Welcome to Storybound, presented by Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate.

I'm your host, Jude Brewer.

Coming up in one minute is a story told by Jack Recider,

with original composition by Shane Brown.

Be sure to stick around until after the credits to hear a conversation with Jack

and more about how this episode was made.

This is a story told by me, Jack Recyter.

Sometime back in the late 1930s, my grandfather hitchhiked from Chicago to L.A. It was just 18, I had a few months off in the summer and decided to see the country.

My grandpa would tell me stories about this trip all the time.

Obviously, he had fond memories of this trip, and I had an impact on him all the way into his old age.

When I was 18, I decided to recreate this trip. I also wanted lifelong memories

of a solo road trip that abandon all care and would just go wherever the wind would take me.

But I wasn't brave enough to hitchhike, so instead I rode the rails. I headed to Chicago and

bought a train ticket and then headed west. It didn't matter where,

as long it was west, with the goal of ending up in Los Angeles. All aboard, and I was on the move.

It was my first train ride between two cities. Sure, I've taken like a trolley here or there,

wrote some novelty train ride somewhere,

but this was a full-size passenger train,

20 cars of people.

There were nice and comfy seats in some cars,

beds in other cars, a restaurant in a few.

Some cars had entertainment where you could watch movies

...