"ME AND BOBBY MCGEE”

                                                 Walmart parking lot in Eagle Pass, Tx.

We saw them huddled in the corner of a Walmart alcove alongside the front door. They, Poptop and Sheri, their 4 dogs and two giant backpacks made a sort of cozy bunk against the cold. The temperatures here in Eagle Pass, Texas will be dropping into the low 30’ies so the more fur in their tent tonight the warmer it’ll be.

The quartet of well mannered dogs attracted animal lovers and loosened the purse strings of the most hardened.  Booger-Pig, the little black pup, and three other dogs accompany 20 year old Poptop and his 21 year old girlfriend, Sherri, in their travels. This adventurous, carefree duo have been going steady for two years, and as Sheri says,  And F*** buddies for a year before that.” “We decided to stay together ever since I bought him a 40 oz’er of Pabst Blue Ribbon.” She gave a lighthearted laugh and continued to explain, “Poptop couldn’t resist me after I laid that "big-brown" on him.”  Her generous, happy smile didn’t need the teeth she was missing, as she told me, “ After we decided to hook-up, the next thing we did was take a sort of honeymoon; We’ve been riding the rails (Hopping freight trains) and hitch-hiked around the country, following the warm weather ever since.” Their means of support being pan-handling seems to have served their style well. Both were happy and chatty. Neither they nor their pooches were hungry, each of their 60 pound backpacks were bulging and all were clothed warmly.

They had just arrived this morning via “The Boot” from Mexican authorities. The freight train they were riding from San Antonio had crossed the border in the middle of the night and without them knowing they woke in Mexico. That is when the lot of them, dogs and all, became a low-key political ping-pong game. To the best of my understanding, of all things unnatural, the Mexicans didn’t want any part of the mess and tossed them back across the border into the confused arms of our border patrol. After a good nosing by the Border Patrol drug sniffing canines, they were again given the boot, this time by the US agencies and sent on their way.

Jackie and I talked with them until they needed to leave for their evening accommodations in a hobo camp under a nearby bridge.  Jackie, the true animal lover she is, made sure they had resources for a few weeks of dog food.

They walked into the night, the slight stature Poptop steady under the big load, his arm straightened by the three leashed dogs.  Large framed Sheri marched into the cooling night air with her tall pack slightly bent forward snuggling Booger-Pig close to her chest, keeping him warm under her hoodie.

Kris Kristofferson wrote “Me and Bobby Mcgee” which reminded me of these two young souls, “Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose, and nothing ain’t worth nothing but it’s free.”