Possibly all money they had was used for food, etc. There ARE people who have zero money and are out on the street with nothing but a few possessions in a backpack, who do need a job. I have known of military vets in this situation.
As for hitchhiking, I would hope he wouldn’t do that. He could wind up raped and dead. Yes, an 18 yr old boy could easily become the victim of a homosexual psychopath.
Few people will pick up a black teen hitchhiker, and the cops would probably hassel him anyway. When I was in HS I used to walk five miles (I had time on my hands) rather than pay 50c for a bus. Bus fare is gotta be a couple of bucks these days.
Around where I live the local bus rides are still down at 50 cents as of last year, but this is a very small town here. In Reno, they were 1.25 dollars -again, as of last year. However, with no job and therefore no bucks to use, I well know the difficulties of having to walk everywhere.
I would like to see you try to spend the sums you mention on a regular basis with no income and see how long it takes you to begin starving.
Not a smart thing to do in this day and age.....