The official hitch hiking thread

ATOMANT

ATOMANT

New Member
Who remembers the good old days of getting rides with strangers? Tell us your adventures if any and would you pick up a person with thumb out on the road today?
As a teen we lived rural and went into town one time to watch movie. We had to hitch hike or walk home. We got a ride from a couple very drunk army men and the driver had a hard time staying in his lane. We were legitimately scared and the guy got mad when we ask to get out. The tension inside the car was thick and i thought we were gonna get beat up. Luckily he stop and let us out.
 

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Yes, in my youth I hitched when I was somewhere without a car, or I had a car but it came to rest on a highway shoulder with some technical issue. Hitched in both Canada and the U.S.

One time, I was around 19 and visiting some relatives down in northern California. I was staying about an hour north of San Fransico Bay, and this guy my age & I decided to hitch to Berkeley to go to this fantastic record store that stocked obscure LPs. We got out on Highway 101, stuck out our thumbs and got a ride part way with this smiley middle-aged guy in a pressed shirt & tie, who steered with one hand and shaved his face with an electric razor that plugged into the cigarette lighter. He told us he worked for Falstaff (beer brewer), "a great bunch o' guys!" He got us quite a ways.

Next, we got a ride in a pickup truck with an African-American man, a very talkative, friendly guy. We said we were headed to Berkeley. In the truck bed, there was a load of produce that he'd grown. Turned out, he was a businessman and wanted to get to Berkeley himself. We turned off the highway, somewhere around El Cerrito (?), into a service station that the man owned. He dropped off the produce for his employees there, and they were real pleased to get it. He continued on to Berkeley, and dropped us off near the university campus where the record store was located. We bought some LPs, and had enough money with us to take a bus back to where my buddy lived.

Years later, in my late 20s I was hitching with my girlfriend from the southeast of BC west to Vancouver. I think that was because my car wasn't in traveling shape at the time. We got a ride with a guy in his 30s (pickup truck, a couple of big chainsaws in the back), and after a while he started talking about things like planting some bombs in the venerable Hotel Vancouver (in the financial district)! He was a full-of-.... guy. We didn't believe his plan, but we were glad to get out and rely again on our thumbs! The next ride was with a quiet woman, about 30, who eventually told us she was a professional belly dancer. She took us to her modest older apartment and fed us soup & bread.

I don't remember too many details of the return trip, other than we got a ride for quite a stretch from a young Canada Post driver in an official mail truck. I'm sure giving hitchers a ride could have cost him his job.
 

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Same here, Bob. My service time was '53 - '56 and only being 10 years or so after WWII, Korea was winding down and servicemen were still well thought of.

One night, quite late, an old late 30's era Buick pulled over. I ran up and someone opened the rear door. I hopped in and a lady plopped a little child onto my lap (fortunately not crying) . It was like a TV episode from "Ma & Pa Kettle, A couple of old people, couple of middle-agers, and 3 little kids.

This was just outside of NYC and I was headed for Massachusetts. I stayed for a couple of exits, thanked them, and got out to try for a more comfortable ride.

Bless 'em though - - their hearts were in the right place.
 
In my early 20's I hitchhiked across America. Sometimes I would hop on a bus (Greyhound or Trailways, I preferred Trailways). But I was often spotted on the open road. I remember in Minnesota and Wisconsin, sometimes I didn't have to stick out my thumb. People would stop and offer me a ride. One cold night, I hitchhiked from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota. 103 miles. It took about 10½ hours, since I actually walked a lot of it myself. Late one night, I was caught in a brutal thunderstorm in Morris, Minnesota. I had to find shelter in the rear entrance to a store, until the morning when the bus terminal opened up. I remember one night sleeping on the sand near the water by Lake Michigan.
 
