life of her

9:17

own. I don't know what else to

9:19

say, but thank you, Thank.

9:21

You so much, And

9:23

I think even more important, helped at least

9:26

one mom be open to loving her daughter for

9:28

exactly who she is, not for who she

9:30

wanted her to be.

9:32

Hi, Danelle, I know that the

9:34

show you've finished, all the

9:36

series that I just wanted

9:38

you to know that I've been binge

9:41

listening for the last three days.

9:44

I am a seventy one year old

9:46

mother of two beautiful

9:48

forty something daughters,

9:50

and one daughter is just

9:53

like me. You do what you're told, and you

9:55

do everything right the way society

9:57

expects. The other one not so

10:00

much. She has friends

10:02

who are very very much

10:05

like the people you describe.

10:07

They are honorable,

10:10

they are troubled. They

10:13

are good friends. Your

10:16

podcast has.

10:18

Really opened my eyes

10:20

to who my daughter is and

10:23

helped me understand.

10:25

Her more and love her more.

10:28

And I

10:31

want to be more patient with her and

10:33

not keep trying to change her. I have spent

10:36

her whole life trying to.

10:39

Make her somebody she isn't

10:42

or encourage her in directions.

10:43

That she's not interested in. She

10:46

doesn't work for the man, she.

10:48

Does odd jobs. She just

10:50

marches to a different drummer than

10:52

her dad and I. For

10:55

whatever reason, I.

10:57

Just really really wanted

10:59

to thank you so much for

11:03

writing this and I feel like so

11:05

much of it is about being a

11:07

parent, and I just

11:09

wanted to thank you. Thank you so

11:12

so much for this beautiful

11:15

podcast. Blessings to you and

11:17

to Ruby.

11:19

That one really touched me. Blessings

11:22

to you too, to all of you. After

11:26

all this thoughtful feedback and gratitude,

11:29

many still had one lingering question.

11:31

I feel like a lot of people on the rails, there's somehow,

11:35

there's that spiritual connection of just rejecting

11:37

the world but trying to make your

11:39

way in it. That just really

11:41

appeals to me. And I don't know if

11:43

I'll ever get that chance, but it's

11:46

just been amazing to hear about

11:48

that, and I just have to say

11:50

thank you. I'm really looking forward to the second

11:53

season. And well, just

11:55

I guess readings from su City, Iowa.

11:59

So where is season two?

12:01

Sorry to say, there isn't going to be a second season.

12:03

Our show didn't get renewed, so we're

12:06

without a home for the incredible story of Dirty

12:08

Mike that I told you about at the end of

12:10

the last show. There's

12:13

been a lot of turmoil in the podcast business

12:15

in City of the Rails, wrapped with some great

12:18

and very popular shows getting canceled.

12:20

So despite the one million downloads, ironically,

12:23

we're a story in search of a home. I

12:26

don't think it'll be forever though, after

12:28

all, I've got more than two hundred letters from Dirty

12:30

Mike, a confessed serial killer who

12:32

found most of his victims in the train yard and

12:35

is, on top of that, a pretty good writer.

12:38

So by for now City of the Rails fans,

12:41

but not forever. We're still

12:43

working on it. And as Profane Sass sang,

12:45

so well, we'll see you down the road, you

12:48

wayfaring strangers.