Hobo Museum

We left Forest City, Iowa this morning to head 35 miles down the road to Mason City and the Walmart. We need to stay here tonight because it is right beside the Best Buy where we are having an XM radio installed.

On our way, we made a stop at the Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa. It wasn't the best museum we have ever seen, but we did learn some things. The term 'Hobo' came into use because these wanderers would head out west to work on the great plains farms with hoes. They were first called 'hoe boys' and soon they shortened it to 'hobo'. We learned the difference between a hobo, tramp and bum.

A HOBO is a man who travels and works.
A TRAMP is a man who travels and does not work.
A BUM is a man who neither travels or works.

They had their own way of communicating by leaving symbols. Here is a picture of some of the symbols they used.



They used charcoal to make these marks to indicate everything from a good place to eat, to the best jails!





Tomorrow after the radio is installed, we are on our way to Morton, Minnesota and the Jackpot Casino. They have an RV park where we hope to settle in for the holiday weekend.