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Have you ever hitchhiked before?

Yes, once when I was in the 8th grade. I hitchhiked with a friend from a place close to my house to a local river so I could go fishing. And I wouldn't do it again except in extreme circumstances.
 
I have my own mode of transportation, my thumb is on the steering wheel of my car. No need to hitch hike, don't plan on it in the future either.
 
Yep. I hitched all around eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, the Ozarks, a bit in Wisconsin. Folks were very friendly.

I also hitched a bit in Utah. The first time out everything worked great with short down times between lifts. The second time I ended up walking for hours in the desert in July, not fun at all, particularly after having spent that morning climbing down from a 11,000 ft peak and my knees were shot. Overall hitching in the west is harder than in the east.

Oddly, in Utah, Tenn, and NC I got picked up by drivers from Wisconsin as much as by the locals.

I never had any problems with the folks who offered rides other than a short detour while one driver stopped at his office to pick up a bible tract to offer me. Then again I'm a fairly large, white male. I've also picked folks up on many times.
 
i hitchhiked home from Woodstock '94.

Saugerties, NY ---> Comber, Ontario, Canada

I wrote "Canada or Bust" in mud on a peice of cardboard and outlined the letters in pen. Didn't go very well for the first few hours... a lot of traffic zooming by, mostly people hanging out the window yelling "wwwwooooooooooooooooo" etc.

First thing that picked me up was a SHORT YELLOW BUS. I sh1t you not 🙂

She brought me to Catskills, NY - social services department, where some workers gave me $50 US CASH and a RIDE TO THE SERVICE STATION on the interstate. The place was jammed with Woodstock traffic.

Saw a vehicle with Ontario plates and met the owners. They were stage hand at Woodstock, "Peace Patrol" I believe they were called, from Thunder Bay, Ontario. They were headed up through Michigan to get back home (Mackinaw Island Ferry I presume). They went 100% out of their way to bring me right back to my doorstep. Not only that, they had a couple beers with my Dad and his (now ex) girlfriend. Coolest people you would ever hope to meet.

Left for Woodstock Saturday afternoon, returned home Wednesday night.

*sigh* ... stupid things you do when you're young. It's an experience I will never forget though. What's funny is that I went with 4 other people... 2 guys, 2 girls. Except when they left, I stayed. There was no way I was leaving that party once we got there.
 
Well yesterday, my car overheated, possible blown headgasket/cracked head, and who knows what else... SO this is always an option 🙂
 
Numerous times. The longest ride I ever hitched was when I and 3 buddies from the Navy got stranded at South Of The Border, SC while driving my old car up to drop it off and pick up my new VW Bug in Virginia. The 4 of us stood on the entrance ramp which also straddled the border between SC and NC. It took about an hour but a nice guy finally picked us up and dropped us in Fayetteville at the airport so we could get the rest of the way home.
 
Greyhound bus left me at a Jack in the Box in Centerville, TX. Hitchhiked my way to Houston on a strech of road with signs that read "Huntsville State Prison - Do Not Pick up Hitchhikers".
 
Once when I was walking to school in Germany because I'd overslept and missed the bus yet again, a german lady stopped and offered me a ride. It was raining lightly... I can't see how this ever would have happened in the US, because there I was, 6-foot-something, in a black trenchcoat, carrying my bass guitar in a gig bag slung across my back. It was a good two hour walk, so I was glad she stopped for me.
 
yep a few times when my bike was broken and I had to get to work. ~3 miles and I would do it when I thought I was going to be late. Mostly got picked up by rednecks on their way to work. (VT)
 
When I lived in Alaska, I routinely hitchhiked. It's pretty standard up there. Everyone was really friendly and I could normally get a ride within a few minutes.
 
Once me and a friend got a ride, just like 5 miles down the road. we weren't even trying to hitch hike, two guys around 19-20 stopped and just offered a ride. We were only 15 at the time and couldn't drive, and I wouldn't have accepted the ride, except that one of the kids happened to work at the same place as me. They just said they remembered the times they had to walk, and wanted to save us the trouble.
 
I once was riding my bike home from baseball practice with my younger brother. We were little kids at the time. Got to within about 1.5 miles of home on the country roads and it was nearly dark. We flagged down a van with some BMX riders in it, they gave us a ride to the end of our road, was a big help considering we didn't want to be on the main road after dark.

I also once flagged down a driver while my dad was out turkey hunting. We were near Kirksville Missouri. Me and my brothers were really young, dad went hunting and was out pretty late. I was getting nervous that he was lost or hurt, and just as soon as I got a local guy to help us my dad came walking down the trail out of the woods...


My dad tells stories of when he hitch hiked various places around the US. Would be cool to do, but too dangerous these days.
 
Yes, when I was in southern france. I hitched a ride from this festival back to the town where I stayed with my host family. I did it just to break the rules of "no hitchhiking."
 
Used to pick up hitchhikers on occasion in college. Stopped when I picked up some ass who wanted me to drop him off at the liquor store and wouldn't get out of my car unless I gave him beer money :|

Only hitched once - sort of. about 20 miles outside of Pueblo when I was riding cross country. My rear hub broke - flange just broke off around 3 spokes. Waled to this tiny town, and whilke trying to figure out how to get back to Pueblo so I could have a new wheel built I noticed a car with bike racks on the roof and a windshield sticker for a hospital in Pueblo. Turned out to be a doctor out for a ride. He wasn't all that gracious about it, but gave me a ride back into town.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
i'd be afraid to hitchhike or pick up a hitchhiker these days. too many weirdos out there now.
Click to expand...

Yeah but there always were and always will be weirdos out there, today is no different.
 
Originally posted by: ironwing
Originally posted by: pontifex
i'd be afraid to hitchhike or pick up a hitchhiker these days. too many weirdos out there now.
Click to expand...

Yeah but there always were and always will be weirdos out there, today is no different.
Click to expand...

i'd have to say there are more people like that now than before.
 
Twice in college. 2nd time I walked 14 miles on a back road before getting a ride. Very little traffic 🙁

The first time was great. I was at college, about 3 blocks away on the main route. Within 30 seconds of starting to hitchhike, I was picked up. During the ride, the guy asked what school I went to (2 colleges in that town.) Then he discussed what I did at the school, where I worked, etc. I had a job with the school's physical plant department (in charge of all campus maintenance.) I told him how my bosses had just told me to mow over a patch of asparagus at the university president's house the day before. I asked, "isn't that asparagus?" The guys in charge who told me that told me that they'd just say it was an honest mistake, it was just a student who did it and he didn't know better; the student thought they were weeds if anyone ever asked. This stranger probed this incident with further questions, got more details...

A week later at a special event, when one of the speakers went up to the podium, I recognized him... the guy who gave me the ride = the university president. Uh oh!
 
A few times. In / near Ithaca, NY I once hitchhiked when I had an unrecoverable flat tire on the bike. Another time when my bike had been stolen and had to walk a couple miles to work I had to use the thumb to get around a vicious dog (the alternative being a couple more miles of walking to get around the little bastard). Another time while backpacking in Ireland, we hitchhiked to get to our four star hotel (we splurged on the last stop after a month of hostels and camping) believe it or not, because we were a bit lost.
 
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