Hitchhiking-Once part of the American dream(Share Your Hitchhiking Stories)

www.msn.com ^ | April 6, 2004 | Robin Dalmas

[LadyShallott]

In Douglas Adams' hilarious Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, fictitious characters thumb a ride through space to meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed president of the galaxy; Marvin, a depressed robot; and the Vogons, a warlike race who compose poetry about whatever they find in their armpits. Down here on Earth, hitchhiking was never quite so colorful—but talk to some baby boomers, and their eyes roll back with delight remembering the joy of soliciting free rides.

[familyofman]

Can we include stories of freight train hopping out of the Pittsburgh area to points west - with return transport provided by the RR as well?

[2111USMC]

Back when I used to drive a desk for a living, I once picked up a hitchhiker after work in Davenport, Iowa. I told him that I was only going to Bettendorf (this represents only about a 5 mile stretch.) He immediately started acting strangely. I think he may have been on PCP.

To make a short story, I dropped him off at one of the bridges that connects the Iowa side of the Quad Cities to the Illinois side.

About 2-3 days latter, his picture was on the front page of the local newspaper. He had stabbed his ex-girlfriend in a local Illinois city with a knife more than 30 times.

I don't pick up hitchhikers anymore after that.

[anncoulteriscool]

In 1982 I had a job selling book door-to-door in North Carolina for the Southwestern Company. Most of us did not have cars so we had to hitch a ride from where we lived to the area we were selling. I had to hitch a ride in the morning and again in the evening. Most of the time it was never a problem. People would always say to me "I usually never pick up people but you looked like you had an honest face". However, one night I could not get a ride back to where we were staying and a policeman came along and offered to let me spend the night in one of the jail cells. It was the only time I ever spend a night in jail.

[hollywood]

IIRC, you've got a "watch this" hitch-hiking story, right?

[Travis McGee]

Is there any doubt? My good hitchhiking stories would all take to many paragraphs to type. I'll tell ya some time, if you can stand it.

[arthurus]

Got a ride at the Skelly near Little Rock going east on a semi with 3 black guys in the cab. They were small and it was not too tight. While we rolled through Arkansas I had to keep ducked down so no one would see a white man in the cab with them. Only one was a driver and he was tired. I had a Florida CDL (easy to get in the 60s)and he asked me to drive a bit. As I drove the three all kept their own heads down . When we crossed the line into Tennessee the one called Dave said hey now we can breathe and everybody sat up. No problems in Tennessee.

[GRRRRR]

I never thought this would happen to me but...I was driving to Florida for spring break and in South Carolina there were two girls standing at the entrance ramp to I95 with their sign, Daytona or Bust...well, of course they were going my way...turned out they were TWINS and ready to party!...









Well, it COULD be true!!!

G

[arthurus]

Because I hitched extensively for years in the 60s and 70s I always have felt that I owe for it and I pick up hitchers whenever I am on my bike or alone in the car and see one but these days there is always a gun close to hand. Only one time did I have recourse to it when a fellow I picked up indicated he wanted me to take him 7o miles in a direction I did not mean to go. He showed me a knife to persuade me and I showed him my 410 side by side handgun. I told him it was cocked and if it got jiggled just a tad it would mess him up real bad. He decided to get off right there. I spoke to a passing HP on my CB about the fellow.

[arthurus]

My very first thumb trip was in 62. I was 15 in Florida and had decided to go to Norfolk VA because I had my family had been living there for a few years before moving to Florida. I stood by the road with my thumb out for a couple of hours and finally got a ride. Turns out the fellow was going to Norfolk, to an address less than 5 miles from my own destination. The guy was a hotrod who had fixed up his daddy's old shine car, I think it was a 54 Chevy with something huge under the hood and we made the trip in amazingly short time, even outrunning police in a couple of counties in Georgia. In those days once you got out of a county in Georgia there was no more interest in you until you irritated a police in another county.

[arthurus]

In 70 I got left off in a town on the interstate in CA in the middle of the night. I was changing direction to go east and had my gear in an army duffel bag.A car stopped behind me and 3 Chicano guys got out and told me to give them the bag. I had not slept in 3 days and was not thinking rationally and refused so one of them grabbed it. I just held on and yanked it back. Another one kicked me in the jaw and knocked my glasses off. My jaw is concrete and I don't think my head even moved. The three swarmed me and I could not see much at all but just flailed. I caught a wrist in my hand and managed to take a knife out of the hand I had grabbed and flailed with that. The fellows suðenly quit and jumped in their car and left. A few minutes later another car stopped and I got in. With his dome light on the driver, a black security guard going home, saw I had blood on me and asked how bad I was hurt. I saw the blood then and inspected myself and found no wounds. He let me off about 20 miles on. I studied newspapers for the next couple of days but saw nothing to worry about.

