Living the Dream

By Allen Wellenstein

My first book was, The Life and times of the Rich Hobo. This book: Living the Dream, is an extension of the last book. I picked the name Living the Dream. In all of my books, I say that all the time. Some days, I feel like I am living the dream. I wrote the book because I had so many stories to tell everyone, so many things I have done, places I have seen, and people I have met over the years. I am hoping and praying that my book will help people get closer to God. I get to share my experiences, strengths, and hope with my readers. I get to write about my Christian walk with God. One day at a time, how I have been in recovery for thirty-two years.There are some crazy stories. I want to tell people about God, and how He has changed my life. How God takes care of me so much. I get to write about His love and grace in my life. A lot of stories of the wacky things I have done. The miracles I have seen on the streets. Also the miracles I have seen in Church. My traveling stories, freight train hoping, street living, I want to let people know the stories of street living. Living with so much pain, off and on the streets. My mental and physical problems, I deal with daily. The things that haunt me.In my book, I want to let people know about my business and my daily struggles. How I get treated selling my wares. I also write about how many nice people have blessed me, writing about me, being a hobo at heart. I put a God story in each chapter, or I write it at the end of the chapter. I really enjoy telling and writing stories. That is what, living the dream all about. Loving what I do for a living. Getting to do what I want when I want to. Life is a vacation. I get to tell stories of the angels that are watching over me. How a man can live off of God's blessing, and his wits. Telling stories of how much I love trains, even when I lived on the streets. I told people I was living the dream. God bless you. Enjoy. See you down the road.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098019310

Book preview

Off the Streets

As you know me from my first book, I’m Inside . My landlords are nice people. I only pay $350 a month. I enjoy being inside, especially those chilly or cold nights. I like sleeping in a bed with four walls around me. I can even lock the door. There was a time I was sleeping; I suddenly woke out of a dead sleep. Someone was standing in my camp, while I was trying to sleep. Most of the time, I yelled at them or a few times pick up the stick and threaten them with it. When I slept outside, I carried a stick with me for walking and also for protection. Dogs can be a big problem too. I also had an open knife right under the jacket that I used for a pillow. I only had a pillow one time. It got stolen with my sleeping bag. People don’t have to worry about me anymore being out on the streets, especially my mother. She told me last year when I finally got my own place that she was mad at me for being out on the streets, for putting her through so much worries and fears. She put me in God’s hands.

I think she and a lot of other people were praying for me too. Thank you, God.

All the Horses

I have always loved horses since I can remember. I was seven years old when I rode my first horse. It was a pony, but when you’re seven years old, it felt like a big horse when I was riding it. That was a lot of fun. I felt like a real cowboy with my straw hat on and my sandals on, a California cowboy. Then another time in Fallbrook, California, my friend let me ride his horse. It was a paint horse, and it was very gentle. I didn’t ride for years until I got into recovery. I used to go to the riding stables, and I used to ride up and down the hills. I used to ride really fast too. There is nothing like riding a horse, really fast. The wind in your face gets your adrenaline pumping and your heart pounding. I was riding on an animal that is supposed to be running wild. There is a certain feeling you get riding a horse. I wanted to be a saddle bronc rodeo rider at one time too. The older I got, the farther away that the dream faded away. It is just a memory of what was. I had a dream about it one night, that I was riding in the rodeo and people were cheering. I was on top of the world. The last time I rode a horse was at Palmer Mountain, California. It was at a men’s retreat. We all went up into the mountains for the ride. There was five of us riding horses through some trails and an owl came out flying out fast from the trees; it spooked my horse. My horse reared up on two feet and almost got bucked off. I just held on; my body was so loose that I just went with the flow of the horse. My friends said I looked like a real cowboy. Now, my back is so messed up; I don’t think I could ride anymore. I have watched just all the horse movies there are. My favorite movie is Seabiscuit . I still love horses especially watching the horse races and winning some dough too. Now, that is living the dream.

Four-seater Cessna Airplanes

I have only flown, one time, a little four seat Cessna airplane. It was so cool. I was living in Sacramento, California. The executive airport had a flight school that would charge $75 an hour. We did all the ground check airplane inspection. The trainer and I took off; it was a rush. We were off into the wild blue yonder. He flew the plane for a few minutes and then he turned to me and said, It’s your turn to fly. I looked at him and was shocked. He said, You didn’t pay me to let me fly. I was excited, scared, and nervous. I started flying the plane and then I did a turn, and it was about thirty-five degrees to turn around. I thought I was going to flip the plane. He even let me land the plane. That was a trip to remember.

When I was six years old, I went up in a helicopter in San Diego, California; people looked like little ants while we were up there. We took a tour of San Diego. That was pretty cool for a six year old to take a tour like that. Our Father in heaven is like that too. We trust Him and do His will. We, too, live an exciting life of joy, abundance, and peace that surpasses all understanding.

The Train Trestle

I was hitchhiking one time in Arizona. I was with someone too. There was two of us hitchhiking on that day. There was an old Indian that picked us up. He was driving an old, beat-up pickup truck. He asked us if we wanted to smoke some weed. Back then, we said hell yes. He said he knew a great spot we could smoke a joint. He drove this old, beat-up truck to a spot next to a train trestle. It went across this canyon about two hundred feet high. We walked across this train trestle to smoke the joint. We were getting stoned. This was some good weed the Indian had given us to smoke. We were all laughing. I looked at the old man, and he started smiling. He said, Oh, I forgot to tell you that the train should be here in two minutes. All of a sudden, this train trestle we were sitting on was only a couple of feet below the train