Have You Ever Hitch-Hiked? Or Picked Up A Hitch-Hiker?

[arwalden]

I've only hitch-hiked a few times across town and once when my car broke down on the highway. Both times I was still in college (early 80's).

That's also the only time I've ever picked up a hitch-hiker as well... I guess I figured that it was safer to pick up fellow students in town who only needed a short lift across town.

These days, I wouldn't pick up someone if you paid me to. Even if someone appeared to be stranded, I'd phone for help for them (as I continued to drive) but I wouldn't stop.

Too paranoid? Have I seen too many horror, slasher movies?

-- Allen

[LynneSin]

1. After that episode of "Six Feet Under"...

never ever

:scared:

[arwalden]

17. I KNOW... Wasn't That Chilling???

-- Allen

[ohiosmith]

2. In 64/65 all over the USA a couple of times.

[HEyHEY]

3. yup and yup

I hitch hiked across New Brunswick once....only took one ride.

When I lived on Gabriola Island I always did, it was the main form of transportation. Usually if I see a young looking person with a huge backpack on an obvious tour, if they don't look like they smell, I'll stop.

[Redneck Socialist]

7. The backpack standard

The backpack used to be my standard for picking up hitch hikers, but the last time I pulled over for a couple of hippy looking dudes they turned out to be wacko fundies who were part of some sort of christian "community." They were hitching around spreading the "word." I found an excuse to drop them off pretty quickly.

[DenverDem]

4. As a hippie kid in the 60's and early 70's

but times were very different then.

No way, now, unfortunately. It probably wasn't safe back then even, I was hit on by trolling homosexuals a couple of times but managed to get out of the car without any harm. Kinda scary to remember now.

[Wickerman]

5. 80-81 all over Europe

those were the days. Wouldn't do it again. Last time I picked up a hitchiker was on the trip home from the airport - post Europe trip. Guy bummed money - I gave him my last dollar. Then threatened me for more. I decided the days of hitchiking had passed in the US.

[Gothic Sponge]

6. Once i didn't pick up a hitchhiker..

and he kept showing up again, and again, down the road!!!!!

Oh wait, that was a Twilight Zone episode....

I did hitch-hike once, or twice as a young teen in the early 80s.

[sniffa]

8. do hookers count?

[RodneyCK2]

9. HAHAHAHA.....

funny.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

10. Yup. Hitched across New Zealand.

[blindpig]

11. it's how I got around in the 70's

mostly local(MD) but I once hitched from Boulder to B'more by way of the Smokies. Never had any serious problems though a few guys would hit on me, no big deal, and that stopped once my beard grew out. Met some interesting people & had a few adventures. Hitching became massively unproductive by 1981.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. yes and yes...my sister and i from FL to CA in 68 and from NY to FL in 72

it was a great way to get around then...never had one bad experience either...guess it true that god watches over idiots and drunks :shrug:

[RodneyCK2]

13. I see a lot of hitchhikers...

around college towns/cities, especially Santa Cruz, CA.

From a hitchhiker standpoint, although I have never done it, I remember the movie, "The Hitcher", with C. Thomas Howell. *gulp*

[DemExpat]

14. 1969-1975.....hitchhiked with my sister in Europe.....

What a blast we had! But some nearly sticky situations too....

Wouldn't do it again if I were young, and my children wouldn't even think of doing it now.

DemEx

[juajen]

15. I haven't,, but my son has

he recently left the state he was living in, broke and out of a job, to come home and eat homemade mac and cheese for a while. He had extremely long hair and a disheveledd appearance. A couple picked him up a couple of cities over from where he lived. As they opened their car doors to my scarey, 6 foot 1 inch, muscled, long-haired hippie-something beloved child, the young wife remarked "we don't have any money, so don't kill us and we'll give you a ride. My son handed them a twenty-dollar bill for gas, shared the food he had on him and they drove him straight to our door and they both exchanged phone numbers.

While this was a good experience, he has hitch hiked before, and has been in a dangerous situation where he feared for his life. It's certainly an iffy situation out there. Lucky for me and for him, there are still some awfully nice people out there. He now has a job here, and is still eating mom's homemade mac and cheese. Seems to me that there's an awful lot of young people living with mom and dad these days. This is my second grown child that has come home to live while re-grouping and I don't expect it to be the last. Be careful out there folks. It is dangerous.

[On the Road]

16. I Used to Hitchhile a Lot in College and Shortly Afterwards

Went from Jacksonville, NC to Connecticut and back in one weekend and a lot of other places.

I really don't know if it's more dangerous today, but fewer people hitch and fewer people pick up. I would be just as worried about being stranded all night as being a crime victim.

[supernova]

18. No, I find it scary

sadly, though I have a fair amount of wanderlust in my heart. When I was little in the late 60s and early 70s I wished I was big enough to partake.

I remember a friend of ours was in college at UNC and hitchhiked over to our house one day. LOL! Mom was so aghast she give Mary Ann a ride back to her dorm. :-)

[chelsea0011]

19. I hitched across the country in mid-70's

But these days, I would never pick up a hiker or would I hitch myself.

[chiburb]

20. Yep. Won't bore you with my hitchin', but here's a story...

From when I picked one up:

It was '88 and I was driving the Oregon Coast. I saw what looked like an old hippie standing at the entrance ramp and stopped for him. It turned out he wasn't a hippie, more just a mentally "missing something" homeless guy. He wasn't talkative, so I let him be. After 20 miles or so the van started to reek! It turned out that he'd wet himself...
I spent a week getting rid of the odor from the cloth seats, and learned 2 valuable lessons:
1. When picking someone up, always ask if they "have to go" first.
2. Always drive a vehicle with leather seats.

[jus_the_facts]

21. Done both.....

.....but feel as you do in light of a more mature view of the dangers involved these days. :hi:

[Rowdyboy]

22. Lots of times in the mid-late '70's

Never again.

[catmandu57]

23. About 30,000 miles worth

and I'd do it again if I could, I don't have a problem with giving people a lift, if they have their house with them, the one with just the clothes on their back I pass on by.
I've got too many stories, and I hated it when people who gave me a lift began with "I used to hitch a lot back when".

[notadmblnd]

24. Probably about 4 years ago in Detroit

They were'nt hitch hiking but I was on my way home from work in the New Center area and a car was stalled in the left lane with 4 men in it. Something told me they wern't local So I stopped and asked if thye needed help. Tuns out they were from Spain and were on their way to Chrysler WH when their rental car broke down. I drove them all the way to Auburn Hills.

[Cybergata]

25. I remember the days...

when I wouldn't pick up anyone that didn't have long hair? As an older person, I've picked up youngin's with backpacks.

:hippie: