Hitchhiking

musicismylife78

have you ever done it? Its on my bucket list. I'd definitely be worried and nervous about the person being some kind of psycho, but how freeing would it be to start from your hometown, say in seattle, and hitch a ride all over the country, getting rides all the way? It would most likely be one of those things you tell your grandchildren about.

I really want to do this.

Whats everyones experience on hitchhiking? Is it safe? Weird or bad experiences? Good experiences?

redrock

musicismylife78 wrote:

..... It would most likely be one of those things you tell your grandchildren about. .?

Yep.... you tell them not to do it! Though I don't have grandchildren yet, just a daughter.

SarahLou

i have never done it, but my parents used to all the time when they were my age, the hitchhiked all the way from Scotland to Berlin!

I think it is harder to do now, as times have changed and people are more weary to take a stranger in the car!

musicismylife78

SarahLou wrote:

i have never done it, but my parents used to all the time when they were my age, the hitchhiked all the way from Scotland to Berlin!

I think it is harder to do now, as times have changed and people are more weary to take a stranger in the car!

i get the sense its the other way around. potential hitchhikers or hitchhikers to be are weary to try it because of the images we've seen on a endless list of horror movies and tv news bulletins of people hitchhiking and getting into the car of the wrong person.

StillHere

did it all the time back in the 70s...up and down the east coast and had a blast. lots of dead heads///lots of dead shows
and just as a daily mode of transportation

my parents never knew or never said anything anyway if they did and i certainly never told them

now though, and i'm not sure why..i def would NOT do it,
and i sure would not want my children to be doing it at all

can't readily identify the reason i fell that way tho..well, yes, fear...but why more these days i can't say

gearboy

i used to do it all the time just as a way to get from my parents house out in the country to the nearest town so I could catch the bus. some times my neighbors or someone I knew would pick me up, but usually it was strangers. this was like 20 years ago I was a kid and I never thought twice about it.
I don't think I would do it on a highway or anything but hitchhiking served me well

Thoughts_Arrive

I've got 2 words for anyone here thinking of doing this...
Ivan Milat

Franny

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I've got 2 words for anyone here thinking of doing this...
Ivan Milat

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH That's one Fkd up person.....and to think that they still believe he didn't do it on his own, and members of his immediate family are believed to have assisted......freaky shit people!

Thoughts_Arrive

They are a disgrace to my people.

pjfan31

I was going to mention him here.

Read up if you like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpacker_Murders



One badass mother fucker

Thoughts_Arrive

He is smiling because he got day release to attend Pearl Jam Sydney concert.

pjfan31

Oh I recognise him now. Nice fella. Offered me a lift home.

Thoughts_Arrive

pjfan31 wrote:

Oh I recognise him now. Nice fella. Offered me a lift home.

I bet you thought he was being a cheeky fellow when he pointed the gun at you.

pjfan31

So it was a gun? He just said, 'that's not a gun, I've spent the last 17 years in jail, I'm just happy to see you.'

Thoughts_Arrive

haha.
In all seriousness he should be executed, waste of space, and that wiki article needs any reference to him being of Croatian background removed from the page and instead replaced with Justin Bieber fan.

know1

How is it "freeing" and what do you need to be freed from that hitchhiking would be the answer?

The Juggler

the concept of hitching a ride from a stranger to feel "free" is alien to me.

StillHere

this morning i remembered something from my younger days...not specifically related to hitchhiking but sort of. i did all this getting into cars with strangers for a ride stuff over and over again.

but then, i remember walking home one evening. i was probably around 15 or 16 and a man pulled up slowly next to my and asked if i wanted a ride. i didn't recognize him. i said no. he pulled closer and began to ask me if i recognized him...he said that was our local mailman. then i did recognize him ... sort of, as much as a teenager pays attention to their mailman, you know. he said something like, you know me, i'm your mailman, i just want to give you a ride. and so it went, and eventually he went away and i never mentioned it to anyone...or any adult that is. he was quite persistent, driving slowly alongside as i walked, and trying to encourage me to trust him and to get into the car with him, but in the end i walked.

But NOW...after all these years, not that I didn't know that he was up to no good at the time, I did, even tho via a teenage mind, so I didn't get into the car. But now I recall where it was that he asked me if I wanted a ride, and it couldn't have been more than 2 blocks from my home..which he obviously knew, being our mailman.

So, no biggie, right? I mean I figured out he was up to no good from the get go. But it never occurred to me how daring he really was.

Funny the things you remember that you never considered so long ago.

What a creep he was. Well, I'm only going on this incident...but any middle aged man who wants to pick up teenage girls in the evening, cruising round town, and readily identifying himself as your public servant...well, that's creepy. I bet he was sweating bullets the next morning when he was wondering whether or not i had been freaked out enough to tell my parents..which of course, being 15, i would NEVER have done, even if the president of the United States of America had offered to give me a ride home, I would not have told my parents about it at all.

Wow, I' m glad I have a different kind of relationship w my kids..whewwwww.

Well anyway, I guess maybe the whole point of that is....it never occurred to me to STOP getting into cars with strangers....but I wasn't getting into that car w my mailman? WTF? Teenage brains right? Geezuzzz. :roll:

IT didn't stop me from hitchinking...and I don't think I ever really thought about EXACTLY what he was up to until today...wow! So many years later. Things could have been quite different. :?

81

the nice thing about having a car is, you don't need to hitch hike. the likely hood of me stopping to pick your lazy ass (not directed at any one in particular) up are slim to none.

g under p

Not interested in hitch hiking but I did have an incident once. I was riding in an AIDS ride from NC to DC and after 78 miles out of 106 on the first day I made a wrong turn in the deep woods of the North Carolinian mountains. I knew something was up when I could see no other riders in this now creepy isolated area, 8 miles out of my way. I started to turn back when I saw an old pickup truck and decided to take a chance and hitch a ride.

I asked this unshaven, tobacco chewing disheveled looking fellow had he seen any bicycle riders on the road. He said nope and proceeded to spit a thick wad of his chew out the window. I jumped, as the chew dripped from his chin he told me to throw the bike in the back and hop on in done with a thick southern accent. I jumped in excitedly then as he drove off I realized NO ONE knew where I was or what was happening to me. Thoughts of him taking me to some secluded house and beheading popped up and NOBODY would know. Needless to say I was tired and scared out of my mind.

I sat right up against the door, looked for a handle just in case I had to jump out while the truck was rolling, oh there was no handle. Anyway he asked me, "what ya'll doing riding down herea?" I told we're riding for AIDS research and cure, raising money at least $1500 each rider. I had raised over $5000. Still spitting and after some silence he told me told me, "that's a damn good thang ya'll doin". My neck snapped as my fears somewhat eased up. He asked how many miles I was riding, I told him 106 today and 356 to DC.

Well he was nice enough to take me back to my wrong turn and I shook his his thanked him and he wished me good luck. i jumped out of that truck so fast and said thank you, somebody was watching over me. I hopped on my bike rode like the wind, as if a ghost was chasing me. Be careful of those wrong turns peeps.

Peace

Jo

I think I gave him a lift once :?