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Beside freeing the hands, the greatest advantage I can see is the increased vision over the plains grasses and brush.

It seems a pretty complicated adaptation for that use. A very long neck would require much fewer genetic changes.

Here's another advantage: bipedal walking is faster and more efficient for long-distance travel. But again, partial bipedalism doesn't cut it.

Your "fire-carrying" hypothesis is interesting, but consider this one, which has the virtue of extreme simplicity: bipedalism developed because two shoes are cheaper than four.

Bipedal walking is faster?? I don't think I buy that.

Here's a trivia question for everyone, and sorry, I don't have a link or a source.

Q. If a perfect example of every species were lined up at a starting line for a race and at the signal each individual is to begin running(or walking) at his/her desired pace untill dead due to total exaustion....which one would traverse the greatest distance before dying? The rules being that swimming and flying are disqualified, and no resting, sleeping, eating, or stopping is allowed. Also, the race is not to take place in extreme climate or weather conditions or harsh terrain. Assume this race takes place in a garden of eden like environment.

A. the human being would win this contest.

It is due to a combination of unique physical features of the human body. Bipedalism is a big one. Also the fat reserves contribute. But there are two more that people are not often aware of. A healthy human foot has two arches that make for extremely efficient locomotion, the most efficient in all the animal kingdom in fact. And the human nose and nasal cavities are very good at capturing and recycling moisture from exhaled breath...of course, you need to breath through your nose for it to work properly...so all you mouth breathers out there would lose the race, hehe.

There was a tribe of africans that hunted in this way. They did not have projectile weapons, so they captured game by being expert trackers and having superior endurance. Equipped with only a club, they would choose their prey and persue it for days and nights on end without stopping. They would literally chase the animal untill it was totally exausted, and then club it to death. It didn't matter how fast this animal was, the animal always lost in the long run.(pun intended)

Long distance travel as a goal implies higher-order reasoning; the greater the distance the more imaginary the goal. To this day, people will tend to walk in a great circle when lost absent a path or clear marker; I wonder where ancient Man thought he was going?