pick up a hitchhiker

Ok, so i wanna do this only once, but i’ve watched so many horrormovies that i probably freak out. Maybe when a friend of me is in the car i will do this. But in my own, now it would be to scary.

Actually, I picked up two people- one on the way to the college that I knew was a student (I didn’t know him!- genuine hitcher!) and one who I actually knew and am friends with- there was more distance involved in that one (first one was like, three minute drive) so… eh, either way, I did it! And I didn’t get knifed! (woot!)

i picked up a guy from santa cruz. apparently, he was hitchhiking from the east coast to Albuquerque, where he was to meet a handful of other hitchhikers, and then hitchhike with them from there to Vegas.

i pick one up when i can, because i figure that if i were in their shoes, i would appreciate someone doing the same for me.

I’ve picked up a few, and I’m not saying I’d never do it again, but so far, it’s been sobering. Earlier this year, I was driving to a Saturday morning appointment in the rain and noticed a young man carrying a guitar with his thumb up. I thought, “This fellow could have an interesting story.” He ended up spending a fair amount of the drive explaining that he wasn’t “some fucking Ted Bundy” and giving a lot of detail about how Bundy killed his victims. Sure, he was probably doing this to rattle me for his own entertainment, and I think I did a good job of showing my poker face and taking it all in stride. But it sucks for the next Nashville-bound wannabe I see hitchhiking in the rain.

It was pretty cool, but then again, it was okay to pick up strangers on campus. UCSC was so big, it was hard to walk to class from your dorm and make it on time. However, it also allowed me to meet a lot of new people. Yay!

I’ve done so much hitchhiking in the last year that I feel I need to repay the favor, I just won’t do it in the area I live in now.
Its awesome to know that in some areas of the US, picking up hitchhikers is normal behavior. Its good to know that trust still exists somewhere in this world.

Yes, I’ve been that smelly, hairy, dirty, wet hitchhiker that somehow got a ride… so many “interesting” stories.
Can you believe I even met a girl who still train hops coal cars like the hobos in the beatnik 50’s.
Or that I once got a ride in Vermont from a guy who was from the same small town Ohio city that I am from and was only in Vermont picking up a car from Ebay. (strange coincidences)
Or that non-English speaking Hispanic guy in small town Georgia who took me miles past where I asked to be dropped off and scared me a little.
How about those backroad hicks that were piss drunk bouncing me down the service road in the back of their pickup.
Or the nice couple who stopped on a busy road, in their new leather Jeep picking up 3 ratty looking men and getting mud and rain all inside.
Or the nice trucker who drove me several miles at the risk of loosing his job since he was not allowed to have anyone riding with him.

So many hitches, I now feel badly when I pass a hitchhiker on the side of the road. That could have been me, a nice American man looking to harm no one. (just be careful)

yep, did this once. never do it again. He smelled of armpits and wet dog. He needed a ride though, poor bastard.

this was ok, but my cousin mike went paranoid and was freaking out the whole time LOL

there’ve been plenty of people my gut says “pass by” but the times it has said “stop and help” I’ve always been glad I did. The last time I picked up a guy who had run out of gas, I had a feeling it was a deed in that stream of pay-it-forward. A few days later my mom called and in the course of telling me about car problems, she shared how a total stranger fixed the problem just when she thought she was stranded.

I have never picked up a hitchhiker alone…I have always had friends in the car with me.. The first time I did was in a parking lot and needed a ride home. They gave me a few bucks. The second was a bit scary… near where I live there is a shortcut through a road with no houses or lights one of those good country roads…I usually dont drive down it at night because of all the deer but one night on the way home from work the traffic was bad so I took the road… about 5 miles in I saw a car flipped over on the side of the road…shortly after a guy came out of the woods waving his arms saying he flipped his car drunk and he needed a ride to a pay phone…. so I gave the guy a ride later that night we decided to go back to see if the car was still there with some of my friends and cops were all around it… they asked us if we had seen anyone and said it was dangerous to be around here and we should leave… I dont know if this guy was wanted for something or not but he seemed alright to me