Have you ever thought, get me out of here. You take a look at your situation and think there's got to be something better than this garbage. Was this what my daughter Ruby was thinking when she skipped town to have chains. It's just absurd that we live in a country with so much wealth and privilege, and young people choose to live in poverty and explore the country that way. It's fascinating, But the rails are dangerous and unforgiving. Do you want to play with the devil? You're gonna find them their art, That's where they catch their prey. Like I have to go where I'm just stuck on this train. God knows where I'm gonna end up, and I jump. What drew Ruby to this life where everything was at risk? You force yourself to be stuck on this massive freight train going through the elements? What aways be like? Why are you doing this? Oh? My so I don't have to do what you do. I thought my daddy was rejecting me and the life I held out for her. But Reyby wasn't running away. She was running towards something. Hello. That's what I found when I followed her into the city of the rail. This is what it sounds like inside the box car. It's kind of like walking into an early dimension, another world. Reclined, the ladder up on top of the grainer, and it's just miles and miles and miles of sunflowers. You couldn't see anything but sunflowers. I'm Denil Morton. I've been a foreign correspondent, written bestsellers, and was a Hollywood reporter for People Magazine in the nineties. In all those years, I've never seen a story like the City of the Rails. Jumping a freight trains, like it's like riding a dragon or something. As I was drawn deeper into this world, I began to learn how the railroads created modern life and shaped our country. I think the railroad kind of symbolizes a long term history of the It's just such a hero. So railroads show you how it's done, to show you how to raise capital, operate things on a very very large scale, and also they show you how to cheat. Once you touch the rails, they change you. But started out as a search for my daughter led me into a world that made me rethink everything I thought I knew about motherhood, about our history, and about that thing we call the American dream. Come with me as I find out what waits for us in the City of the Rails. Listen to City of the Rails starting January on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have you ever thought, get me out of here. You take a look at your situation and think there's got to be something better than this garbage. Was this what my daughter Ruby was thinking when she skipped town to have chains. It's just absurd that we live in a country with so much wealth and privilege, and young people choose to live in poverty and explore the country that way. It's fascinating, But the rails are dangerous and unforgiving. Do you want to play with the devil? You're gonna find them their art, That's where they catch their prey. Like I have to go where I'm just stuck on this train. God knows where I'm gonna end up, and I jump. What drew Ruby to this life where everything was at risk? You force yourself to be stuck on this massive freight train going through the elements? What aways be like? Why are you doing this? Oh? My so I don't have to do what you do. I thought my daddy was rejecting me and the life I held out for her. But Reyby wasn't running away. She was running towards something. Hello. That's what I found when I followed her into the city of the rail. This is what it sounds like inside the box car. It's kind of like walking into an early dimension, another world. Reclined, the ladder up on top of the grainer, and it's just miles and miles and miles of sunflowers. You couldn't see anything but sunflowers. I'm Denil Morton. I've been a foreign correspondent, written bestsellers, and was a Hollywood reporter for People Magazine in the nineties. In all those years, I've never seen a story like the City of the Rails. Jumping a freight trains, like it's like riding a dragon or something. As I was drawn deeper into this world, I began to learn how the railroads created modern life and shaped our country. I think the railroad kind of symbolizes a long term history of the It's just such a hero. So railroads show you how it's done, to show you how to raise capital, operate things on a very very large scale, and also they show you how to cheat. Once you touch the rails, they change you. But started out as a search for my daughter led me into a world that made me rethink everything I thought I knew about motherhood, about our history, and about that thing we call the American dream. Come with me as I find out what waits for us in the City of the Rails. Listen to City of the Rails starting January on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.