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I'm wondering if any women out there have experiance hitching rides. I don't like to limit myself just because of my gender. I would love to travel this way for a bit save some gas money, and have a different type of travel experiance.
I'm surprised to read this thread and see the stories of hitchhikers, since I've now realized it isn't as uncommon as I thought in the U.S. However, I doubt I'd want to try it, except in a low crime part of the country where people still hold a lot of trust in each other. Certainly wouldn't try it in areas where racial tension was high.
Maybe it's more common in Europe for people to hitchhike, vs. in the U.S.?
I wonder how dangerous it actually is... like some trucker is going to risk 10-15 years in prison for raping a woman he picked up hitchhiking when he's mostly out there trucking to support his family to begin with.. makes me think of all these people paranoid that someone is going to kidnap their kids and that there's pedophiles around every corner just salivating at the opportunity...
Seems like a bunch of unfounded, made up fear to me. From what I've seem people are mostly good natured, trying to get by, at least in the US. How many people are going to get into trucking just so they can go around and stalk hitchhikers? How many people randomly drive down the interstate looking for 'fresh meat' they can go and satisfy their urges with? I'd imagine you are more likely to get into a car accident or even get struck by lightning or come out of a casino (shudder) ahead.....
A lot of people have been raised to fear the unknown.... and perhaps for good reason. I can see the appeal of being homeless and hitchhiking around the country though.. call it thinking outside the box...
Reading these posts jogged my memory about my one time hitchhiking experience, and made me shudder to think I was that naive about the whole thing. I hitched from Dallas to Houston, right out of high school, for no more than the simple reason I wanted to do it. I had just started going to a technical school in Dallas, and on a whim decided one day I didn't want to do the school thing anymore. I threw some stuff in a bag, and walked to the freeway, and began my adventure. As far as I remember, there were no incidents. Two people got me to the 610 loop. One was a guy that continuedly complained about certain parts of his body that hurt due to a party he had been to the night before, and had over-indulged himself with the ladies. The other was a young woman and her son that worked for a circus, and was leaving her husband. The guy, I remember very little, but the woman was a pleasure to talk to.
At the time, I was barely eighteen, and I suppose was fairly daring, such as some of the folks here. It was an experience, something I can say I did, but it was so far out of my comfort zone, I am amazed even now that I actually did it.
Getting into a car with a complete stranger in an isolated area is a risky behavior. It doesn't mean that you can't do it and be perfectly fine but it's not common anywhere that I have lived.
I hitched once, back in the early 50s. A really cute guy and we laughed a lot. But he was military and my Father would have fainted if I brought him home. (I was only 15)
I don't think I'd hitchhike today, but if I did, I'm sure some kind soul would pick me up and take me where I asked to go - most people are kind to the elderly.
Violent crime has been steadily declining for the last decade.
With the news 24/7 and the media in your face now, it makes it seem like things are worse. You can turn on CNN/FOX/whatever and watch them go in to detail about every bad story. It distorts people's perception.
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