Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Do you pick up hitch-hikers?

host · 07-08-2006, 11:30 PM

The world has changed, regrettably, and it just isn't common to see anyone trying to hitch a ride.

The last time I picked up a stranger was one evening about five years ago when a young woman approached me in my upper W. side Manhattan 'hood, as I was moving my car because of the every other day, alt side of the street parking regs ritual. She said that she was coming from friday night synagogue service and her friend who was supposed to meet her had gotten locked out of her apartment. I was hesitant about her story, but I gave her a ride because of my history.

Growing up in a smallish new england town, from age ten until I has a car, my friends and I hitched rides singly and in groups as large as 4 or 5, and though we knew and recognixed most people, even strangers would pick you up, and it was rare to feel uncomfortable enough about someone, not to accept a ride from a total stranger.

In the summer of '71, I had a male friend in my car, we were staying at my parents' house while they were on vacation. We picked up a hitch hiking couple in a nearby town, who were travelling to Maine by thumbing rides from nothern California. (Is that even a term anymore, "thumbing rides"??) We got acquainted and I ended up inviting them to stay for the weekend, I put them up in my parents bedroom, we partied together both nights, and when I dropped them off at an I-95 on ramp on monday morning, we exchanged addresses.

The next spring, another friend and I made a cross country trip in his old chevy malibu wagon, and when we got near Palo Alto, I called the guy half of that hitch hiking couple, and he invited us over to his parents house for dinner, an overninght, and breakfast the next morning. He had parted with his female travelling companion, and I never saw either of them again, but I still can recall his full name.

Two weeks passed, and....still travelling.....in So. Cal....my friend's car grew more unreliable, and he decided to sell it and hitchhike back to New England.
I checked out the cost of bus fare, and decided instead to use half of my remaining funds....$30...to mail almost all of my belongings back home. so that I could travel "light".

My friend and I decided that we would improve our chances of hitching rides if we travelled seperately. I started first.....19 years old with a knapsack and
sleeping bag, and $30 to my name.....We were staying with my friend's ex-girlfriend's sister, and she dropped me off at the on ramp to the freeway east in San Bernadino on a sunny, mid-march morning. I quickly got a ride from a guy in a small pickup, and he dropped me off at a desert exit, telling me that he would pick me up again if I was still there in an hour. An hour later, with almost no traffic coming by me, he picked me up a second time and dropped me off in the desert in Victorville, CA. There was already another hitchhiker on that ramp, and an hour or two went by as my lips seemed to dey out and peel in the sun. The a tractor trailer came by and halted. The other hitchhiker climbed up into the cab and then surprised me by truning back towards me and waving at me to join him.

It was cramped in the cab of the Peterbilt with two of us and our gear, but the trucker said he appreciated having people to chat with as he crossed the desert. It was a nice surprise when the other hitchhiker asked to be dropped off in Needles, before we crossed into Nevada. The trucker then told me that he had to deliver his load of produce in Boston by sunday, and it was then wednesday evening. He offered to drive me to Newburgh, NY where his girlfriend lived, about 100 miles from my destination.

He slept in the cab's sleeper bed that first night, in AZ, and he didn't sleep again, except for cat naps while I held the steering wheel for him as we moved along at 70 mph on straight, flat, uncrowded highways during the nights that followed. He kept muttering, half asleep, "I sure wish you knew how to drive"! The next three nights, he offered me the sleeper bed and I slept a few hours after helping him to take cat naps in the drivers seat.

He bought all of my meals at truck stops, and plenty of black coffee and Pall Malls, too. He talked about arranging for his trucking business partner to fly up from Fla to meet us in Memphis to take over the driving duties, but it didn't happen. We finally got to Newburgh at dawn on Sunday morning. He said that he was too tired to drive me to the bus station, so he offered me $2 for cab fare and I thanked him emphatically and said goodbye.

I got a bus down to the Port Authority terminal in NYC and I got home with $10 left in my pocket, that afternoon.

After that record distance ride, I don't remember hitch hiking much, or pciking up many others, although I can recall picking up two guys who were hitching a ride in Bar Harbor, ME, in '75.....I remember because I was driving alone in our new Celica, and my wife was off shopping in town and was hestitant to pick up two guys about my age while driving alone in a new car.

I think that is where my hesitancy started...when I felt like I had something to risk if I picked up strangers. Now it's been five years since I have even had the opportunity present itself.

I would pick up a stranger again.....if it feels right.....I have a sense that I should give something back....because of all the genorosity extended to me by other motorists in my past. I'm pessimistic about the economy and the stability of the U.S. currency. I think that we face a shortage of buying power, not of petroleum. If I'm right, and I have been so far, about the 2000 stock market bubble, the end of the housing bubble, and the price gains in gold, silver, and oil, we will be living in a country that is forced to become familiar with routinely hitching rides again, and that probably won't be a bad thing, In most parts of the country, there are very few violent crimes or car jackings. If you are driving with someone else in your car, and you see a hitch hiker who seems okay, I reccommend that you consider stopping to offer him or her a ride.....

