Finding a reason to be thankful
Posted on Friday, November 28, 2008
Daily Record photograph by Charles Fowler Chris Cole sat at the I-540 exit ramp and 14 th Street in Bentonville on Thursday morning.
BENTONVILLE—Thanksgiving, for many, is a day to remember to count their blessings and to celebrate all of the good things in life while surrounded by family and friends. Sometimes it is not hard to find those blessings — be it a new baby in the family, a new job or finally making the perfect turkey and dressing — and other times, the blessings are not so apparent.
Chris Cole, 38, is a transient panhandler who was in Bentonville for Thanksgiving day and for him, just being alive is reason enough to be thankful.
He carries with him his only possessions—the clothes on his back; an old, ratty sleeping bag which doubles as a chair and a bed; and a piece of cardboard taken from a Coke box on which he asks for money in plain black lettering.
With his cardboard message in hand, Cole stood at Exit 86 off of I-540 on Thanksgiving.
“ I am just trying to get some money to get something to eat and get back to California, ” Cole said.
Originally from Neosho, Mo., Cole has been traveling the country for the past 10 years, hopping trains to get from place to place.
“ I know all the routes. I just go to a train yard and wait until they make a stop, ” Cole said.
Riding the rails is something Cole enjoys because of the freedom it gives him and most times, the train company does not care if they find him aboard. They simply tell him to leave, except in Leesville, La., where he was put in jail for three days for being on the trains. He was told get out of the state upon his release, Cole said.
Cole arrived in Bentonville only after he fell asleep on a train one day and when he woke up, he was here.
Cole expected to make around $ 100 Thursday before getting ready to hop a train Friday to his next stop.
“ I do not know where I will be tomorrow. It will not be here though. ” Cole said.
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