When did hitchhiking go out of style?

[oladub]

Nice shirt OLA,, would you suggest I get one like it when hitching?

UFO and vetalalumni, I should be pissed that gnome outed me and my shirt but hey, if you want to improve your odds the next time you hitchhike, if you know what I mean, get one just like it. No t-shirts. Its got to have a collar.

[Meddle]

This thread is educating me because when the bank takes my home shortly, this is exactly what I intend to do.

Ill hitch going south for the winter and play it by ear.

Won't the Mothership pick you up?

[UFO]

Won't the Mothership pick you up?

Do I hearith a wind blowing?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFvkhzkS4bw

[jiminnm]

Seems that not many of you travel in the great American southwest, where hitchhiking is alive and well. I see hitchhikers almost every time that I travel about. It is a well accepted mode of travel in and near the Navajo nation, and hangs on elsewhere. The problem is that there are a number of folks hitching with large dogs and gigantic backpacks that won't fit into many of the small cars.

[Alfie1a]

You guys have some cool stories from your travelin days. I never hitch hiked much besides gettin around town now and then. This is my most memorable occasion.

I was at Pine Knob for a Willie Nelson show, around 1980 or so. Too much beer and pepermint scnapps caused me to become seperated from my ride home and I wound up sleeping in the park beneath a tall pine, in the rain. I gained consciousness at around 6am. Still half lit, I found the road and was picked up by the first car that came my way. The gentleman had 2 beers left from a 12 pack that he was working on and offered one to me. I cordially accepted. This ride took me to Telegraph and Elizabeth Lake. I thanked him, hopped out of his car, stuck out my thumb and again, was picked up by the very first car that passed. I opened the car door and to my delight, was greeted by the sweet fragrance of marijuana. I hopped in and this kind stranger immediately passed it over to me. I cordially accepted. This ride took me to Telegraph and 7 Mile and I merrily strolled the remaining 4 miles of my journey.

[UFO]

Would you seasoned hitch hikers recommend carrying a knife for protection?


If so, whats legal to carry in your pocket?


Just fyi for beginners

http://wikitravel.org/en/Tips_for_hitchhiking

[Ravine]

Gnome invited me over to this thread, but while it is a fact that I have done quite a bit of hitch-hiking, I don't have any good stories to share.
I used to thumb my way home from high school, so I could keep the bus money. My mom would have had a goddam fit, but it was only three or so miles up Gratiot. There was one middle-aged guy who picked me up with some regularity; he was just being decent, no funny business attempted.
But then, people have always seemed more scared of me than I of them.
I can tell one thing, though: I was in Anchorage, Alaska in the late 70's, to visit a close friend, and one night I decided to bus my way to a strip joint I had spotted earlier. My friend was at work; I was bored & feeling adventurous, so off I went.
Well, everything was fine with that, but what I hadn't thought about was that the damned busses might not run all through the night, and as a matter of fact, they didn't, so by the time I left the strip joint, it was too late to catch the bus back, so there I am, late at night in Alaska, fer chrissakes, on the side of a rather dark-ass road, trying to thumb a ride, which wasn't a viable plan for two reasons, one being that there were no goddam cars travelling on the road, and the other being that I had no idea where the fuck I was or how to explain where the fuck I was trying to get to.
The conclusion to this idiotic story is that I saw a cop car in the parking lot of a diner, went inside, and threw myself on their mercy. I was able to give them the general idea of where my friend lived, and they were benevolent enough to suck down their coffees and go about the business of delivering the wayfaring [[read: "idiotically careless") stranger [[read: "dumb ass") back to where he belonged and where, if he had any goddam brains, he would have stayed in the first place.

[gnome]

ravine, What time of year was it?

I can't really imagine having to be a topless dancer in Alaska.

[Papasito]

yes, hitchhikers occasionally got killed, or killed the people picking them up [[more often) but there was never a big surge of such crimes, except in the minds of screen writers and novelists

I wish people were more friendly. There are so many destructive people out there that it's hard to have an open sense of trust, by putting your life and your safety into the hands of a total stranger in exchange for a ride.

I remember my Dad's car breaking down when I was about 6 yrs old and a stranger giving us a ride after my dad hitched with them. Back then it was so "ok" to hitch a ride. These days it's seen as taboo. Not to mention if a cop sees you trying to hitch a ride, you can bet on him stopping.

[Bobl]

Hitched to Fort Lauderdale on spring break with a friend in the sixties. Met girls from Denby High School there.
"Dave, we didn't come here to party with local girls." His reply: "WTF, these girls are hot!"
Arguments followed, after too much drinking.
I left alone, hitching back a few days later. Ran into a Georgia Patrol officer who explained that there was no hitch hiking permitted there. He explained "that side is owned by Mr. McGregor, he will turn his dogs on you. The other side is swamp. Don't stop or sleep there. The bugs and snakes will get you. I'll be back, and better not see you!"
Hiding in the brush, I would only stand up for large trucks. Got a ride from an owner operator who was headed for the Rouge Plant. He laughed at my story, then paid for meals. Went out of his way to drop me off at I 94 and Moross, near my home!