07-08-2006, 11:30 PM	#39 (permalink)
host Banned	The world has changed, regrettably, and it just isn't common to see anyone trying to hitch a ride. The last time I picked up a stranger was one evening about five years ago when a young woman approached me in my upper W. side Manhattan 'hood, as I was moving my car because of the every other day, alt side of the street parking regs ritual. She said that she was coming from friday night synagogue service and her friend who was supposed to meet her had gotten locked out of her apartment. I was hesitant about her story, but I gave her a ride because of my history. Growing up in a smallish new england town, from age ten until I has a car, my friends and I hitched rides singly and in groups as large as 4 or 5, and though we knew and recognixed most people, even strangers would pick you up, and it was rare to feel uncomfortable enough about someone, not to accept a ride from a total stranger. In the summer of '71, I had a male friend in my car, we were staying at my parents' house while they were on vacation. We picked up a hitch hiking couple in a nearby town, who were travelling to Maine by thumbing rides from nothern California. (Is that even a term anymore, "thumbing rides"??) We got acquainted and I ended up inviting them to stay for the weekend, I put them up in my parents bedroom, we partied together both nights, and when I dropped them off at an I-95 on ramp on monday morning, we exchanged addresses. The next spring, another friend and I made a cross country trip in his old chevy malibu wagon, and when we got near Palo Alto, I called the guy half of that hitch hiking couple, and he invited us over to his parents house for dinner, an overninght, and breakfast the next morning. He had parted with his female travelling companion, and I never saw either of them again, but I still can recall his full name. Two weeks passed, and....still travelling.....in So. Cal....my friend's car grew more unreliable, and he decided to sell it and hitchhike back to New England. I checked out the cost of bus fare, and decided instead to use half of my remaining funds....$30...to mail almost all of my belongings back home. so that I could travel "light". My friend and I decided that we would improve our chances of hitching rides if we travelled seperately. I started first.....19 years old with a knapsack and sleeping bag, and $30 to my name.....We were staying with my friend's ex-girlfriend's sister, and she dropped me off at the on ramp to the freeway east in San Bernadino on a sunny, mid-march morning. I quickly got a ride from a guy in a small pickup, and he dropped me off at a desert exit, telling me that he would pick me up again if I was still there in an hour. An hour later, with almost no traffic coming by me, he picked me up a second time and dropped me off in the desert in Victorville, CA. There was already another hitchhiker on that ramp, and an hour or two went by as my lips seemed to dey out and peel in the sun. The a tractor trailer came by and halted. The other hitchhiker climbed up into the cab and then surprised me by truning back towards me and waving at me to join him. It was cramped in the cab of the Peterbilt with two of us and our gear, but the trucker said he appreciated having people to chat with as he crossed the desert. It was a nice surprise when the other hitchhiker asked to be dropped off in Needles, before we crossed into Nevada. The trucker then told me that he had to deliver his load of produce in Boston by sunday, and it was then wednesday evening. He offered to drive me to Newburgh, NY where his girlfriend lived, about 100 miles from my destination. He slept in the cab's sleeper bed that first night, in AZ, and he didn't sleep again, except for cat naps while I held the steering wheel for him as we moved along at 70 mph on straight, flat, uncrowded highways during the nights that followed. He kept muttering, half asleep, "I sure wish you knew how to drive"! The next three nights, he offered me the sleeper bed and I slept a few hours after helping him to take cat naps in the drivers seat. He bought all of my meals at truck stops, and plenty of black coffee and Pall Malls, too. He talked about arranging for his trucking business partner to fly up from Fla to meet us in Memphis to take over the driving duties, but it didn't happen. We finally got to Newburgh at dawn on Sunday morning. He said that he was too tired to drive me to the bus station, so he offered me $2 for cab fare and I thanked him emphatically and said goodbye. I got a bus down to the Port Authority terminal in NYC and I got home with $10 left in my pocket, that afternoon. After that record distance ride, I don't remember hitch hiking much, or pciking up many others, although I can recall picking up two guys who were hitching a ride in Bar Harbor, ME, in '75.....I remember because I was driving alone in our new Celica, and my wife was off shopping in town and was hestitant to pick up two guys about my age while driving alone in a new car. I think that is where my hesitancy started...when I felt like I had something to risk if I picked up strangers. Now it's been five years since I have even had the opportunity present itself. I would pick up a stranger again.....if it feels right.....I have a sense that I should give something back....because of all the genorosity extended to me by other motorists in my past. I'm pessimistic about the economy and the stability of the U.S. currency. I think that we face a shortage of buying power, not of petroleum. If I'm right, and I have been so far, about the 2000 stock market bubble, the end of the housing bubble, and the price gains in gold, silver, and oil, we will be living in a country that is forced to become familiar with routinely hitching rides again, and that probably won't be a bad thing, In most parts of the country, there are very few violent crimes or car jackings. If you are driving with someone else in your car, and you see a hitch hiker who seems okay, I reccommend that you consider stopping to offer him or her a ride.....