Did you ever hitchhike? (states, vacation, 17 year old, wife)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In the 50's and 60's we hitchhiked all over the place. In the late 60's and during the 70's, I would only pick up girl hitchhikers. Once picked up two girls hitchhiking from OH to CA. They diverted with me to Chicago and spent a few days with me. I came home one afternoon and they were gone but left me a goodby note with love and kisses. They liked me and each other. We had some hot times.......LOL
These days, female hitchhikers are usually hookers and make it known before they get in a car.
I hitchhiked exactly once in my life, when I was about 22. I was dating someone who was kind of a low life. He never had any money and he never had a regular place to stay. We spent a lot of time in bars and just walking around.
I don’t remember the details of why we were hitchhiking that one evening. He had a beater car but it must have been out of gas or in the shop or something. It was summer, late afternoon, and it was hot. A guy stopped for us. He looked to be in his late 50s. He had one of those cervical collars on. He told us that he was a Mutual of New York insurance salesman, calling himself "a MONY man." He said he always wore the cervical collar because if the cops pulled him over, he would say he was rushing to the hospital and they wouldn’t give him a ticket for speeding.
He took us to his motel room, which was unlocked, with the shower and radio going and all the lights on. He told us that he always left his motel room this way, so potential burglars would think it was occupied. He took us out for pizza. He put a huge amount of extra salt on his pizza and urged us to try it that way. It actually was kind of good. During the meal, I remember him saying, “My wife is a real cold cup of coffee, and believe me, there’s nothing colder than a cold cup of coffee.” (This was obviously before Starbucks was a thing.)
After he paid for the pizza, he asked if we were interested in a threesome back in his room. We were not, but there seemed to be no hard feelings on his part. He dropped us off where we asked to be dropped, and sped off into the night.
Sure, all the time. I'm 66 and I hitchhiked a lot in high school and college, including local hitching, many, many trips between Ann Arbor or East Lansing and Detroit, and a few longer trips, like East Lansing to Charlottesville and Windsor to Toronto. Never had a bad experience.
I still pick up hitchhikers, although I don't see them that often. Again, never had a bad experience. The most recent time was last summer or the summer before that.
The world is not as scary as some people think, and in my experience the people you meet are almost all good, decent people.
Not exactly hitchhiking, but when I was in college at Michigan State and I was returning to school I would often get a ride by hanging around at the airport approaching college-age people with their parents and asking if they were driving to East Lansing.
I have never hitchhiked, but I have picked up hitchhikers during the summer I traveled in the Canadian Rockies (Banff and Jasper) during my college years. They were all college aged Europeans. It was fun talking to them.
Back in my college and grad school days (1970-1976) I hitched 1000s of miles, mostly in the NE US and eastern Canada. I'd work during the summer, then before school started, would go out & about for 1-2 weeks. It was wonderful - I saw beautiful/not beautiful places, met interesting people, and remain struck by how generous and welcoming people were. Struck, too, by how trusting and/or naive I was, not just riding with strangers but very often staying in their' homes.
In 1976, after finishing grad school, i spent the summer on the road, starting in Chapel Hill NC and making my way to San Diego, up the coast to Vancouver, then across Canada to St John's, Newfoundland (one ride lasted 3 days!). I'd never been Out West before, so everything was new - scenery, people, food - yeah, everything. It remains one of the most memorable periods of my life.
One thing I had going for me (still have, actually) is that I was average height and build, so other than standing by the side of the road with thumb and signage, I blended in. Always dressed decently, avoiding the hobo look. And, most important, I had a sense of "oh, crap, this doesn't feel right." There were times when I'd just get in the car and THEN get a whiff of alcohol, weed, whatever. First rule of situations like that is avoiding confrontation, so after a few minutes of assessing as we're going down the road I'd ask "how much longer till we get to <town>?," knowing that we were headed AWAY from the town, not toward it. The driver would invariable stop, laugh at my ignorance, or cuss me out , etc. But ... it was a foolproof and graceful-as-possible way to get out of a situation. And, considering I logged probably over 10,000 miles during those years, I had to pull the ignorance act remarkably few times.
It's a cliche, but really, it was a simpler time. Drivers wanted people contact (remember, the 70s: no cell phones, spotty radio reception), and I was genuinely interested in meeting people from these different places. The only downside, of course, was that I was at the mercy of peoples' good will - meaning, you could get stranded, and if you were on the move, you couldn't say "hey, can you stop, I'd like to take a picture?" A small inconvenience, to be sure.
When we were in our teens/20s hitchhiking was still a popular thing to do, but nowadays not only is it considered very unsafe but you can actually get in trouble in places for picking up hitchhikers. But did any of you? I did once when I was 19 and while not assaulted thankfully, the guy that picked me up was all kinds of creepy and I never did again, but I am old enough where I know quite a few who did.
Yes. In high school, many many years ago. Never by myself though.
Never did hitchhike and never picked anyone up. Do you remember the urban legend of the hitchhiking Jesus? The stories of someone picking up a hippie type guy with a long beard and hair and sandals. He would always get in the backseat of the car. There would be a conversation between the driver and him and then when the driver would turn around "Jesus" would be gone!
I hitchhiked more than anyone I knew back in the late seventies and I loved it because I had more adventure and travel dreams than money and I could go anywhere with my thumb. I went to California on one trip and Florida on another and might’ve kept going if it hadn’t been for a story in the news that truly shocked me...a young woman who was hitching in CA was picked up one night and raped and then got her arms cut off and was left wandering by the side of the highway naked and bloody. The thought of murder was something I could deal with but getting your arms hacked off? What a nightmare. So I stopped and bought a VW bug. Nowadays I still have a thirst for travel and adventure so I live in a van lol.
I absolutely remember that horror story. I have never forgotten it and it was one reason I never hitchhiked. All these years later and it is still a nightmare of a story.
Never did hitchhike and never picked anyone up. Do you remember the urban legend of the hitchhiking Jesus? The stories of someone picking up a hippie type guy with a long beard and hair and sandals. He would always get in the backseat of the car. There would be a conversation between the driver and him and then when the driver would turn around "Jesus" would be gone!
I am the hitchhiking Jesus and doggone it, I am thinking I need to get back to earth ASAP and straighten things out!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