[N. Theknow]

Well, it wasn't exactly hitchhking but there was one fine summer day in 1969.

I was in summer school at The Citadel in Charleston, SC, and was sitting in my room counting my pennies to see if I could perhaps make a run to McD's, when I heard a train whistle.

As a railroad brat, I would often go to the local freight yard in Charleston to watch trains, so I decided it would be a good way to pass the day.

After sitting and watching the trains move slowly along, I spotted a long freight with quite a few "side-door Pullmans" and a little idea flew through my mind.

Surely it couldn't be going too far.
Perhaps it was going to my hometown!
I wonder if I could hop on and get a free ride?

Three bounding strides, a well-timed leap when I was in position and there I was, "King of the Road."

Well, the train did go to my hometown. But it didn't stop.
The train did go to North Carolina. But it didn't stop.
The train made it to Virginia and finally stopped in Richmond.

400 Miles later I "detrained" and made it to the highway for a lengthy, if albeit, "routine" hitchhike back to campus.

This was to become known as my "See America on $1.91 Tour."

[arthurus]

In 71 I slept against a snow bank in Oregon one night in my bag. By evening the next day I was walking in, I think, Redding CA. I was in a long sleeve denim shirt and jeans. It seemed pretty warm but I wasn't sweating and I used up all my change (a lot) buying sodas and when I saw a hose trickling onto the sidewalk I picked it up and was trying to suck water out of it when I realized it must be pretty hot. Turns out the temp was 114.I did not feel nearly as Hot as I do in FL when it's 90 but in that dry air you don't seem to sweat but I guess if you don't keep pouring water into your body you will will shrivel up and die. I have never much cared for desert.

[arthurus]

Sorry for hogging the thread but it brought back memories I have not had for a long time. I once thought I would never get off my thumb or the road but after the birth of my second child the necessities of being a family man and citizen caught up with me. The last time I took off on a hitch was in 90. I had not done it for years. It was harder to stand for most of a day waiting for a ride and the drivers were all uptight and scared of me.I guess I was finally cured.

[funkywbr]

I lost my bags once to Girls who never even threw one punch at me! Weaker sex my arse:-)

[arthurus]

Somewhere in the middle of Texas in the mid 60s I change direction in a small town. I got checked out by a local constable then I got one ride out to an intersection of a very small road a couple of miles east of town. Daytime became night and it commenced to get cold and I did not see another car. The road looked good on the map but it seems nobody actually used it. There were loose apparently dead bushes rolling around and I captured one and decided to make a fire. Well, I put a match to it and it went up like paraffin- big torch. A few minutes later the cop who had checked me out drove up and he said I wondered how long it would be before I heard from you again. He took me back to the road I had turned from and I decided to take the longer better traveled route.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I think that the end of my hitchhiking days corresponded to the CB craze. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out but once I was hitchhiking from Chicago to Boston. Somehow I got the idea that truckers might be willing to give me a ride and that I could leverage the power of CB to make the whole process easier. I don't know how I got my first trucker ride - I think by hanging around at a truckstop (since truckers weren't likely to stop on the road for you). But once I had that first ride, the rest was obvious. As you approach the point where one guy is going to let you off, you ask him to radio out for other truckers who would be willing to take you the next leg. The idea worked flawlessly and I made that trip in record time. I can't remember how many handoffs I engineered but I do remember that was a quick trip East. I think my hitchhiking days were coming to an end around that time, so I don't think I did that trick except that one time. Worked great, though.

[LadyShallott]

I appreciate the fact that you (and so many others) have shared memories and stories. I'm sorry that I have not replied to most of the comments here on this thread...I have corneal damage to my left eye that has been bothering me lately. Playing peek-a-boo with a toddler can result in injuries. :o) It's difficult to read at the moment. But I wanted you, and everyone else, to know what a joy it has been to read through this thread. I think I am going to start a weekly "Remember When" thread. Anyone interested?