It was how I traveled cross country in the summers when I was in college in the early to mid 1970's. I learned a fair amount of field craft living out of a rucksack. I met a lot of people, some really interesting, some who needed a listener to hear their troubles, a few who going cross country themselves and wanted someone to share the campfire at night....and pass the bottle back and forth, maybe smoke a little hemp.....
But after 8 or 10 weeks living pretty rough, it was so good to return to my apartment with a bed and clean sheets and running water whenever I wanted it.
And nothing really awful ever happened. Bad weather occasionally (I was ready for it), some tiresome people now and then......no big deal.
There were definitely some fascinating characters whom I'm glad I encountered.
 
bobcat said:
I hitched a lot when I was in the service. I was always in uniform and had no problem getting rides. Not sure how it would be today though.
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So much fraud and stolen Valor these days people would likely mistrust someone hitching in a military uniform. Maybe not in the USA because they seem to hold those folks in high esteem. They deserve it.
 
My dad told me that he hitched quite a bit in California when he was stationed there during WWII. He said the best rides were with the truckdrivers. They couldn't come to a complete stop but they'd slow down, throw open the door and he'd run along side until he could grab a handle and swing himself up.

Same thing when dropping him off. They'd slow down, he'd open the door and swing himself out and down.

I guess just about anyone would pick up a serviceman in uniform. It was considered your duty to give them a ride.
 
In university days, I hitched quite a bit on my own. Sometimes on the highways with a friend. Had a few iffy rides, not terrifying. After a young woman hitch hiking home from school disappeared and was later found murdered, most people quit, including me. It’s illegal on the freeways now. I rarely see anyone with their thumb out now.
 
One of my life heroes is Sissy Hankshaw, no seriously I've got thousands of miles of hitching, I used to be a freewheeling vagabond and still would be if I were able. I caught my first ride when I was 13, I'd missed the school bus and didn't want to walk the three miles home, so I stuck my thumb out and discovered a natural talent that I fell I love with.
 
The only time I ever "hitch hiked" (sort of) was when I took the wrong bus, that went straight instead of turning like the next bus would have done. It had just snowed, the road I was on was snow covered, had no sidewalks and I was making my way the few blocks I had to walk to get to my doctor's appointment. A young lady came by in a van and asked if I wanted a ride.

I trusted my instinct that said I'd be okay and accepted. She didn't have to take me far and I didn't ask her to take me to the strip mall where the doctor was located. I never would have done the regular hitch hike thing, especially not get in the car with a man (though I know women can be dangerous too).
 
I hitch hiked a lot in California in my teens. So many stories...the drunk guys that gave us a ride on Hwy 1 right by the ocean cliffs, banging on the roof of the truck to let us of, until we managed to jump out, the ride in a GTO fully customized and street racer with a state of the art stereo gave us a thrill of a lifetime,

the girl who picked me up in the summer with nothing on but a nightie, the guy that ran off the road and skidded to a stop off the freeway, or the one that had money on the front seat, and asked if we wanted to model underwear, or the hippies that picked me up in a step van, and then went skinny dipping in Lake Shasta. Many more but I will stop there.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Hitch hiking was way to travel when I was a kid. Years ago, at major interchanges of the Interstate. you'd see people looking for rides. None, now. A couple of years ago, I only saw one guy hitching, but he looked like Charlie Manson. Ain't no way I was going to stop for him.
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I was in Kansas City in 1978 I remember the first warm days of spring there were hitchers lined up on the freeway trying to get somewhere else. I've never seen anything like it since, well maybe when I was at the junction of 15N and 70E there were five of us strung up and down the turnoff.
 
I've never hitch hiked, but have helped out a few, mostly women that one can trust more dependent on location. As a long time Sierra Nevada backpacker, it is common for hikers to come out of wilderness at trailheads where they have no transportation and then need a way to reach local towns to resupply too many miles away. Generally there is very little crime of any type at remote trailheads far from urban areas or major highways.

The community of backpackers here in The West are far more trustable than doing so say in urban areas. When I grew up until the mid 1960s, hitchhiking was very common with both adults and kids, especially within the surf culture of our coast. However, the mid 1960s was also when due to Hollywood and Madison Avenue marketing, all manner of societal seksual openess was deemed by court edicts as legal that was accompanied by a surge of perverts both moving to California and then preying on hitchhikers. Soon numbers of horrors rose in news and forever after became a scary proposition.

Within the last woman I picked up was just a few years ago at an Eastern Sierra Nevada trailhead when a thunderstorm began. I had just completed a multi day backpacking trip and starting my way home. So I got the young woman with gear into my vehicle, then drove a few miles to where her own car was parked.
 
