[
STATUS:HOBOCON_1 // ARCHIVED]

<THE_ORIGIN_RIDE>

The first annual Hobocon.

One train, one wild idea, and proof that a conference doesn't need a ballroom. Kansas City to St. Louis and back aboard Amtrak, five and a half hours each way, no agenda — just hackers and their projects.

In late December 2025, 25 hackers bought their own tickets and hopped aboard the train from Kansas City to St. Louis. No sponsors, no plan, just community.

HACKERS ABOARD
25
STATES REPRESENTED
6
MILES ROUND TRIP
566
HOURS ON RAILS
11
DEPARTURE
KCY
DESTINATION
STL

Attendees traveled from Texas, Colorado, California, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. We hacked on laptops, soldered badges, explored St. Louis, and proved that the security community doesn't need a convention center to build something incredible.

> cat ride.facts
[WHEN]
December 27–28, 2025
[WHERE]
Kansas City ↔ St. Louis, by rail
[OUTBOUND]
Amtrak 318 — KC Union Station, 8:40am Sat
[RETURN]
Amtrak 311 — StL Union Station, 8:10am Sun
[COST]
No fee. ~$50/leg on Amtrak, hotel split
[FORMAT]
Un-con. No agenda, no permission, just a hackathon
> cat /archive/hobocon-1/original-invite

<THE_ORIGINAL_POST>

This is the invite that started it. Reproduced word for word, typos and strikethrough included, exactly as it went out.

SOURCE: get-o.net/hobocon-2025.html
CAPTURED: 2026-07-24

♫ "SecKC takes the morning train" ♫

Introducing:

The First Annual

H0H0CON

H0B0CON

Who: All Tramps, Hackers, Journalists, or Federal Agents.
Where: On a Train between Kansas City to St. Louis
When: December 27-28, 2025

Come one, come all, to the first hacker con on a train! We will embark on a journey aboard one of America's best kept secrets - Amtrak. Enjoy the fellowship of other hackers on our 5-1/2 hour journey each way across the state of Missouri. There is no fixed agenda for this con; instead we are encouraged to use this time as a hackathon. Bring a project to hack on and share with others. At the same time, join in helping others with their projects. There will be mid-bandwidth WiFi available, so you'll have access to whatever you need, as long as it's not YouTube or Ollama models.

The ride will give you a new perspective of the midwest as you take a path unlike driving on highways. Find wilderness minutes outside of the city, industry in rural areas, picturesque views of rivers, and be surprised by three tunnels - one of which goes under a town. There are two trains per day, but by taking the morning train, we get daylight for the whole ride, allowing a pleasant view for the duration of the trip.

This is an un-con. We won't have official permission to have talks on the train, and as these are shared rail cars, we might or might not be able to do so. However, there is nothing to prevent you from talking to people you know on the train.

Please fill out this form, even if you're not attending!
// form closed — archived link, no longer live

Cost:
There is no fee for attendance.

Agenda:
We will ride the rails in the comfort of steerage class, where you will be pleasantly surprised to find that there is 120VAC and USB-A power at every seat. There are no seatbelts, and you are free to stand and walk around as much as you would like on this quiet, smooth ride. Reexperience the joys of access to public travel unmolested by Theatric Security Adminstration, while paying a fraction of air travel.

Amenities:
There is Amtrak provided WiFi, but we will also try to have additional Internet connectivity via Starlink and Calyx.

Departure:
* Kansas City, Union Station - Train 318, Saturday morning 8:40am
Lodging:
* St Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection
Return:
* St Louis, Union Station - Train 311, Sunday morning 8:10am

Budget:
* Amtrak - About $50 each way for tickets. If enough people show interest for group rates, we can get round drop for $90/person (prepay.)
* Hotel - About $175 solo, or split with another hacker
* Food and Beverage - On train, in StL, etc. Yes, you may bring food and bev on the train!

Rules:
Don't be a dick. Don't mess with any of Amtrak's stuff, or other passengers. The conductors are bad asses, and WILL throw you off the train if you are being a problem.

Additional information coming soon, or just reach out to rixon.

> VIEW_RAW_SNAPSHOT.html> ORIGINAL_URL ↗

// byte-for-byte copy of the original HTML, served from this site so it outlives the source

> tail -f ride.log

<THE_RIDE_LOG>

Photos from the origin ride, in the order they happened — Kansas City out, a night in St. Louis, and back again.

OUTBOUND
TRAIN 318 · KANSAS CITY → ST. LOUIS · SAT DEC 27
09:03
3D-printed badge — HOBOCON, INAUGURAL TRIP, KCY to STL, ADMIT ONE. Twenty-three minutes out of Union Station.
09:30
Sticker-bombed laptop, open across a lap. The hackathon started well before the first stop.
10:24
HOBO_TRAIL v1.0 — one of the first contributor-built, contributor-hosted contests. Pick an alias, pick a class (Security Researcher for the dongles, Script Kiddie for the money), climb the leaderboard.
ST. LOUIS
SATURDAY NIGHT · UNION STATION & THE ARCH
21:27
Out on the street downtown, Arch lit up behind the group.
21:49
Downtown St. Louis after dark.
22:30
The whole con in the Grand Hall at St. Louis Union Station Hotel — the lodging promised in the invite, delivered.
03:40
The Arch at 3:40 in the morning. Sleep was not a priority.
RETURN
TRAIN 311 · ST. LOUIS → KANSAS CITY · SUN DEC 28
09:17
The first Hobocon network infrastructure — a GL.iNet travel router with external antennas bolted on, cellular and both Wi-Fi bands lit, wedged in among the drinks.
10:23
Return leg. Four laptops, one table, Missouri sliding past the window.
11:23
“I went to HOBOCON 2025 and all I got was BANNED FROM AMTRAK.” Hand-lettered on cardboard, hobo-style.
END OF LINE · KANSAS CITY UNION STATION

If you rode the origin ride and have photos, hack logs, or anything else from that weekend sitting in a folder somewhere, send them our way and they go up here.

> READ_THE_HOBOCON_2_LORE