Picking Up Hitchhikers?

[ArtW]

I don't hitchhike, or pick up hitchhikers
If I get a spontaneous offer of a ride while not hitching and I think the offer is ok, I'll accept a ride, especially if I know the person. Sometimes I'll offer a ride to a walker who isn't hitching
probably dumb of me, I accepted an unasked for ride one night back when I was younger and got taken home (to her home) by a lady that was actually a dude
Still, got me close to home and was funny

 

[jonsun]

Just not worth it. At the very least they stink from the road, you might not get along, etc. But whenever I have I cannot help to be uncomfortable.

 

[MikeRuth]

Were not in the 60's and 70's anymore...It's a plain fact that there is a lot more possible danger out there than ever.

 

[DuneElliot]

I have hitchhiked, as a hiker sometimes it has been proven necessary. I haven't picked up one yet.

Hitchhiking is pretty common along the long-distance trails...and I love the comment one women made: "Serial killers don't carry hiking poles and smell like moldering laundry." I would likely pick up a PCT/CDT hitchiker if I saw one. However, due to the smell they'd get stuck in the back with my dogs!

I don't think there is any more danger than there used to be, we just hear more about it thanks to modern TV and especially the internet. I wish I could remember the study, but the statistics proved that crime hasn't really changed much...we just know about it more often.

 

[Vanada]

I'm sort of surprised by the nimby attitude here on a forum of nomads. I'm a 26 year old male and have hitched in Argentina, Chile, USA, Canada, UK, Spain, China, Australia, New Zealand. Nothing but good people and a couple slightly odd/interesting ones. Since I only started driving in the last year I've only had the opportunity to pick up one person but am determined to pay it forward. 

I can't argue with the horror stories and intuition as to whether someone looks like trouble or not needs to be applied of course. I agree with Elliot in that the world is probably only equally as scary as it was, but to fight the perception that it's only getting worse we have to be willing to break the mould.

 

[Lj Unlimited]

I have hitchhiked, as a hiker sometimes it has been proven necessary. I haven't picked up one yet.

Agreed. Though I have never hitched, I picked up a few on hot humid days along the NCT where it runs near my town. Also drove a young couple across the Mackinaw bridge once as you can't walk across it except on Labor Day. And even then you can go only south.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Seeing a definite difference in attitude based on age.  Wonder how much one's willingness to hitch or pick up hitchers has to do with the fact that when we're young, we think we're immortal and when we're older, we know damn well we're not?

 

[Vanada]

Seeing a definite difference in attitude based on age.  Wonder how much one's willingness to hitch or pick up hitchers has to do with the fact that when we're young, we think we're immortal and when we're older, we know damn well we're not?

I... I'm not immortal? 

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

I... I'm not immortal? 

Of course you are immortal; ... as long as you believe in reincarnation ....

 

[johnny b]

"Gas, Grass, or Ass...nobody rides for free"

--does that mean I'm OLD! ?  

 

[Lj Unlimited]

"Gas, Grass, or Ass...nobody rides for free"

--does that mean I'm OLD! ?  

Nawww..... It's just  [font=Verdana, Arial]no ass, no gas, no grass, no ride  these days. "[/font][font=Verdana, Arial]Ain't Nothing Free"[/font][font=Verdana, Arial]- BIG SMO[/font][font=Verdana, Arial] Lyrics[/font]

 

[GypsyDogs]

My one and only hitchhiker story.

I was driving a country road (hairpins and steeps in the mountains) and I saw a guy leaning against a gorgeous seafoam blue 1954 Chevy BelAir, parked on the side of the road. The car was immaculate, glowing chrome, a thing of beauty.. except it had a small stream of coolant flowing from underneath and steam (and possibly smoke..) billowing from the open hood.. the man looked like he had been kicked in his soft-parts. more than once. He may have been sobbing..

Needless to say- he was no threat. I gave him a ride into town...

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I've never hitch hiked but as a kid we'd bumper jump all over town in the winter. After a fresh snow fall and before it got plowed we'd grab onto the back of a car or truck bumper, kneel down with our feet flat on the ground and ski to our desired destination. Soon as the car started going in a direction we didn't want to head we'd hop off and grab the next one. Mostly done at night as many drivers would stop if they saw what you did and then we'd just run away. Our record was six miles, going to an arcade/pool hall a town over. This backfired as when we left the roads were plowed and sanded so we walked most the way back, but when you're 15 a six mile walk isn't much.

Tons of hitch hikers here in Maine, always tempted to stop and pick one up. They're usually good for an interesting story if nothing else. Last one I saw was thumbing as a cop drove by and thought for sure he'd be getting a ride, cop paid no attention and kept on going.

 

[rvpopeye]

I was about 21 or so when a friend and I were driving along the Maine coast and saw a hitch hiker and picked him up. Several miles down the road he was where he wanted to be and asked to get out , which he did.

When we stopped at our destination we looked in the back seat where the guy was riding and found a razor sharp 18" fillet knife .....

True story.

 

[Queen]

Grew up with a dad who would pick up any hitching serviceman we saw, so I carried on the tradition when I was old enough to drive. Didn't work out as well for me being a tall thin blond (back in those days), so I gave it up.

 

[KathyC]

I would encourage all - but especially other females -- to think twice then thrice about picking up a hitchhiker these days. It's one a million, but why take the risk? Sociopaths/serial killers are rarely bushy-haired, wild-eyed psychos. They can look quite "normal". They are also skilled at playing on our emotions and sympathy. Best to use our resources helping people we know.

 

[jeanclaude]

We picked up a young guy in Utah who needed a ride to get gas for his car. Figured it would be good karma in case we were ever in the same situation Didn't really feel weird about it, especially with the whole UBER/Lyft put-your-life-in-a-strangers-hands world we live in now, but for our conversion van, it was a little unsafe to have him just sitting on the bed in the back for those couple miles.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Ok this is a long video, so anyone with limited data should pass on it.


It's about a guy with a bad-ass trike, and oh yeah, he picks up a hitchhiker!


Again, LONG video. You have been warned!

[video=youtube]

 

[Dennis]

Trike??? Looks more like a top fuel dragster to me. Dang! Hitchhiker would be too scared to cause a problem.

 

[GEAUX- PRIUS Cowboy]

If you go on Craigs list there is a ride share function people can and do hitch rides that way. I have HH when I was a teen once from Guthrie OK Job Corps to Morgan City LA when I went AWOL. I found there were 3 types that generally pick up HH. Jesus freaks , stoners or homosexuals. Some just wanted to have a chat others wanted you to roll ? I was not good at rolling but he was so damn high he did not notice how pregnant that joint was. By the time I got home I was sober and I got home faster than grey hound could bring me up there. I had a fresh shower when I started out every cop that saw me usually stopped and searched me. Just wonderful right?

I have encountered 3 notorious people in my life time that I know of. Jeffery Dahmer no explanation of that guy needed , Henry Hill one and the same real life character that Wise guys was written about later turned movie Good Fellas, and the grand daddy of them all Whitey Buldger. Dahmer asked for directions to a gay bar in MCLA I was 12 Henry, Hill my wife called him over to help out a tenant I think I was 19, and I don't remember my age when I brought a Domino pizza to Whitey Buldger and his girlfriend but I sure wish I knew who he was when I brought his pizza I would have 2 million dollars sure beat the $2 tip his girlfriend gave me ? Whitey was just a strange old man that had the most inappropriate reaction to a complement about his TV.