Beezer said:
Who is more dangerous? The hitch hiker? Or the person who stops to pick up the hitch hiker.
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Oh the stories I could tell.... I rode my thumb for years up and down the east coast Maine to Florida. I've had a few scares, but nothing serious. Met a lot of fine people too. I still pick up most folks. I have had the opportunity several times to use my FAVORITE hitch-hiking line of all time, both as the hiker and driver.
The question of " aren't you afraid that I could be an axe murderer or something?"
I start laughing and reply " Now wouldn't that be funny, Two of us together in the same car."
 
Paladin1950 said:
In my early 20's I hitchhiked across America. Sometimes I would hop on a bus (Greyhound or Trailways, I preferred Trailways). But I was often spotted on the open road. I remember in Minnesota and Wisconsin, sometimes I didn't have to stick out my thumb. People would stop and offer me a ride. One cold night, I hitchhiked from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota. 103 miles. It took about 10½ hours, since I actually walked a lot of it myself. Late one night, I was caught in a brutal thunderstorm in Morris, Minnesota. I had to find shelter in the rear entrance to a store, until the morning when the bus terminal opened up. I remember one night sleeping on the sand near the water by Lake Michigan.
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I always liked Trailways better too and used them if I had a choice.
 
Well I didnt get murdered out there, but had some interesting
happenings....while I was becoming a drunk, I hitched all over
the east coast, lets see, maine to indiana, new york to maine,
indiana to florida, indiana to georgia, georgia to florida, also
a side trip into Wva...more than once at some of thos locations...
had to stsay in sheds during winter, under a bridge in summer,
YMCA on occasion, mens mission to work a bit for money, Lord
was watching out for me that is for sure!! !!!!👈👉🦾
 
Hitch hiked up in the Bay area mostly. One of my gfriends had moved up to Larkspur and she and I would hitch hike to Sausilito, and other surrounding areas. Only 1 bad experience.

I would never hitch hike now, nor would I ever pick someone up.
 
Paladin1950 said:
In my early 20's I hitchhiked across America. Sometimes I would hop on a bus (Greyhound or Trailways, I preferred Trailways). But I was often spotted on the open road. I remember in Minnesota and Wisconsin, sometimes I didn't have to stick out my thumb. People would stop and offer me a ride. One cold night, I hitchhiked from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota. 103 miles. It took about 10½ hours, since I actually walked a lot of it myself. Late one night, I was caught in a brutal thunderstorm in Morris, Minnesota. I had to find shelter in the rear entrance to a store, until the morning when the bus terminal opened up. I remember one night sleeping on the sand near the water by Lake Michigan.
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Fabulous adventures!
 
ATOMANT said:
Who remembers the good old days of getting rides with strangers? Tell us your adventures if any and would you pick up a person with thumb out on the road today?
As a teen we lived rural and went into town one time to watch movie. We had to hitch hike or walk home. We got a ride from a couple very drunk army men and the driver had a hard time staying in his lane. We were legitimately scared and the guy got mad when we ask to get out. The tension inside the car was thick and i thought we were gonna get beat up. Luckily he stop and let us out.
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I hitchiked with boyfriends- NJ to Boston a couple of times with one, and from Michigan all the way to VA with another ( and back!). I was kind of a hippie kid and there was a pretty mellow culture of hippies picking one another up. I also hitched a bit in England in 1973. That was really fun. We were probably insane and I am constantly amazed that I survived my youth. Seriously, I took a lot of chances and I'm very lucky to be the ancient crone you see before you now.
 
I asked a stranger for a ride this summer. Was trying to limp my diesel pickup home after it developed an injector problem. I made it only 30km when it completely let go. It looked like a nascar engine blew there was so much smoke. The first guy along stopped cause he didnt know what the heck happened cause he saw the smoke before he crested the hill.
Luckily he kindly gave me a ride to town to call a tow truck since there was no cell service in that area. He was hauling an old wood outhouse on a trailer and the base was rotten and it blew off the trailer. Was a real crap show of a day
 

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