[ccbatson]

Good point, notice as well how children are not free to hang out because of media generated paranoia on the parents part.

[jams]

Not to mention if a cop sees you trying to hitch a ride, you can bet on him stopping.

Hell, several times it was the cops that gave me a ride to a safer or better place to hitch a ride, but, of course, that was in the 70s.

One time joking with me, they asked if I had any weed. Of course, I answered "No", but if they searched my backpack, they would have found a pound in the bottom of it. Yikes!!

[Ravine]

Nice going, Jams, hitch-hiking with a pound of weed in your back-pack.

[jams]

Hell, I had to get it home somehow, I just didn't think the cops would help me.

Funny, haven't smoked in over 10 years and rarely in 20 years, yet so many good memories of a carefree youth.

[gazhekwe]

Hitchhiking never seemed safe to me [[I am woman), but my brother did a lot of it. My viewpoint was probably affected by the fact that every time I walked somewhere, guys would offer me rides the whole time I was walking. I never figured they were just being altruistic. I did accept a ride once when my van broke down by that cemetery on Grand River by Kensington in a snowstorm. After regretfully declining a ride from an insistent man who was unfortunately by himself, I was given a ride to the nearby gas station in a county snow plow! That was fun.

[ccbatson]

I bet the ubiquitous cell phone rendered the need to hitchhike nearly extinct.

[jams]

I bet the ubiquitous cell phone rendered the need to hitchhike nearly extinct.

I'll take that bet.

[gnome]

huh? Bats, you know anyone who rides their cell phone around?

[rb336]

After regretfully declining a ride from an insistent man who was unfortunately by himself, I was given a ride to the nearby gas station in a county snow plow! That was fun.

did they let you ride on the plow or did you have to sit in the cab?

[ccbatson]

Good joke Gnome...If they did, they should call the local news and have them drive over in their van to report on this new mode of transportation. Maybe they could drop the person in question off after they finish.

[gazhekwe]

RB - did they let you ride on the plow or did you have to sit in the cab?

I had to ride in the cab. That was an adventure, the bottom of the door opening was about waist height on me, and I was in full business dress, so it was a fun chore getting up there.

[East Detroit]

I bet the ubiquitous cell phone rendered the need to hitchhike nearly extinct.

"Hello, Jives? This is a Tad. The Rolls broke down on Lakeshore Drive. Be a good man and bring the Bentley. Cheers."

[Lowell]

It is too bad that it isn't done anymore. While it can't be documented, I would bet that it would be no more dangerous now, in terms of being assailed, than it was back in they day, as it was the sixties and early seventies when I did a lot of hitch hiking. It may even be safer since cars and highways are far safer now. That was and still is the greatest danger.

I thumbed several thousand miles in my time. My first adult age trip to Detroit was by thumb from my college in southeast Indiana. I hitched a lot in Africa during my Peace Corps days including one long trip in Zimbabwe from Bulawayo to Harare to Victoria Falls to Umtali and back to Bulawayo. Another month-long trail was in Europe with a GF that went from Rome to Naples, to Amalfi coast, back to Rome, to Florence, to Venice, to Trento, through Brenner pass to Austria, on to Switzerland, down the Rhine to Strasbourg, ending in Paris.

The Trento to Austria segment was particularly memorable. Hitchhiking was very tough there and we walked completely around Trento with no luck. With evening coming, just when we thought we would have to spend the night there, we got a ride in a luxurious car with a male driver and two women. We got in the back with one woman and cruised off toward the Alps. While they spoke some English, they lapsed into a mix of Italian and German. Night came as we climbed into the Alps with 500 foot drop-offs on one side, rock wall on the other and snow flurries beginning. One of the women said something that set off the man who was driving. He erupted, screaming non-stop at the woman, looking at her and not the road, fumbling for cigarettes that dropped on the floor and increasing his speed. "This is it," we thought, "This is how we die." The women tried to soothe him to no effect. The rage and erratic driving went on for about 15 minutes, but fate smiled on us, we got out unscathed in Brennero and spent the night there. The Austrians were unsympathetic to hitch-hikers so we took a train for the remaining distance to the Swiss border.

[Bigb23]

For me, it was Detroit to L.A. in 1970, Detroit to San Fransisco/Eureka Cal.in 1971, and above Lake Superior in 1972. I've also picked up some hitchers from Austria back in the 80's in the Mt. Clemens area on I-94.

The last time I had to hitch hike was about ten years ago when my van broke down on a rural road in the middle of winter. I'm 6'4" and 210# so I had quite a long wait for a ride. What I can't belive, was that all of the big manly contractors would drive right by without slowing down, but I eventually recieved a ride from a woman with her two young toddlers. I was grateful to get in out of the cold, but I told her that in the future, never to do that again !

[exdetroiter]

There are too many crazy people driving around in this day and age. I have never picked up a hitch hiker, nor have I known anyone whom has picked up a hitch hiker.